SIMS analyses on trace and rare earth elements in coexisting clinopyroxene and mica from minette mafic enclaves in potassic syenites crystallized under high pressures

Abstract

Trace and rare earth element contents were determined by SIMS technique in clinopyroxene and mica crystals from minette lamprophyric enclaves in a potassic syenite host. This co-mingled system was crystallized at high pressures, which varied about 3–5 GPa, as indicated by the presence of K-clinopyroxenes and pyrope-rich garnet with measurable amounts of K2O and Na2O, among the near-liquidus phases. Major and trace element composition of these lamprophyric enclaves is quite similar to those observed in silica-rich lamproites, suggesting that similar sources were involved in their origin. In a general view, the concentrations of most trace and rare earth elements in clinopyroxene of the studied enclaves are higher than those referred to by other authors. Clinopyroxene/melt partition coefficient for most trace elements are close to determinations in alkali-basalts and lamproites from Leucite Hills, with considerable differences relative to Gaussberg lamproites. Furthermore, these partition data are completely different from those determined for potassic lavas crystallized under crustal pressures. Spidergrams for clinopyroxenes exhibit negative-Sr anomalies relative to LREE, which have been associated by most authors to crystallization under low-pressures, out of garnet stability field. The presence of pyrope together with K-clinopyroxene excludes such hypotheses for the studied enclaves. Y and HREE are concentrated in clinopyroxene, whilst the other trace elements have Kd 3) determined in the studied phlogopite is unusual in lamproites, lamprophyres, and basalts, but frequently observed in phlogopite from metasomatic mantle samples, as well as in acid magmas. This partition value may indicate the lack of other mineral phase with high partition for this element during crystallization, and may be enhanced by the liquid composition progressively closer to alkali feldspar, an unsuitable structure for six-coordinated cations. Ce/Yb, Rb/Sr, and Zr/Hf ratios in clinopyroxene and mica suggest that the minettic magma could produce the host Piquiri potassic syenite by fractional crystallization. This hypothesis is not consistent with Ba concentrations in clinopyroxene and mica, which suggest that a Ba-bearing phase (e.g. alkali feldspar) should be among the fractionated phases in order to produce the potassic syenites.