Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-m6dg7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-20T01:36:10.819Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

High-temperature pyroxenes from an ironstone at Scourie, Sutherland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 July 2018

A. C. Barnicoat
Affiliation:
Grant Institute of Geology, University of Edinburgh
M. J. O'Hara
Affiliation:
Now at University College, Aberystwyth

Summary

The coexistence of clinopyroxene (Wo18 En32 Fs44 Rh06) and pigeonite (W08 En35 Fs50 Rh07) in a meta-ironstone from Scourie is described. By comparison with experimental data, the temperature at which they were in equilibrium is estimated as at least 1000°C. The exsolution history of the two pyroxenes is documented. As the rock is an unambiguous metasediment, its presence among granulite facies rocks containing evidence of metamorphism at pressures greater than 10 kbar constrains at least part of the Scourie complex to a supracrustal origin and indicates that tectonic processes of burial were operative in the late Archaean.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 1979

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.)

References

Barooah, (B. C.), 1970. Significance of calc-silicate rocks and meta-arkose in the Lewisian complex south-east of Scourie. Scot, J. Geol. 6, 221-5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bostwick, (T. R.), 1976. The effect of Mn in the stability and phase relations of iron-rich pyroxenes. Unpubl. MS thesis, State University of New York at Stony Brook.Google Scholar
Bowdidge, (C. R.), 1969. Petrological studies of Lewisian basic and ultrabasic rocks near Scourie, Sutherland. Unpubl. Ph.D. thesis, University of Edinburgh.Google Scholar
Floran, (R. J.) and Papike, (J. J.), 1978. Mineralogy and petrology of the Gunflint iron formation, Minnesota-Ontario: correlation of compositional and assemblage variations at low to moderate grades. J. Petrol. 19, 215 88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Herzberg, (C. J.), 1975. The stability of pyrope-rich garnet within the spinellherzolite facies. Progress in Experimental Petrology, third report. NERC publications, Series D, No. 6, 1976.Google Scholar
Holland, (G. J.) and Lambert, (R.St.J.), 1975. The chemistry and origin of the Lewisian gneisses of the Scottish mainland: the Scourie and lower assemblages and sub-crustal accretion. Precambrian Res. 2, 161-88.10.1016/0301-9268(75)90002-9CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lindh, (A.), 1974. Manganese distribution between co-existing pyroxenes. Neues Jahrb. Mineral., Monatsh. 335-45.Google Scholar
Lindsley, (D. H.), King, (H. E.), Turnock, (A. C.), and Groves, (J. E.), 1974a. Phase relations in the pyroxene quadrilateral at 980°C and 15 kbar. Geol. Soc. Am. Abstracts with Programs. 6, 846.Google Scholar
Lindsley, (D. H.) Tso, (J.), and Heyse, (J. V.), 1974b. Effect of Mn on the stability of pigeonite. Ibid. 6, 846-7.Google Scholar
Mori, (T.), 1978. Experimental study of pyroxene equilibria in the FeO system CaO MgO-FeO-SiO2 . J. Petrol. 19, 45-65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Muecke, (G. K.), 1969. Petrogenesis of granulite facies rocks from the Lewisian of North-west Scotland. Unpubl. D.Phil. thesis, University of Oxford.Google Scholar
O'Hara, (M. J.), 1977. Thermal history of excavation of Archaean gneisses from the base of the continental crust. J. Geol. Soc. Lond. 134, 185-200.10.1144/gsjgs.134.2.0185CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O'Hara, (M. J.) and Yarwood, (G.), 1978. High pressuretemperature point on an Archean geotherm, implied magma genesis by crustal anatexis, and consequences for garnet-pyroxene thermometry and barometry. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. A 288, 44∼-56.Google Scholar
Ross, (M.) and Huebner, (J. S.), 1975. A pyroxene geother-mometer based on composition temperature relationships of naturally occurring orthopyroxene, pigeonite and augite. Extended abstracts, International conference on geothermometry and geobarometry, Pennsylvania State University.Google Scholar
Statham, (P. J.), 1976. A comparative study of techniques for quantitative analysis of X-ray spectron obtained with a Si(Li) detector. X-ray Spectrom. 5, 16 28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar