Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Magmatic zoning in apatite: a monitor of porosity and permeability change in granites

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Apatites from the Shap Granite, northern England, are strongly zoned, reflecting multiple generations of growth and dissolution. Such chemical zoning is most readily displayed in cathodoluminescence images and correlates well with trace element variation determined using LA-ICP-MS analyses. The zoned apatites provide a detailed record of the changing scales of permeability during progressive crystallisation within the magma chamber. Early periods of apatite growth are preserved within cores and represent both early growth within a magma chamber dominated by vigorous mixing processes and inherited grains with significantly different chemistries. The main phase of apatite growth within the magma was strongly controlled by the presence of adjacent biotite phenocrysts and is characterised by fine scale oscillatory zoning, followed by the growth of a thin rim of relatively uniform composition. The chemical evolution of the later phases of apatite growth and the stratigraphy of the zoning appear to record late stage crystallisation within progressively more isolated interstitial melt pockets.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1.
Fig. 2a--e.
Fig. 3.
Fig. 4.
Fig. 5.
Fig. 6.
Fig. 7.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Allegre CJ, Provost A, Jaupart C (1981) Oscillatory zoning: a pathological case of crystal growth. Nature 294:223–228

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bacon CR (1989) Crystallisation of accessory phases in magmas by local saturation adjacent to phenocrysts. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 53:1055–1066

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Barbarand J, Pagel M (2001) Cathodoluminescence study of apatite crystals. Am Mineral 86:473–484

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Belousova EA, Walters S, Griffin WL, O'Reilly SY (2001) Trace-element signatures of apatites in granitoids from the Mt Isa inlier, northwestern Queensland. Aust J Earth Sci 48:603–619

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Branney MJ, Soper NJ (1988) Ordovician volcano-tectonics in the English Lake District. J Geol Soc Lond 145:367–376

    Google Scholar 

  • Cherniak DJ (2000) Rare earth element diffusion in apatite. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 22:3871–3885

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cox RA, Dempster TJ, Bell BR, Rogers G (1996) Crystallisation of the Shap Granite: evidence from zoned K-feldspar megacrysts. J Geol Soc Lond 153:625–635

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Firman RJ (1978) Intrusions. In: Moseley F (ed) The geology of the Lake District. Yorkshire Geol Soc Occasional Publ 3:146–153

    Google Scholar 

  • Fitton JG, Hughes DJ (1970) Volcanism and plate tectonics in the British Ordovician. Earth Planet Sci Lett 8:223–228

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fortey RA, Owens RM, Rushton AWA (1989) The palaeogeographic position of the Lake District in the early Ordovician. Geol Mag 126:9–17

    Google Scholar 

  • Geist DJ, Myers JD, Frost CD (1988) Megacryst-bulk rock disequilibrium as an indicator of contamination processes: the Edgecumbe Volcanic Field, SE Alaska. Contrib Mineral Petrol 99:105–112

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Grantham DR (1928) The petrology of the Shap Granite. Proc Geol Assoc 39:299–331

    Google Scholar 

  • Gromet LP, Silver LT (1983) Rare earth element distributions among minerals in a granodiorite and their petrogenetic implications. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 47:925–939

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Harker A, Marr JE (1891) The Shap granite, and associated igneous and metamorphic rocks. Q J Geol Soc Lond 47:266–328

    Google Scholar 

  • Harrison TM, Watson EB (1984) The behaviour of apatite during crustal anatexis: equilibrium and kinetic considerations. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 48:1467–1477

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hodson ME, Finch AA (1999) Trough structures in the Western syenite of Kungnât, S Greenland: mineralogy and mechanism of formation. Contrib Mineral Petrol 127:46–56

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jackson SE, Longerich HP, Dunning GR, Fryer BJ (1992) The application of laser ablation microprobe inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LAM-ICP-MS) to in situ trace element determination in minerals. Can Mineral 30:1049–1064

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kempe U, Götze J (2002) Cathodoluminescence (CL) behaviour and crystal chemistry of apatite from rare-metal deposits. Mineral Mag 66:151–171

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Knutson C, Peacor DR, Kelly WC (1985) Luminescence, color and fission track zoning in apatite crystals of the Panasqueira tin-tungsten deposit, Beira-Baixa, Portugal. Am Mineral 70:829–837

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mariano AN (1988) Some further geological applications of cathodoluminescence. In: Marshall DJ (ed) Cathodoluminescence of geological materials. Unwin Hyman, London, pp 94–123

  • Mitchell RH, Xiong J, Mariano AN, Fleet ME (1997) Rare-earth-element-activated cathodoluminescence in apatite. Can Mineral 35:979–998

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Murray JR, Oreskes N (1997) Uses and limitations of cathodoluminescence in the study of apatite paragenesis. Econ Geol 92:368–376

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • O'Brien C, Plant JA, Simpson PR, Tarney J (1985) The geochemistry, metasomatism and petrogenesis of the granites of the English Lake District. J Geol Soc Lond 142:1139–1157

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Paterson BA, Stephens WE (1992) Kinetically induced compositional zoning in titanite: implications for accessory-phase/melt partitioning of trace elements. Contrib Mineral Petrol 109:373–385

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Paterson BA, Stephens WE, Rogers G, Williams IS, Hinton RW, Herd DA (1992) The nature of zircon inheritance in two granite plutons. Trans R Soc Edinb (Earth Sci) 83:459–471

    Google Scholar 

  • Pearce NJG, Perkins WT, Westgate JA, Gorton MP, Jackson SE, Neal CR, Chenery SP (1997) A compilation of new and published major and trace element data for NIST SRM 610 and NIST SRM 612 glass reference material. Geostand Newsl 21:115–144

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rakovan J, Reeder R (1996) Intercrystalline rare earth element distributions in apatite: surface structural influences on incorporation during growth. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 60:4435–4445

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Roeder PL, MacArthur D, Ma X-P, Palmer GR, Mariano AN (1987) Cathodoluminescence and microprobe study of rare-earth elements in apatite. Am Mineral 72:801–811

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sawka WN (1988) REE and trace element variations in accessory minerals and hornblende from the strongly zoned McMurry Meadows pluton, California. Trans R Soc Edinb Earth Sci 79:157–168

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sha L-K, Chappell BW (1999) Apatite chemical composition, determined by electron microprobe and laser-ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, as a probe into granite petrogenesis. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 63:3861–3881

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sylvester P (2001) Laser ablation ICP-MS in the Earth sciences. Mineral Assoc Can Short Course 29:203–211

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Tepper JH, Kuehner SM (1999) Complex zoning in apatite from the Idaho batholith: a record of magma mixing and intracrystalline trace element diffusion. Am Mineral 84:581–595

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Thirlwall MF, Fitton JG (1983) Sm-Nd garnet age for the Ordovician Borrowdale volcanic group, English Lake District. J Geol Soc Lond 140:511–518

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wadge AJ, Gale NH, Beckinsale RD, Rundle CC (1978) A Rb-Sr isochron for the Shap granite. Proc Yorkshire Geol Soc 42:297–305

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Watson EB, Harrison TM, Ryerson FJ (1985) Diffusion of Sm, Sr and Pb in fluorapatite. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 49:1813–1823

    CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council grant to the CRUST group. Richard Cox and Paul Sylvester are thanked for their assistance with ICP-MS analysis and Robert Macdonald, John Gilleece and Kenny Roberts are thanked for their technical help in Glasgow. The manuscript was significantly improved by helpful reviews by Jens Götze and Adrian Finch.

Author information

Author notes

  1. M. Jolivet

    Present address: UMR.5573 Geophysics. Tectonics and. Sedimentology .Cc.060, Universite Montpellier II, Pl.E.Bataillon -34095, Montpellier Cedex 05, France

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Earth Sciences (CRUST project), University of Glasgow, Glasgow , G12 8QQ, UK

    T. J. Dempster, M. Jolivet & C. J. R. Braithwaite

  2. Department of Earth Sciences, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada A1B 3X5

    M. N. Tubrett

Authors
  1. T. J. Dempster
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. M. Jolivet
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. M. N. Tubrett
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. C. J. R. Braithwaite
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to T. J. Dempster.

Additional information

Editorial responsibility: I. Parsons

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Dempster, T.J., Jolivet, M., Tubrett, M.N. et al. Magmatic zoning in apatite: a monitor of porosity and permeability change in granites. Contrib Mineral Petrol 145, 568–577 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00410-003-0471-0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00410-003-0471-0

Keywords

Search

Navigation