Petrogenesis of orbicular ijolites from the Prairie Lake complex, Marathon, Ontario: Textural evidence from rare processes of carbonatitic magmatism

Abstract

A unique occurrence of orbicular ijolite is hosted in a matrix of contemporaneous holocrystalline ijolite at the 1.1Ga Prairie Lake Carbonatite Complex (Marathon, Ontario, Canada), and is the only known occurrence of this textural type in a rock of ijolitic composition. This mineralogical and petrological study of this orbicular ijolite highlights many of the differences from other rare occurrences of orbicular rocks described from carbonatites, granites, diorites and lamprophyres. The orbicules occur along distinct, densely packed bands in equigranular nepheline-rich ijolite and range up to 6cm in diameter. Macroscopically, the orbicules show variability in the mineralogy of their cores. Detailed imaging of the cores shows evidence of quench textures. Radial outward zoning is common near the cores with concentric banding occurring toward the margins of the orbicules. The mineralogy of the orbicules consists of: nepheline; diopside; calcite; apatite; andradite–melanite garnet; titanite; Fe-rich phlogopite; titaniferous magnetite; perovskite; with secondary natrolite, calcite and cancrinite. The mineralogy of the host ijolite is similar to that of the orbicules. Mineral compositions from the orbicular ijolite and the host ijolite are similar. Within the orbicules, anhedral minerals are found occurring in a ‘matrix’ of garnet throughout the distinct concentric bands. The textures within the concentric bands of the orbicules are best described as annealing recrystallization textures. The rims of the orbicules form interlocking crystals with the host ijolite resulting in near-indistinguishable boundaries. The orbicules are interpreted to represent interaction of a partially-crystallized quenched ijolitic melt, which was in contact with a second pulse of consanguineous ijolite magma. Immersion in the latter resulted in sub-solidus diffusion and annealing recrystallization. Orbicular textures were produced from previously formed quenched ijolite, which was recrystallized producing the monominerallic concentric layers sequentially from the margins toward the center of the orbicule. This proposed model for the formation of orbicular ijolite from Prairie Lake highlights the complexities of these rock types, and supports previous models of magma mixing during the later stages of carbonatite emplacement and crystallization.