Petrology of a piemontite-bearing gneiss, San Gorgonio Pass, California

Abstract

Equilibria between different valence states of Fe and Mn have been studied in a microcline-plagioclase-quartz gneiss which locally contains ferromagnesian minerals unusually high in Mn⁺³ and Fe⁺³ and low in Fe⁺². The compositions of coexistent minerals have been determined by chemical and microprobe analyses. The minerals in some layers were formed under highly-oxidizing conditions, as indicated by extremely low Fe⁺²/Fe⁺³ ratios in the silicates, by the presence of hematite, and by the occurrence of piemontite, which requires Mn⁺³ for its formation. The minerals in other layers were formed under less-oxidizing conditions, as indicated by the fact that epidote, rather than piemontite, crystallized with Mn-rich garnet and by the presence of biotite rather than phlogopite. In the less-oxidized layers Mn⁺³ appears to be absent. The differences in oxidation of Fe and Mn occur between adjacent layers and probably reflect sedimentary differences preserved despite the metamorphism.

Iron and manganese with different valences are sharply partitioned between the coexisting phases. In highly-oxidized layers, muscovite contains more iron (as Fe⁺³) than coexistent phlogopite; in piemontite most of the manganese is Mn⁺³, while in coexistent garnet most of the manganese is Mn⁺². In less-oxidized layers, epidote contains no Mn⁺³ and contains less Mn⁺² than coexistent garnet, biotite, or amphibole. Analytical data, crystal-chemical arguments, and characteristics of Fe and Mn L-spectra indicate that in coexistent garnet and piemontite, Fe⁺², Fe⁺³, Mn⁺², and Mn⁺³ are present, in spite of the fact that trivalent manganese strongly oxidizes divalent iron in aqueous solution under normal conditions.