Cr2O3 in corundum: Ultrahigh contents under reducing conditions
-
William L. Griffin
, Sarah E.M. Gain
, Martin Saunders , Fernando Cámara , Luca Bindi, Deborah Spartà
, Vered Toledo und Suzanne Y. O’Reilly
Abstract
Xenocrysts and xenoliths in Upper Cretaceous pyroclastics on Mount Carmel (northern Israel) represent a series of similar magma-fluid systems at different stages of their evolution, recording a continuous decrease in oxygen fugacity (fO2) as crystallization proceeded.
Corundum coexisting with Fe-Mg-Cr-Al spinels, other Fe-Mg-Al-Na oxides, and Fe-Ni alloys in apparent cumulates crystallized at fO2 values near the iron-wüstite (IW) buffer (fO2 = IW±1) and is zoned from high-Cr cores to lower-Cr rims, consistent with fractional crystallization trends. The reconstructed parental melts of the cumulates are Al-Cr-Fe-Mg oxides with ca. 2 wt% SiO2. Corundum in other possible cumulates that contain Cr-Fe (Fe 45 wt%) alloys has low-Cr cores and still lower-Cr rims. Corundum coexisting with Cr0 (fO2 = IW-5) in some possible cumulates has low-Cr cores, but high-Cr rims (to >30% Cr2O3). These changes in zoning patterns reflect the strong decrease in the melting point of Cr2O3, relative to Al2O3, with decreasing fO2. The electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) analyses show that all Cr in corundum that coexists with Cr0 is present as Cr3+. This suggests that late in the evolution of these reduced melts, Cr2+ has disproportionated via the reaction 3Cr2+(melt) → 2Cr3+(Crn) + Cr0.
The most Cr-rich corundum crystallized together with β-alumina phases including NaAl11O17 (diaoyudaoite) and KAl11O17 (kahlenbergite) and β″-alumina phases; residual melts crystallized a range of (K,Mg)2(Al,Cr)10O17 phases with the kahlenbergite structure. The parental melts of these assemblages appear to have been Al-Cr-K-Na-Mg oxides, which may be related to the Al-Cr-Fe-Mg oxide melts mentioned above, through fractional crystallization or liquid immiscibility.
These samples are less reduced (fO2 from IW to IW-5) than the assemblages of the trapped silicate melts in the more abundant xenoliths of corundum aggregates (fO2 = IW-6 to IW-10). They could be considered to represent an earlier stage in the fO2 evolution of an “ideal” Mt. Carmel magmatic system, in which mafic or syenitic magmas were fluxed by mantle-derived CH4+H2 fluids. This is a newly recognized step in the evolution of the Mt. Carmel assemblages and helps to understand element partitioning under highly reducing conditions.
Funding statement: F.C. and D.S. acknowledge financial support from the Italian Ministry of Education (MIUR) through the project “Dipartimenti di Eccellenza 2018–2022” for funding the installation of Raman and single-crystal X‑ray diffraction facilities at Milan and a Ph.D. grant for D.S. L.B. thanks MIUR-PRIN2017, project “TEOREM deciphering geological processes using Terrestrial and Extraterrestrial ORE Minerals,” prot. 2017AK8C32. W.L.G. and S.Y.O’R. acknowledge the research funds for the TARDIS Project provided by the ARC Centre of Excellence for Core to Crust Fluid Systems. We acknowledge the scientific and technical assistance of Microscopy Australia at the Centre for Microscopy, Characterization and Analysis, a facility funded by The University of Western Australia, and State and Commonwealth Governments. Instruments used at Macquarie University are funded by DEST Systemic Infrastructure Grants, ARC LIEF, NCRIS/AuScope, industry partners and Macquarie University. This is contribution 1532 from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Core to Crust Fluid Systems and 1405 from the GEMOC Key Centre.
Acknowledgments
We thank Paul Asimow and two anonymous referees for many useful comments and suggestions, Dan Harlov for unbiased and constructive editorial handling, and Montgarri Castillo-Oliver for her help with graphics. John Ward provided valuable insights into the nature and age of the alluvial deposits.
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© 2021 Mineralogical Society of America
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Artikel in diesem Heft
- Stable and transient isotopic trends in the crustal evolution of Zealandia Cordillera
- An evolutionary system of mineralogy, Part V: Aqueous and thermal alteration of planetesimals (~4565 to 4550 Ma)
- Cr2O3 in corundum: Ultrahigh contents under reducing conditions
- Plagioclase population dynamics and zoning in response to changes in temperature and pressure
- Limited channelized fluid infiltration in the Torres del Paine contact aureole
- Quantitative determination of the shock stage of L6 ordinary chondrites using X-ray diffraction
- A new method to rapidly and accurately assess the mechanical properties of geologically relevant materials
- Two-stage magmatism and tungsten mineralization in the Nanling Range, South China: Evidence from the Jurassic Helukou deposit
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- Crystal chemistry of schreibersite, (Fe,Ni)3P
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- New Mineral Names*
- Book Review
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