Composition of Fluids in Quartz: Discrimination of Magma Pulses in a Caledonian Granitoid

R. A. Batchelor, D. C. Armstrong and M. McDonald
Department of Geography and Geology, University of St. Andrews, Fife, Scotland
British Antarctic Survey, High Cross, Madingley Road, Cambridge
Department of Geography and Geology, University of St. Andrews, Fife, Scotland

Abstract: Fluids trapped inside fluid inclusions in quartz from the multiphase Starav monzogranite in Etive, Argyll, were extracted under vacuum and quantitative data for H2O and CO2 were obtained manometrically. Na and K were determined on an aqueous leach from the decrepitated grains. A bivariate diagram of H2O/CO2 versus Na/K discriminates between magma pulses and mirrors the whole-rock trace-element chemistry. This work shows that compositional variations of fluids in quartz from a weakly mineralised granitoid intrusion are sensitive indicators of its magmatic history and identify subtle changes in its mineralogical composition.

Keywords: fluid composition • quartz • magma pulses • Caledonian granitoid

Mineralogical Magazine; September 1992 v. 56; no. 384; p. 335-342; DOI: 10.1180/minmag.1992.056.384.05
© 1992, The Mineralogical Society
Mineralogical Society (www.minersoc.org)