Alteration of Ghromite from the Twin Sisters Dunite, Washington
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American Mineralogist, Volume 59, pages 608412' 1974 Alterationof Ghromitefrom the Twin SistersDunite, Washington ANrnoNv C. ONYracocne' Department of Geological Sciences, Uniuersity of llashington, Seattle, Washington 98 195 Affiact Chromite in the Twin Sistersdunite, an alpine-type ultramafic body some 90 km2, occurs as minor disseminatedeuhedral-subhedral crystals or in clusters forming pods and lenses.Modal proportions of chromite in the pods and lensesare frequently as high as 80 percent.Ferritchromite occurs as rims on chromite crystalsthat are bordered by chlorite and (where still available) olivine' Microprobe analysesof chromite, ferritchromite, chrome-magnetite,olivine, and chlorite show that the chromite-ferritchromite boundary is sharp (lessthan l0 microns) and that, relative to chromite' ferritchromite is enriched in Cr, Fe, Ni, and Mn and impoverished in Mg and Al' However, when chrome-magnetite,found only in association with serpentine,is the alteration product, there is a marked decreasein chromium. Chromite alteration appearsto take place above the upper stability limit of serpentineand below that of chlorite. Inhoduction Two types of chromite alteration were recognized in this study.In one,the alterationproduct is chrome- Alteration of chromite to opaque highly reflecting bearingmagnetite which is associatedwith serpentine. bordershas beenreported by severalauthors (Weiser, In the other, the alteration product is ferritchromite 1967;Kern, 1968;Mih6lik and Saager,1968; Beeson which is in no way associated with serpentine. and Jackson,1969; Frisch, 1971).Because the altera- Serpentineassociated with the magnetite was not tion product is rich in iron, it has been called "gray studiedin detail. magnetite" (Horninger, l94l) or "ferritchromit" (Spangenberg,1943). Several quantitative chemical PehograPhY descriptions of this alteration product have been Chromite crystals in the Twin Sisters dunite worked out (Table l). Most workers, however, (Ragan, 196?)occur either as disseminated,euhedral- investigated only the distribution of the major to-subhedralgrains which constituteless than I per- elements between the chromite and its alteration of the rock, or as concentrationsin bands or product. In this investigation,the behavior of four cent schlieren.They also occur in clustersforming pods major elements(Mg, Fe, Al, and Cr) and also six and lensessome 0.3 metersor more thick. Thesepods minor elements(Ni, Mn, Co, Ti, Zn, and V) were and lensesare distributed irregularly over the entire studied. body. Modal proportions of chromite in these Beesonand Jackson(1969) reported that chromite rock pods and lensesare frequently as high as 80 percent. alteration accompanies the change of associated The chromite crystals in the pods and lenses are olivine and orthopyroxeneto chlorite. Many of the anhedral and some display gran- reported instancesof chromite alteration have been characteristically margins. The dominant, although restricted, related to serpentinizationperhaps caused by late ulated in the original chromite pods and lensesis the pneumatolytic-hydrothermalsolutions (Kern, 1968). change breakdown of chromite plus olivine and enstatite to From a fresh dunite nodule from a basaltic tuff, ferritchromite and chlorite. Frisch (1971) reported chromite alteration that The chromite alteration product in three specimens appears to have resulted from high-temperature, from chromite lenses from locations 2, 5, and 7 late-magmaticprocesses prior to eruption. (Figure 2, Onyeagocha,1973)were studied in detail. developedferrit- I Present address: Department of Mineral Sciences,Smith- Severalchromite crystalswith well sonian Institution, Washington, D. C. 20560. chromite rims were studied, but data are presented 608 ALTERATION OF CHROMITE 609 for only a few that illustrate the extent and nature of Tnsrp 1. Pattern of Chromite Alteration this alteration. These samplesconsist of unaltered chromiteand olivine with local zonesof ferritchromite No Pattern Enrlched in chromite Enriched in Ferrl.tchromlte and light purple chlorite. The chromite grains are Al, Mg Fe, Cr ((reiser, Case I,1967) A1, Mg, Cr fe (Weiser, Case II, 1967) anhedralto subhedral.Chlorite is kinked, representing A1, Mg, Cr Fe (Mlhaltk & Saager, 1968) an adjustmeritto forces exertedby the surrounding A1, Mg. Cr Fe (Beeson & Jackson, 1969) chromite during chlorite growth. Cr At, Mg Fe (Lapham, 1964) There is some A1 Fe (whlte,1966) textural intergrowth of ferritchromite and chlorite Cr Fe (Mulr & Ttlley, 1964) Cr, A1, Mg, Zn Fe, Ti, Ni (Frlsch, 1971) (identified as chlorite by partial microprobe analysis) AI, Mg Fe, Cr, Nl, Mn, Co, T1, much like that shown by Golding and Bayliss(1968, Zn, V (ThIs study) p. 174, Figure 8) which they called "coarsely pitted Cr, A1, Mg Fe, Co, Zn, Ni. (Enriched ln wgnetlte) (Thls study) alteredchromite." At the boundary between a chromite lens and dunite,chromite alteration did not yield ferritchromite and later re-equilibratedat lower temperature.This but instead chrome-bearingmagnetite and books of is corroborated by the data in Table 3 for chrome- kinked green chlorite. The magnetite is associated bearing magnetite where apparent equilibration with serpentine.Instead of the increasein Cr observed temperatures,for what they are worth, are negative. in the other samples,the alteration product showsa No difference in temperature is'apparent between tremendousdecrease in Cr. The lower Cr content olivine-chromite and olivine-ferritchromite in this noted in magnetite relative to ferritchromite is study (Table 3) nor did Frisch (1971) notice any accompaniedby a lower Cr content of coexisting, difference.Since the olivine is, in general,homoge- greenchlorite relativeto the purple chlorite. neous, an alternateinterpretation of re-equilibration Discussion with olivine richer in iron is not applicablehere. In fact, judging from the equation written for alteration Microprobe analyses of phases associatedwith of chromite to ferritchromite using the actual analyt- chromite alteration (Table 2) show that olivine is ical data obtained in this study, it appearsthat the particularly homogeneous.No grain-to-grain-varia- initial olivine is richer in iron. The equation'assumes tions wereobserved, nor did stepscans across individ- that Al, Cr, and Mg wereconserved. ual grains reveal any inhomogeneity. Unaltered go. - * chromitein thesespecimens exhibits no variationsthat 4. 4 4(M zrFe' r uAI0. z u F eBo. oe) On " :lf :-rtr."r could not be accounted for by count statistics. Ferritchromiteand chrome-bearingmagnetite showed * 3.52(Mg.r,.€,Fe'*'. le Sion) slight inhomogeneity.Cr, Fe, and Al in chlorite are remarkably variable within grains and from grain to f 2.54(Meo.:LT:,:.0,SiO3)+ 8 H,O + 0.27O' grain. Within grain a single the Cr-content increases * toward : 3( M 96.55 F"' lo.08 F es o.a u) On the unaltered chromite core and decreases *.::11"".."1l?A towards olivine. For example,specimen 5-5A (near chromite) has 3,2 percent CrrO, whereas 5-5B * ( Mg,o. rrCr6.nrAlr. rTFe'*0.lex Si6.06Alr. s4) O2o o Hr6 (near olivine) only contains 0.10 percent CrrO, (Table 2). ExcessFe and Si were partitioned to form forsterite and Figure I showsstep scansacross a crystal in which enstatitewith the sameFe/Mg ratio. Written in the chromite-ferritchromiteboundary is shdrp (less this manner, the equation showsthat only HrO and than l0 microns). The scansalso show that, relative O, need be introduced. The alteration, therefore, to the chromitc, ferritchromite is enrichedin Cr, Fe, appearsto be a responseto changingoxygen fugacity (Irvine, Ni, and Mn, and impoverishedin Mg and Al. The 1965)and changing/rr,o. pattern is not clear for Co, Zn, andY. A volume-for-volumereplacement of the outcrop as postulatedby Beesonand Jackson(1969, p. 1096) The decreasein the ratios, Mg/(Mg f Fe,*) and Al/(Cr + Al + Fe'*), and the simultaneousincrease z In in Fe'*/(Cr + Al + Fe'*) observedin both types of writing this equation, specimen 2-4Afr1 was used for chromite, ferritchromite, and chlorite. No found chromite alteration olivine was according to Jackson (1969), within severalcm ofthis crystal. Olivine used in the equation is indicatesthat the chromite formed at high temperature from specimen2-4 and is some l0 cm away from2-4A. 610 ANTHONY C, ONYEAGOCHA Tnsle 2. Electron Microprobe Analysesof Chromite, Ferritchromite, Magnetite, Olivine, and Chlorite fro'm the Twjn SistersDunite, Washington CHROMITE FERRITCI{ROMITE MAGNETITE 2-4 2-4A#L 2-4Lll2 5-4B 5-4c 5-4D 5-5 5-5D 5-7 z4Alll 2-4All2 5-5 5-4A 5-48 5-4C 5-7 Tto2 0.03 0.05 0.05 0.10 0.13 0.08 0.08 0.08 0.05 0.12 0.90 0.13 0.02 0.03 0.02 0.02 AL2o3 2r.3 20.6 2t.l LL.7 10.7 16.6 17.5 16.8 18.1 1.8 2.7 9.9 0.48 0,57 0.67 0.56 Cr2O3 47.O 47.7 46.5 51.s 52.7 47.L 51.1 50.8 50.4 56.0 54.9 55.5 0.07 0.25 1.9 4.2 Fe203* 3.8 3.7 4.O 9.7 10.4 5.8 4.L 4.6 3,9 13.1 13.0 1,9 69,5 59.6 67.7 64.9 FeO* 11.0 11.3 10.8 13.9 L3.7 L7.9 t2,4 13.5 12.6 L4.7 t3.7 14.r 25.i 25.5 26,4 27.2 lfnO 0.23 0,24 0.41 0.50 0.58 0.52 0.44 0,47 0.4 o.47 0.63 0.55 o.22 0.18 0.18 0.45 MsO 15.5 L5.2 r5.4 L2.6 12.8 10.3 14.3 L3.4 L4.2 10.1 11,5 L2.4 2.4 2.4 2.O L.7 CoO 0.04 0.03 0.04 0.08 0.11 0.11 0.07 0.08 0.05 0.04 0.08 0.10 o.25 0,23 0.22 0.21 ZnO 0.05 0.07 0.03 0.14 0.14 0,27 0.05 0.08 0.05 0.20 0.14 0.10 0.29 0,29 0.23 0.24 N10 0.10 0, L0 0.09 0.r1 0.15 0,09 0.08 0.09 0.09 0.49 0.34 0.13 1.4 1.5 L.4 0.50 vZ03 0.11 0,12 0.12 0.16 0.19 0.21 0.16 0,18 0.12 0.16 0.16 0.19 0.05 0.07 0.04 0.13 Total 99, 16 99.