Beryllium in Antarctic Ultrahigh-Temperature Granulite-Facies Rocks and its Role in Partial Melting of the Lower Continental Crust

This award, provided by the Antarctic Geology and Geophysics Program of the Office of Polar Programs, supports a project to investigate the role of beryllium in lower crustal partial melting events. The formation of granitic liquids by partial melting deep in the Earth\u27s crust is one of the major topics of research in igneous and metamorphic petrology today. One aspect of this sphere of research is the beginning of the process, specifically, the geochemical interaction between melts and source rocks before the melt has left the source area. One example of anatexis in metamorphic rocks affected by conditions found deep in the Earth\u27s crust is pegmatite in the Archean ultrahigh temperature granulite-facies Napier Complex of Enderby Land, East Antarctica. Peak conditions for this granulite-facies metamorphism are estimated to have reached nearly 1100 Degrees Celsius and 11 kilobar, that is, conditions in the Earth\u27s lower crust in Archean time. The proposed research is a study of the Napier Complex pegmatites with an emphasis on the minerals and geochemistry of beryllium. This element, which is estimated to constitute 3 ppm of the Earth\u27s upper crust, is very rarely found in any significant concentrations in metamorphic rocks subjected to conditions of the Earth\u27s lower crust. Structural, geochronological, and mineralogical studies will be carried out to test the hypothesis that the beryllium pegmatites resulted from anatexis of their metapelitic host rocks during the ultrahigh-temperature metamorphic event in the late Archean. Host rocks will be analyzed for major and trace elements. Minerals will be analyzed by the electron microprobe for major constituents including fluorine and by the ion microprobe for lithium, beryllium and boron. The analytical data will be used to determine how beryllium and other trace constituents were extracted from host rocks under ultrahigh-temperature conditions and subsequently concentrated in the granitic melt, eventually to crystallize out in a pegmatite as beryllian sapphirine and khmaralite, minerals not found in pegmatites elsewhere. Mineral compositions and assemblages will be used to determine the evolution and conditions of crystallization and recrystallization of the pegmatites and their host rocks during metamorphic episodes following the ultrahigh-temperature event. Monazite will be analyzed for lead, thorium and uranium to date the ages of these events. Because fluorine is instrumental in mobilizing beryllium, an undergraduate student will study the magnesium fluorphosphate wagnerite in the pegmatites in order to estimate fluorine activity in the melt as part of a senior project. The results of the present project will provide important insights on the melting process in general and on the geochemical behavior of beryllium in particular under the high temperatures and low water activities characteristic of the Earth\u27s lower crust

Beryllium in Granulite-Facies Pegmatites in Archean Napier Complex, Antarctica

This award, provided by the Office of Polar Programs of the National Science Foundation, supports participation of a researcher from the University of Maine in an expedition of the Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition (JARE) to study beryllium enriched minerals in Enderby Land. Beryllium is a rare element in crustal rocks and enrichments are especially unusual in granulite-facies (high temperature and pressure, and relatively dry conditions) metamorphic rocks. This project focuses on unique beryllium-enriched pegmatites in the Archean ultra-high temperature (up to 1000 degrees C) granulite-facies Napier Complex in eastern Casey Bay, Enderby Land, East Antarctica. The primary objective is to test the hypothesis that the beryllium originated in the metasediments hosting the pegmatites rather than being a component of a pegmatitic magma. Field work will be conducted during the 1998/99 austral field season in Enderby Land as a part of the Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition\u27s project entitled Structure and Evolution of East Antarctic Lithosphere . Mineral and rock compositions will be used to determine the evolution and conditions of crystallization of the pegmatites and their host rocks. The results of the project will provide some important insights on the geochemical behavior of beryllium under the high temperatures and low water activities characteristic of the granulite facies

Pennsylvanian Rocks of East-Central Massachusetts

Guidebook for field trips to the Boston area and vicinity : 68th annual meeting, New England Intercollegiate Geological Conference, October 8-10, 1976: Trip A-1

Boron in Antarctic granulite-facies rocks: under what conditions is boron retained in the middle crust?

This award, provided by the Antarctic Geology and Geophysics Program of the Office of Polar Programs, supports a project to investigate the role and fate of Boron in high-grade metamorphic rocks of the Larsemann Hills region of Antarctica. Trace elements provide valuable information on the changes sedimentary rocks undergo as temperature and pressure increase during burial. One such element, boron, is particularly sensitive to increasing temperature because of its affinity for aqueous fluids, which are lost as rocks are buried. Boron contents of unmetamorphosed pelitic sediments range from 20 to over 200 parts per million, but rarely exceed 5 parts per million in rocks subjected to conditions of the middle and lower crust, that is, temperatures of 700 degrees C or more in the granulite-facies, which is characterized by very low water activities at pressures of 5 to 10 kbar (18-35 km burial). Devolatization reactions with loss of aqueous fluid and partial melting with removal of melt have been cited as primary causes for boron depletion under granulite-facies conditions. Despite the pervasiveness of both these processes, rocks rich in boron are locally found in the granulite-facies, that is, there are mechanisms for retaining boron during the metamorphic process. The Larsemann Hills, Prydz Bay, Antarctica, are a prime example. More than 20 lenses and layered bodies containing four borosilicate mineral species crop out over a 50 square kilometer area, which thus would be well suited for research on boron-rich granulite-facies metamorphic rocks. While most investigators have focused on the causes for loss of boron, this work will investigate how boron is retained during high-grade metamorphism. Field observations and mapping in the Larsemann Hills, chemical analyses of minerals and their host rocks, and microprobe age dating will be used to identify possible precursors and deduce how the precursor materials recrystallized into borosilicate rocks under granulite-facies conditions. The working hypothesis is that high initial boron content facilitates retention of boron during metamorphism because above a certain threshold boron content, a mechanism kicks in that facilitates retention of boron in metamorphosed rocks. For example, in a rock with large amounts of the borosilicate tourmaline, such as stratabound tourmalinite, the breakdown of tourmaline to melt could result in the formation of prismatine and grandidierite, two borosilicates found in the Larsemann Hills. This situation is rarely observed in rocks with modest boron content, in which breakdown of tourmaline releases boron into partial melts, which in turn remove boron when they leave the system. Stratabound tourmalinite is associated with manganese-rich quartzite, phosphorus-rich rocks and sulfide concentrations that could be diagnostic for recognizing a tourmalinite protolith in a highly metamorphosed complex where sedimentary features have been destroyed by deformation. Because partial melting plays an important role in the fate of boron during metamorphism, our field and laboratory research will focus on the relationship between the borosilicate units, granite pegmatites and other granitic intrusives. The results of our study will provide information on cycling of boron at deeper levels in the Earth\u27s crust and on possible sources of boron for granites originating from deep-seated rocks.An undergraduate student will participate in the electron microprobe age-dating of monazite and xenotime as part of a senior project, thereby integrating the proposed research into the educational mission of the University of Maine. In response to a proposal for fieldwork, the Australian Antarctic Division, which maintains Davis station near the Larsemann Hills, has indicated that they will support the Antarctic fieldwork

Co-ordination of boron in sillimanite

Ion-Microprobe analyses of six sillimanites associated with kornerupine show that the sillimanite can incorporate from 0.035 to 0.43 wt. % B_2O_3 (Grew and Hinthorne, 1983). Boron appears to substitute for silicon concomitantly with Mg substitution for Al such that the atomic Mg/B ratio is close to 0.5. This substitution results in a deficiency of cationic charge, which Grew and Hinthorne (1983) attributed to a submicroscopic rearrangement of the sillimanite structure involving loss of oxygen. A possible substitution scheme is 2(B + xMg) → 2(Si + xAl) + (1 + x)O, where x ≃ 0.5. In the present study, we have addressed the question of co-ordination of boron in sillimanite. As boron can occur in trigonal or tetrahedral coordination with oxygen, there is no compelling reason that B substitution for Si implies tetrahedral co-ordination for B

Acquisition of an Automated Powder X-Ray Diffraction System

This grant provides $70,295 as one-half support of the costs of acquiring a state-of-the-art powder X-ray diffractometer (XRD) that will be housed in a newly constructed Global Sciences building on the Orono campus of the University of Maine. This acquisition will allow these PI\u27s to continue their internationally recognized research programs in petrologic mineralogy including studies of the phase equilibria of solid solutions in metamorphic rocks and borosilicates. The characterization of both structural properties and mineralogic identification of unknowns is fundamental to these researchers and the establishment of a modern XRD facility at the University of Maine will benefit a number of other faculty both within the Department of Geological Sciences and within the departments of Physics and Engineering

Chevkinite-Group Minerals from Granulite-Facies Metamorphic Rocks and Associated Pegmatites of East Antarctica and South India

Electron microprobe data are presented for chevkinite-group minerals from granulite-facies rocks and associated pegmatities of the Napier Complex and Mawson Station charnockite in East Antarctica and from the Eastern Ghats, South India. Their compositions conform to the general formula for this group, viz. A(4)BC(2)D(2)Si(4)O(22) where, in the analysed specimens A = (rare-earth elements (REE), Ca, Y, Th), B = Fe(2+) Mg, C = (Al, Mg, Ti, Fe(2+), Fe(3+), Zr) and D = Ti and plot within the perrierite field oftlic total Fe (as FeO) (wt.%) vs. CaO (wt.%) discriminator diagram of Macdonald and Belkin (2002). In contrast to most chevkinite-group minerals, the A site shows unusual enrichment in the MREE and HREE relative to the LREE and Ca. In one sample from the Napier Complex, Y is the dominant cation among the total REE + Y in the A site, the first reported case of Y-dominance in the chevkinite group. The minerals include the most Al-rich yet reported in the chevkinite group (\u3c= 9.15 wt.% Al(2)O(3)), sufficient to fill the C site in two samples. Conversely, the amount of Ti in these samples does not fill the D site. and, thus, some of the Al could be making up the deficiency at D, a situation not previously reported in the chevkinite group. Fe abudances are low, requiring Mg to occupy up to 45% of the B site. The chevkinite-group minerals analysed originated from three distinct parageneses: (1) pegmatites containing hornblende and orthopyroxene or garnet; (2) orthopyroxene-bearing gneiss and granulite; (3) highly aluminous paragneisses in which the associated minerals are relatively magnesian or aluminous. Chevkinite-group minerals from the first two parageneses have relatively high FeO content and low MgO and Al(2)O(3) contents; their compositions plot in the field for mafic and intermediate igneous rocks. In contrast, chevkinite-group minerals from the third paragenesis are notably more aluminous and have greater Mg/Fe ratios

MRI: Acquisition of an SEM-EDS-EBSD-CL Microanalytical System for Solid Earth and Climate Change Research

Funding from the Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) Program grant will support acquisition of an Scanning Electron Microscope with secondary and backscattered electron detectors, electron backscatter diffraction capability, and live-color cathodluminescence capability for the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Maine. The instrument will be used to support faculty and student research in geodynamics and crustal studies and studies of global climate change. The instrument will be the primary research tool of an early career researcher, but will be utilized by several faculty within the department. The scanning electron microscope facility is unique within the state of Maine and will thus operate as a regional facility for research collaboration with scientists from other universities, state government agencies, such as the Maine Geological Survey, and private industry. The facility and its personnel will also participate in outreach activities for K-12 education and the Penobscot Indian Nation

Recommended Nomenclature for the Sapphirine and Surinamite Groups (Sapphirine Supergroup)

Minerals isostructural with sapphirine-1A, sapphirine-2M, and surinamite are closely related chain silicates that pose nomenclature problems because of the large number of sites and potential constituents, including several (Be, B, As, Sb) that are rare or absent in other chain silicates. Our recommended nomenclature for the sapphirine group (formerly-aenigmatite group) makes extensive use of precedent, but applies the rules to all known natural compositions, with flexibility to allow for yet undiscovered compositions such as those reported in synthetic materials. These minerals are part of a polysomatic series composed of pyroxene or pyroxene-like and spinel modules, and thus we recommend that the sapphirine supergroup should encompass the polysomatic series. The first level in the classification is based on polysome, i.e. each group within the supergroup Corresponds to a single polysome. At the second level, the sapphirine group is divided into subgroups according to the occupancy of the two largest M sites, namely, sapphirine (Mg), aenigmatite (Na), and rhonite (Ca). Classification at the third level is based on the occupancy of the smallest M site with most shared edges, M7, at which the dominant cation is most often Ti (aenigmatite, rhonite, makarochkinite), Fe(3+) (wilkinsonite, dorrite, hogtuvaite) or Al (sapphirine, khmaralite); much less common is Cr (krinovite) and Sb (welshite). At the fourth level, the two most polymerized T sites are considered together, e.g. ordering of Be at these sites distinguishes hogtuvaite, makarochkinite and khmaralite. Classification at the fifth level is based on X(Mg) = Mg/(Mg + Fe(2+)) at the M sites (excluding the two largest and M7). In principle, this criterion could be expanded to include other divalent cations at these sites, e.g. Mn. To date, most minerals have been found to be either Mg-dominant (X(mg) \u3e 0.5), or Fe(2+)-dominant (X(Mg) \u3c 0.5), at these M sites. However, X(mg) ranges from 1.00 to 0.03 in material described as rhonite, i.e. there are two species present, one Mg-dominant, the other Fe(2+)-dominant. Three other potentially new species are a Mg-dominant analogue of wilkinsonite, rhonite in the Allende meteorite, which is distinguished front rhonite and dorrite in that Mg rather than Ti or FC(3+) is dominant at M7, and an Al-dominant analogue of sapphirine, in which Al \u3e Si at the two most polymerized T sites vs. Al \u3c Si in sapphirine. Further splitting of the supergroup based on occupancies other than those specified above is not recommended