Petrology of ultramafic nodules from West Kettle River, near Kelowna, Southern British Columbia

Abstract

A basanitoid flow of Miocene age, exposed near the West Kettle River, 25 km southeast of Kelowna, British Columbia, contains abundant ultramafic and mafic nodules. The subangular nodules are 1–20 cm across and typically show granular textures. A study of 250 nodules indicates that spinel lherzolite (∼60%) is the dominant type with subordinate olivine websterite (∼10%), websterite (∼7%), clinopyroxenite (∼4%), wehrlite (∼4%), pyroxene gabbro (∼4%), dunite (∼2%), harzburgite (∼1%) and granitic rocks (∼8%). Ultramafic nodules are of two types. Most of the wehrlites and clinopyroxenites belong to the black pyroxene (aluminous clinopyroxene) series, whereas the other clinopyroxene-bearing nodules belong to the green pyroxene (chromian diopside) series. Some spinel lherzolite nodules have distinctive pyroxene- and olivine-rich bands. Microprobe analyses of the constituent minerals of more than thirty nodules from the green pyroxene series indicate that grain to grain variations within individual nodules are small even when banding is present. Olivine, orthopyroxene, clinopyroxene and spinel in spinel lherzolite have average compositions of Fo90, En90, Wo47Fs5En48, Cr/(Cr+ Al+Fe3)=0.1 and Mg/(Mg+Fe2+)=0.8. Equilibration temperatures, which were calculated using the two pyroxene geothermometer of Wells (1977), range between 920–980° C. Based on published phase stability experiments, pressures of equilibration are between 10–18 kbar. In summary, the upper mantle beneath southern British Columbia is dominated by spinel lherzolite but contains some banding on a scale of cm to meters. The temperature in the upper mantle is ∼950° C at a depth of 30–60 km.