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Experimental early crystallization of K-feldspar in granitic systems : implications on the origin of magmatic fabrics in granitic rocks

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One of the most outstanding characteristics of some granodioritic to granitic rocks is the presence of K-feldspar megacrysts. For instance, granodiorites and monzogranites of the Spanish Central System batholith present… Click to show full abstract

One of the most outstanding characteristics of some granodioritic to granitic rocks is the presence of K-feldspar megacrysts. For instance, granodiorites and monzogranites of the Spanish Central System batholith present variable amounts of large (up to 10cm in length) euhedral K-feldspar crystals. The porphyritic textures, the euhedral shape, the alignment of plagioclase and biotite inclusions and the magmatic fabrics point to a magmatic origin for these megacrysts. This work presents a phase equilibria study in a high-K 2 O granodioritic system. A series of experiments were conducted with a granodioritic composition (GEMbiot) to study the crystallization sequence at the emplacement conditions in the Gredos massif, i.e. 4 H 2 O wt.% and 0.4GPa. Experimental results show that orthopiroxene is the liquidus phase at 1010oC, which reacts with the H 2 O-rich melt to stabilize biotite between 980 and 940oC. Plagioclase crystallizes at around 910oC, and K-feldspar crystallizes in the matrix between 750 and 700oC when the crystal fraction is around 0.5. However, at 850 oC, a pelite-doped experiment shows euhedral K-feldspar (≈5vol%) in both the reactive xenolith domain together with cordierite and the granodioritic domain, where the K 2 O wt.% rise from 4.5 in the normal experiment to 5.9 in the doped experiment. These results suggest that the bulk-assimilation process promotes the bulk and heterogeneous K 2 O enrichment in a huge granodioritic magma volume, which triggers an early crystallization of K-feldspar megacrysts. Because of this early crystallization of the megacrysts, the magmatic foliations defined by K-feldspar megacrysts are formed during and after the emplacement processes and are highly influenced by tectonic kinematics.

Keywords: crystallization feldspar; feldspar; magmatic fabrics; crystallization; granitic rocks; early crystallization

Journal Title: Geologica Acta
Year Published: 2017

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