Boron and lithium in high-grade rocks and minerals from the Wawa–Kapuskasing region, Ontario

Abstract

There is no preferential partitioning of boron among the principal rock-forming minerals in high-grade rocks of the Kapuskasing Structural Zone (KSZ) and the Wawa Domal Gneiss region (WDG). Lithium is strongly concentrated in biotite and other ferromagnesian minerals but does not show consistent partitioning between these and the sialic minerals.The distribution of B and Li within a rock may be studied using an alpha-track image, which shows that the inconsistencies in partitioning may be largely attributed to disturbance of mineral equilibria by postmetamorphic low-grade alteration that deposited B and Li.Boron has similar concentrations in all the rock types studied, although it is an incompatible element that elsewhere accumulates in pegmatites. Lithium concentrations are low in the anorthositic rocks but are otherwise very variable. In some but not all rocks higher than usual B and Li can be attributed to introduction during alteration.Boron occurs at low concentrations (2–3 ppm) throughout both the KSZ and the WDG areas and has an abundance similar to that in other granulite terranes. It is significantly lower than in average upper crustal rocks (9–15 ppm), and this is attributed to loss by fluid transport during formation of lower crustal material. Lithium occurs at similar concentrations in upper crustal rocks (20–22 ppm) as in the WDG area (27 ppm) but is lower in the KSZ (13 ppm), suggesting again a loss by fluid transport in the deep crust. Both estimates of loss are minima because of the evidence of reintroduction of the elements during later alteration.Although there is field and petrological evidence of anatectic melting in the KSZ–WDG region the distribution patterns of B and Li show no evidence of this: this is not unexpected for elements that readily partition into a fluid phase.