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JAMESA. GRANT
Departmentof Geology,Universityof Minnesota-Duluth,Duluth, Minnesota55812
Abstract
oa61-0128/86/626/1976-752.50 1976
ISOCON DIAGRAM 19 7 7
A=Mø/C.ø
Ci • ' +ACi).
MA (3) (ACi/C•
¸) = (MA/Mø)(c•A/c•
¸) - 1. (6)
This is but a revampedversionof Gresens'equation, In the generalcase,(MA/M¸) is determined fromthe
ascanbe seenby rearrangingit into the form: best-fit isocon. If constant alumina is assumed,
AMi= [(MA/Mø)C•
A- C•ø]M
¸. (ACi/Ci)= (CA12o3/CA12O3)(Ci
O A A/CiO)-- 1.
The Isocon Method If constant massis assumed,
O,½p_•_
_•_
____I_
___•___
i 25%
24
two-stage alteration. Let the concentration in the 20 ......................... -o '• .... •' 0%
original
rockof,say,MgObe CøMgO
----10 wt percent 18
Co
ROCK
3O
Sr, andRb, 60 percentMgO, and20 percentZn. The
26 1.5AI203 gainsareabout15 percentMnO, Co, andNi, 35 per-
O centCr andY, andvirtuallyall S. Note thatalthough.
24- 10Y
[] ,•'• Fe•O3showsa gainandFeO showsloss,totaliron (as
/___ oo.•"..,•" FeO) showsnochange.Oxidationratherthangainor
lossof ironwaspart of the alterationprocess.
Example2: GibsonEt AI. (1983)
o 10 Gibsonet al. (1983) discusshydrothermalaltera-
8 2Fe•31. tion in the Amulet Rhyolite Formationat Noranda,
Quebec.Let usconsiderthe changes impliedby their
4 o10S •H20'
DS/• 0 -MgO • 1.5CAO
' . _- data for the least altered andesitc and mottled andesitc
/ G1.SRbO10Na20 ' (1983, table 1). This illustratesthe effects of the
o • • •2 •6 •o 2• choice of isocon where the choice is moot. The data
OSTE•BE•C •2S•
areplottedin Figure3. If constant
aluminaisassumed,
Cø
there wouldhaveto havebeen a 5 percentincrease
FIG. 2. An isocondiagramfor samples238 and 236 from Os- in volume. If constantvolume is assumed,this is tan-
terberg(1985). Oxidesare plottedin weightpercent,elements tamountto constantmass,sincethe ratio of specific
in 0.1 ppm. A best-fitisoconis estimated,with a slopeof 1.3, gravitiesof the originaland final rocksis 0.993. The
corresponding to a volumedecreaseof -24 percent.For com-
parison,isoconsbasedon the hypothesesof constantmassand relative changesin concentrationunder each as-
constant volume are shown, and one based on constant alumina sumptionare shownin Table 2.
would,of course,passthroughthe pointfor AlcOa. According
to Gibsonet al. (1983,p. 965), assuming
constant volume metasomatism, Si and Ca were the
elementsaddedto the rockduringmottledalteration,
we might consider"minor" relative to silicaor alu- whereasA1,Fe, Mg, andTi were removed.The pres-
mina but which are still useful parametersin deci- ent interpretationsuggests
that Fe, Mg, Ti, (andP•O5
pheringthe alterationprocess.In Figure2 it is seen andZn) were removedin significant amountsandthat
that H20, Zr, TiO2, total Fe asFeO, Cu, A1•O3,and K and Cu were added,but that the other constituents,
SiO•forma lineararraythroughtheorigin.Thissug- includingSi, A1,Ca, Na, andMn wererelativelycon-
geststo the writer that thesemay be consideredim- stant, no matter which of the three model isoconsis
mobile components,and used to define a best-fit chosen.If there is goodevidencefor silicification in
isocon. thisstageofalteration,thenthe hypothesis of constant
A statementthat "the componentsusedto define alumina is more attractive than those of constant mass
an isoconhavebeen relativelyimmobile"canbe in- or volume,and indeedmore attractivethan usinga
terpretedin two differentways.First,it maybe taken bestfit to the datapointsthat form the linear array
to mean that there has been little mass transfer of
components
usedto definethe isocon.Second,it may
be taken to mean that the concentration of one com-
ponentrelativeto that of anotherhasnot changed:
that they have not decoupledgeochemically.As
pointedoutto the writer by C. M. Lesher(pers.com-
26
24-
22 10CaO
O
mun.), this couldhappenin the caseof elementslike 18
Co
constantmass.The slopeof the best-fitisoconyields
(Mø/M^) = 1.3, whichis equivalentto (M^/M¸) FI•. 3. An isocondiagramfor averageanalysesof leastaltered
-- 0.77 andthusa massdecrease
of-23 percent.(V^/ andesiteandmottledandesitefrom Gibsonet al. (1983). Oxides
V¸) -- 0.77(2.82/2.85)
= 0.76,equivalent
toavolume are plottedin weightpercent,elementsin 0.1 ppm. Isoconsare
changeof -24 percent.On thisbasis,or that of con- shownaccording to hypothesesof constant•umina, constantm•s,
and constantvolume,the lasttwo being virtually identicalin this
stantalumina,the lossesof mobilecomponents are case. The slope of the constantalumina isocon is 0.95, corre-
between90 and 75 percentK•O, Na•O, CO2, CaO, spondingto a volumeincreaseof 5 percent.
19 8 0 JAMES
A. GRANT
22
2O
18
Component ConstantAI•03 Constant mass
O< 16
Zn -0.45 -0.47 o
k) 12
MgO -0.30 -0.33
lO
P2Os -0.29 -0.32
TiO2 -0.21 -0.25
6
Fe•O3,ot., -0.18 -0.22 H•
D iO2
4
4. 8 12 16 20 24 28
AlsO3 0.00 -0.05
FRESH QFP
SiO• +0.10 +0.05
Cø
CaO +0.13 +0.07
FRESH QFP
the massremainingin the melanosome relativeto 100
Co g ofpaleosome, followingthe isoeonanalysisofFigure
6. Columns5 and 6 givethe masslostin thisprocess,
FIG. 5. An isocondiagramfor quartz-feldspar-porphyry,com- distributed between best-fit leueosomeand silica loss,
paringfreshrock with that from four zonesof progressivealter-
ation (•iverin and Hodgson,1980). Squaresdenote the weakly followingthe analysis illustratedin Figure7. For each
altered zone; plus signs,the spottedzone; diamonds,the giant component,the sumof the entriesin columns4, 5,
spottedzone;and triangles,the core (shownseparatelyin Fig. and 6 shouldequalthe entry in column1. Column7
4). All data•e plottedin weightpercent.Heavylinesshowisocons is the best-fit leueosome(column5 reealeulatedto
for the weakest and most intense alterations. Dashed lines show
the progressivechangesin gainand lossof components.
100%), which canbe comparedwith the actualleu-
eosome in column 3. Given loss of silica in addition
to formationof theleueosome, a reasonable
easemight
shownherebut alsoby traceconstituents, whichare be made for a relatively closedsystemdevelopment
notplotted.A best-fitisoconthusdefinedhasa slope of the leueosomeand melanosomefrom the paleo-
of about 2 (1.96), correspondingto a masslossof some.Sheehanet al. (1985) cameto a similarconclu-
nearly 50 percentin formingmelanosome from pa- sion independently,basedon their major element
lcosome.In the process,SiO2, A1203, CaO, Na=O, mass balance calculations.
andK=Owouldhaveto be lost,in amountsranging Conclusions
from 60 to 20 percent of the concentrationsin the
palcosome. 1. tiearrangementof Gresens'equationprovides
a simple and direct method for consideringthe
Next, it is a simple matter to calculate the com-
positionof themasslostin theprocessandto compare changesin mass(or volume)andconcentrationsthat
thiswith the actualcomposition At may arisein metasomatiealteration.
of the leucosome.
firstglance,thecorrespondence
doesnotseemgood,
AI203
Fe203(TOTAL) 0.3SLO2 D
40 / 2AI203
[]
?
35
30
Z• 2.% /• •D5MgO
[3
5CaO 0.5SiO
2
•
•
z ,<
14
12
2CaO/
O
• f•2o 10Fe20aH t•
• 8
• •5
/ •5K20
•5Na20 []?%0
•o 7,OT,O•ø•,
ø, 10MgO
] 2Fe203(TOTAL)
5 / •0
0
• 10MnO
• • , , ,
0 4 8 12 16 20 24
PALgO Cø
Co
FIG. 7. An isocondiagramcomparingthe leucosomewith mass
•C. 6. An isoeondiagramfor melanosomeand paleosomeof lost in formingmelanosomefrom palcosomein migmatitesuite
migmatitesuiteNB•-3 of Sheehanet al. (1985). All dataare plot- NB2-3 of Sheehanet al. (1985). TiO2, MnO, and P205 plot es-
ted in weight percent.A best-fitisoeonis indicated.SiOz, AlzOa, sentially at the origin. The major observationis that SiOz is far
CaO, NazO,andKzOall showdepletionrelativeto the paleosome removedfrom the linear array formedby the other data points
(seealsoTable 4). (seealsoTable 4).
1982 JAMESA. GRANT
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
1, 2, and 3, chemicalanalyses of palcosome, melanosome, and leucosome, recalculatedto 100 percent; 4, massremaining in
melanosome, relativeto 100 g palcosome; 5, massformingbest-fitleucosome,relativeto 100 g palcosome; 6, massof silicalost,
relativeto 100 g palcosome; and7, best-fitleucosome,recalculatedto 100 percent
4. The input datamaybe conventional analytical Appleyard, E. C., 1980, Massbalancecomputationsin metaso-
matism:Metagabbro/nephelinesyenite pegmatiteinteraction
dataandspecificgravities,andthe computations are in northern Norway: Contr. Mineralogy Petrology,v. 73, p.
readily adaptedto a computerspreadsheet, as has 131-144.
been donefor this paper. Gary, M., McAfee,R., Jr., andWolf, C. L., eds.,1974, Glossary
5. The two majorstepsarethe initialchoiceof the of geology:Washington,D.C., Am. Geol. Inst., 860 p.
protolithfor the alteredrocks-andthe choiceof an Gibson, H. L., Watkinson, D. H., and Comba, C. D. A., 1983,
Silicification:Hydrothermal alteration
in anArchcangeothermal
isocon.It is hopedthatthispaperwill helpmakedis- systemwithinthe AmuletRhyoliteFormation,Noranda,Que-
criminationbetweenhypotheses of constantvolume, bec: ECON. GEOL., v. 78, p. 954-971.
constantmass,constantalumina, or the like, clearer Gresens,R. L., 1967, Composition-volume relationships
of meta-
than is sometimesthe case.Not only is this essential somatism:Chem. Geology, v. 2, p. 47-55.
Morton, R. L., andNebel, M. L., 1984, Hydrothermalalteration
to the choiceof an isocon,but moresignificantlyit is of felsic volcanic rocks at the Helen siderite deposit, Wawa,
essentialto the understanding of metasomatic alter- Ontario: ECON. GEOL., v. 79, p. 1319-1333.
ation. Olsen, S. N., 1985, Massbalancein migmatites,in Ashworth,
J. R., ed., Migmatites:Glasgow,Blackieand Son,p. 145-179.
Acknowledgments Osterberg,S., 1985, Volcanicstratigraphyandhydrothermalal-
I am indebtedto SteveOsterbergfor the stimula- terationin the vicinityof the Headway-Couleemassivesulfide
prospect,OnamanRiver area, Ontario:Unpub.M.Sc. thesis,
tion of a well-written thesisand for permissionto use Univ. Minnesota-Duluth, 115 p.
someof his unpublisheddata.I am alsogratefulto Riverin,G., andHodgson,C. J., 1980,Wall-rockalterationat the
BobBauerfor permission to useunpublished analyses Millenbach Cu-Zn mine, Noranda, Quebec: ECON. GEOL., v.
ofthemigmatite suiteNB2-3.Thepaperhasbenefited 75, p. 424-444.
considerablyfrom suggestionsfrom Ron and Penny Sheehan,T. J., Bauer,R. L., Nabelek,P. I., andGlascock,M.D.,
1985, Partialmeltingunderconditionsof filter pressing:Field
Morton,whoare warmlythankedfor their interest.I andgeochemical evidencefromthe migmatites of NE Minnesota
alsoowea long-standingdebtof thanksto JerryWas- [abs.]:Geol. Soc.AmericaAbstractswith Programs,v. 17, p.
serbergfor his perserverancein introducingme to 714.