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The geometry and evolution of magma pathways through migmatites of the Halls Creek Orogen, Western Australia

N. H. S. Oliver and T. D. Barr
The geometry and evolution of magma pathways through migmatites of the Halls Creek Orogen, Western Australia
Mineralogical Magazine (February 1997) 61 (1): 3-14

Abstract

In the Halls Creek Orogen of north-western Australia, the distance of melt migration through migmatitic metasedimentary rocks and adjacent metabasites is partly constrained by relationships of leucosomes and small mafic magma veins to rock boundaries and structural elements. Stromatic leucosomes in metasediments are cut by a network of small extensional fractures and shear zones, oriented steeply during melt migration. These shear zones allowed cm- to 10 m-scale migration of felsic magma derived by in situ anatexis. In the adjacent metabasite layers, a similar shear array allowed injection of H (sub 2) O-undersaturated mafic to ultramafic magma, locally dehydrating and chemically modifying these rocks. However, these mafic to ultramafic veinlets are too mafic to be explained by in situ anatexis, necessitating an external magma source. Also, the lack of felsic veinlets cutting metabasites, and mafic veinlets cutting metasediments, requires that vertical inter-connectivity of these fracture systems was restricted. We propose along-layer migration of mafic to ultramafic magma through the metabasite, assisted by horizontal connection of the shear zones. This migration occurred independently of metre-scale felsic magma migration in the adjacent metasediments, even though these two deformation-assisted magma migration systems may have been operating at the same time.


ISSN: 0026-461X
Serial Title: Mineralogical Magazine
Serial Volume: 61
Serial Issue: 1
Title: The geometry and evolution of magma pathways through migmatites of the Halls Creek Orogen, Western Australia
Affiliation: Curtin University, School of Applied Geology, Perth, West. Aust., Australia
Pages: 3-14
Published: 199702
Text Language: English
Publisher: Mineralogical Society, London, United Kingdom
References: 27
Accession Number: 1997-040259
Categories: Igneous and metamorphic petrology
Document Type: Serial
Bibliographic Level: Analytic
Illustration Description: illus. incl. geol. sketch maps
S18°00'00" - S17°00'00", E127°00'00" - E128°00'00"
Secondary Affiliation: Monash University, AUS, Australia
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Secondary Affiliation: GeoRef, Copyright 2017, American Geosciences Institute.
Update Code: 199714
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