On the origin of an amphibole-rich vein in a peridotite inclusion from the Lunar Crater Volcanic Field, Nevada, U.S.A.

Abstract

Late Cenozoic alkali basaltic lavas of the Lunar Crater Volcanic Field (LCVF), located in the center of the Great Basin of the Western U.S.A., contain a diverse suite of nodule samples of the lower crust and upper mantle. This paper documents a composite nodule from the Marcath flow in which an amphibole-bearing wehrlite (59% olivine, 30% clinopyroxene, 6% amphibole) is cut by a 6–9 mm wide vein of andesine-amphibolite (80% kaersutite, 15% andesine, 3% ilmenite). Aside from nodule-basalt reaction at the nodule exterior, there is little chemical variation either within or between individual grains of hydrous and anhydrous phases in the vein and host wehrlite. Furthermore, there is no systematic compositional zoning in the wehrlite relative to vein proximity. The whole-rock major and trace element composition of the vein is similar to a primitive (Mg/(Mg+Fe)=0.692) basaltic liquid and has Al, Fe, Mg, Ca, Mn, Na, K, Zr, Y and Sr contents similar to basalts observed in the LCVF. In contrast to the Sr isotopic equilibrium displayed by vein feldspar and vein amphibole, Sr isotopic disequilibrium is exhibited between the vein (0.70318(4)), wehrlite (0.70322(4)), and host basalt (0.70357(5) n=3). However, the Sr isotopic ratios of older LCVF basalts (0.7030–0.7038; n=14) overlap those of the vein and wehrlite, and the magmatic activity leading to vein and wehrlite formation could be related to this older phase of LCVF volcanism. Petrographic and geochemical evidence is not consistent with a metasomatic origin for the vein and instead supports the view that the vein originated by the intrusion into a wehrlite mass and subsequent crystallization of a relatively primitive alkali basaltic magma in the lower crust or upper mantle. The wehrlite contains olivine of FO 71 and probably originated by crystal separation and accumulation from a relatively differentiated basaltic magma in the lower crust or upper mantle.