Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T19:55:26.878Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Shiant Isles Main Sill: structure and mineral fractionation trends

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 July 2018

F. G. F. Gibb  and
C. M. B. Henderson
F. G. F. Gibb
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, University of Sheffield, Brookhill, Sheffield S3 7HF, UK
C. M. B. Henderson
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, The University, Manchester M13 9PL, UK
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The Shiant Isles Main Sill, of Tertiary age, is a classic example of a composite, differentiated alkaline basic sill. The first unit to be intruded was a 2 m thick olivine teschenite which was emplaced with phenocrysts of olivine (mg > 83) [mg ≡ Mg#] and, perhaps, plagioclase. This was intruded by a 24 m thick picrite sill consisting of a mush of melt and suspended olivine phenocrysts (mg > 83) with a D-shaped modal profile. The 140 m thick picrodolerite-crinanite unit was formed by a magma carrying ∼ 10% olivine (mg > 83) as the main phenocryst phase, together with some calcic plagioclase phenocrysts, being emplaced into the top of the picrite unit before the host rock was completely solidified. The olivine phenocrysts settled towards the bottom to form the picrodolerites. In-situ differentiation processes occurred under conditions of almost perfect fractional crystallization, during which very strongly zoned ophitic crystals of olivine (fayalitic rims) and clinopyroxene (hedenbergitic rims), and zoned laths of plagioclase (anorthoclase rims), formed. The last unit consists of ∼ 2 m of granular olivine picrodolerite which was intruded into the upper crinanites, again before the host rock was fully solid.

The mineral zoning patterns are interpreted using published cation diffusion coefficient data, and used to show that the picrite unit might have cooled to the blocking temperatures for Mg and Fe diffusion in < 5 years, and that even the relatively thick crinanite unit cooled very fast, so preserving the zoned Fe-Mg olivine and pyroxene compositions. The compositions of coexisting ilmenites and spinels define a redox trend which initially lies close to fayalite-magnetite-quartz buffer conditions, but later becomes more reducing and approaches magnetite-wustite buffer conditions. The final stages of development occurred during sub-solidus deuteric processes and involved formation of analcime and zeolites, as well as localized sulphide mineralization.

Keywords

Differentiated basaltic sillolivineclinopyroxeneplagioclaseextreme zoningmultiple intrusionspinel-ilmenite thermobarometry
Type
The 1995 Hallimond Lecture
Information
Mineralogical Magazine , Volume 60 , Issue 398 , February 1996 , pp. 67 - 97
Copyright
Copyright © The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 1996

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Buddington, A.F. and Lindsley, D.H. (1964) Iron- titanium oxides and synthetic equivalents. J. Petrol., 5, 310–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Deer, W.A., Howie, R.A. and Zussman, J. (1978) RockForming Minerals: Vol 2a, Single-Chain Silicates. Longman, London and New York, 668 pp.Google Scholar
Dickin, A.P., Henderson, C.M. and Gibb, F.G. (1984) Hydrothermal Sr contamination of the Dippin sill, Isle of Arran, Western Scotland. Mineral. Mag., 48, 311–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Drever, H.I. and Johnston, R. (1959) The lower margin of the Shiant Isles Sill. Q. J. Geoi Soc. London, 114, 343–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Drever, H.I. and Johnston, R. (1965) New petrographical data on the Shiant Isles picrite. Mineral. Mag., 34, 194–203.Google Scholar
Gamble, J.A. (1984) Petrology and geochemistry of diiferentiated teschenite intrusions from the Hunter Valley, New South Wales, Australia. (1984) Contrib. Mineral. Petrol. 88, 173—87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gibb, F.G.F. (1973) The zoned clinopyroxenes of the Shiant Isles Sill, Scotland. J. Petrol, 14, 203–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gibb, F.G. and Gibson, S.A. (1989) The Little Minch sill complex. Scott. J. Geoi, 25, 367–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gibb, F.G. and Henderson, C.M. (1978) The petrology of the Dippin sill, Isle of Arran. Scott. J. GeoL, 14, 1–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gibb, F.G. and Henderson, C.M. (1984) The structure of the Shiant Isles sill complex, Outer Hebrides. Scott. J. Geoi 20, 21—29.Google Scholar
Gibb, F.G. and Henderson, C.M. (1989) Discontinuities between picritic and crinanitic units in the Shiant Isles sill: evidence of multiple intrusion. Geoi. Mag., 126, 127–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gibb, F.G. and Henderson, C.M. (1992) Convection and crystal settling in sills. Contrib. Min. Petrol, 109, 538–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gibson, S.A. and Jones, A.P. (1991) Igneous stratigraphy and internal structure of the Little Minch Sill Complex, Trotternish Peninsula, northern Skye, Scotland. Geoi Mag., 128, 51–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Helz, R.T. (1982) Experimental studies of amphibole stability. Reviews in Mineralogy (Mineralogical Society of America, Washington), 9B, 279—353.Google Scholar
Henderson, C.M. and Gibb, F.G. (1983) Felsic mineral crystallization trends in differentiating alkaline basic magmas. Contrib. Min. Petrol., 84, 355–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Henderson, C.M. and Gibb, F.G. (1987) The petrology of the Lugar Sill, SW Scotland. Trans. Roy. Soc. Edinbugh: Earth Sciences, 77 (for 1986), 325–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huppert, H.E. and Sparks, R.S. (1980) The fluid dynamics of a basaltic magma chamber replenished by influx of hot dense ultrabasic magma. Contrib. Mineral. Petrol., 75, 279–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jaoul, O., Sautter, V. and Abel, F. (1991) Nuclear microanalysis: A powerful tool for measuring low atomic diffusivity with mineralogical applications. In: Diffusion, atomic ordering, and mass transport (Ganguly, J., ed.), Advances in Physical Geochemistry, 8, 198–220. Springer, Dordrecht.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnston, R. (1953) The olivines of the Garbh Eilean sill, Shiant Isles. Geoi Mag., 90, 161–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kitchen, D.E. (1985) The parental magma on Rhum — Evidence from alkaline segregations and veins in peridotites from Salisbury Dam. Geoi Mag., 122, 529–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kohn, S.C., Henderson, C.M. and Mason, R.A. (1989) Element zoning trends in olivine phenocrysts from a supposed primary high-magnesian andesite: an electron– and ion–microprobe study. Contrib. Mineral. Petrol, 103, 242–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kramer, M.J. and Seifert, K.E. (1991) Strain enhanced diffusion in feldspars. In: Diffusion, atomic ordering, and mass transport(J. Ganguly, ed.), Advances in Physical Geochemistry, 8, 286–303. Springer, Dordrecht.Google Scholar
MacKenzie, W.S., Donaldson, C.H. and Guilford, C. (1982) Atlas of Igneous Rocks and their Textures. 148 pp. Longmans, Harlow, England.Google Scholar
Marsh, B.D. (1988) Crystal capture, sorting and retention in convecting magma. Geoi. Soc. Amer. Bull., 100, 1720–37.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marsh, B.D. (1989) On convective style and vigor in sheet-like magma chambers. J. Petrol, 30, 479–530.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marsh, B. (1996) Solidification fronts and magmatic evolution. Mineral Mag., 60, 5–40.(this volume).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martin, D., Griffiths, R.W. and Campbell, I.H. (1987) Compositional and thermal convection in magma chambers. Contrib. Mineral. Petrol., 96, 465–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miyamoto, M. and Takeda, H. (1983) Atomic diffusion coefficients calculated for transition metals in olivine. Nature, 303, 602–3.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Murray, R.J. (1954) The clinopyroxenes of the Garbh Eilean sill, Shiant Isles. Geoi Mag., 91, 17–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nash, W.P. and Wilkinson, J.F. (1970) Shonkin Sag laccolith, Montana, I. Mafic minerals and estimates of temperature, pressure, oxygen fugacity and silica activity. Contrib. Mineral. Petrol., 25, 241–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Powell, R. and Powell, M. (1977) Geothermometry and oxygen barometry using coexisting iron-titanium oxides: a reappraisal. Mineral Mag., 41, 257–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sparks, R.S., Huppert, H.H. and Turner, J.S. (1984) The fluid dynamics of evolving magma chambers. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. London A310, 511—34. Google Scholar
Sparks, R.S., Huppert, H.E., Koyaguchi, T. and Hallworth, M.A. (1993) Origin of modal and rhythmic igneous layering by sedimentation in a convecting magma chamber. Nature, 361, 246–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tegner, C., Robins, B. and Sørensen, H.S. (1996) Crystallization from stratified magmas in the Honningsvag Intrusive Suite, Northern Norway: a reappraisal. Mineral. Mag., 60, 41–51.(this volume).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wager, L.R. and Brown, G.M. (1967) Layered Igneous Rocks Oliver and Boyd, Edinburgh and London, 588 pp.Google Scholar
Walker, F. (1930) The geology of the Shiant Isles (Hebrides). Q. J. Geol Soc. London, 86, 355–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilkinson, J.F. (1956) Clinopyroxenes of alkali olivine basalt magma. Amer. Mineral., 41, 724–43.Google Scholar
Wilkinson, J.F. (1979) The mineralogy and petrography of alkali basaltic rocks. In: The Alkaline Rocks (Sørensen, H., ed.), Wiley Interscience, London, 67—95 Google Scholar
Wilkinson, J.F. and Hensel, H.D. (1994) Nephelines and analcimes in some igneous rocks. Contrib. Mineral. Petrol., 118, 79–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar