Magma influx and mixing in the Bjerkreim-Sokndal layered intrusion, South Norway: evidence from the boundary between two megacyclic units at Storeknuten

Abstract

The Bjerkreim-Sokndal layered intrusion belongs to the Proterozoic anorthositic province in the Rogaland area of southern Norway. The northwestern part of the intrusion comprises a ca. 6 km-thick Layered Series made up of megacyclic units (MCU) arranged in a syncline; each megacyclic unit reflects the influx of fresh magma into the chamber. The boundary between megacyclic units III and IV has been studied in detail at Storeknuten on the southern flank of the syncline. The megacyclic units can be subdivided into a series of cumulate stratigraphic zones; the interval from the top of zone IIIe to the base of zone IVd is exposed in the Storeknuten area. Modally layered plagioclase-hypersthene-ilmenite-magnetite-augite-apatite cumulates belonging to zone IIIe are overlain by 30 m of massive plagioclase-rich rocks (commonly containing ilmenite and/or hypersthene) constituting zone IVa. The entry of cumulus olivine defines the base of zone IVb (dominantly plagioclase-olivine-ilmenite cumulates) which is about 100 m thick. Many of the olivines are partly or completely replaced by Ca-poor pyroxene/FeTi oxide symplectites. This massive leucotroctolitic zone is overlain by modally layered, laminated plagioclase-hypersthene-ilmenite cumulates of zone IVc. The successive entry of magnetite, apatite (accompanied by Ca-rich pyroxene) and inverted pigeonite defines zones IVd, e and f respectively. The entry of K-feldspar (accompanied by Fe-rich olivine) defines the base of a jotunitic transition zone which passes upwards into mangerites and quartz mangerites. There is a compositional regression through zone IVa. The upper part of zone IIIe has Ca-poor pyroxene with about En68, plagioclase with An44–48 and a Sr-isotope ratio of about 0.7062, while the base of zone IVb has olivine with Fo75 together with En78, An53 and 0.7050 respectively. Similar reversals are shown by the minor element compositions of plagioclase and FeTi oxides. Sr-isotope ratios increase systematically up through zone IVb (reaching 0.7058 in zone IVd) while An% and Sr in plagioclase and Ni and Cr in FeTi oxides decrease. Olivine compositions vary unsystematically and are believed to have changed their Fe:Mg ratios as a result of trapped liquid shift. The magma residing in the chamber when the influx at the base of megacyclic unit IV took place was compositionally zoned, and assimilation of gneissic country rock at the roof had resulted in the Sr-isotope ratio increasing up through the magma column. The new magma had a Sr-isotope ratio of about 0.7050 while the resident magma had a ratio of 0.7062 at the floor, increasing upwards. The new magma mixed with the basal layer(s) of the compositionally zoned resident magma and crystallization of this hybrid magma during influx and mixing produced the compositional regression in zone IVa. When magma influx ceased, olivine-bearing rocks began to crystallize at the base of zone IVb. The leucotroctolites at the base of this zone are the most primitive rocks in the entire intrusion. The systematic increase in Sr-isotope ratios up through zone IVb resulted from progressive mixing between new and resident magma. This mixing either took place during magma influx or by the progressive mixing of overlying resident magma layers during crystallization. Calculations based on geochemical modelling, the thickness of cumulate stratigraphy repeated and Sr-isotope ratios indicate that the new magma influx had a thickness of 350–500 m in the Storeknuten section and that the leucotroctolites of zone IVb represent about 20–30% crystallization of this influx.