The Geochemistry of Loveringite, a Uranium-Rare-Earth-Bearing Accessory Phase from the Jimberlana Intrusion of Western Australia

I. H. Campbell* and P. R. Kelly
Department of Geology, School of Earth Sciences, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria 3052, Australia
*Present address: Department of Geology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada M5S 1A1.

Summary: The distribution and geochemistry of loveringite, an accessory Ti, Fe±Cr oxide containing U and rare-earth elements (Ln) from the Jimberlana Intrusion, have been studied. Loveringite is most abundant in bronzite cumulates; it is found in trace amounts in early plagioclase-augite-hypersthene cumulates, but is not found in the olivine cumulates or in the late-stage differentiates. Loveringites from the bronzite cumulates have a high Cr content compared with those from the plagioclase-augite-hypersthene cumulates, suggesting that the mineral is stabilized by the presence of Cr in the intercumulus liquid. The Ln pattern shows a strong depletion trend from La to Eu, a sharp reversal between Eu and Tb and a second depletion pattern from Tb to Lu. This pattern suggests that the Ln are substituting into two sites, one much larger than the other.

Mineralogical Magazine; June 1978 v. 42; no. 322; p. 187-193; DOI: 10.1180/minmag.1978.042.322.04
© 1978, The Mineralogical Society
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