Metasomatism in the Whin Sill of the North of England. Part II: Hydrothermal Alteration by Juvenile Solutions

Abstract

In Teesdale and Weardale, at all exposures that have been examined, the Whin Sill is cut by a system of approximately vertical, sweeping, joint planes. These are distinct in general character from, and are on a larger scale than, the columnar jointing which is conspicuous in all vertical scars of Whin Sill. The pattern of the larger scale jointing on a horizontal surface varies with the depth within the sill; Fig. 1 shows diagrammatically the appearance at a depth of about 10 feet below the top of the sill; the inset Fig. 2, of the upper surface of the sill, shows how the joints have a more irregular course in the more rapidly cooled part of the dolerite. The joints do not usually pass from the dolerite into the adjacent sediment and Fig. 2 also shows a thin layer of baked sediment, attached to the outer surface of the sill, which the joint does not penetrate. The large scale jointing is often displaced by the small scale columnar jointing in a way that proves the large scale jointing to be the earlier. For the purposes of this paper, the early, large scale, joints will be referred to simply as the early joints. The walls of the early joints, for a distance of an inch or so, have been altered by hydrothermal solutions, to a rock which, although varying in composition with the distance from the joint, consists essentially of chlorite, quartz, and carbonate. The joint walls are usually about a quarter of an inch apart, and the space between them is filled with calcite and quartz. The calcite is present in greater abundance than the quartz which occurs in well shaped crystals of vein-quartz habit.