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Compositional Variation and Structural State of Columbite-Tantalite in Rare-Element Granitic Pegmatites of the Preissac-Lacorne Batholith, Quebec, Canada

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Compositional Variation and Structural State of Columbite-Tantalite in Rare-Element Granitic Pegmatites of the Preissac-Lacorne Batholith, Quebec, Canada --~---~-..- American Mineralogist, Volume 81, pages 146-157, 1996 Compositional variation and structural state of columbite-tantalite in rare-element granitic pegmatites of the Preissac-Lacorne batholith, Quebec, Canada THOMAS MULJA,! ANTHONY E. WILLIAMS-JONES,! ROBERT F. MARTIN,! AND Sc017 A. WOOD2 'Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, McGill University, 3450 University Street, Montreal, Quebec H3A 2A7, Canada 2Department of Geology and Geological Engineering, University of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho 83843, U.S.A. ABSTRACT Rare-element-enriched granitic pegmatites in and near the Lamotte and Lacorne plutons of the Archean Preissac-Lacorne batholith (Quebec) are zoned from a least fractionated beryl type in the parental pluton through a transitional spodumene + beryl type at the edge of the plutons to a most fractionated spodumene type in the country rocks. Colum- bite-tantalite is the only primary niobium tantalum oxide mineral; its composition is dominated by Nb, Ta, Fe, and Mn. Ti is present in minor quantities (~O.l atoms per formula unit). In both plutons, the Ta/(Ta + Nb) and Mn/(Mn + Fe) of columbite- tantalite correlate positively with the degree of pegmatite evolution. These correlations are interpreted to reflect the greater solubility of Mn relative to Fe and of Ta relative to Nb in the melt. In the Lacorne suite, there is a much greater increase in Mn/(Mn + Fe) over Ta/(Ta + Nb) of columbite-tantalite with pegmatite evolution. In pegmatite bodies in the Lacorne suite, where columbite-tantalite crystallization was accompanied by gamet, the Ta/(Ta + Nb) of columbite-tantalite increases at constant Mn/(Mn + Fe) values. We interpret this to indicate that garnet saturation buffered the activities of Fe and Mn in the liquid. The degree of order of columbite-tantalite decreases with the evolution of the pegmatite suites and reflects increased cooling rates of the more evolved, and more distal, bodies of pegmatite. INTRODUCTION In this contribution, we report the results of a detailed Minerals of the columbite-tantalite group study of the paragenesis, composition, and structural state [(Fe,Mn)(Nb,Ta)206J are potentially important in deci- of columbite-tantalite in two suites of comagmatic rare- phering the internal evolution of rare-element-enriched element-enriched granitic pegmatite from the Preissac- granitic pegmatites (Lahti 1987; Ercit 1994) and hence in Lacorne batholith, northwestern Quebec (Fig. 1). The understanding their petrogenesis (Ercit 1996). Trueman pegmatite bodies are not deformed or metamorphosed, and Cerny (1982) proposed a model in which batches of are well described in terms of their geology and petro- rare-element-enriched felsic magma, with increasing dis- chemistry (Dawson 1966; Mulja et al. 1995a, 1995b), and tance from the parental pluton, become saturated first in are zoned regionally from a least evolved beryl type em- beryl, then spodumene; as the magma crystallizes, Nb placed in the parental pluton to a most evolved spodu- and Fe are predicted to become depleted first, and Ta and mene type emplaced in the country rocks 2-3 km away Mn to become progressively enriched in the residualliq- from the respective pluton. Such a regional zonation, al- though an essential feature of the evolutionary model uid. Cerny et al. (1986) anticipated that with more rapid proposed for rare-element granitic pegmatites, is seldom crystallization of the successive melt fractions at an in- creasingly greater distance from the source, the colum- encountered. The pegmatite suites of the Preissac-La- come batholith thus offer a rare opportunity to elucidate bite-tantalite would tend to be stranded in a more dis- the factors that control the relationship between the crys- ordered state. However, these propositions have not been adequately tested because most published studies of co- tal-chemical properties of columbite-tantalite and the evolution of fractionated felsic liquids in a model rare- lumbite-tantalite have been restricted to single bodies of element pegmatite system. granitic pegmatite (Cerny and Turnock 1971; Grice et al. 1972; Wenger and Armbruster 1991; Spilde and Shearer 1992), to suites of granitic pegmatite in which the mag- GEOLOGY AND PETROGRAPHY OF THE PEGMATITES mas underwent limited fractionation (Cerny et al. 1986; The columbite-tantalite-bearing granitic pegmatites are Lahti 1987; Ercit 1994, 1996), or to groups of pegmatite part of the Archean Preissac-Lacorne batholith (-2.64- bodies in which petrogenetic links have not been estab- 2.7 Ga: Gariepy and Allegre 1985; Feng and Kerrich lished (Wise 1987). 1991), which hosts the largest swarm of spodumene-bear- 0003-004X/96/0 102-0146$05.00 146 MULJA ET AL.: COMPOSITION OF COLUMBITE-TANTALITE 147 N Lamotte pluton __ t ~S~~(4,5~ Types of pegmatite I 674 2 794 Beryl 3 795 } 4 908 Spodumene-beryl 5 912 } 6 961 7 1MC-2 Spodumene Skm 8 IIP-9-5 } Spd (6,7)_ (25) Types of pegmatite Lacorne pluton Mo-Ab N Monzogranite 'CO B Aplite dike ~~Q~--=~ Basic to Intermediate ~0 ~1~} t plutonic rocks g~~ spd (24) ~ e." ~Spd-Brl Schist and basic 13 640 Beryl "7 '., (20-22) volcanic rocks 14 646 " ." 15 1001 } "I 16 1007 QL-Spd(23)-+ Mannevtlle fault ''!.1 17703 J 18 708 " ., "/ La Pause anticline 19 709 Spodumene-be~1 Brl (13,14) + (fold hinge) 20 753 -, 21 756 } :~ 22 757 ~ ~ }Spodumene ~ ~ ~~~ BrI( 11,121,5,1 J---+ APicChapt.. 25 712 Albitite dike FIGURE 1. A simplified geological map of the Preissac-La- '\ " ' ~ AP (10) corne batholith showing the distribution of intercalated schists Diabase dike l Spd-Brl , (17-19)" I and volcanic rocks, basic plutonic rocks, and four monzogranitic 11III1I . Pegmatite plutons and structures. The boundaries of the plutons are based M.> on the farthest granitic pegmatite or monzogranite outcrops Mnscovite= (Dawson 1966). Recent mapping by Mulja et al. (1995a) showed t ~mica Monzogranite that the Lacorne pluton (Fig. 2B) is most likely smaller than } 'l . Biotite previously outlined. Only the boxed area in the Lacorne pluton, ijt~~ ." where most outcrops exist, is enlarged in Figure 2B. ~ ,Brl Sp<\-Brl' I Ian Schist and basic volcanic rocks I - ing pegrnatites in eastern Canada (formerly exploited by FIGURE 2. Geological maps of the Lamotte (A) and Lacorne the Quebec Lithium mine; Fig. 2B) and many other beryl- (B) plutons depicting the field relationships among the various and spodumene-bearing types of pegmatite of subeco- subtypes of monzogranite as well as the zonal distribution of the nomic grade. The batholith, which intruded mafic lavas three main types of pegmatite [beryl (Brl), spodumene + beryl and biotite schists of the Kinojevis and Malartic groups (Spd-Brl), and spodumene (Spd)] and the number and location in the Abitibi greenstone belt of the Superior province, of samples used in this study. In the Lacorne pluton, spodumene is made up of an older suite of gabbro, monzodiorite, and pegmatite from the former Quebec Lithium mine (QL) is about granodiorite, and four younger plutons of peraluminous 3 km east of the margin of the map, on the eastern side of the pluton. Columbite-tantalite- and molybdenite-bearing albitite monzogranite. Each pluton (Preissac, Moly Hill, La- dikes (Mo-Ab) occur only in the northernmost part of the La- motte, and Lacorne) is zoned compositionally from bio- corne pluton. tite through two-mica to muscovite monzogranite (Mulja et al. 1995a). The mineralized (Be, Li, Nb, Ta, and Mo) pegmatites, which are the focus of this study, are associ- voluted) and shows no evidence of metasomatism. ated with the Lamotte and Lacorne plutons. Contacts between spodumene pegmatites and amphibol- The pegmatites occur as tabular dikes ranging from tens ite are marked by a narrow halo in the amphibolite in of centimeters to 8 m in width and up to hundreds of which holmquistite replaced hornblende. meters in length, as lenticular bodies up to 5 x 24 m in On the basis of the predominant rare-element-bearing plan, and as dike swarms, particularly along the margin minerals, the mineralized pegmatites are subdivided into of the plutons. They filled zones of dilation (pinch and beryl-, spodumene + beryl-, and spodumene-bearing swell) in the monzogranite and existing fractures in the types. In the text that follows, these types of pegmatite country rocks, which were possibly reactivated during the are referred to as beryl, spodumene + beryl, and spodu- emplacement of the batholith. Most pegmatite bodies in mene pegmatite. The pegmatite bodies are zonally dis- the Lacorne pluton strike east and southeast, whereas those tributed from beryl type in and at the margin of the pa- in the Lamotte pluton show no preferred orientation. In rental plutons, to spodumene + beryl type at the margins both plutons, the pegmatite bodies dip vertically to sub- of the plutons, and to spodumene type in the country horizontally. Their intrusive contact with the monzo- rocks (Figs. 2A and 2B). Mineral and whole-rock geo- granite varies from gradational to sharp (planar to con- chemical data indicate that they are comagmatic; beryl ---- --~- ~._- -------- 148 MULJA ET AL.: COMPOSITION OF COLUMBITE-TANTALITE pegmatite represents the geochemically least evolved type, symmetrical zonation from a border zone of aplite, which and spodumene pegmatite is the most evolved type (Mul- has corrugated banding, is extremely rich in spessartine ja et al. 1995a, 1995b). Adjacent to the spodumene peg- (concentrations are an order of magnitude higher than in matite in the northern part of the Lacorne pluton (Fig. the aplite zone of the Lamotte spodumene + beryl peg- 2B), dikes of molybdenite- and columbite-tantalite-bear- matite), and contains appreciable amounts (-1 %) of co- ing albitite occur in the intercalated biotite schist and lumbite-tantalite and traces of schor! and pyrophanite. basalt. This zone grades inward into an intermediate zone through a thin transitional zone marked by books of muscovite Beryl pegmatite and prisms of beryl.
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