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The spinel and quartz associations in high grade xenoliths from Tallante (S.E. Spain) and their potential use in geothermometry and barometry

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Abstract

Remarkable spinel+quartz associations are observed in some xenoliths found in the Basaltic rocks from Tallante. The main primary parageneses are:

  • * quartz — plagioclase — sillimanite — spinel — garnet — ilmenite — graphite

  • * quartz — plagioclase — garnet — orthopyroxene — spinel — ilmenite.

A thin cordierite rim is often developed between spinel and quartz, and is the result of the reaction (1) 2Sp+5Q→1 Cd. The existence around garnet of glass enclosing euhedral spinels has been ascribed to a garnet±sillimanite±plagioclase melting reaction.

These aluminous rocks are interpreted as xenoliths in thermal equilibrium with a basaltic magma (≃1,100° C). According to available geobarometers, the primary parageneses crystallized at about 7 kb. These xenoliths could represent fragments of the walls of a magma chamber which would have been located at a depth of about 26 km.

From these data and others available in the literature, it is shown that the exchange reaction (2) Fe spinel+Mg cordierite⇌Mg spinel+Fe cordierite can be used for geothermometric purposes, and a Sp-Cd geothermometer is calibrated: T°K=−1,763/ln Kd+0.378. In addition, the association spinel — quartz — cordierite (reaction (1)) is a potential geobarometer: P=P Fe-(RT ln (a CdFe Cd /a Sp 2Fe Sp / ΔVs) with P Fe=−8.4T° C+9,295; T° K= −1,763/ln Kd+0.378 and ΔVs=1.075 cal/bar. It indicates a pressure of about 4 kb for the crystallization of the secondary cordierite from Tallante.

A method to predict the geometrical relationships of divariant fields in P-T diagrams and their evolution as a function of changes in composition is developed. It is applied to phase relationships between spinel, sillimanite, orthopyroxene, garnet and cordierite (+excess quartz) in the systems Al2O3-FeO-MgO and Al2O3-(FeO+MgO) and a model is proposed for K2O-depleted SiO2-saturated metapelites at high temperature.

The Tallante xenoliths are considered to be samples of a lower crust seriously modified by an important thermal anomaly which is also responsible for the volcanism.

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  1. Département de Géologie et Minéralogie, LA 10 et IOPG, 5 rue Kessler, 63038, Clermont Ferrand Cedex, France

    D. Vielzeuf

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Vielzeuf, D. The spinel and quartz associations in high grade xenoliths from Tallante (S.E. Spain) and their potential use in geothermometry and barometry. Contrib Mineral Petrol 82, 301–311 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00399708

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