University of Massachusetts Amherst ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014 1937 A comparative study of the Mt. Holyoke diabase and the dike at Dry Brook Nelson Pierce Stevens University of Massachusetts Amherst Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/theses Stevens, Nelson Pierce, "A comparative study of the Mt. Holyoke diabase and the dike at Dry Brook" (1937). Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014. 2003. Retrieved from https://scholarworks.umass.edu/theses/2003 This thesis is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014 by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact [email protected]. — MASSACHUSETTS STATE COLLEGE DATE DUE JAN o 3 1993 UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS LIBRARY PHYS SCI LD 3234 M258 1^37 pHYSHYq NCE S345 TTLOTB A CCKPABATIVE SFtTHft Of Tin VT. KCLYOKE LIA3A8E asl the rm at m bsook StJLson rier<*o 3terens Thesis sufcftltted for the 6*8*99 of Xeeter of SoIoboo MASSACHUSETTS STATE COLLEGE Jtzae 193? CJKTDBTS Propose of the Study • | Signifies^©© Of Fook Studies * P.FYIIW Or imrATCRX General Methods of Analytical Procedure 5 Prerioua Plrfcase S tidies 10 FIHD AFC IA30PATOBY STT£IXS Field Aspects of the Prohlesj • *» Petroer©I'ale Studies eve »*»•••» flain Sheet ?JBO ... ••••••• •• • . • • Analytical Procedure JJ Preparation of Sample . • Fusion „ ft ^111 ©a . Separation of the JJ Determination of the r.gOj Oxides g Determination of Total Iron g of Titaniun . • Determination »zJJ Determination of the Alkaline Earths Determination of Ferrous Iron Determination of Kater Alkalies . Determination of the £J rhosphorus letermination of JJ Determination of Manganese gj Apparatus Used ...... Reagents Used Purity of JJ Results Analytical 4g • • • Discussion o« Feasibility of Employing Semi-itlero methods 55 C0ICLU3I0B ..... 6 AC3CS03XEDO&OTS 57 LITIKATUPF CITED -1- r: .- rucTioa PURPOSE 07 TEIS STUDY The purpose of this paper is to present a eomparatlTe study of a selected rock aaspic from the main diabase sheet of the from the large dike }'t. Holyoke range ani' another selected sample which ante the sandstones, crrerlying the main sheet near Pry Brook at the western end of the range, ana presumably the main sheet also; and after field observations to confirm this assnaptlon, making then by using seal-micro methods of ehealeal analysis an^ first, a a petrographle study, to draw eonelusions coceerning: and the possible genetic relation between the main diabase sheet dike to similar dike; second, the relation of this diabase and feasibility of applying roek throughout the world; and third, the seal -si to methods to roek analyses. SI OTITIC AIC1 OF BOCK STUDIES The analytical study of rooks, whether they he igneous or other- wise, has significance in aueh divisions of science aa physical and analytical ehetnistry, geology, mining, physios, and in agriculture. All rooks • if not igneous, are fieriYea ultimately from the igneous rook, which represents the cooled, solidified, and crystallised molten magaa, whose nature is that of a true solution and whose solidification follows the laws of physical chemistry. According to Sashingtor (1), "the science of geochemistry is tossed in a large part on the chemical composition of igneous rocks* and 'a knowledge of the chemical composition of igneous rocks is also necessary — for the study of such petrologie problems as diff- erentiation, consanguinity , petrographie provinces, rock weathering, and petrogenesis* — - 'the chemical composition of the igneous rocks may also enter into problems of wolcanology, seismology, isostasy, continental drift, and the origin of the solar system", nhile s knowledge of principles in the field of physical ehemintry is essential for rook studies, yst "the study of igneous rooks may he of service to the sister science because the systems under conditions of mass, time, temperature, and pressure, often in the presence of dissolved gasee, some of which conditions it is impossible to reproduce sever- ally or conjointly in the laboratory". (1) To quote Hlllebrand and Lundell the quantitative analysis of rocks is a most "complex and often trying problem" anrt conatantly demands more refined and improved methods, whose development, even today, tends to lee to sor.e extent. (2) It le through the sere re demands of rock analysis that the general field of analytical ehem- Istry has advanced, but as pointed out by Klllebrand and Londell in eonneetlcn with the technical analysis of sine ores, slags, and cements, "there is a woeful Inability to obtain accordant results". (2) Bosk analyses hare contributed such toward the development and naintalnenee of high standards In quantitative work. The advancement in this field has progressed from the simple but accurate mineral analyses of such eminent chemists as Berzelius and »Ohler , to the later megascopic methods of rook analysis by knshingten, ftlllebrand, Clarke, and others; and finally, as the most recent step introduced In the last few years, to the application of seml-mi^ro methods which have been shown by Guthrie and Miller to be well adapted to this type of work.(3) It is this last method which was followed In this study and its sucrose will be discussed later. As far as the writer is aware, this is the first attempt, ot T er than that mentioned above, to use semi-slero methods in a rock analysis. Washington'* latest book on rook analysis, published in 1930, did net mention sesl-mlero methods. In recent years, a new application of the chemical analysis of rocks has some to the fore. Considerable interest has been shown by the agriculturist in the Importance of the minor elements in the field of ploat nutrition. The more complete chenied rock analyses of recent years has shown the presence of many rarer constituents as titanium, boron, vanadium, copper, sine, manganese, zlreoninn, and -4- othors often In »ea*ureable ueuntfl in certain types of reek. Slnee ell eolle are ultimately derived from Igneous rocks, the composition of the soil depends entirely* except for volatile setter, upon the original eheaieal composition of lte parent rook, allowance nuat he ante, however, for a certain amount of loea in composition by the process of weathering* The preseree of the rarer elements in the rook and henee In the soil, led to the idea of investigating the effect of these minor constituents on plant nutrition. An interesting pamphlet published by the Chilean Nitrate Educational Bureati Ine., entitled "Vital Element**, present* a 5004 review of this subject. Quoting The Botanical 5cview . April 1336, the above pamphlet etatea * 'Soring the last thirty five yeaxx the literature on the relation of miner elements to plants fees become very extensive. Villi s* bibliography covers between 2000 end S000 references — but even so the field is not •overed" . (4) As further pointed cut in the California Cultivator , June 1935, **Se *ncw, -what minute neounte of a considerable number of elements such as sine, copper, boron, manganeae, ant probably many others, are Just an necessary as nitrogen, potassium, phosphorus, and calcium ,w ,(4) Gere, then, lies a comparatively new field for the application of rock analyses* Washington remarks that a knowledge of the a? nor constituents has value in "the light that «say fc* thrown on the origin and formation of ores, and the possibility of such chemical study of the igneous and aetamoTphic roeks leading in the future to eeonoaie advances. (1) c -5 Book analyses are also being used in work designed to learn, with greater accuracy, the age of the earth. The determination of the lead-uranium ratios by nany German investigators, and that of the helium content aa carried oat by Lane, brought interesting results. R£VISf OP LITERATURE OXEZKAL VMM OF ANALYTICAL MM Tarioua analysta have written eoneernlng the ala to be kept In mint •nc> the procedure to be followed In the analyses of rooks, such aa the constituents to be determined, the summation, the rating of the analysis, and the expression of the results. As pointed out by Washington, the first step in every eheKieal rock analysis should be a alorosoopie study of the thln-seetion by one who has a knowledge of petrography. Such aa examination serves several ends: flrat, as a acacs of aaeertaining the freshness of the representative aaaple for the eeaple; seoond t as a neana of insuring a giving an analysis; third, as a guide for the subseguent analysis by the idea of the sinerals, and hence the elements present, including of the nora minor constituents; fonrth, aa e basla for the calculation interpreting the genet? for the rock,* and finally, aa a neana of history of the rock. consideration when about One of the first things to be taken Into concerns the constituents to to undertake a Quantitative rock analyaia connection "In every rock be determined, •eahington reaarka in this analysis worthy of the n*we ell the mis eenetituents emst he determined* •( 8) By m!m eonatituente were Beaut si Ilea, elnalnn, ferrle and ferroaa oxides, magnesia, lime, soft*, potash, as* water. These oxide* ware emphsaissd by *ashlngton(5), Hillebrand (»)« <U5<* others; however, in $ashingto»'8 latest work (1), he iseluded three wore oxides as w» Jcr constituent is whieh previously had been considered minor, namely, tltanla, mengenous oxide, and pheephorae per. toxica. 9a faro for his reasons the feet that tftaniaji and phosphorus "are invariably present in igneous reefce, - TiO and ? 0 fi 2 g are precipitated and weighed with the alumina, so that their welghta sunt he subtracted frow that of the aixed precipitate to arrive at the eorreet flgnrs for Al.C^ . Manganese fa sine present in nearly elessee of igneous rooks, although nsually in small amounts. Theea three constituents, together with the other nine, are the west abundant oxides is the earth's emet, an la ahoan hy the following data tafcea frow Washington and Clarice (»): 810, 59.18 Psis 15 ,34 Qaexts 10*02 3.08 Orthoelese 18.?5 2*80 AIM to 32.49 m 3.49 dnorthlte 15,59 CaC 5.08 Piopslde 6.