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Influence of fluorine on the enrichment of high field strength trace elements in granitic rocks

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Abstract

The solubilities of zircon, rutile, manganocolumbite (MnNb2O6), manganotantalite (MnTa2O6), and the rare earth phosphates LaPO4, GdPO4, and YbPO4 in water-saturated haplogranitic melts containing 0–6 wt.% F were measured at 800° C and 2 kbar. The melt compositions investigated differ only in their F content, the proportions of Na, K, Al, and Si are identical in all experiments. While the solubilities of the rare earth phosphates are independent of F, the solubilities of all other minerals studied strongly increase with F. The TiO2 content of haplogranitic melt in equilibrium with rutile increases linearly from 0.26 wt.% without F to 0.47 wt.% for melts containing 6 wt.% F. Over the same range of F concentrations, the ZrO2 content of the melt in equilibrium with zircon increases with the square of the F content from less than 0.01 wt.% to 0.25 wt.%. The linear increase for rutile and the quadratic relationship for zircon suggest a complexing mechanism. Probably nonbridging oxygen atoms (NBO) expelled from coordination with Al by reaction with F form complexes with Ti and Zr, the ratio of NBO: metal cation being 1:1 for Ti, and 2:1 for Zr. Direct complexing by F is also a possibility. As titanium oxide phases and zircon are major sinks for HFS elements such as Ti, Nb, Ta, Zr, Hf, Th and REE in granites, their increased solubility in the presence of F favors the enrichment of these elements in residual mels. The Nb and Ta content of rutile in granitic pegmatites is due to extended solid solution of rutile with columbite group minerals, such as manganocolumbite and manganotantalite. The solubility of these components also increases with F, MnTa2O6 being more soluble than MnNb2O6. Rutile fractionation could therefore account for the increase in Ta/Nb frequently observed in highly differentiated granites. The solubility of the rare earth phosphates increases strongly from LaPO4 to GdPO4 to YbPO4, which explains the enrichment of heavy rare earth elements in highly evolved granites. In the presence of F, many HFS elements will be highly incompatible in granitic systems. Therefore, in a suite of granitic rocks generated by differentiation from the same source magma, a strong correlation should exist between HFS elements and F. However, because of the influence of F on the solubility of refractory phases such as zircon, a similar correlation could also result from different batches of magma containing different amounts of F equilibrating with the same refractory phase.

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  1. Bayerisches Geoinstitut, Universität Bayreuth, D-95440, Bayreuth, Germany

    Hans Keppler

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Keppler, H. Influence of fluorine on the enrichment of high field strength trace elements in granitic rocks. Contr. Mineral. and Petrol. 114, 479–488 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00321752

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