پترولوژی (Apr 2024)
Mineral chemistry and thermobarometry of gabbroic rocks from the Pargeh area (NE Qazvin): A key for understanding the crystallization conditions
Abstract
Introduction Mineral chemistry data as well as petrography provide a comprehensive picture of magma crystallization conditions that support the conclusions based on geochemical data. In addition, the chemical composition of minerals such as clinopyroxene, olivine, biotite, feldspar, and Fe-Ti oxides reflect physicochemical parameters (pressure, temperature, and oxygen fugacity), crystal growth history, and melt origin. The pressure, temperature and oxygen fugacity parameters are estimated from chemical data of various rock-forming minerals to provide information regarding the crystallization of magmas. The essential purposes of present study are to determine the physicochemical conditions (temperature and pressure), to identify the tectonic environment and to propose an emplacement model for Pargeh mafic magmas formation.Regional GeologyThe Pargeh area is a part of the Central Alborz Magmatic Belt (AMB) (Figure 1). There are extensive magmatic sections in this zone including the Cenozoic calc-alkaline and alkaline (potassic) magmatism generated in an arc and back-arc setting in an extensional environment (post collision). This belt is mainly composed of Upper Precambrian to Eocene sedimentary and volcanic sequences intruded by Mesozoic to Cenozoic plutons, in the central and western parts of the belt. The igneous rocks of the north and northeast of Qazvin were formed during three volcanic phases, of which only two phases can be seen in the study area. These Late Eocene-Oligo-Miocene plutonic rocks are related to post-collisional magmatic activities originated in back-arc extensional basins and have calc-alkaline to high-potassium shoshonitic characteristics. According to U–Pb dating, the age of the syenite and monzonite rocks is Late Eocene. But the exact age of the Pargeh gabbroic rocks is not known, considering that these intrusions were injected into Eocene tuffs, they are Late Eocene and possibly Oligocene.Analytical MethodsThe main minerals were analyzed by an electron microprobe at the Queen’s Facility for Isotope Research (QFIR), Queens University, Kingston, Canada. Operating conditions were as follows: the acceleration voltage was 15 kV, the beam current was 20 nA, and the diameter of the probe was 3 µm (Tables 1 to 6).PetrographyField and petrographic observation show that most of the Pargeh pluton is monzogabbro and olivine gabbros make up only a small part of the pluton. Olivine gabbro is a medium- to coarse-grained mesocratic-melanocratic rock. Olivine gabbro and monzogabbro are texturally varied. In both samples, intergranular, poikilitic, sub-ophitic and granular textures were identified. Olivine gabbro are dominated by olivine (20-25%vol), clinopyroxene (15-20 %vol), plagioclase (50-55 %vol), biotite (~ 5 %vol) and K-feldspar (~ 5 %vol). Accessory minerals include apatite and Fe-Ti oxides. Monzogabbros are characterized by a high proportion of plagioclase (55-60 %vol) and clinopyroxene (20-25 %vol), biotite (5-10%vol) and K-feldspar (8-10%vol).. Fe-Ti oxides and apatite are common accessory minerals in monzogabbros.DiscussionBased on research on the distribution of Ti in silicates and oxides of magmatic rocks, Verhoogen (1962) proposed that the crystallization temperature of clinopyroxene is positively correlated with its Ti content. Therefore, the higher clinopyroxene, crystallization temperature, the more Ti clinopyroxene likely to contain. The TiO2 content of clinopyroxenes in olivine gabbros is slightly higher than that of monzogabbros, pointing to the clinopyroxenes in olivine gabbro having a relatively higher crystallization temperature compared to that of clinopyroxenes in monzogabbro. In the 9-A and B diagram, all the samples are in the range of alkaline basalt, so the parental magma can be an alkaline magma. As mentioned above, clinopyroxenes have high amounts of Al and Ti, consistent with the evolution of an alkaline magma. High amounts of calcium in the studied clinopyroxenes indicate that the parental magma may have an alkaline nature. This tectonic setting discrimination diagram can distinguish basaltic clinopyroxenes from volcanic arc basalt (VAB), ocean floor basalt (OFB), intraplate tholeiite (WPT) and intraplate alkaline environments (WPA). In the F1-F2 tectonic environment discrimination diagram, all the study samples fall within the range of volcanic arc basalts (VAB+OFB), which shows that these rocks are probably formed in a volcanic arc and arc-related tectonic setting environment. In general, all tectonic discrimination diagrams based on clinopyroxene chemistry indicate an arc-related environment for the parental magma.ConclusionThe mafic rocks of Pargeh are composed of olivine gabbro and monzogabbro which are characterized by the presence of olivine, plagioclase, clinopyroxene, biotite and K-feldspar. The mineral chemistry results show the role of fractional crystallization as the main process in the formation of the parental magma of the rocks under study The chemical features of clinopyroxenes point that the parental magma must belong to a silica under-saturated alkaline series, characterized by high temperature, low pressure, low Si and high Ca contents possibly formed in a volcanic arc tectonic setting environment. As the xamined thermobarometers data show, the olivine gabbros generated at higher temperature and pressure than that of monzogabbros indicating that the olivine gabbros probably crystallized at a greater depth.
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