The gabbroic rocks of the Peninsular ranges batholith, Southern California: cumulate rocks associated with calc-alkalic basalts and andesites

Abstract

Gabbroic rocks occur only in the west, and are the oldest intrusions in the Peninsular Ranges Cordilleran batholith. They comprise an olivine-pyroxene gabbronorite series and an amphibole gabbro series both of which contain abundant plagioclase and amphibole. They formed by crystal accumulation and in situ differentiation, in multiple intrusive complexes, and are not considered to be related by fractionation to the granitoid rocks of the batholith. Pure mineral separates of plagioclase, olivine, clinopyroxene, orthopyroxene, and amphibole were obtained by magnetic and heavy-liquid methods from a representative suite of gabbroic rocks. Their major- and trace-element contents were determined by X-ray fluorescence, and the data used to test hypotheses on the genesis and fractionation of the gabbros. The plagioclases range from An 98 to An 65 in composition, olivines, Fo 79 to Fo 70, occur in rocks where An> 36. All clinopyroxenes are augite with Mg #'s varying from 81.1 to 64.7. Orthopyroxene occurs where An< 92, and is generally inverted pigeonite or bronzite, and has Mg #'s ranging from 77.9 to 52.1. The amphiboles include tschermakite, tschermakitic hornblende, pargasite, pargasitic hornblende, ferroan pargasite, magnesio-hornblende, and magnesio-taramite, Mg #'s range from 80.4 to 62.5. Systematic chemical and mineralogical changes confirm that differentiation, controlled by mineral assemblages of plagioclase, olivine, spinel, and clinopyroxene initially, and orthopyroxene, amphibole, and magnetite later, took place between intrusive episodes and in situ. The highly clacic plagioclase coexisting with olivine and amphibole suggests that the gabbros were formed from hydrous mafic magmas. The modal mineralogy of the gabbros, and the chemistry of the minerals is very similar to that of the cumulate blocks of the Lesser Antillean volcanoes. These features confirm that the gabbros were derived from a hydrous mafic magma, with high Al 2O 3 and low TiO 2 contents, typical of orogenic environments. Cumulate minerals from the gabbros show little or no zoning and are considered to have formed in equilibrium with the evolving melts. Selected trace-element contents and distribution coefficients are used to calculate the compositions of the melts. The calculations show that the melts in equilibrium with the olivine-pyroxene gabbronorite series contain approximately 100–200 ppm Ba, 200–400 ppm Sr, 30-10 ppm Ni, 20-10 ppm Co, and 300-100 ppm V. K/Rb ratios of the melts, derived from post-cumulus and prismatic amphiboles, are generally in the range 550-250. These values are typical of calc-alkalic basalts and andesites, and it is suggested that they may have erupted at the surface to form a coeval calc-alkalic volcanic sequence.