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Differentiation of the Cuthbert Lake ultramafic dikes and related mafic dikes

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Abstract

In the Cuthbert Lake region of north-central Manitoba, northeasterly trending ultramafic-mafic dikes, part of the Molson dike swarm, show a range of composition from gabbro to olivine-hornblende pyroxenite to hornblende peridotite. The major dike which is ultramafic in composition is 60 m thick. Olivine and chromian spinel were the earliest cumulus phases formed in a subcrustal magma chamber before the emplacement of the dikes. Orthopyroxene and clinopyroxene were formed following emplacement at about 1120° C. Plagioclase and hornblende were the latest phases to crystallize from the intercumulus melt. Mineralogical and chemical variations across the major dike are interpreted to have resulted from flow differentiation of multiple injections of magma carrying suspended olivine crystals. Olivine phenocrysts changed their compositions from about Fo87 to values ranging from Fo80to Fo73 as a function of the amount of intercumulus melt. The composition of this melt is estimated to have been basaltic. A mafic dike, about 10 m thick and occurring about 20 m away from the main ultramafic dike, is believed to have been formed from magmas that were tapped from an upper layer overlying the olivine-rich zone in a subcrustal magma chamber. Separation must have occurred when clinopyroxene and plagioclase appeared on the liquidus.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Geological Survey of Canada, 601 Booth Street, K1A OE8, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

    A. Dogan Paktunç

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  1. A. Dogan Paktunç
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Geological Survey of Canada Contribution 36486

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Paktunç, A.D. Differentiation of the Cuthbert Lake ultramafic dikes and related mafic dikes. Contr. Mineral. and Petrol. 97, 405–416 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00372003

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00372003

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