Abstract
This paper presents the results of a combined study of the composition and physical properties of fluid, melt and opaque mineral inclusions in olivine phenocrysts and glass from the magnesian basalt of Disko I., West Greenland. The rock is dominated by glass, which contains numerous fluid bubbles and large (up to 250 μm) opaque globules. The thermometric investigation of the melt inclusions showed that the temperature of olivine crystallization was no higher than 1220°C at a pressure of 0.15–0.20 GPa. The opaque globules in the groundmass glass have a eutectoid structure and are composed of troilite, Fe–Ni metal alloy, and sparse grains of wüstite and cohenite (Fe3C). Cryometric measurements and Raman spectroscopy indicated a complex fluid composition and presence of reduced and oxidized gases: CH4, N2, H2, CO2, and H2O, as well as highly ordered graphite. The nonequilibrium association of compounds in the fluid is related to the rapid cooling (quenching) of crystallizing magma preventing the equilibration of the gas system. At an estimated logfO2 value of –13.95, methane is the only hydrocarbon phase that can exist at magmatic temperatures. The formation of organic substances detected in some gas bubbles in the groundmass glasses of the rock occurred at postmagmatic stages after a significant decrease in temperature.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Albright, D.L. and Kraft, R.W., Structural characteristic of the Fe–FeS eutectic, Trans. Metall. Soc. AIME, 1966, vol. 236, pp. 998–1003.
Ballhaus, C., Is the upper mantle metal-saturated?, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 1995, vol. 132, pp. 75–86.
Bird, J.M. and Weathers, M.S., Native iron occurrences of Disko Island, Greenland, J. Geol., 1977, vol. 85, pp. 359–371.
Blau, P.J. and Goldstein, J.I., Investigation and simulation of metallic spherules from lunar soil, Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta, 1975, vol. 39, pp. 305–324.
Dubessy, J., Poty, B., and Ramboz, C., Advances in C–O–H–N–S fluid geochemistry based on micro-Raman spectrometric analysis of fluid inclusions, Eur. J. Mineral., 1989, vol. 1, pp. 517–534.
Florentin, L., Deloule, E., Faure, F., and Mangin, D., Chemical 3D-imaging of glass inclusions from Allende (CV3) olivine via SIMS: a new insight on chondrule formation conditions, Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta, 2018, vol. 230, pp. 83–93.
Frezzotti, M.-L. and Peccerillo, A., Diamond-bearing COHS fluids in the mantle beneath Hawaii, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 2007, vol. 262, pp. 273–283.
Grinenko, L.N., Lightfoot, P., and Krouse, R., Unusual isotopic composition and concentrations of carbon in West Greenland mafic volcanic, Geochem. Int., 1996, vol. 34, no. 11, pp. 958–967.
Howarth, G.H., Day, J.M.D., Pernet-Fisher, J.F., et al., Precious metal enrichment at low-redox in terrestrial native Fe-bearing basalts investigated using laser-ablation ICP–MS, Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta, 2017, vol. 203, pp. 343–363.
Kogarko, L.N., Kostal’yani, Ch., and Ryabchikov, I.D., Geochemistry of reduced fluid of alkaline magmas, Geokhimiya, 1986, no. 12, pp. 1688–1695.
Kullerud, G. and Clark, L.A., Fe–S System, Carnegie Inst., Yearbook, 1959, vol. 58.
Kullerud, G., The Fe–Ni–S system, Carnegie Inst. Yearbook, 1963, vol. 62.
Medenbach, O. and El Goresy, A., Ulvöspinel in native iron-bearing assemblages and the origin of these assemblages in basalts from Ovifak, Greenland, and Bühl, Federal Republic of Germany, Contrib. Mineral. Petrol., 1982, vol. 80, pp. 358–366.
Mel’nik, Yu.P., Termodinamicheskie svoistva gazov v usloviyakh glubinnogo petrogeneza (Thermodynamic Properties of Gases under the Conditions of Deep-Seated Petrogenesis) Kiev: Naukova dumka, 1978.
Nivin, V.A., Gas concentrations in minerals with reference to the problem of the genesis of hydrocarbon gases in rocks of the Khibiny and Lovozero complexes, Geochem. Int., 2002, vol. 40, no. 9, pp. 883–898.
Pedersen, A.K., Basaltic glass with high-temperature equilibrated immiscible sulphide bodies with native iron from Disko, central West Greenland, Contrib. Mineral. Petrol., 1979, vol. 69, pp. 397–407.
Pedersen, A.K., Reaction between picrite magma and continental crust: Early Tertiaty silicic basalts and magnesian andisites from Disko, West Greenland, Bull. Grenl. Geol. Unders., 1985.
Pedersen, A.K. and Pedersen, S., Sr isotope chemistry of contaminated tertiary volcanic rocks from Disko, central West Greenland, Bull. Geol. Soc. Denmark, 1987, vol. 36, pp. 315–336.
Petersilie, I.A. and Sorensen, H., Hydrocarbon gases and bituminous substances in rocks from the Ilimaussaq alkaline intrusion, South Greenland, Lithos, 1970, vol. 3, pp. 59–76.
Ryabchikov, I.D., Mobilization of matter by fluids in the Earth’s crust and upper mantle, Kriterii otlichiya metamorfogennykh i magmatogennykh gidrotermal’nykh mestorozhdenii. (Critteria for the Discrimination between Metamorphogenic and Magmatogenic Hydrothermal Deposits), Novosibirsk: Nauka, 1985, pp. 64–71.
Ryabchikov, I.D., Kogarko, L. N., and Solovova. I.P., Physicochemical conditions of magma formation at the base of the Siberian plume: insight from the investigation of melt inclusions in the meymechites and alkali picrites of the Maimecha–Kotui province, Petrology, 2009, vol. 17, no. 3, pp. 287–299.
Sobolev, A.V., Melt inclusions in minerals as a source of principle petrological information, Petrology, 1996, vol. 4, no. 3, pp. 209–220.
Solovova, I.P., Ryabchikov, I.D., Girnis, A.V., et al., Reduced magmatic fluids in basalt from the island of Disko, central West Greenland, Chem. Geol., 2002, vol. 183, pp. 365–371.
Solovova, I.P., Kogarko, L.N., and Averin, A.A., Conditions of sulfide formation in the metasomatized mantle beneath East Antarctica, Petrology, 2015, vol. 23, no. 6, pp. 519–542.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Translated by A. Girnis
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Solovova, I.P., Averin, A.A. & Magazina, L.O. Reduced Fluids and Sulfide–Metal Alloy in the Magnesian Basalts of Disko Island, West Greenland. Petrology 26, 640–649 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0869591118060073
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S0869591118060073