Spherulitic concretions are very rare among carbonate concretions that generally consist of micritic carbonate. The occurrence of spherulitic concretions in Cambro-Ordovician black shales of unknown stratigraphic age on a mid-channel island in the St Lawrence Estuary in Quebec is a new example in addition to only three hitherto reported occurrences of spherulitic carbonate concretions. Their origin is still poorly understood. These concretions occur in close association with, and show various transitions to, cone-in-cone structure. The spherules, measuring 0.5 to 12 mm in diameter, consist of intergrown fine fibres of ferroan calcite and quartzine, pointing to the formation of the concretions below the sulfate-reduction zone. A phenomenological theory of spherulitic crystallization relates the thickness δ of an impurity-rich layer in front of impurity-rejecting growing crystals to the impurity-diffusion coefficient D and the growth velocity G of the crystal by δ = D/G. In spherulite-forming environments, extremely small values of δ (in the order of <10−4 cm) in conjunction with cellulation lead to spherulitic fibre growth. The theory of spherulitic crystallization is here applied to sedimentary deposits for the first time. The intimate association of calcite and quartzine in the concretions requires a chemical change from alkaline to acidic conditions, which occurs below the carbonate-reduction zone owing to the dissolution of sponge spicules or radiolarians. The transition from spherulite to the silica-free cone-in-cone structure occurs when the silica reservoir that acted as an impurity is exhausted in the crystallization process.

Melting of Torridonian arkoses, due to intrusion of shallow bodies of mafic melts on the Isle of Rum, was locally extensive, reaching up to 95 vol.%. Crystallization (to form granophyre) of these highly melted rocks was generally static in the vicinity of minor intrusions, although disruption of bedding is apparent in the aureole of the main mafic pluton. A distinctive millimetre- to centimetre-scale spherulitic texture developed during solidification of the partially melted arkose, in both the aureole of the main intrusion, and also in those of associated minor gabbro plugs. The spherulites are formed of radiating, fan-shaped intergrowths of plagioclase and quartz set in a matrix of quartz, plagioclase and K-feldspar. The importance of nucleation rates in determining texture development is demonstrated by a dominance of Na-rich compositions in the first feldspar to form, even in non-spherulitic rocks. It is suggested that the spherulites formed by the early growth of metastable plagioclase due to difficulties in nucleating feldspar.