Characterization of crystalline rocks in the Lake Superior region, USA: implications for nuclear waste isolation. [Wisconsin, Upper Peninsula of Michigan and Minnesota]

The Lake Superior region (Wisconsin, the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and Minnesota) contains 41 Precambrian crystalline rock complexes comprising 64 individual but related rock bodies with known surface exposures. Each complex has a map area greater than 78 km/sup 2/. About 54% of the rock complexes have areas of up to 500 km/sup 2/, 15% fall between 500 km/sup 2/ and 1000 km/sup 2/, 19% lie between 1000 km/sup 2/ and 2500 km/sup 2/, and 12% are over 2500 km/sup 2/. Crystalline rocks of the region vary widely in composition, but they are predominantly granitic. Repeated thermo-tectonic events have produced early Archean gneisses, migmatites, and amphibolites with highly tectonized fabrics that impart a heterogeneous and anisotropic character to the rocks. Late Archean rocks are usually but not invariably gneissose and migmatitic. Proterozoic rocks of the region include synorogenic (foliated) granitic rocks, anorogenic (non-foliated) granites, and the layered gabbro-anorthosite-troctolite intrusives of the rift-related Keweenawan igneous activity. Compared with the Archean rocks of the region, the Proterozoic bodies generally lack highly tectonized fabrics and have more definable contacts where visible. Anorogenic intrusions are relatively homogeneous and isotropic. On the basis of observed geologic characteristics, postorogenic and anorogenic crystalline rock bodies located away from recognized tectonic systems have attributes that make them relatively more desirable as a possible site for a nuclear waste repository in the region. This study was conducted at Argonne National Laboratory under the sponsorship of the US Department of Energy through the Office of Crystalline Repository Development at Battelle Memorial Institute, Columbus, Ohio. 84 references, 4 figures, 3 tables

Mineral composition in cognate inclusions in Late Miocene-Early Pliocene potassic lamprophyres with affinities to lamproites from the Denizli region, Western Anatolia, Turkey: Implications for uppermost mantle processes in a back-arc setting

Mineral assemblages of both cognate inclusions and host-lamprophyres with lamproitic affinity in Kocapinar district (Denizli), Western Anatolia, consist of phlogopitic mica, diopsidic clinopyroxene, K-feldspar, apatite, opaque and carbonates (calcite-dolomite). Two distinct types of cognate inclusions have been defined in host lamprophyres: clinopyroxene-rich (CCI) and clinopyroxene-phlogopite-rich (CPCI). Whole-rock compositions of inclusions show a near-primitive nature with high MgO (7.56-15.1wt.%), Cr (195-2270ppm), Ni (213-335ppm) contents and a potassic character [K 2O (2.0-2.8wt.%)>Na 2O (0.4-2.2wt.%)]. Data imply that the inclusions crystallized from magmas formed by melting of phlogopite-bearing pyroxenites in a peridotitic mantle source, however, the presence of reverse-zoning in clinopyroxenes with salitic Fe-rich green cores in host-lamprophyres and CPCI inclusions suggest that the Denizli lavas represent mixtures of distinct (probably ultrapotassic and alkali basaltic) magmas. Estimated geobarometric constraints inferred from clinopyroxene compositions in CCI and CPCI inclusions indicate moderate pressures of pyroxene crystallization (ranging between 1.7 and 2.2GPa and corresponding to 53-70km depths) under low pressure magma fractionation. Results reveal that i) the origin of Denizli lamprophyres with transitional (between arc-type and intra-plate-type) geochemical signatures is consistent with a shallow level mantle petrogenesis, rather than a deep-seated origin related to mantle convection, ii) the source was a highly refractory and metasomatized peridotitic mantle present at the base of the lower crust, iii) metasomatic agents that affected the mantle lithosphere beneath Denizli region are distinct from those beneath other western Anatolia orogenic centers, and iv) the transitional character of Kocapinar (Denizli) lamprophyric rocks were probably formed as a result of either underplating or contamination of asthenospheric magma at the base of the mantle lithosphere, or assimilation of delaminated continental edge-lithospheric mantle via ascending asthenosphere. Denizli lamprophyres are interpreted to have formed during the formation of a basin/graben structure in the Latest Miocene-Early Pliocene, just after Late Miocene exhumation of Menderes massif. © 2012 Elsevier B.V