The Moruya Batholith and geochemical contrasts between the Moruya and Jindabyne suites

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Abstract
Rocks of the Moruya Batholith range from gabbros and gabbroic diorites through quartz diorites and tonalites to granodiorites and rare adamellites. The gabbros and gabbroic diorites appear as small, early bodies intruded and enclosed by quartz diorites and tonalites. These early gabbroids are petrographically and chemically distinct from the granitoids. The latter occur as a meridionally‐oriented sequence of nine separate plutons. Mafic xenoliths are most abundant in the quartz diorites and tonalites; they are petrographically similar to their host granitoids and are chemically a more mafic extension of the variation in granitoid compositions. The various granitoid bodies are considered to be derived from similar source rocks, with the xenoliths representing modified material relict from partial melting of that source. Comparison of chemical data from the Moruya granitoids with those of the I‐types of the Jindabyne Suite in the Kosciusko Batholith, shows that the potassium content is indistinguishable in the two suites from each side of the Moruya‐Kosciusko Province, although elsewhere it has been shown to vary systematically across an orogenic belt. The most outstanding difference is the higher Na and Ti and lower Ca in the Moruya Batholith compared with those in Kosciusko Batholith I‐type granitoids.