Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-vdxz6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T10:41:25.016Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Petrogenetic implications of garnets associated with lithium pegmatites from SE Ireland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 July 2018

Martin P. Whitworth*
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Imperial College, London SW7 2BP, U.K.

Abstract

Spodumene pegmatites, aplites and schists from the Aclare Li prospect of SE Ireland host sporadically developed, small, red, euhedral garnets. Chemical data indicate that the pegmatite- and aplite-hosted garnets are rich in spessartine and are similar to garnets in many African Li-rich pegmatites. Partial melting as a source of the garnets is unlikely due to the large spessartine component, the abundance of inclusions within the garnets and the general P-T-X evolution of the pegmatite body. It is suggested that an aqueous fluid was exsolved during pegmatite crystallisation and complexed available Mn. Movement of this fluid to the intermediate zone of the pegmatite body produced areas of high Mn concentrations which permitted the crystallisation of spessartine-rich garnets at low pressures (<3 kbar).

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 2014

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

Present address: Primary Processes Department, Process Development Group, British Steel Technical, Teesside Laboratories, Middlesbrough TS6 6UB, UK

References

Allan, B. D. and Clarke, D. B. (1981) Occurrence and origin of garnets in the South Mountain batholith. Nova Scotia, Canada. Can. Mineral. 19, 1924.Google Scholar
Baldwin, J. R. and yon Knorring, O. (1983) Compositional range of Mn-garnet in zoned granitic pegmatites. Ibid. 21, 683-8.Google Scholar
Brindley, J. C. (1973) The Structural setting of the Leinster granite, Ireland. Sci. Proc. R. Dublin Soc,, Ser. A5, 27-36.Google Scholar
Brück, P. M. (1974) Granite varieties and structures of the Northern and Upper Liffey Valley Units of the Leinster batholith. Bull. Geol. Surv. Ireland, 1, 381–94.Google Scholar
Brück, P. M. and O'Connor, P. J. (1977) The Leinster batholith: geology and geochemistry of the northern units. Ibid. 2, 107-42.Google Scholar
Brück, P. M., Colthurst, J. R. J., Feely, M., Gardiner, P. R. R., Penney, S. R., Reeves, T. J., Shannon, P. M., Smith, D. G., and Vanguestaine, M. (1979) Southeast Ireland: Lower Palaeozoic stratigraphy and deposit- ional history. In The Caledonides of the British Isles—Reviewed (Harris, A. L., Holland, C. H., and Leake, B. E., eds). Scottish Academic Press, 533-44.Google Scholar
Burnham, C. W. and Nekvasil, H., (1986) Equilibrium properties of granite pegmatite melts. Am. Mineral. 71, 239–63.Google Scholar
Černy, P. (1982) Anatomy and classification of granitic pegmatites. I. Short course in granitic pegmatites in science and industry (Serny, P., ed), Mineralogical Association of Canada 8, 140.Google Scholar
Černy, P. and Hawthorne, F. C. (1982) Selected peralu- minous minerals. Ibid. 163-8.Google Scholar
Davies, G. R. (1983) The isotope evolution of the British lithosphere. Unpubl. Ph.D. thesis, Open University.Google Scholar
du Bray, E. A. (1988) Garnet compositions and their use as indicators of peraluminous granitoid petrogenesis-—southeastern Arabian Shield. Contrib, Mineral. Petrol. 100, 205–12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fenn, P. M. (1986) On the origin of graphic granite. Am. Mineral. 71, 325–30.Google Scholar
Fitton, J. G. (1972) The genetic significance of alman- dine—pyrope phenocrysts in the calcalkaline Borrow- dale volcanic group, Northern England. Contrib. Mineral. Petrol. 36, 231–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gallagher, V. (1987) Tourmaline-bearing rocks and granite-related metallogenesis in SE Ireland. Unpubl. Ph.D. thesis, Nat. Univ. Ireland.Google Scholar
Gallagher, V.(1989) Geological and isotope studies of micro- tonalite-hosted mineralization in SE Ireland. Mineral. Deposita, 24, 1928.Google Scholar
Green, T. H. (1977) Garnet in silicic liquids and its possible use as a P-T indicator. Contrib. Mineral. Petrol. 65, 5967.10.1007/BF00373571CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Green, T. H. and Ringwood, A. E. (1968) Origin of garnet phenocrysts in calc-alkaline rocks. Ibid. 18, 163-74.10.1007/BF00371807CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harrison, T. N. (1988) Magmatic garnets in the Cairngorm granite, Scotland. Mineral. Mag. 52, 659–8.10.1180/minmag.1988.052.368.10CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hildreth, W. (1981) Gradients in silicic magma chambers: implications for lithospheric magmatism. J. Geophys. Res. 86, 10153-92.10.1029/JB086iB11p10153CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kennan, P. S., McArdle, P., Williams, F. M., and Doyle, E. (1986) A Review of metal deposits associated with the Leinster granite, SE Ireland and a model for their genesis. In Geology and genesis of mineral deposits in Ireland (Andrews, C. J. et al., eds), 1.A.E.G., Dublin, 201-10.Google Scholar
Leake, B. E. (1967) Zoned garnets from the Galway granite and its aplite. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 3, 311-5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
London, D., Hervig, R. L., and Morgan, G. B. (1988) Melt-vapour solubilities and elemental partitioning in peraluminous granite-pegmatite systems: experimental results with Macusani glass at 200 MPa. Contrib. Mineral. Petrol. 99, 360–73.10.1007/BF00375368CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lueckc, W. (1981) Lithium pegmatites in the Leinster granite (southeast Ireland). Chem. Geol. 34, 195233.10.1016/0009-2541(81)90113-3CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Manning, D. A. C. (1983) Chemical variation in garnets from aplites and pegmatites, peninsular Thailand. Mineral. Mag. 47, 353–58.10.1180/minmag.1983.047.344.10CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McArdle, P. (1981) The Country rocks flanking the Leinster granite between Aughrim and Ballymurphy. Bull. Geol. Surv. Ireland, 3, 8595.Google Scholar
McArdle, P. and Kennan, P. S. (1987) The distribution, genesis and potential of tungsten, lithium and associated metal deposits in the SE margin of the Leinster Granite. Ibid. 4, 27-40.Google Scholar
McArdle, P. (1988) Controls on the occurrence and distri- butions of tungsten and lithium deposits on the southeast margin of the Leinster Granite, Ireland. In Mineral deposits of the European Community (Bois-sonnas, J. and Omenetto, P. eds), Spec. Pub. No. 6, Soc. Geol. Appl. Min. Dep., Springcr-Verlag, Berlin, 199209.10.1007/978-3-642-51858-4_11CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McArdle, P. and Kennedy, M. J. (1985) The East Carlow deformation zone and its regional implications. Bull. Geol. Surv. Ireland, 3, 237–55.Google Scholar
Miller, C. F. and Stoddard, E. F. (1981) The role of manganese in the paragenesis of magmatic garnet: an example from the Old Woman-Piute range, California. J. Geol. 89, 233–46.10.1086/628582CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O'Connor, P. J., Aftalion, M., and Kennan, P. S. (1989) Isotopic U-Pb ages of zircon and monazite from the Leinster Granite, southeast Ireland. Geol. Mag. 126, 725–28.10.1017/S0016756800007044CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pichavant, M., Kontak, D. J., Briqueu, L., Valencia Herrera, J., and Clark, A. H. (1988) The Miocene-Pliocene Macusani Volcanics, SE Peru 2. Geochemistry and origin of a felsic peraluminous magma. Contrib. Mineral. Petrol. 100, 325–38.10.1007/BF00379742CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scoon, R. N. (1978) Lithium pegmatites in the Leinster granites of southeast Ireland. Unpubl. M.Sc. thesis, Univ. College, Cardiff.Google Scholar
Steiger, R. and von Knorring, O. (1974) A lithium pegmatite belt in Ireland. J. Earth Sci., Leeds Geol. Assoc. 8, 433–43.Google Scholar
Stone, M. (1988) The significance of almandine garnets in the Lundy and Dartmoor granites. Mineral. Mag. 52, 651–8.10.1180/minmag.1988.052.368.09CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sweetman, T. M. (1988) The Geochemistry of the Blackstairs Unit of the Leinster granite, Ireland. J. Geol. Soc. 144, 971–84.10.1144/gsjgs.144.6.0971CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sutherland, D. S. (1982) Alkaline intrusions of north-west Scotland. In Igneous rocks of the British Isles (Sutherland, D. S., ed.), Wiley, 203-14.Google Scholar
Whitworth, M. P. (1989) Magmatic and hydrothermal processes during petrogenesis and lithium mineralisation of granite pegmatites of SE Ireland. Unpubl. Ph.D. thesis, Imperial College, Univ. of London.Google Scholar
Whitworth, M. P. and Feely, M. (1989) The geochemistry of selected pegmatites and their host granites from the Galway Granite, western Ireland. Ir. J. Earth Sci. 10, 8997.Google Scholar
Whitworth, M. P. and Rankin, A. H. (1989) Evolution of fluid phases associated with the lithium pegmatites of SE Ireland. Mineral. Mag. 53, 271–84.10.1180/minmag.1989.053.371.01CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rankin, A. H., and Spiro, B. (1989) Diverse fluid phases associated with the crystallisation and al-teration of lithium pegmatites at Moylisha and Stranakelly, SE Ireland. In Water-Rock Interaction WRI-6, Proceedings of the Sixth International Symposium, Malvern, UK (Miles, D. L., ed.), 769-72.Google Scholar
Williams, F. M. and Kennan, P. S. (1983) Stable isotope studies of sulphide mineralization on the Leinster granite margin and some observations on its relationship to coticule and tourmalinite rocks in the aureole. Mineral. Deposita, 18, 399410.10.1007/BF00206488CrossRefGoogle Scholar