C2/c Pyroxene from Two Alkaline Sodic Suites (Western Ross Embayment — Antarctica): Crystal Chemical Characterization and Its Petrologic Significance

Gabriella Salviulo, Luciano Secco, Paolo Antonini and Enzo Michele Piccirillo
Dipartimento di Mineralogia e Petrologia, Università di Padova, Corso Garibaldi 37, 35122 Padova, Italy
Dipartimento di Mineralogia e Petrologia, Università di Padova, Corso Garibaldi 37, 35122 Padova, Italy
Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università di Trieste, Via Weiss 8, 34127 Trieste, Italy
Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università di Trieste, Via Weiss 8, 34127 Trieste, Italy

Abstract: Two C2/c pyroxene suites from sodic alkaline rocks (Basanite-Phonolite: B-Ph and Alkali basalt-Trachyphonolite: AB-T) belonging to the McMurdo Volcanic Group (Mt. Melbourne province and Mt. Erebus, Antarctica) were investigated by single-crystal X-ray diffraction combined with electron probe microanalysis which together provide accurate site occupancy and site configuration parameters. Variations in site volumes distinguish the clinopyroxenes belonging to the more alkaline B-Ph suite from those of the AB-T suite. The former have higher VM2 and, for similar cell volume, lower VM1 and higher VT. In these C2/c pyroxenes, the bond lengths of M1 depend on R3+ content, necessary to balance AlIV in the T site. M1 geometric variations are similar for both B-Ph and AB-T suites. However, the M2 site is crucial for variations in polyhedral configurations. The increase in AlIV affects the shortest M2-O bond lengths in different ways depending on (Ca+Na) contents in the M2 site. Thus, the clinopyroxenes were distinguished in two different groups not related to the two suites. The first group is characterized by (Ca+Na) higher than 0.90 atoms per formula unit but shows a good positive correlation between the shortest M2-O bond lengths and AlIV content, at quite constant (Ca+Na). The second group has (Ca+Na) less than 0.90 atoms per formula unit but shows a poor correlation between the shortest M2-O bond lengths and AlIV content. In general, shortening of the longest M2-O bond lengths is associated with increase in AlIV. The cell and M1 volumes suggest that the clinopyroxenes, including the larger and sometimes resorbed macrocrysts, crystallized at a pressure lower than 5 kbar, fitting the petrography and evolved character of the rocks in question.

Keywords: clinopyroxene • X-ray diffraction • site occupancy • Antarctica

Mineralogical Magazine; June 1997 v. 61; no. 406; p. 423-439; DOI: 10.1180/minmag.1997.061.406.08
© 1997, The Mineralogical Society
Mineralogical Society (www.minersoc.org)