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Clinopyroxene composition in mafic lavas from different tectonic settings

Nisbet, Euan G. and Pearce, Julian A. 1977. Clinopyroxene composition in mafic lavas from different tectonic settings. Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology 63 (2) , pp. 149-160. 10.1007/bf00398776

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Abstract

Many metamorphosed and weathered basalts contain fresh clinopyroxene crystals set in an altered groundmass. Microprobe analysis of these relict grains can be used to identify the magma type of the host lava. Statistical discrimination of clinopyroxenes from known magma types provides a test of the effectiveness of this method, showing that any attempt to classify an unknown clinopyroxene as either an ocean-floor basalt, a volcanic arc basalt, a within plate tholeiite or a within plate alkali basalt magma type should have a 70% chance of success. Identification of within plate alkali basalts is most likely to be successful because their pyroxenes characteristically have high Na and Ti and low Si contents. Within plate tholeiites can usually be distinguished from volcanic arc basalts because their pyroxenes contain more Ti, Fe and Mn. However, neither of these last two magma types can be easily distinguished from ocean floor basalts on the basis of pyroxene analyses. Diagrams of pyroxene composition based on discriminant functions and on Na2O vs MnO vs TiO2, SiO2 vs TiO2 and SiO2 vs Al2O3 provide the basis for visual discrimination. The discrimination achieved is mainly due to differences in the bulk chemistry of the host magmas and in the partitioning of cations into the pyroxene lattice; differences in temperature and crystallization histroy of the magmas are of lesser, but nevertheless finite, importance. Application of this technique to pyroxenes in metabasalts from Othris, Greece gave results consistent with, but more ambiguous than, results obtained from immobile trace element studies.

Item Type: Article
Date Type: Publication
Status: Published
Schools: Earth and Environmental Sciences
Subjects: Q Science > QE Geology
ISSN: 0010-7999
Last Modified: 04 Jun 2017 02:04
URI: https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/8490

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