Chemical interrelationships in a low-pressure granulite terrain in Namaqualand. South Africa,and their bearing on granite genesis and the composition of the lower crust |
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| Authors: | TS McCarthy |
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| Institution: | Department of Geology, University of the Witwatersrand, Milner Park, Johannesburg 2001, South Africa |
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| Abstract: | The results of a chemical study of a suite of low-pressure granulite facies rocks in Namaqualand, South Africa, are reported. The area is underlain by augen gneisses and quartzites, which contain interlayered granular quartz-feldspar rocks (termed ‘granulites’) derived by extensive partial melting of the gneiss. The K/Rb ratio of the gneiss increases from 140 to 250 over a melting interval of 70%: the rate of increase being influenced by the presence of biotite. Simultaneously K/Ba and Rb/Sr decrease from 80 to 25 and from 4 to 0.3, respectively. The partial melts (granulites), which reflect, in part, a cumulate character, have similar K/Rb ratios to the parent gneiss (175) but larger K/Ba (238) and Rb/Sr (5) ratios, due to the retention of Ba and Sr in the residue.Three granites intrude the gneisses. One of these was produced by very advanced partial melting of the gneiss. Continuity of chemical composition suggests that the remaining two granites, although spatially separate, are comagmatic, and evolved by feldspar fractionation during ascent. Lower Sr87/Sr86 ratio coupled with enrichment of Ba, Sr and Rb in the parent magma of these granites relative to the country rocks precludes local derivation and indicates a lower crustal source rock of intermediate composition.The progressive increase in cafemic character of the gneisses, which is similar to that observed in world granulite terrains as a whole, coupled with intrusive granite which reflects reworking of the lower crust in the area studied, supports a partial melting model for the development of a lower crust of progressively more cafemic composition. |
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