Magnesium isotope fractionation during differentiation of Harney Peak granite

Although numerous studies have sought to constrain the Mg isotopic composition of mantle rocks, few studies have focused on the Mg isotopic compositions of crustal rocks, particularly evolved igneous rocks, such as granites. Granites are a major component of the upper continental crust and can be produced by partial melting of the deep continental crust. Studies of granites, therefore, can potentially provide important constraints on Mg isotopic composition variations in the continental crust as related to sources and petrogenetic processes. In order to explore the behavior of Mg isotopes during partial melting of continental crust, as well as granite differentiation, we have begun a study of a set of well-characterized samples from S-type Harney Peak granite, its potential source rocks and associated Tin Mountain pegmatite from Black Hills, South Dakota, USA. δ26Mg values of Harney Peak granites and Tin Mountain pegmatite vary significantly (from -0.69 to +0.11), well beyond the range of their potential source rocks (from -0.40 to +0.15) — early Proterozoic schists and late Archean metagranites. The large Mg isotopic variations within the granite suite likely, in part, reflect heterogeneities in source rocks, as previously shown for oxygen and Nd isotopes. A greater cause of the variations may be fractionations that occur during partial melting and subsequent differentiation of granitic melts, as suggested by the correlations between δ26Mg with SiO2, Al2O3, Na2O and Sr.