Petrology and physical properties of granites from the Illinois Deep Hole in Stephenson County

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Abstract
Two main basement granitoid types have been identified in core samples from the Illinois deep hole project. The main variety is a medium‐ to coarse‐grained porphyritic biotite granite with phenocrysts of microcline perthite and less commonly quartz and sodic plagioclase in a matrix of these minerals and biotite, muscovite, fluorite, magnetite, ilmenite, zircon, hornblende, apatite, sphene, monazite, rutile, and clinopyroxene (relict). The texture is typically hypidiomorphic gradational to recrystallized xenomorphic. The second main granitoid, which occurs in the upper part of hole UPH 3, is a fine‐grained granoblastic to lepidoblastic gneissic granite that is distinct from and possibly older than the nonfoliated granite. The textures of both rocks have been modified by a mild cataclastic shearing that has partially recrystallized the more susceptible mineral phases. Thin fracture planes that crosscut the earlier foliations are common. Microprobe analyses indicate that biotites in the gneissic granite are chemically distinct from those in the granite. Biotites in the gneissic granite have higher Fe/Fe + Mg ratio, FeO, and Al2O3 and lower MgO and SiO2. Reflection microscopy and microprobe analyses indicate that the oxide phases in the two rocks are also different. The oxides in the granite are magnetite and ilmenite, whereas hematite and pseudobrookite occur in the gneissic granite. The biotite and Fe‐Ti oxide data represent additional evidence in support of the fact that the granite and gneissic granite are distinct rocks and probably not part of a continuous comagmatic sequence. Major element chemical analyses indicate that the granites have affinities to anorogenic rapakivi granites. The granites in the deep holes are high in SiO2, alkalis (Na2O+K2O), F, FeO/MgO; low in Al2O3, FeO, Fe2O3, TiO2, MnO, and P2O5; and slightly low in MgO and CaO. Magnetic susceptibility and density measurements correlate generally well with magnetic susceptibility and density logs. Magnetic susceptibilities range from 20 to 17,000 micro SI units; higher values correlate mainly with greater amounts of Fe‐Ti oxides and biotite; lower values with gneissic rocks and muscovite content. Density measurements range from 2.595 to 2.685 Mg/m3; denser rocks correlate positively with higher amounts of biotite and Fe‐Ti oxides and inversely with microcline perthite content.