Sekaninaite from the Satzung granite (Erzgebirge, Germany): magmatic or xenolithic?

Abstract

In the earliest emplaced granite subintrusion of the multiphase peraluminous Satzung pluton, Erzgebirge, Germany, a mineral aggregate was observed consisting of sekaninaite (XFe = 0.74-0.94), Zn-rich hercynite (XZn = 0.03-0.11), tri- and dioctahedral layer silicates of different composition and color, and minor quartz. Geological, textural, and compositional criteria argue that the sekaninaite, hercynite, quartz, and the brown biotite are not primary or secondary granite minerals, but are of metamorphic origin representing a xenolith uptaken from the granite melt near its level of emplacement. The metamorphic origin is supported by the occurrence of this mineral assemblage in metamorphic rocks exposed locally in the Erzgebirge basement. Reaction of the polymineralic metamorphic aggregate with the surrounding melt and subsequent interaction with alkali-, F- and LILE-rich residual fluids account for the widespread decomposition of the sekaninaite and formation of several layer silicates including green biotite, muscovite, berthierine/Fe chlorite, and sericite. The observed enrichment of the relic sekaninaite and its replacement products in elements such as Na, Li, Be, Rb, Cs, and F is result of interaction of the metamorphic fragment with the surrounding melt/fluid, in accordance with the evolved nature of the Satzung magmatic-hydrothermal system.