The Geology and Petrology of the Ennerdale
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THE GEOLOGY AND PETROLOGY OF THE ENNERDALE GRANOPHYRE. ITS__ METAMORPHIC AUREOLE __AND ASSOCIATED MINERALIZATION A Thesis presented for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Lewis Clark. Department of Geology, The University of Leeds. June, 1963. a b s t r a c t The E n n e r d a l e G r a n o p h y r e occurs in the Latte District between Buttermere and Wasdale. It is a stocK shaped, composite intrusion which was emplaced at the close of the Caledonian earth movements. The country rocks of the granophyre are the Borrowdale Volcanic Series and the Skiddaw Slates. The oldest rocks in the Ennerdale Granophyre are a series of dioritic rocks which have been largely metasomatised by the later granophyre magma into a series of granodioritic hybrids. Eighty percent of the outcrop of the Ennerdale Granophyre is occupied by a fine grained granophyre, the Main Granophyre. The youngest rocks associated with the granophyre: are a series of fine aplitic microgranites and rhyolitic felsites. Metamorphism by the granophyre has been very slight. The main changes in the Skiddaw Slates are a change in colour and an increase in hardness, but the slates in places in Ennerda.le have been soda—metasomatised. Macroscopic changes in the Berrowdale /olcanic Series are negligible, but there have been important mineralogicalL changes within a narrow aureole adjacent to the granophyre. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This research was made possible by the award of a D.S.I.R. Research Studentship. I am extremely grateful to the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research and Professor W. Q. Kennedy for making this award. I wish to thank Mr. J. Hartley for suggesting the field of research, for his constant advice in the field and laboratory, and for his critical reading of the manuscript of this thesis. Thanks are also due to many members of the Research Institute of African Geology, particularly Mr. P.W.G. Brock, for their stimulating discussion and criticism during the work. I am indebted to the technical staff of the Research Institute of African Geology for their help; to Mr. P. Pisher for the preparation of numerous rock slides, to Mrs. M.H. Kerr and Miss J. R. Baldwin for chemical analyses, to Mr. L. Wil-son for mineral Xrays, and to Miss J.M. Rooke, for spectrographicaL analyses. I also wish to record my thanks to the farmers and friends in the Lake District without whose help and hospitality my field work would not have been so pleasant. TABLE OF CONTENTS P age. INTRODUCTION 1. Geographical Location. 2. 2» The Geological Setting of the Ennerdale Granophyre. 1. 3. The General Geology of the Ennerdale Granophyre. 3. 4. Aims of the Present Research. 4e PART ONE; THE COUNTRY ROCKS OP THE ENNERDALE GRANOPHYRE. 8„ I. THE SKIDDAW SLATES. 8. 1. Introduction 8. 2. The Loweswater Flags. A. Field Relationships. B. Petrography. 20. 3« The Mosser Kirkstile Slates. 12. A. Field Relationships. 12. B. Petrography. 26. 4. The Latterbarrow Sandstone. 28. A. Field Relationships. 28. B. Petrography. 20, 5. The Blakefell Mudstone. 22. A. Field Relationships. 22. B. Petrography. 23o II. THE BORROWDALE VOLCANIC SERIES BETWEEN WASTWATER AND b u t t e r m e r e " 1. Introduction. 25. 2. Stratigraphy. 27. A. Succession. 28. B. Correlation. 29® C. A detailed description of the succession. 29. (i) The Andesite Group. 29. ( (a) Field Relationships. 29. (b) Petrography. 34. (ii) The Dacite Group. 40. (a) Field Relationships. 40o (b) Petrography. 420 PART TWO; THE EMERDALE GRAHOPHYRE. III. BASIC INTRUSIONS ASSOCIATED WITH THE EMERDALE grahqphyre. 45® lo Introduction. 45• 2. Field. Relationships. 45* A. The Burtness Combe Intrusive Complex. 45* B. The Minor Basic Intrusions of Ennerdale? 50• and Wasdale <> 3. Petrography. 52. A. The Burtness Combe Laccolith. 52o B. The Other Minor Basic Intrusions. 57* 4. The Age of the Minor Basic Intrusions. 60. 5. Petrology. 61. A. Classification. 61. B. Differentiation of the Burtness Laccolith. 62. .IV. THE HYBRID ROCKS. 68. 1* Introduction. 68. 2. Hybrid Rocks in Wasdale. 70. A. Field Relationships. 70. (i) Mecklin Woods. 70. (ii) Minor Outcrops In Wasdale. 75„ B. Petrography. 76. 3. Hybrid Rocks in the Bleng Valley. 85. A. Field Relationships. 85. B. Petrography. 91 „ 4. Hybrid Rocks in Ennerdale. 96. A. Field Relationships. 96. B. Petrography. 100. 5® Petrogenesis. 105. A. Evidence of Hybridization. 105. B. Age of Hybridization. 105. C. Origin of the Hybrid Rocks. IO60 D. Process of Hybridization. 109. 6. The Original Basic Rocks. 115• A. Composition. 115. B. The form of the Original Basic Intrusion. 117<> C. Age of the Original Basic Intrusion. 119® V. THE MAIN GRANOPHYHB. 120. 1. Introduction. 120. 2. Field Relationships. 1210 3. Petrography. 128. 4. Petrochemistry. I39. VI. THE LATE MINOR ACIDIC IKTRUSIONS OF THE EMERDALE GRANOPHYRE. 145. 1. Introduction. 145. 2. The Fine Grained Microgranites. 148. A. Field Relationships. 148, B. Petrography. 151 „ 3. Felsitic Sills and Dykes. 155, A. Field Relationships. 155, B. Petrography. 162, 4. Origin of the Late Acidic Intrusions. 166, PETROGENESIS l67a„ VII. STRUCTURE. 167. 1. Folding. 167. A. Introduction. 167. B. The Folding of the Skiddaw Slates in the vicinity of the Ennerdale Granophyre. 168. C. The Folding of the Borrowdale Volcanic Series, 170. in the vicinity of the Ennerdale Granophyre. 21 Faulting. 173. A. Introduction. 173„ B. High Angled Faults. 174, (i) The Nature of the Fault Planes. 1740 (ii) The North-North-Easterly Faults. 177. (iii)The North-North-Westerly Faults. 179. (iv) The West-North-Westerly Faults. 182. C. Low Angled Faults. 182. (i) The Contact Between the Borrowdale Volcanic Series and the Skiddaw Slates. l82o (a) The High Stile Area. 182. (b) Relationships between the Contact in the High Stile Area and the contact further east. 185* (c) West of the Ennerdale Granophyre. I85. (d) Origin of the Basal Thrust of the Borrowdale Volcanic Series. 186. (ii) The Floutern Crag Thrusts. 1®* 3. The Age Relationships of the Ennerdale Granophyre and Neighbouring Structureo 189. A. Folding. I89. Bo Faulting. 192. 4. The General Relationships of the Ennerdale Grano phyre to the Structure of the Western Lake District. 194* 5<> The Intrusion of the Ennerdale Granophyre. 198. 60 The Age of the Ennerdale Granophyre. 200. VIII. THE MET AMORPHIC AUREOLE OF THE EMERJALE GRANOPHYRE. 202. 1. Introduction. 202. 2. The Metamorphic Aureole within the Skiddaw Slates. 203. A. Field Relationships. 203. B. Petrolraphy. 210o (i) The Outer Zone of the Aureole. 210. (ii) The Inner Zone of the Aureole. 211. C. Petrochemistry. 213. 3* The Metamorphic Aureole Within the Borrowdale Volcanic Series. 216. A. Introduction. 216,, B. Field Relationships<, 217 0 Co The Secondary Alteration in the Borrowdale Volcanic Series. 220. D. A Comparison of the Aureole of the Ennerdale Granophyre with the Aureoles of other Intrusions in the Lake District. 224. IX MINERALIZATION. 2280 1. Mineralization related to the Intrusion of the Ennerdale Granophyre. 2. Mineralization Unrelated to the Intrusion of the Ennerdale Granophyre. 236» Ao Haematite. 231. B. Lithiophorite: First Record in Great Britain. 232. C. Lead and Copper. 234. PART THREE. APPENDICES. 236 APPENDIX I. GLACIATION. 236. 1. The Glacial History of the Western Lake District. 236. 2. Glacial Studies of the Present Work. 238o A. Introduction. 238. B. The Main Glaciation. 239* C. Erosion during the Main Glaciation. 242. D. The Retreat of the Main Glaciation. 245° E. The Post-Allerod Corrie Glaciation. 247. APPENDIX II. INTRUSIONS UNRELATED TO THE EMERDALE GRANOPHYRE. 251. 1. Pre-Caledonian Intrusions. 251. A. Introductions. 251. B. Field Relationships. 251. C. Petrography. 233. 2. The Hole Gill Porphyry. 256. APPENDIX III. MINERALOGY. 257. 1. The Composition of Garnets from Buttermere: A criticism of Diagrams by Sriramadis (1957) for the Correlation of Unit Cell Edges and Refractive Indices with the Chemical Composition of Garnets. 257. 2. The Feldspars of the Main Granophyre. 259. A. Orthoclase Microperthites. 259. B. Plagioclase. 262. 3» Ferromagnesian Minerals. 262. A. In the Basic and Hybrid Rocks. 262. B. In the Borrowdale Volcanic Series. 265. APPENDIX IV. PETROGRAPHIC TECHNIQUE. 266. 1. Staining Feldspars. 266. APPENDIX V. HISTORY OF PREVIOUS RESEARCH. 269. 1. Early Research. 269. 2. More Recent Research. 273* A. The Ennerdale Granophyre. 273. B. The Skiddaw Slates. 279. Co The Borrowdale Volcanic Series. 284. References. 296. I INTRODUCTION, I. Geographical Location The Ennerdale Granophyre occupies an area of a p p r o x i m a t e l y t w e n t y square miles in the w e s t e r n Latte District. It lies within the area covered by the Ordnance Survey Six Inch Sheets NXOO/NE; NIOl/SE, NE; NUl/Nw, HE, SW, SE; NTIO/NW, NE, SW. The intrusion extends from Buttermere in the north to Wastwater in the south (Figures I.). The continuity of the outcrop of the granophyre is interrupted on the north side of Wasdale in the vicinity of Windsor Farm where incomplete erosion of the roof of the intrusion has left a thin skin of volcanic rocks covering the granophyre. The granophyre has weathered into a group of smooth rounded hills of which the highest is Cawfell, 2200 feet high. These contrast sharply mth the crag covered central, fells of the Lake District which are made of rocks of the:? Borrowdale Volcanic Series. The major valleys of Ennerdale, Buttermere and Wasdale, which form the western part of the radial drainage of the Lake District, cross the area under discussion giving it a relief varying from 200 feet O.D. in Wasdale to 2750 feet O.D. on Great Scoat Fell. The area to be described includes the whole of the outcrop of the Ennerdale Granophyre and its metamorphic aureole, a total area of approximately 40 square miles.