Abstract
Eclogitic xenoliths consisting of tschermakitic augite and pyrope garnet, together with variable amounts of kaersutitic hornblende, are common in a volcanic breccia of Lower Oligocene age at Kakanui, New Zealand. The breccia also contains xenocrysts of these minerals, and xenoliths of peridotite. Modal analyses are given of a number of the eclogitic xenoliths, and chemical analyses of two of them and their component minerals. They are compared with similar xenoliths from Hoggar (Algeria), Salt Lake Crater (Hawaii), and Delegate (Australia), with eclogite xenoliths from kimberlites, and with garnet peridotites. These three types of igneous eclogites can be characterized by the nature of their clinopyroxene: tschermakitic in the xenoliths from basaltic rocks, jadeitic in the xenoliths from kimberlites, and chrome diopside in the garnet peridotites. The eclogitic xenoliths in basaltic rocks probably crystallized in the mantle at depths of about 60 km, but their rarity in contrast to the numerous occurrences of peridotite xenoliths poses some significant problems.
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Mason, B. Eclogitic xenoliths from volcanic breccia at Kakanui, New Zealand. Contr. Mineral. and Petrol. 19, 316–327 (1968). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00389414
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00389414