Loveringite from the koitelainen layered intrusion, Northern Finland

Abstract

Conditions favouring the crystallization of loveringite, (Ca, REE) (Ti, Fe, Cr)21 038 in Koitelainen were sustained from the base of the lower zone to the upper part of the main zone. Loveringite is most common in rocks with much intercumulus quartz, potassium feldspar, and phlogopite, and is accompanied by accessories such as zircon, chlorapatite, baddeleyite and thorite. It is particularly common among pyroxene cumulates in the upper part of the lower zone. Here, and apparently also in plagioclaseorthopyroxene-clinopyroxene cumulates of the main zone, loveringite occurs as a cumulus phase. The presence of Cr in the intercumulus liquid is not essential to the stability of loveringite; instead, petrographic evidence and the presence of incompatible elements (Zr, Hf, REE, U, Th) contained in loveringite point to the crucial role of crustal contaminants. Loveringite crystallized in parts of the magma chamber heavily contaminated by acid crustal anatectic melt, and eventually settled from density flows loaded with cumulus crystals. Postcumulus reactions produced concentric ilmenitezircon mantles around loveringites and thus contributed to the compositional heterogeneity of the mineral. We suggest that much of the loveringite that once crystallized in layered intrusions may have been consumed through postcumulus reactions. Loveringite is easy to detect under the reflected light microscope and can be readily distinguished from rutile, chromite and ilmenite, but not from some other members of the crichtonite group. The composition of the Koitelainen loveringite is comparable to that of other occurrences. The spectral reflectance values are 2–3% lower as compared to ilmenite. The reflectance data indicate that the mineral is anisotropic. The VHN100 values, 792–933, are significantly higher than those published heretofore.[/p]