Rare-earth distribution in the Tugtutôq younger giant dyke complex: evidence bearing on alkaline magma genesis in south Greenland

Abstract

Rare-earth element data for 14 gabbro and syenogabbro samples from the Tugtutôq younger giant dyke complex (YGDC) and for three anorthosite inclusions lend support to other geochemical and experimental evidence that the anorthosites represent early fractionates that formed at depth from a magma similar to (but not identical with) the liquid which formed the giant dykes themselves. All samples are light REE enriched and absolute REE concentrations increase with increasing degree of differentiation in both chilled marginal samples and cumulates. Strong positive Eu anomalies in early cumulates decrease with advancing fractionation and there may even be negative Eu anomalies in the most differentiated cumulates. Lack of significant Eu anomalies in the chilled samples confirms that large quantities of anorthosite (large positive Eu anomalies) could not have formed directly from the YGDC magma. A comparison with REE distributions in the nearby, younger Ilimaussaq alkaline complex (from data reported by Gerasimovskiy & Balashov (1968) shows that the late fractionates of the YGDC and the early, augite syenite, phase of Ilimaussaq have very similar REE patterns. The later agpaites of Ilimaussaq, however, are greatly enriched in REEs and show strong negative Eu anomalies; this suggests that substantial feldspar fractionation took place at depth before the emplacement of the agpaites, producing rock suites petrologically similar to those exposed in the YDGC.