Crystallization and Layering of the Skaergaard Intrusion |
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| Authors: | MCBIRNEY ALEXANDER R; NOYES RICHARD M |
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| Institution: | 1Center for Volcanology, University of Oregon Eugene 97403
2Department of Chemistry, University of Oregon Eugene 97403 |
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| Abstract: | Solidification of large slowly cooled intrusions is a complexprocess entailing progressive changes of rheological propertiesas the crystallizing magma passes through successive stagesbetween a viscous Newtonian fluid and a brittle solid rock.Studies of this transition in the Skaergaard intrusion indicatethat most crystallization took place in an advancing front ofsolidification against the floor, walls, and roof where crystalsnucleated and grew in a static boundary layer, much in the mannerproposed by Jackson in 1961. The non-Newtonian properties ofthe crystallizing magma account for the fact that plagioclase,which was lighter than the liquid, is a major component of rockson the floor, while mafic minerals that were heavier than theliquid accumulated under the roof. Crystals that nucleated andgrew in these zones were trapped by an increasingly rigid zonethat advanced more rapidly than the crystals sank or floated.If any crystals escaped entrapment, they were those of the largestsize and density contrast. The rates of accumulation in different parts of the intrusionwere not governed by rates of gravitational accumulation somuch as by the nature of convection and heat transfer. Cumulatetextures, preferred orientations of crystals, and layering,all of which have been taken as evidence of sedimentation, canbe explained in terms of in situ crystallization. Layering cannothave been caused by density currents sweeping across the floor;it is well developed on the walls and under the roof, lacksthe size and density grading and mineralogical compositionsthat would be expected, and shows no evidence of having beenaffected by obstructions in the paths of the currents. We propose an alternative origin of layering that is based onprocesses governed by the relative rates of chemical and thermaldiffusion during cooling. Intermittent layering resulted fromgravitational stratification of the liquid, and cyclic layeringwas produced by an oscillatory process of nucleation and crystalgrowth. The effects of differentiation during in situ crystallizationare strongly dependent on relative rates of diffusion of individualcomponents, and some of the compositional variations in differentparts of the intrusion can be explained in terms of these differences. |
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