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Tertiary spilites and quartz keratophyres of the Wagwater Belt, Jamaica, west Indies

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Abstract

Geochemical and petrographic characteristics are used to identify spilites, quartz keratophyres and potassic quartz keratophyres as the most abundant rock types among the Tertiary volcanics of Jamaica. A few low K2O dacites occur within the sequence. The rock suite is bimodal and was erupted in a nonorogenic environment, an Eocene rift. The evidence indicates that the keratophyres were formed by alteration of the original dacites during an episode of alkali metasomatism. The concentrations of TiO2, P2O3, Cr, Zr and Y suggest that the spilites were formed from basic rocks similar to the Columbia River or Deccan flood basalts. Their chemical variations indicate that they were formed by processes similar to those leading to the formation of the keratophyres.

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  1. T. E. Smith & T. A. Jackson

    Present address: Department of Geology, University of the West Indies, Mona, Kingston, Jamaica

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  1. Department of Geology, University of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario, Canada

    T. E. Smith & T. A. Jackson

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Smith, T.E., Jackson, T.A. Tertiary spilites and quartz keratophyres of the Wagwater Belt, Jamaica, west Indies. Bull Volcanol 38, 870–890 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02597096

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