The Minastira Peraluminous Granite, Puno, Southeastern Peru: A Quenched, Hypabyssal Intrusion Recording Magma Commingling and Mixing

Daniel J. Kontak1 and Alan H. Clark
Department of Geological Sciences, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada K7L 3N6
1Present address: Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources, P.O. Box 698, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada B3J 2T9.

Abstract: The Minastira granite, a c. 25 Ma subvolcanic plug of fine-grained granitic rock in the Cordillera Oriental of SE Peru, has preserved textures indicative of a history involving mixing of at least two magmas, a volumetrically dominant felsic component and a less voluminous mafic one. The felsic component is represented by variably fractured, altered and embayed crystals of quartz, feldspar, biotite with minor coarsegrained melt- and fluid-inclusion rich apatite, and possible cordierite (now a pseudomorphous Fe-Mg phase), whereas the mafic component is represented by calcic plagioclase. The process of magma mixing is reflected by: (1) ubiquitous sieved-textured plagioclase with complex textural relationships; (2) a large range in plagioclase compositions with reversals and spike patterns in profiles; (3) embayed and internally fractured (thermal shock?) quartz; (4) the rare occurrence of pyroxene coronas on quartz; and (5) textures within biotite suggestive of its incipient breakdown. The lack of mafic enclaves indicates that physico-chemical conditions of the mixing were conducive to homogenization (i.e. chemical diffusion) and a superficially homogeneous rock is now observed. The association of glomeroclasts of crystals originating from both the mafic and felsic end members and a quenched quartz-feldspar matrix indicate that the mixing occurred in an underlying magma chamber.

Keywords: granite • peraluminous • magma mixing • Minastira • Peru

Mineralogical Magazine; December 1997 v. 61; no. 409; p. 743-764; DOI: 10.1180/minmag.1997.061.409.01
© 1997, The Mineralogical Society
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