Evidence for an enriched mantle source for jøtunite (orthopyroxene monzodiorite) associated with the St. Urbain anorthosite, Quebec

Abstract

Mafic orthopyroxene monzodiorite (jøtunite) lithologies are exposed in the St. Urbain plutonic suite as a marginal facies to quartz mangerite and massif anorthosite intrusive bodies and as dikes within a variety of host rocks. High concentrations of Ti, Fe, P, K, Ba, Nb, La, Ce, Zn, Ga, Zr and Y characterize these rocks and are distinctive of many mafic lithologies associated with anorthosite massifs worldwide. Characteristically low concentrations of Ni and Cr, in conjuction with low Mg numbers, have been used by previous investigators as evidence for either partial melting of mafic granulitic lower crust or extensive fractional crystallization of a mantle-derived magma. In an attempt to distinguish between these competing models, we note that jøtunite display many features that bear a strong resemblance to continental tholeiitic flood basalts, including chemical signatures on normalized multi-element (‘spider’) diagrams. Ratios of incompatible trace elements and patterns on rare earth and ‘spider’ diagrams collectively indicate that the jøtunite rocks were derived from an enriched, rather than depleted, mantle source. Enrichment may have occured by subduction-derived fluids or by mixture with a plume component prior to partial melting so that isotopic and trace-element compositions are decoupled. Small amounts of partial melting of mafic granulite has been advanced as an alternative model; we show, however, that the experimental data on which this model is built are not applicable. Our preferred model begins with partial melting of a trace-element enriched mantle source that fractionates olivine at high to moderate pressures. Increasing concentrations of P (and Ti) eventually caused a contraction of the olivine stability field in favor of orthopyroxene. Fractional crystallization may yield the series of rocks from anorthosite, leuconorite, oxide-apatite gabbronorite, to jøtunite. Mafic magmas emplaced into continental crust are typically attributed to incipient rifting or mantle upwelling, which are features common to many models for the genesis of anorthosite and related rocks.