Mingling of carbonate and silicate magmas under turbulent flow conditions: Evidence from rock textures and mineral chemistry in sub-volcanic carbonatite dykes, Chagatai, Uzbekistan

Abstract

The Triassic Chagatai Complex, Uzbekistan, comprises explosive pipes and dykes, dominantly of silicocarbonatite composition, with cross-cutting relationships indicating multi-stage emplacement. Although the dykes have been reported as diamond-bearing, they have not previously undergone detailed investigation in terms of their mineral chemistry or rock texture. The xenolith-rich dykes contain irregularly-shaped microscopic magmatic enclaves of silicate composition within carbonatite magma and corroded microphenocrysts with crystal overgrowths that record synmagmatic geochemical disequilibrium. Quench crystals of apatite and aegirine, and anhedral baryte, which formed after corrosion of apatite and magnetite microphenocrysts but prior to formation of crystal overgrowths and mantles, indicate contemporaneous rapid undercooling. The anhedral baryte formed as a by-product of an oxidising hydrous reaction from Ba-rich biotite and pyrite to chlorite. The rock and microphenocryst textures suggest that mingling between two magmas occurred and a post-mingling mineral assemblage, including baryte, crystallised in a partially hybridised heterogeneous magma. An initial carbonatite mineral assemblage is identified as calcite + magnetite + apatite ± augite ± barium-rich biotite ± melilite ± pyrite. Changes in mineral chemistry of the carbonatite assemblage that are contemporaneous with the disequilibrium reaction textures suggest addition of a hydrous, Na–Si–Al-rich magma, and the mineral assemblage in the magmatic enclaves is similar to that of trachyte dykes in the Chagatai Complex. Using primarily rock textures and mineral chemistry, supported by mass balance calculations and isotope data, the silicate material is interpreted as a hydrous trachyte magma that had assimilated upper crustal material. The trachyte magma was entrained by carbonatite that was rapidly and turbulently ascending through the crust, shortly before emplacement as silicocarbonatite. The interpretation of magma mingling textures in the Chagatai Complex are unique amongst reported carbonatite occurrences: previously reported carbonate–silicate magma systems either formed globular textures or were interpreted as the products of assimilation of country rock only.