Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Western Australia, 2006.

Thesis (Ph.D.) - Carleton University, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 220-240). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

Des liquides riches en K2O ( K2O > 2 pds. % ; K2O/Na2O > 1) sont observés dans la majeure partie des contextes géodynamiques sur Terre. Ces liquides sont principalement caractérisés par leurs teneurs en K2O variant entre 3 et 13 pds. % et des rapports K2O/Na2O de 1 – 40. Les compositions chimiques des différents groupes de liquides riches en K2O observés sont extrêmement variables, depuis des termes très sous-saturés en silice (kamafugites, kimberlites, lamproïtes madupitiques à olivine) à des termes sur-saturés en silice (shoshonites, lamproïtes à phlogopite). Ces fortes teneurs en K2O et les rapports K2O/ Na2O élevés ne peuvent pas être obtenus par la fusion de péridotites fertiles ou réfractaires. Des expériences de fusion partielle en piston-cylindre ont été réalisées sur des péridotites à phlogopite ± amphibole dans les domaines de stabilité du spinelle et du grenat (1 et 3 GPa) afin de déterminer la capacité du manteau lithosphérique à produire des liquides riches en K2O. La présence de faibles teneurs en fluor dans le matériel de départ stabilise le phlogopite à des températures supérieures aux études antérieures. Les faibles degrés de fusion obtenus à 1 GPa sont sur-saturés en silice et leur teneur en K2O est tamponnée à 4 – 6 pds. % par la présence de phlogopite résiduel pour des péridotites fertile et réfractaire, respectivement. Les expériences réalisées à 3 GPa montrent que les premiers degrés de fusion sont sous-saturés en silice mais plus riches en K2O (6 – 8 pds. % pour la lherzolite et la harzburgite, respectivement) que dans le domaine du spinelle, démontrant l’importance de la pression sur la genèse de liquides riches en K2O. Les modélisations réalisées montrent également que l’augmentation de la proportion de phlogopite dans la source ne modifie pas la teneur en K2O des liquides formés mais diminue leurs rapports K2O/Na2O. Par conséquent, la fusion de péridotite à phlogopite dans la gamme de pression étudiée ne permet pas d’obtenir des liquides aussi riches en K2O que certains lamproïtes et kamafugites. Une série d’expériences réalisée sur du phlogopite pur à 1 et 3 GPa montrent que les liquides dérivés de telles sources sont très riches en K2O (12 – 14 pds. %) et comparables aux lamproïtes. Les différentes lithologies dans le manteau ne permettent cependant pas d’expliquer la grande gamme de composition des liquides riches en K2O et nécessitent des conditions riches en éléments volatils (H2O, CO2, F) et des fugacités d’oxygène réductrices. / K2O-rich melts (K2O > 2 wt. %; K2O/Na2O > 1) have been described in all of the major geodynamic settings on Earth. These melts are mainly characterized by their huge K2O content, ranging between 2 – 13 wt. % and K2O/Na 2 O ratios of 1 – 40. The chemical compositions of the different K2O-rich melt groups span a very high variability, from strongly silica undersaturated melts (kamfugites, kimberlites, madupitic lamproites) to silica-rich terms (shoshonites, phlogopite lamproites). These very high K2O contents together with strong K2O/Na2O ratios cannot be derived from partial melting of fertile or depleted peridotites. Partial melting experiments have been conducted in piston cylinder apparatus on phlogopite ± amphibole-peridotite in the spinel and garnet stability fields (1 – 3 GPa) in order to determine the ability of the lithospheric mantle to produce K2O-rich melts. The presence of small amounts of fluorine in the starting material leads to stabilize phlogopite at higher temperatures than previously determined. The first degrees of melting at 1 GPa are silica-rich and their K2O contents are buffered to 4 – 6 wt. % in the presence of residual phlogopite, depending on the source fertility (lherzolite and harzburgite, respectively). In the garnet stability field at 3 GPa, low-degree melts are silica-undersaturated but are enriched in K2O, compared to the garnet stability field: from 6 to 8 wt. % in lherzolite and harzburgite sources, respectively. These results suggest that pressure is a key parameter in the mantle to produce K2O-rich melts. Partition coefficient modelings show that increasing the phlogopite proportion in the mantle source does not modify the K2O content of derived melts, but decreases their K2O/Na2O ratios. Consequently, partial melting of phlogopite-peridotite in this range of pressure cannot accounts for the highest K2O contents observed in natural lamproites and kamafugites. A series of experiments has been realized on pure phlogopite at 1 and 3 GPa, showing that derived melts are strongly enriched in K2O (12 – 14 wt. %) and share chemical affinities with lamproites. Peridotite or pyroxenite melting in the presence of phlogopite, however, do not permit to reproduce the high chemical variability of natural K2O-rich melts requires volatile-rich conditions (H2O, CO2, F) and reduced oxygen fugacities.

<Truncated abstract> The Neoproterozoic (815.4 ± 4.3 Ma) Aries kimberlite intrudes the King Leopold Sandstone and the Carson Volcanics in the central Kimberley Basin, northern Western Australia. Aries is comprised of a N-NNE-trending series of three diatremes and associated hypabyssal kimberlite dykes and plugs. The diatremes are volumetrically dominated by massive, clast-supported, accidental lithic-rich kimberlite breccias that were intruded by hypabyssal macrocrystic phlogopite kimberlite dykes and plugs with variably uniform- to globular segregationary-textured groundmasses. Lower diatremefacies, accidental lithic-rich breccias probably formed through fall-back of debris into the vent with a major contribution from the collapse of the vent walls. These massive breccias are overlain by a sequence of bedded volcaniclastic breccias in the upper part of the north lobe diatreme. Abundant, poorly-vesicular to nonvesicular, juvenile kimberlite ash and lapilli, with morphologies that are indicative of phreatomagmatic fragmentation processes, occur in a reversely-graded volcaniclastic kimberlite breccia unit at the base of this sequence. This unit and overlying bedded accidental lithic-rich breccias are interpreted to be sediment gravity-flow deposits (including possible debris flows) derived from the collapse of the crater walls and/or tephra ring deposits that surrounded the crater. ... This Fe-enrichment may have resulted from Fe-Mg exchange with olivine during slow cooling of the peridotite host rocks. Textures reflecting the cooling history of some mantle xenoliths are preserved in the form of fine exsolution rods of aluminous spinel in diopside and zircon in rutile grains in aluminous spinel- and rutile-bearing serpentinised ultramafic xenoliths, respectively. These textures suggest nearly isobaric cooling of host rocks in the lithospheric mantle, and indicate that at least some aluminous spinel in spinel-facies peridotites formed through exsolution from chromian 4 diopside. Episodes of Fe-Ti-rich metasomatism in the spinel-facies Kimberley mantle are the likely source of high-Ti phlogopite-biotite + rutile and Ti, V, Zn, Ni-enriched aluminous spinel ± ilmenite associations in several ultramafic xenoliths. U-Pb SHRIMP 207Pb/206Pb zircon ages for one granite (1851 ± 10 Ma) and two serpentinised ultramafic xenoliths (1845 ± 30 Ma; 1861 ± 31 Ma) indicate that the granitic basement and lower crust beneath the central Kimberley Basin are at least Palaeoproterozoic in age. However, Hf-isotope analyses of the zircons in the ultramafic xenoliths suggest that the underlying lithospheric mantle is at least late Archaean in age.