Minor and trace element partitioning between immiscible ocelli-matrix pairs from lamprophyre dikes and sills, Monteregian Hills petrographic province, Quebec

Abstract

Many lamprophyre dike and sill rocks in the Monteregian Hills petrographic province of southwestern Quebec contain felsic segregations (ocelli) which have been interpreted as globules of immiscible liquid (Philpotts 1976). Ocelli and matrix material were separated from a number of these rocks and analyzed for major and trace elements. The major element data, when plotted on a Greig diagram, outline a field of possible silicate-liquid immiscibility at higher alumina+alkali content than that previously mapped in iron-rich experimental systems. The trace element data support a liquid immiscibility hypothesis for the formation of these ocelli since high-charge density cations are preferentially concentrated in the matrix (mafic) material, a result which is consistent with theoretical and experimental studies.

The distribution of minor and trace elements between ocelli and matrix indicates that several factors control the partitioning of these elements between immiscible felsic and mafic liquids. These factors include the difference in relative polymerization (as measured by the Si∶O ratio) of the two liquids, with an increase in this difference favoring partitioning of the high-charge density cations into the mafic liquid; the concentration of P₂O₅ in the mafic liquid which favors the partitioning of high-charge density cations into this liquid; the presence of a CO₂ vapor (?) phase which favors the partitioning of high-charge density cations into the CO₂ enriched phase; and the presence of solid phases at the onset of immiscibility. These observations indicate that the chemical compositions of two possibly immiscible melts should be known if minor and trace element data are to be used as evidence for silicate-liquid immiscibility.