Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Genesis of carbonate in pyrope from ultramafic diatremes on the Colorado Plateau, southwestern United States

  • Published:
Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Mineral associations and compositions of carbonates within pyrope crystals are clues to the genesis of mantle carbonate and to the character of metasomatic melts in depleted peridotite. The pyrope crystals are in ultramafic diatremes of the Navajo field on the Colorado Plateau. Although inclusions of olivine and pyroxene are typically monomineralic, 4 of 6 inclusions of carbonates and hydrates are polymineralic. Polymineralic assemblages include: pargasite-magnesite-dolomite-apatite-spinel; pargasite-dolomite-Ba phlogopite (with 10% BaO); olivine-dolomite-spinel; edenite-chlorite; and olivine-ilmenite-spinel. Magnesite and chlorite are present also as monomineralic inclusions. The two inclusions with pargasite plus carbonate are in the same garnet; the association of carbonates plus hydrates and the enrichment in Ba are evidence that the included minerals originated from melt trapped in pyrope. The pargasite and mica are F-poor and contain about 0.4 and 1.1 wt% Cl, respectively, more than any other analyzed mantle amphibole or mica. If the parent melts of such inclusions are similar to those responsible for trace-element metasomatism of continental lithosphere, then these melts have higher Cl/F ratios than those inferred from typical xenolith minerals. Amphibole-garnet and olivine-spinel equilibration temperatures are in the range 500–700° C, so the garnets cooled to low temperatures within the mantle following inclusion of melt. All the hydrates and carbonates may have formed from trapped melt, but evidence is strong only for the complex pargasite-carbonate-mica inclusions. Two garnets containing chlorite are more Cr-rich and Fe-poor than most other inclusion-bearing pyropes, and the chlorite may have been included during prograde metamorphism of subducted lithosphere.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Andersen T, O'Reilly SY, Griffin WL (1984) The trapped fluid phase in upper mantle xenoliths from Victoria, Australia: implications for mantle metasomatism. Contrib Mineral Petrol 88:72–85

    Google Scholar 

  • Aoki K, Ishiwaka K, Kanisawa S (1981) Fluorine geochemistry of basaltic rocks from continental and oceanic regions and petrogenetic application. Contrib Mineral Petrol 76:53–59

    Google Scholar 

  • Bence AE, Albee AL (1968) Empirical correction factors for the electron microanalysis of silicates and oxides. J Geol 76:382–403

    Google Scholar 

  • Berg GW (1986) Evidence for carbonate in the mantle. Nature 324:50–51

    Google Scholar 

  • Boettcher AL (1984) The source regions of alkaline volcanoes. In: Explosive volcanism: inception, evolution, and hazards. National Academy Press, Washington, D.C., pp 13–22

    Google Scholar 

  • Boettcher AL, O'Neil JR (1980) Stable isotope, chemical, and petrographic studies of high-pressure amphiboles and micas: evidence for metasomatism in the mantle source regions of alkali basalts and kimberlites. Am J Sci 280-A:594–621

    Google Scholar 

  • Boyd FR, Gurney JJ (1982) Low-calcium garnets: keys to craton structure and diamond crystallization. Carnegie Inst Washington Yearb 81:261–267

    Google Scholar 

  • Byrnes AP, Wyllie PJ (1981) Subsolidus and melting relations for the join CaCO3-MgCO3 at 10 kbar. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 45:321–328

    Google Scholar 

  • Dawson JB (1984) Contrasting types of upper-mantle metasomatism. In: Kornprobst J (ed) Kimberlites II: the mantle and crust-mantle relationships. Elsevier, New York, pp 289–294

    Google Scholar 

  • Eggler DH (1975) Peridotite-carbonate relations in the system CaO-MgO-SiO2-CO2. Carnegie Inst Washington Yearb 74:468–474

    Google Scholar 

  • Eggler DH (1987) Solubility of major and trace elements in mantle metasomatic fluids: experimental constraints. In: Menzies MA, Hawkesworth CJ (eds) Mantle metasomatism. Academic Press, New York, pp 21–41

    Google Scholar 

  • Ehrenberg SN (1982) Rare earth element geochemistry of garnet lherzolite and megacrystalline nodules from minette of the Colorado Plateau province. Earth Planet Sci Lett 57:191–210

    Google Scholar 

  • Ellis AJ, Mahon WAJ (1964) Natural hydrothermal systems and experimental hot-water/rock interactions. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 28:1323–1357

    Google Scholar 

  • Engi M, Lindsley DH (1980) Stability of titanian clinohumite: experiments and thermodynamic analysis. Contrib Mineral Petrol 72:415–424

    Google Scholar 

  • Erlank AJ, Waters FG, Hawkesworth CJ, Haggerty SE, Allsopp HL, Rickard RS, Menzies M (1987) Evidence for mantle metasomatism in peridotite nodules from the Kimberley pipes, South Africa. In: Menzies MA, Hawkesworth CJ (eds) Mantle metasomatism. Academic Press, New York, pp 221–311

    Google Scholar 

  • Evans BW, Trommsdorff V (1978) Petrogenesis of garnet lherzolite, Cima di Gagnone, Lepontine Alps. Earth Planet Sci Lett 40:333–348

    Google Scholar 

  • Fabries J (1979) Spinel-olivine geothermometry in peridotites from ultramafic complexes. Contrib Mineral Petrol 69:329–336

    Google Scholar 

  • Field SW, Haggerty SH, Erlank AJ (1986) Subcontinental lithospheric and asthenospheric metasomatism in the region of Jagersfontein South Africa. Geol Soc 16:235–237

    Google Scholar 

  • Frey FA, Green DH (1974) The mineralogy, geochemistry and origin of lherzolite inclusions in Victorian basanites. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 38:1023–1059

    Google Scholar 

  • Fujii T (1978) Fe-Mg partitioning between olivine and spinel. Carnegie Inst Washington Yearb 76:563–569

    Google Scholar 

  • Graham CM, Powell R (1984) A garnet-hornblende geothermometer: calibration, testing, and application to the Pelona Schist, southern California. J Metamorph Geol 2:13–31

    Google Scholar 

  • Guggenheim S (1984) The brittle micas. In: Bailey SW (ed) Micas. Mineral Soc Am Rev Mineral 13:61–104

  • Haggerty SE, Tompkins LA (1984) Subsolidus reactions in kimberlitic ilmenites: exsolution, reduction and the redox state of the mantle. In: Kornprobst J (ed) Proc 3rd Int Kimberlite Conf 1:335–357

  • Haggerty SE, Erlank AJ, Grey IE (1986) Metasomatic mineral titanate complexing in the upper mantle. Nature 319:761–763

    Google Scholar 

  • Hawkesworth CJ, Fraser KJ, Rogers NW (1985) Kimberlites and lamproites: extreme products of mantle enrichment processes. Trans Geol Soc S Afr 88:439–447

    Google Scholar 

  • Helmstaedt H, Doig R (1975) Eclogite nodules from kimberlite pipes of the Colorado Plateau — samples of subducted Franciscan-type oceanic lithosphere. Phys Chem Earth 9:95–111

    Google Scholar 

  • Hervig RL, Smith JV (1981) Dolomite-apatite inclusion in chromediopside crystal, Bellsbank kimberlite, South Africa. Am Mineral 66:346–349

    Google Scholar 

  • Hunter WC (1979) The Garnet Ridge and Red Mesa kimberlitic diatremes, Colorado Plateau: geology, mineral chemistry, and geothermobarometry. Doctoral dissertation, University of Texas, Austin, p 230

    Google Scholar 

  • Hunter WC, Smith D (1981) Garnet peridotite from Colorado Plateau ultramafic diatremes: hydrates, carbonates, and comparative geothermometry. Contrib Mineral Petrol 76:312–320

    Google Scholar 

  • Jenkins DM, Chernosky JV (1986) Phase equilibria and crystallochemical properties of Mg-chlorite. Am Mineral 71:924–936

    Google Scholar 

  • Malde HE, Thaden RC (1963) Serpentine at Garnet Ridge. US Geol Surv Bull 1103:54–61

    Google Scholar 

  • McGetchin TR, Besancon JR (1973) Carbonate inclusions in mantle-derived pyropes. Earth Planet Sci Lett 18:408–410

    Google Scholar 

  • McGetchin TR, Silver LT (1970) Compositional relations in minerals from kimberlite and related rocks in the Moses Rock dike, San Juan County, Utah. Am Mineral 55:1738–1771

    Google Scholar 

  • McGetchin TR, Nikhanj YS, Chodos AA (1973) Carbonatite-kimberlite relations in the Cane Valley diatreme, San Juan County, Utah. J Geophys Res 78:1854–1869

    Google Scholar 

  • Menzies MA, Wass SY (1983) CO2- and LREE-rich mantle below eastern Australia: a REE and isotopic study of alkaline magmas and apatite-rich mantle xenoliths from the Southern Highlands Province, Australia. Earth Planet Sci Lett 65:287–302

    Google Scholar 

  • O'Hara MJ, Mercy ELP (1966) Eclogite, peridotite and pyrope from the Navajo country, Arizona and New Mexico. Am Mineral 51:336–352

    Google Scholar 

  • Roden MF (1981) Origin of coexisting minette and ultramafic breccia, Navajo volcanic field. Contrib Mineral Petrol 77:195–206

    Google Scholar 

  • Roden MF, Murthy VR (1985) Mantle metasomatism. Ann Rev Earth Planet Sci 13:269–296

    Google Scholar 

  • Roedder E (1965) Liquid CO2 inclusions in olivine-bearing nodules and phenocrysts from basalts. Am Mineral 50:1746–1782

    Google Scholar 

  • Roeder PL, Campbell IH, Jamieson HE (1979) A re-evaluation of the olivine-spinel geothermometer. Contrib Mineral Petrol 68:325–334

    Google Scholar 

  • Rogers NW, Bachinski SW, Henderson P, Parry SJ (1982) Origin of potash-rich basic lamprophyres: trace element data from Arizona minettes. Earth Planet Sci Lett 57:305–312

    Google Scholar 

  • Rosenfeld JL, Chase AB (1961) Pressure and temperature of crystallization from elastic effects around solid inclusions in minerals? Am J Sci 259:519–541

    Google Scholar 

  • Schilling JG, Bergeron MB, Evans R (1980) Halogens in the mantle beneath the North Atlantic. Philos Tran R Soc London A 297:147–178

    Google Scholar 

  • Schulze DJ (1985) Evidence for primary kimberlitic liquids in megacrysts from kimberlites in Kentucky USA. J Geol 93:75–79

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith D (1979) Hydrous minerals and carbonates in peridotite inclusions from the Green Knobs and Buell Park kimberlitic diatremes on the Colorado Plateau. In: Boyd FR, Meyer HOA (eds) Proc 2nd Int Kimberlite Conf 2:345–356

  • Smith D, Wilson CR (1985) Garnet-olivine equilibration during cooling in the mantle. Am Mineral 70:30–39

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith D, Zientek M (1979) Mineral chemistry and zoning in eclogite inclusions from Colorado Plateau diatremes. Contrib Mineral Petrol 69:119–131

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith JV (1981) Halogen and phosphorus storage in the Earth. Nature 289:762–765

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith JV, Delaney JS, Hervig RL, Dawson JB (1981) Storage of F and Cl in the upper mantle: geochemical implications. Lithos 14:133–147

    Google Scholar 

  • Wass SY (1979) Fractional crystallization in the mantle of latestage kimberlitic liquids — evidence in xenoliths from the Kiama area, N.S.W. In: Boyd FR, Meyer HOA (eds) Proc 2nd Int Kimberlite Conf 2:366–373

  • Wilson CR, Smith D (1984) Cooling rate estimates from mineral zonation: resolving power and applications. In: Kornprobst J (ed) Proc 3rd Int Kimberlite Conf 2:265–276

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geological Sciences, University of Texas, 78713, Austin, TX, USA

    Douglas Smith

Authors
  1. Douglas Smith
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Smith, D. Genesis of carbonate in pyrope from ultramafic diatremes on the Colorado Plateau, southwestern United States. Contr. Mineral. and Petrol. 97, 389–396 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00372001

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00372001

Keywords

Search

Navigation