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Monazite and xenotime petrogenesis in the contact aureole of the Makhavinekh Lake Pluton, northern Labrador

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Abstract

High-temperature (700–900°C) metamorphism in the contact aureole of the Makhavinekh Lake Pluton (MLP), northern Labrador, led to the growth of monazite and xenotime during progressive replacement of regional garnet-bearing assemblages (M1) by lower-pressure symplectitic coronas of orthopyroxene + cordierite (M2). In the inner aureole (<500 m from the contact), where M1 garnet is strongly resorbed, high-Y+HREE monazite (XY+HREE 0.14–0.18) occurs as small isolated grains and as discontinuous rims on partially resorbed pre-M2 monazites that were liberated from garnet. Xenotime also occurs as small isolated grains within M2 coronas. Ion-microprobe dating of thin, high-Y rims indicates that new monazite growth occurred during M2. Monazite–xenotime miscibility-gap temperatures are consistent with Al-solubility-in-orthopyroxene thermometry estimates, indicating that peak temperatures in the inner aureole are accurately recorded and preserved by monazite. M2 monazite records, therefore, the temperature and timing of M2 metamorphism. Two net-transfer reactions, modelled using singular value decomposition in the system P-Y-HREE-LREE, are proposed to account for the growth of M2 phosphates: (1) 38 Grt1 + 1 Mnz1 = 1.13 Mnz2 and (2) 737 Grt1 + 1 Ap = 1 Mnz2 + 3.4 Xno2. Reaction (1) conserves P and gave rise to locally coronitic high-Y overgrowths on partially resorbed pre-M2 monazite, whereas reaction (2) accounts for the growth of small new monazite and xenotime grains. Both reactions were highly localized within individual M2 coronas due to slow intergranular diffusion accompanying fluid-undersaturated metamorphism in the MLP aureole. Similar monazite-forming reactions are expected in other polymetamorphosed granulites.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported in part by NSF Grant EAR-0087564 to J.N.C. and W.D.C., by the Geological Society of America, and by the Geology Foundation of the University of Texas at Austin. The authors also acknowledge the support of B. Ryan and W. Tuttle (Geological Survey of Newfoundland and Labrador), D. Lee and C. Mackenzie (Voisey’s Bay Nickel, Inc.), and Kathryn Manser for all of their help in the field. An earlier version of the manuscript benefited from the helpful reviews of K. Viskupic and B. Wing.

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  1. Christopher R. M. McFarlane

    Present address: Research School of Earth Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, 0200, Australia

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  1. Department of Geological Sciences, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, 78712, TX, USA

    Christopher R. M. McFarlane, James N. Connelly & William D. Carlson

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  1. Christopher R. M. McFarlane
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  3. William D. Carlson
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Correspondence to Christopher R. M. McFarlane.

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McFarlane, C.R.M., Connelly, J.N. & Carlson, W.D. Monazite and xenotime petrogenesis in the contact aureole of the Makhavinekh Lake Pluton, northern Labrador. Contrib Mineral Petrol 148, 524–541 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00410-004-0618-7

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