Original paper

Chevkinite-group minerals from the mantle-derived metaluminous Woshui syenite of the Emeishan large igneous province

Shellnutt, J. Gregory; Iizuka, Yoshiyuki

Abstract

The composition of chevkinite-group minerals from the Late Permian Woshui pluton is presented. The Woshui pluton is one of the few mantle-derived metaluminous syenitic intrusions within the Emeishan large igneous province of SW China and contains four times less ?REE (?REE = 0.05 wt.%) than the spatially and temporally associated Baima peralkaline syenitic pluton (?REE = 0.2 wt.%). The chevkinite-group minerals are relatively uniform in composition and observed chemical trends are consistent with substitution between major cationic sites defined as: Ca2+ A + Ti4+ C ? REE3+ A + M 3+,2+ C The chevkinite-group minerals from the Woshui syenites are unique in that they display positive chondrite-normalized Eu-anomalies (i.e. Eu/Eu* = 2.3 to 23) which may be related to the conditions that produced the parental magma. The magmatic conditions of Woshui pluton were likely to be low pressure (i.e ? 1 kbar), moderate temperature (i.e. 700?800 °C) and relatively oxidizing (?O2 ? FMQ > 0). In comparison to chevkinite-group minerals reported from peralkaline rocks, those from metaluminous rocks tend to have higher SiO2, Al2O3, CaO and ZrO and lower FeO*, Nb2O5 and Ce2O3. The compositional differences are attributed to parental magma composition and possible magmatic origin (i.e. partial melting vs. crystal fractionation).

Keywords

a-type granitoidchevkinite group mineralsmetaluminous syenitepermiansw china