Cryptic mineral-chemistry variations in a detailed traverse through the cumulate ultramafic rocks of the North Arm Mountain massif of the Bay of Islands ophiolite, Newfoundland

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
The compositions of cumulus olivine, orthopyroxene, and clinopyroxene from a detailed traverse through the upper portion of the cumulate ultramafic rocks from the North Arm Mountain massif of the Bay of Islands ophiolite complex have been determined. The compositions of olivine (Fo91.5–83.6), clinopyroxene (100 × Mg/(Mg + Fe) = 94.2–87.5) and orthopyroxene (100 × Mg/(Mg + Fe) = 90.8–85.1) within this traverse, when compared to the compositions of minerals that crystallize from oceanic basalts at various pressures, suggest that these cumulate ultramafic rocks crystallized from basaltic liquids at high pressures (>10 kb) in a subaxial magma conduit system. The mineral compositions, when plotted against stratigraphic height within the complex, define eleven different cryptic units over a ‘stratigraphic’ thickness of 136 m. The boundary of each of these cryptic units is marked by an abrupt discontinuity in mineral chemistry from somewhat fractionated to very primitive compositions, suggesting that batches of magma passing through the conduit system do not intermix with other batches of magma undergoing crystallization in the system.

This publication has 39 references indexed in Scilit: