Phenocrystic Fluorite in Peralkaline Rhyolites, Olkaria, Kenya Rift Valley

A. S. Marshall, R. W. Hinton and R. Macdonald
Environmental Science Division, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4YQ, UK
Department of Geology and Geophysics, Edinburgh University, Edinburgh EH9 3JW, UK
Environmental Science Division, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4YQ, UK

Abstract: The first occurrence of phenocrystic fluorite in a peralkaline rhyolite is reported from Quaternary lavas (agpaitic index 1.11–1.37) erupted from the Greater Olkaria Volcanic Complex, Kenya. Fluorite compositions are almost stoichiometric, with 0.65–1.49 ΣREE + Y oxides. Relative to coexisting glass (melt), the fluorites are enriched in REE, Y and Sr, are strongly depleted in all other trace elements and concentrate MREE relative to LREE and HREE. Y partitions into fluorite more strongly than the HREE. Fractionation of fluorite in its modal abundance would not significantly affect the REE abundances in the residual liquids, nor result in stronger Sr depletion. The P, T and composition conditions which stabilize fluorite in rhyolitic magmas are still obscure.

Keywords: fluorite phenocrysts • peralkaline rhyolites • Kenya Rift Valley

Mineralogical Magazine; August 1998 v. 62; no. 4; p. 477-486; DOI: 10.1180/002646198547855
© 1998, The Mineralogical Society
Mineralogical Society (www.minersoc.org)