The internal equilibrium status among chlorite-illite pairs has been evaluated through coupled substitution reactions. Compositional data of chlorites and illites from arenites at present burial temperatures between 90° and 180°C have been used to calculate end member activities and reaction quotients of the combined Tschermak reaction:

$Muscovite+Clinochlore=MgAl-celadonite+Amesite.$

The reaction quotient data in the 90° to 180°C temperature range have then been compared with the equilibrium curve for the same reaction, and found to be in reasonable agreement. This indicates that chlorites and illites in these arenites grow at near equilibrium conditions.

The data set has also been compared with chlorite-illite pairs from hydrothermally altered arenites of the Salton Sea area. For chlorite-illite containing assemblages, these data agree well with the diagenetic ones. The introduction of biotite at higher temperatures alters with the iron-magnesium distribution and breaks down the substitution relationship between chlorite and illite.

The model predicts an increasing stability of muscovite and clinochlore components with increasing temperature, while celadonite and amesite would be stabilized with increasing pressure. This is consistent with high pressure occurrences of phengite. However, at the low pressure region of diagenesis and hydrothermal alteration, the temperature effect is dominant.

Clinopyroxene phenocrysts and groundmass crystals are relict phases in altered basalt and basaltic andesite lavas, and arenites of the Cudgegong Volcanics and Toolamanang Volcanics, Cudgegong-Mudgee district, New South Wales. Petrography, field relationships and clinopyroxene compositions indicate that basaltic blocks in the latter unit are reworked from the Cudgegong Volcanics. Clinopyroxene phenocrysts show a restricted compositional range and minor Feenrichment from core to rim, features considered indicative of a calc-alkaline parent magma. It is proposed that the Cudgegong Volcanics crystallized under hydrous conditions, at least in the later stages, with rising fO2 resulting in a Fe-Ti oxide crystallizing as a primary phase. The clinopyroxenes are considered to have crystallized at moderate (5–6 kbar) and falling pressures and at minimum temperatures in the range 900 to 1000°C. Coupled substitutions affecting the “other” components in the clinopyroxene structural formula indicate that the ivAl-viFe3+, ivAl-viAl and ivAl-viTi4+ couples are important. The Sofala Volcanics, south of the study area, and the Cudgegong Volcanics are similar in age, petrography and stratigraphic position, and contain relict clinopyroxenes which are chemically similar. This suggests that the units are laterally equivalent and adds further evidence to the proposal that an oceanic island arc system was active in central western New South Wales during the Late Ordovician.