Origin of the Tulameen ultramafic-gabbro complex, southern British Columbia

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Abstract
The Tulameen Complex is a composite ultramafic-gabbroic intrusion that outcrops over 22 sq. mi. (57 km2) in the Southern Cordillera of British Columbia. The complex intruded Upper Triassic metavolcanic and metasedimentary rocks of the Nicola Group, and on the basis of geologic relations and a K–Ar age determination (186 m.y.) is tentatively dated as Late Triassic.The principal ultramafic units — dunite, olivine clinopyroxenite, and hornblende clinopyroxenite — form an elongate, non-stratiform body whose irregular internal structure is best explained by deformation contemporaneous with crystallization of the rocks. The derivation of the ultramafic rocks is attributed to fractional crystallization of an ultrabasic magma. The gabbroic mass, which consists of syenogabbro and syenodiorite, partly borders and partly overlies the ultramafic body and was apparently intruded by it.The ultramafic and gabbroic parts of the complex probably formed from separate intrusions of different magmas, but the two suites have sufficient mineralogical and chemical features in common to indicate an ultimate petrogenic affinity of the magmas. Comparison of the Tulameen rocks with nearby intrusions of the same general age, in particular the Copper Mountain stock, suggests that they are members of a regional suite of alkalic intrusions. The possibility is also raised that these intrusions may be comagmatic with the Nicola volcanic rocks.

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