The Sveconorwegian pegmatite province: Identifying the parameters controlling the abundance and genesis of the pegmatites Nanna Rosing-Schow Dissertation for the degree of Philosophiae Doctor Natural History Museum University of Oslo May 2020 Contents Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................... v 1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Historical background of southern Norwegian pegmatite mining and research ............. 1 2. Scientific background ........................................................................................................... 4 2.1 Classification of pegmatites ............................................................................................ 4 2.2 Pegmatite genesis models ............................................................................................... 5 3. Geological setting ................................................................................................................. 8 3.1 Sveconorwegian orogen .................................................................................................. 8 3.2 Sveconorwegian pegmatite province .............................................................................. 9 4. Thesis summary .................................................................................................................. 11 4.1 Thesis conclusions ........................................................................................................ 14 4.2 Thesis outlook ............................................................................................................... 16 5. References ........................................................................................................................... 18 6. List of papers ....................................................................................................................... 25 Paper 1 Paper 2 Paper 3 iii iv Acknowledgements I would like to thank my two supervisors Axel Müller and Henrik Friis this thesis could not have happened without you. Axel you have always taken great interest in my work and made sure I was progressing of this I am grateful. Henrik without you my excel spreadsheets would have never functioned as good and I would not have had daily talks about the world. I would also like to thank my colleagues for making Økern a nice place to work with everything from Friday bbq’s, Christmas lunches and discussions about northern Norwegian reality stars. Spe- cial thanks my office mate Øyvind Sunde for always making the workday more fun, Lene Liebe Delsett for always believing in me, Maayke Koevoets-Westerduin for being a good friend welcoming me to Norway, Eirini for good on and off work times and Nelia Castro for always supporting me with hugs and encouragement. I thank May-Liss Funke for being my partner in crime, the Christmas lunches would never have happened without your excessive amount of kitchenware and hjerterum. My fieldwork would have been boring without the com- pany of Georg Steffensen. I also send my thanks to my office neighbors Aubrey Roberts and Victoria Sjøholt Engelschiøn you have always been up for a chat and some zen moments in front of your aquarium. I would like to thank Muriel Erambert for many nice and useful hours on the microprobe, Tom Andersen and Magnus Kristoffersen for helping me with the laser ablation analyses. I would like to send my regards to Lars Tveit and Tor Peder Lohne for always being welcoming and helpful with our fieldwork in Tørdal. I would like to thank Ole Rabbel for a fun time living together and for keeping me fed and high on caffeine especially during these corona times. Arianne I am happy that I have gotten to know you it has been really nice hanging out, sowing and painting I hope we can continue this somewhere in Scandinavia. Siri you have been a very good friend here in Norway always up for a nice dinner and a good talk let’s keep this going. Anne Brandt Virnes and Trygvi Årting geology would never have been this fun without you. This thesis would never have been finished in time without the virtual writing retreat group especially Mathew Stiller Reeves thank you for improving my writing skills immensely and Anette Granseth thank you for all the hours spent on listening to me reading aloud, editing and very useful scientific discussions. I would especially like to thank Rolf L. Romer, Fernando Corfu, Tom Andersen and Radek Škoda for good cooperation on my papers. I thank the Norwegian amateur geology community for giving me a nice welcome and always being willing to help with samples and advice on pegmatite localities, with a special mention v to Lars Kvamsdal who has been a big support and good friend during my whole PhD helping with both on and off work things. I am also grateful to Øivind Thoresen without who my papers would not have had so good quality mineral pictures. I send my regards to the pegmatite com- munity, full of really nice people always fun and interesting to hang around both the pegma- tologists and the peglets. Not to mention the group of Sneaky Zucchinis. Last but not least I would like to thank my family. Mom for always being there for me and making sure I was always clothed in wool wherever north I went to study. Dad I wish you could be here to see the completion of my PhD. Søren I could not have done this without you thank you for always being there to support and cheer me up and to go on adventures looking for rocks and minerals (and trees). And to everyone else that has been part of making this PhD possible: Nanna Rosing-Schow Oslo, April 2020 vi 1. Introduction Pegmatites have intrigued researchers and mineral collectors for over a century because of their large crystals, striking fabrics and rare mineral content. This PhD project aim to study granitic pegmatites in order to better understand their genesis, which is still highly debated (London and Kontak, 2012; Thomas and Davidson, 2016). The study has a strong economic interest because they contain economically important minerals and improved understanding of pegmatite formation will in a long-term lead to a better success for pegmatite deposit ex- ploration. Pegmatites are igneous rocks commonly of granitic composition with mineral grain sizes larger than 2 cm (London, 2008). The main characteristics of pegmatite are: i) systematic coarsening in grain size from margin to center, ii) mineralogical and chemical zonation from margin to center, iii) anisotropic fabrics as for example layering, oriented crystal growth and graphic intergrowth of quartz and feldspar (graphic granite) (London and Kontak, 2012). Most pegmatites consist of quartz, feldspar and mica. Less than one percent contain uncom- mon minerals rich in Li, Be, Cs, B, P, and Ta (London and Kontak, 2012). Pegmatites con- taining these uncommon minerals are called rare-element pegmatites. Lithium is used in Li batteries, quartz to produce solar photovoltaic panels and Rare Earth Elements (REE) for Nd magnets in generators of wind turbines, just to mention a few applications. These examples illustrate the high importance of pegmatite occurrences to produce alternative and renewable energy sources. Thus, research on the diversity, distribution and genesis of pegmatites are of scientific and economic importance and impact. 1.1 Historical background of southern Norwegian pegmatite mining and re- search Granitic pegmatites in southern Norway has been mined since the late 18th century until today (Andersen, 1926; Müller et al., 2017a). The pegmatites were mined mainly for feldspar and quartz, but also for white mica, Sc and Be. The first mining of feldspar started in 1792 in Narestø, Flosta, Aust-Agder (Andersen, 1926). The feldspar was mainly mined in small quar- ries by 2-3 people, no large scale mining existed (Andersen, 1926). In 1882 production of Norwegian feldspar was worth around 200,000 Norwegian kroner (Vogt, 1882), which corre- sponds to around 14,000,000 Norwegian kroner today (Norges Bank, 2020). In 1926 Norway 1 1. Introduction produced up to 40,000 ton feldspar annually representing 13 % of the annual feldspar world- wide (Andersen, 1926). As feldspar production increased the Norwegian Geological Survey decided to produce a com- prehensive study on feldspar occurrences and mining in Norwegian (Andersen, 1926). The work resulted in the publication of Feltspat I by Andersen (1926), Feltspat II by Andersen (1931) Feltspat III by Barth (1931), Feltspat IV by Broch (1934) and Feltspat V by Bjørlykke (1939). The publications were mainly aimed at local miners with no geological background (Andersen, 1926). The Feltspat I provided a general explanation of the characteristics of feld- spar minerals, deposit types and use of feldspar. Feltspat II, III, and IV described pegmatite localities including pegmatites in the Bamble and Evje-Iveland areas, which are studied in this thesis. The last publication Feltspat V describes the rare minerals found in the southern Nor- wegian pegmatites, which is partly why the pegmatites are famous today. Following the feltspat works southern Norwegian pegmatite research focused on the rare ele- ment mineralization and the mineralogy. As described in Feltspat V (Bjørlykke, 1939) the pegmatites contain several rare minerals. The southern Norwegian pegmatites are type locali- ties for 14 different minerals (Table 1). Except for