Mount Mica is a poorly zoned sodic LCT-type pegmatite consisting dominantly of quartz, albite and muscovite in the outer portions. Potassium feldspar and lepidolite are restricted to the core zone. Micas in the wall zone are chemically homogeneous, but abruptly evolve into higher Cs + Rb bearing lithian muscovites and lepidolites in the core zone. The abrupt increase of the Cs, Rb in K-feldspar, and Cs, Rb and F in muscovite, and lepidolite combined with the occurrence of highly evolved species lepidolite, pollucite, elbaite, beryl and spodumene in the core zone suggests that incompatible elements were retained in residual fluid until their concentration was high enough to initiate crystallization of incompatible-rich mineral phases. The relatively low abundance of incompatible elements in the hanging wall suggest that the fractionation process was efficient in sweeping incompatibles into the core-zone, producing proportionally small volumes inside the pegmatite with very high enrichment in incompatible elements.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uno.edu/oai:scholarworks.uno.edu:td-2873 |
| Date | 16 May 2014 |
| Creators | Marchal, Karen L |
| Publisher | ScholarWorks@UNO |
| Source Sets | University of New Orleans |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations |
Page generated in 0.0025 seconds