Abstract
Basalts in the Southern Rocky Mountains province have been analyzed to determine if any of them are primitive. Alkali plagioclase xenocrysts armored with calcic plagioclase seem to be the best petrographic indicator of contamination. The next best indicator of contamination is quartz xenocrysts armored with clinopyroxene. On the rocks and the region studied, K2O apparently is the only major element with promise of separating primitive basalt from contaminated basalt inasmuch as it constitutes more than 1 % in all the obviously contaminated basalts. K2O: lead (> 4 ppm) and thorium (> 2 ppm) contents and Rb/Sr (> 0.035) are the most indicative of the trace elements studied. Using these criteria, three basalt samples are primitive (although one contains 1.7% K2O) and are similar in traceelement contents to Hawaiian and Eastern Honshu, Japan, primitive basalts.
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