Iron isotopes for the layered series of the Skaergaard intrusion
Abstract
It has long been held that magmatic evolution of the Skaergaard intrusion involved strong iron enrichment accompanying gabbro fractionation. Continued enrichment of iron in evolved liquids following FeTi oxide saturation is problematic and has been ascribed to a number of related factors, including 1) the composition of the Skaergaard parental magma, 2) changes in oxidation conditions and proportion of fractionating FeTi oxide and silicates during the course of differentiation, and 3) the effects of liquid immiscibility. In most differentiation scenarios differences in the partitioning of Fe+2 and Fe+3 between fractionating minerals and silicate melt are considered to be key to maintaining the bulk distribution coefficient for total iron below unity, thus permitting iron enrichment during magmatic evolution. Recent experimental work [1] predicts measureable fractionation of iron isotopes between magnetite and silicate melt that can lead to enrichment of isotopically lighter iron in derivative liquids compared to magnetite-rich cumulates. This possibility suggests that a signature of FeTi oxide fractionation may be recorded in the Fe isotope composition of Skaergaard gabbros. Initial investigation of this possibility is based on the analysis of 15 average gabbros from the layered series by high resolution MC-ICPMS after digestion and separation of iron using AG1X8 resin. The δ56Fe values {= [(56Fe/54Fe)sample/(56Fe/54Fe)IRMM-014 - 1] × 1000} for this suite range from a low of 0.052 per mil to a high of 0.188 per mil with external precision better than ±0.05 per mil (1σ). While the entire variation is small we find a progressive decrease in δ56Fe by 0.09 per mil passing from Lower Zone a to the base of Upper Zone c (UZc). Within UZc δ56Fe increases rapidly to 0.188 per mil approaching the Sandwich Horizon. Forward modeling of closed system fractional crystallization using fractionation factors from [1] can account for the observed decrease in δ56Fe by FeTi oxide fractionation, but does not account for the abrupt rise in δ56Fe during terminal crystallization in UZc. This divergent trend for iron isotopes may mark the onset of liquid immiscibility with isotopically heavier iron preferentially retained by a silica-poor/iron-rich conjugate melt ponding at the floor or possibly represent the effects of thermal migration during the final stages of solidification. [1] EPSL, 268, 330-338
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2009
- Bibcode:
- 2009AGUFM.V21A1953L
- Keywords:
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- 8439 VOLCANOLOGY / Physics and chemistry of magma bodies