Fractal Analysis of In Situ Host Rock Nepheline Syenite Xenoliths in a Micro-Shonkinite Dyke (The Elchuru Alkaline Complex, SE India)

Abstract

Formation of the fragments of the wall-rock during dyking is one of the important manifestations of instantaneous magmatic events. This process is well documented at shallower depths of Earth’s crust but not at deeper levels. In this paper the in situ xenoliths of host rock nepheline syenite within a micro-shonkinite dyke emplaced at mid-crustal depths is described and the fractal theory applied to evaluate origin of the xenoliths. The nepheline syenite xenoliths are angular to oval shaped and sub-millimetre to ~50 cm long. The xenoliths are matrix supported with clasts and matrix being in equal proportions. Partly detached wall-rock fragments indicate incipient xenolith formation, which suggested that the model fragmentation processes is solely due to dyke emplacement. Fractal analytical techniques including clast size distribution, boundary roughness fractal dimension and clast circularity was carried out. The fractal data suggests that hydraulic (tensile) fracturing is the main process of host rock brecciation. However, the clast size and shape are further affected by postfragmentation processes including shear and thermal fracturing, and chemical erosion. The study demonstrates that dyking in an isotropic medium produces fractal size distributions of host rock xenoliths; however, post-fragmentation processes modify original fractal size distributions.