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Formation of K-feldspar megacrysts in granodioritic plutons by thermal cycling and late-stage textural coarsening

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Abstract

K-feldspar megacrysts in granite and granodiorite plutons are generally inferred to be early crystallizing phases (grown to large sizes when the magma was mostly liquid) owing to their large size, euhedral form, and features that suggest deposition by magmatic sedimentation. However, phase equilibrium experiments and natural examples of crystallization and partial melting demonstrate that K-feldspar is one of the last phases to nucleate and that most crystal growth must occur after the magma has exceeded 50% crystallization and is thus largely incapable of flow and sedimentation. Megacryst size distributions, compositions, and textural relationships from the Cretaceous Tuolumne Intrusive Suite, California, reveal that the gradational transition from equigranular to megacrystic granodiorite likely occurred via textural coarsening caused by thermal cycling. Experimental and theoretical studies demonstrate that rising temperature induces relatively more melting in small crystals than in large ones, whereas linear growth rates during cooling are similar. Thus, during thermal cycling material is transferred from small crystals to larger ones. Megacryst growth via thermal cycling during incremental emplacement is consistent with the required late growth of K-feldspar, explains the presence of megacrysts in the inner parts of theTuolumne Intrusive Suite and elsewhere, and may be a common process in formation of megacrystic granitic rocks.

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Acknowledgments

Support for this work was provided by grants from the National Science Foundation (EAR-0336070 and EAR-0538129) and student research grants from the Geological Society of America, the University of California’s White Mountain Research Station, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Martin and Bartlett Funds. Jan van Wagtendonk, Peggy Moore, and Greg Stock of Yosemite National Park Service graciously provided logistical support this work. Thoughtful and thorough reviews by Tony Kemp, an anonymous reviewer, and Editor Jon Blundy greatly improved the manuscript. We thank Drew Coleman, John Bartley, Ryan Mills, Jesse Davis, Rich Gashnig, John Gracely, Bryan Law, Chris Glazner, and Susie Johnson, who assisted in the field and participated in several spirited discussions, and Alan Boudreau and John Rogers for additional discussion and insight. We appreciate the help and use of the color CL at the Smithsonian Institution from Sorena Sorensen. Use of Duke University’s electron microprobe was essential to this work and we thank Alan Boudreau for his help.

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  1. Breck R. Johnson

    Present address: Anadarko Petroleum Corporation, 1201 Lake Robbins Dr, The Woodlands, TX, 77380, USA

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  1. Department of Geological Sciences, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599-3315, USA

    Breck R. Johnson & Allen F. Glazner

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Johnson, B.R., Glazner, A.F. Formation of K-feldspar megacrysts in granodioritic plutons by thermal cycling and late-stage textural coarsening. Contrib Mineral Petrol 159, 599–619 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00410-009-0444-z

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