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Mg-Al yttrian zirconolite in a partially melted sapphirine granulite, Vestfold Hills, East Antarctica

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 July 2018

Simon L. Harley*
Affiliation:
Department of Geology and Geophysics, Grant Institute, Kings Buildings, West Mains Road, Edinburgh, Scotland, EH9 3JW

Abstract

A new compositional variety of zirconolite characterized by high Mg, Al, Y2O3 and REE, and low Fe is described from a sapphirine granulite xenolith entrained in an intrusive norite body which was emplaced into the late Archaean (2520–2480 Ma) Vestfold Hills high-grade terrain during the early Proterozoic. The zirconolite, and similarly Mg-Al rich perrierite-(Ce), formed as a result of sanidinite facies partial melting of the particularly magnesian and aluminous sapphirine granulite xenolith during its incorporation into the c. 1170°C basic magma at c. 2240 Ma. The high REE compared to Al cations require that a previously unrecognized coupled substitution:

occurs in this zirconolite. Full chemical analyses are presented for zirconolite and perrierite from this unique occurrence.

Type
Mineralogy
Copyright
Copyright © The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 1994

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