Chlorite minerals from six distinctive chlorite-quartz parageneses in central Borrowdale have been studied. All specimens were 14Å (IIb) chlorites. Cell parameters and β refractive index exhibit an approximate linear dependence on composition for the range Fe/(Fe + Mg) = 0.46 to 0.84. The data indicate an apparent trend that chlorite iron content increases with temperature. This is in conflict with experimental studies (Flemming and Fawcett, 1976), and it is inferred that the observed compositional variations reflect the availability of iron in the veins rather than a dependence on temperature.

Major and trace element and Sr, Nd and O isotopic data are presented for ferrobasalts, icelandites, rhyolites, mixed pumices and silicic xenoliths of the 1875 eruption of Askja. Trace element modelling and Sr and Nd data largely confirm previous major element calculations that fractional crystallization was dominant in the generation of the basalt-ferrobasalt-icelandite-rhyolite suite. Relative enrichment in Rb (and Th and U?), depletion in Cs, and low values of δ18O/16O, in the rhyolites are not explained by this mechanism alone. The silicic magmas were selectively contaminated by diffusion from partially molten granitic wall rocks, now found as xenoliths in the eruptive products, the process being particularly marked by lower δ18O and Cs/Rb ratios in the rhyolites than in the associated basalts. This is the first record of a combined fractional crystallization-selective contamination process in an Icelandic silicic complex.

The Western Gneiss Region (WGR) of Norway consists largely of Proterozoic orthogneisses, but also contains paragneisses, peridotites, anorthosites, gabbros and coarse-grained intermediate-acid ‘rapakivi granites’. All of these lithologies enclose eclogites. Structural and isotopic data suggest that many of these rocks were juxtaposed by early Caledonian thrusting prior to eclogite formation at ca. 425 Ma.

Low-P protoliths can be demonstrated for many eclogites. Prograde metamorphism to eclogite facies is demonstrated by inclusion suites within garnet grains and zoning of eclogite minerals. The regional distribution of KD (gnt/cpx) and Xcpxjd shows a decrease in Tmax, and in the corresponding P, away from the present coastline. The lowest values (500 °C, 10 kbar) are found in the Sunnfjord area and the highest (∼ 800 °C) along the coast of Sunnmøre and Nordmøre.

Maximum pressures were reached at temperatures 100–200° < Tmax. This P-T-t path is consistent with the preservation of jadeite-rich cpx (and possible coesite) in the coastal regions. Earlier overestimates of Pmax, based on partitioning of Al between opx and gnt, resulted from combination of early low-T (low-Al) opx and T values derived from cpx/gnt equilibrated at Tmax. Despite pervasive later amphibolitization, high-P assemblages (phengite + kyanite, omphacite + quartz) are locally preserved within gneisses near the coast. The high-P metamorphism can be explained by westward subduction of the Baltic continental plate beneath the Greenland plate, during the Caledonian orogeny.

At least some of the Mg-Cr garnet peridotites of the WGR were derived from low-P protoliths (spinel ± chlorite peridotites, enclosing high-Al pyroxenites). While Sm-Nd mineral ages of most eclogites cluster around 425 Ma, garnet peridotites and their enclosed garnet pyroxenites give Proterozoic Sm-Nd mineral ages (1700–1000 Ma). The tectonic position of the Mg-Cr garnet peridotites, relative to the Caledonian high-pressure metamorphism, remains to be resolved.

Sapphirine-bearing assemblages occur in paragneisses in a 200 km long block in the Grenville province in Labrador-Quebec. The occurrence of some of these rocks was previously known, but their considerable extent is now recognised from regional mapping. The mineral assemblages, reactions, and compositions and the tectonic structure in the paragneisses of this block are surprisingly uniform. Within feldspar-quartz layers we recognise assemblages with sapphirine, quartz, iron titanium oxides, spinel, corundum, diaspore, orthopyroxene, sillimanite, cordierite, garnet, and biotite in metre to millimetre-thick layers. These minerals reacted with their matrix, especially quartz, during cooling and uplift. At least 11 retrograde reactions gave rise to spectacular corona textures and define a P-T-time trajectory from c. 8 kbar at 900 °C to 6 kbar at 700 °C which changed from early isobaric to late isothermal. Based on successive generations of sapphirine and orthopyroxene with constant XMg and decreasing Fe3+/Fe2+ ratio in recalculated formulae, we deduce an accompanying change from high to low oxygen fugacity along this trajectory. The isothermal section of the trajectory is consistent with predicted rapid uplift and with field evidence for thrust tectonics and mylonitisation.

Rhodochrosite has been discovered as a minor component of two manganese deposits in Scotland. At Islay it occurs as coatings and veinlets on and within hollandite-pyrolusite-hematite-goethite mineralisation. Two foram microfossils were found within the carbonate which is considered to have formed from the interaction of organic-rich groundwater and seawater. The Dalroy rhodochrosite has the form of stromatactis-like cavity infill structures and veinlets in a mineralogically complex manganese-iron ore in which braunite, bustamite, manganoan ilmenite and pyrophanite have been identified. Intergrowths of rhodochrosite and native copper grains occur in a calcite matrix within the infill structures. These intergrowths are typically one micrometre across, but achieve diameters of up to 50 µm. The genesis of the Dalroy rhodochrosite is more problematical, although a hydrothermal source is most likely.

Backscattered electrons (BSE) are incident electrons reflected back from a target specimen and imaged with the scanning electron microscope (SEM). Three distinct BSE signals exist: atomic number or Z-contrast, in which composition determines image contrast; orientation contrast, in which specimen crystal structure determines image contrast; and electron channelling patterns (ECP), which are unique for a particular crystal orientation. The origins of these three signals are described, with particular attention being given to the necessary SEM operational and specimen preparation requirements. Z-contrast images are relatively simple to obtain and also have a familiar appearance such that their usage should become commonplace. ECP in comparison require subsequent interpretation which depends on the crystal structure and the relationship between crystal and specimen coordinate systems. A general solution to ECP interpretation is therefore presented, involving the construction of reference ‘ECP-maps’ over the surface of a sphere. A brief summary of the applications and potential use of the three BSE signals in the geological sciences is also given.

Amphibolite blocks from an Archaean (2.9 Ga) trondhjemite-agmatite complex in the Lewisian at Gruinard Bay have a varied trace element and REE content. Whilst some of the variability is attributable to element mobility during high-grade metamorphism and subsequent trondhjemite magmatism, it is for the main part considered to be a primary feature of the amphibolites. The observed trace element and REE chemistry is best explained in terms of source region heterogeneity and suggests a melting regime comparable with that beneath certain types of mid-ocean ridge. There are geochemical similarities between the amphibolites and the Lewisian layered gabbro-ultramafic complexes, and the two may represent the derivative liquid and associated cumulates respectively from a common parent magma. Thus there is a parallel between the processes which generated some Archaean amphibolites and layered gabbro complexes and those operating beneath modern ocean ridges. Hornblendite and amphibolite pods enclosed within tonalitic gneiss, also found as blocks in the agmatite complex, are geochemically distinct from the main group of amphibolites and are probably of calc-alkaline parentage.

Diagenetic palaeotemperatures determined from aqueous fluid inclusions can be affected by re-equilibration during burial heating. Calculations based on the observed behaviour of inclusions in fluorite under external confining pressure allows prediction of the temperatures and depths of burial necessary to initiate re-equilibration of aqueous inclusions in the common size range 40 to 4 µm. Heating of 20° to 60°C over the initial trapping temperature may cause errors of 10° to 20°C in the homogenization temperature. This suggests re-equilibration may cause aqueous inclusions in carbonates to yield a poor record of their low-temperature history, but a useful record of the maximum temperature experienced by the host rock. Previous work suggests inclusions containing petroleum fluids will be less susceptible to re-equilibration.

The modern analytical SEM, which can provide high-quality imaging facilities together with quantitative elemental analysis using an energy-dispersive spectrometer, is finding wide application in the investigation of archaeological problems. Many of these investigations involve the study of silicate and carbonate-based artefacts which may be relatively unmodified from their original geological parent raw materials so that mineralogically based interpretations are often appropriate. In this paper we present a series of examples illustrating the role of the analytical SEM in the mineralogical investigation of archaeological problems, including the characterization and provenancing of geological raw materials, the elucidation of the processes used to transform those raw materials into useful objects and the recognition and characterization of changes which archaeological artefacts may have undergone during burial or during storage.

The epicontinental sedimentary, epi- to mesozonal rocks of the Middle Palaeozoic of the Central Pyrenees host several economic Pb-Zn concentrations and numerous occurrences of these metals. The authors have endeavoured to recognize the original mineralogical nature of the epizonal host rocks in the concession of Baren (Haute-Garonne). Seventy-two whole-rock analyses were used for this purpose and interpreted by means of chemico-mineralogical diagrams.

These diagrams use parameters chosen so as to include in the projection planes the essential minerals forming the rocks under discussion. In this way, the nature and the possible initial mineralogical composition of the rocks, which are usually obliterated during metamorphism, are made visible. The chemical compositions of the different rock units are sufficiently typical to compensate for the absence of fossils and to allow stratigraphic identifications.

No volcanic contribution could be recognized in the pelites. The latter demonstrate the existence of a continent, undergoing a kaolinite-producing alteration, especially during the Silurian. The analysed trace elements (Ba, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, Rb, Sr, Th, U, V and Zn) are not enriched with respect to the clarkes for these rocks, except slightly in the case of U and Th and more strongly for Cr and V. The carbonate rocks contain predominantly calcite, with subordinate dolomite. They show a strong enrichment in Ba, whereas the content of the other trace elements is normal.

Metanorite dykes intrude the Banded Gneiss Complex at various places in Rajasthan, N.W. India. They show neither chilled margins nor gradational contacts with the country rock amphibolite or granulite facies gneisses. They have ophitic to subophitic texture with strongly zoned subcalcic clinopyroxene and orthopyroxene, olivine and plagioclase, with subsidiary biotite. During slow cooling a series of reaction coronas developed with garnet forming round biotite, ilmenite and orthopyroxene; hornblende round pyroxenes and orthopyroxene, hornblende ± spinel round olivine, which may be totally replaced. It is inferred that the dykes crystallised from a tholeiitic magma at about 1100-1150 °C and were intruded during the waning stages of granulite facies metamorphism. The corona minerals grew at about 650–700 °C. A series of reactions to account for the development of the coronas is proposed using measured mineral compositions. Although these reactions do not balance for individual corona formation, metamorphism was probably isochemical with Ca, Na, K, Ti, Si and H2O only mobile on the scale of a thin section. Si and H2O were possibly mobile on a larger scale.

Non-hydrocarbon gas species (CO2, N2, H2) are locally important in exploration for gas, and there is a growing body of evidence that acid water originating in shales materially affects the diagenesis of nearby sandstones. These gases have been studied by analysing the products of closed-vessel hydrous pyrolysis of known petroleum source rocks, and comparing the results with field observations. Alteration of petroleum source rocks at temperatures >250°C yields a significant amount of non-hydrocarbon components. Ethanoate and higher acid anions are liberated in substantial quantities; the yield appears to be related to the oxygen content of the sedimentary organic matter present.

The non-hydrocarbon gases CO2, H2 and N2 are frequently the dominant gaseous products from hydrous pyrolysis: in the natural environment the same rock sequences at a higher maturity preferentially generate hydrocarbon gases—mainly methane. This discrepancy may be attributed to reaction and phase thermodynamic effects between laboratory and natural systems, behaviour that has important implications in the prediction of gas generation and composition in nature by source rock pyrolysis in the laboratory.

Deerite in two meta-ironstones from Papua New Guinea coexists with quartz-albite-riebeckite-dannemorite-magnetite-spessartine-stilpnomelane-apatite-Ca/Mn carbonates and quartz-albite-crossite-ilmenite-spessartine-stilpnomelane-apatite respectively. Geochemical comparisons in the system FeO-MnO-MgO suggest that the P.N.G. deerites most closely resemble Franciscan types. However, the metamorphic assemblages more closely resemble Alpine types indicating metamorphism close to the lower P-T limit of deerite stability. Consistent differences in whole-rock and internal oxidation ratios between the two specimens suggest that fo2 may be important in determining deerite chemistry. A redox equation is suggested linking changes in deerite internal oxidation ratio with variable OH content.

Concentrations of organic acids ranging up to several thousand parts per million have previously been found in oil-field waters. These acids are of interest because of their potential to enhance porosity by the dissolution of carbonates and aluminosilicates. They are believed to be generated from organic geopolymers (kerogen) in the late-diagenetic-early-catagenetic stage of thermal maturation.

During the course of artificial maturation experiments in which kerogens of varying type were heated in the presence of water (so-called ‘hydrous pyrolysis’) and different minerals, the distribution and abundance of low molecular weight water-soluble acids were determined by gas chromatography and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Preliminary results suggest that significant quantities of mono- and di-carboxylic acids are produced during hydrous pyrolysis. The amounts and types of acid appear to vary as a function of kerogen type, maturity and mineralogy. Implications of these findings regarding the development of secondary porosity are discussed.

The Hatapang granite was discovered during geological mapping and mineral exploration in northern Sumatra by the British Geological Survey in conjunction with the Indonesian Directorate of Mineral Resources. The pluton comprises a two-mica granite which shows significant greisenization and veining around its margins associated with Sn and W mineralization. An Rb-Sr isochron derived for the pluton indicates an age of 80 Ma and an initial 87Sr/86Sr ratio of 0.7151. This together with major and trace element data show the Hatapang to be of clear S-type affinity.

The greisens are quartz-mica-topaz rocks and are almost totally deficient in Na. Trioctahedral mica compositions progress from biotite through siderophyllite to zinnwaldite during final differentiation and greisenization of the granite. Accompanying dioctahedral micas are phengitic. Associated with late-stage differentiation of the granite is the precipitation of tourmaline and various Nb-Ta oxides. Sn and W mineralization is manifested as cassiterite in the greisens, while wolframite tends to be related to quartz veining. A later and lower temperature sulphide event produced a suite of base metal sulphides and Ag-Bi-Pb sulphosalts. The identification of a Sn-W granite of Cretaceous age in northern Sumatra provides a link with occurrences of economically important Late Cretaceous Sn-W granites in Thailand and Burma and increases the potential of an area which until recently was thought to lie outside the SE Asian tin belt.

The plutonic complex in SE Jersey consists of a late Precambrian gabbro-diorite mass which has been intruded by several granites. The status of the diorites which, like the gabbros, often possess a layered structure, is not clear. New geochemical data, including rare earth and trace element analyses, suggest that acid-basic magma mixing was not responsible for the variety of intermediate rocks. Amphibole-controlled fractional crystallization of hydrous basic magma is also unlikely in view of the REE and HFS (high field strength) element distribution. The model which best fits all the available field, petrographic and geochemical evidence is one in which the chemical variation was initially produced by fractional crystallization of anhydrous basic magma and subsequently overprinted by granitic metasomatism. This superimposed calc-alkaline characteristics on the complex and produced hybrid diorites which, because they were above their solidus temperature, recrystallized with textures indicative of a magmatic origin.

In convergent-beam electron diffraction (CBED) a highly convergent electron beam is focussed on to a small (⩽50 nm) area of the sample. Instead of the diffraction spots that are obtained in the back focal plane of the objective lens with parallel illumination in conventional selected-area electron diffraction, CBED produces discs of intensity. The point group can be determined uniquely from the symmetry within the individual discs and the overall pattern. In order to determine the point group, it is usually necessary to record a number of CBED patterns with the electron beam aligned along different zone axes, but sometimes only one, high-symmetry pattern is required. The positions of reflections in higher-order Laue zones can be used to identify the crystal system and lattice type and to detect the presence of certain glide planes. The repeat along the zone axis that is parallel to the beam can be calculated from the diameters of the Laue zones. Hence the presence ofpolymorphs can be detected. Doubly-diffracted discs in CBED often contain a ‘line of dynamic absence’, the orientation of this line with respect to the symmetry seen in the bright field disc allows the symmetry element responsible for it (glide plane or screw diad) to be identified. This allows 191 of the 230 space groups to be uniquely identified. The measurement of specimen thickness, extinction distance and cell parameters are also briefly discussed.

At least six separate rare earth and uranium-bearing daughter crystals occur in fluid inclusions hosted by andraditic garnet from the Mary Kathleen REE-U ore skarn, Queensland, Australia. The daughter minerals are particularly high in La, Nd and Ce which reflects the relatively high concentration of these in the bulk ore (La2O3 = 33.5%, Nd2O3 = 9.1% and Ce2O2 = 51.5% of the 2.6 wt. % REE common in the ore). The host garnets themselves contain up to 7600 ppm REE and 5 to 2700 ppm U. The energy-dispersive spectra (EDS) are consistent with the following minerals: a (Y, Ce, U, Ca, Fe, Nb, Ta) mineral; a (Ca, Fe, Ce) carbonate(?) mineral; a (Fe, Ca, Y, Ce, Nb, Ta) mineral; a possible carbonate of La, Mn and Nd; a chlorite of Mn and La as well as a possible chloride or oxychloride of K, Mg, Mn and La. Their occurrence infers that relatively high concentrations of REE and U prevailed in the original, oxidized, concentrated (30–70 wt. % total dissolved salts), high-temperature (550–670°) ore solutions. Their presence as daughter crystals may be due to the fact that CaCl2 is a dominant salt in the solutions and that the latter's solubility was sufficiently high to ‘salt out’ the less soluble REE-U components.