Pyroxene oikocrysts in troctolitic cumulates ? evidence for supercooled crystallisation and postcumulus modification

Abstract

Studies of pyroxene oikocrysts in plagioclase-olivine cumulates crystallised from high alumina olivine tholeiite magmas in layered intrusions inferred to represent periodically replenished magma chambers show that small plagioclases enclosed within the oikocrysts differ significantly from plagioclases in the host rock. Plagioclases within oikocrysts are very elongate with a high surface area, show extensive mutual attachment at high angles resembling skeletal growth, and tend to be randomly orientated. Some are rounded and embayed, are reversely zoned and more sodic by An 5–10 than some of the plagioclase in the host rock. Plagioclase crystal centres tend to be closer spaced in the oikocrysts than in the host rock. In contrast, plagioclases in the host rock are discrete, coarser grained, less elongate, strongly aligned, and locally polygonised.