Ig Rx

IUGS Intrusive Igneous Rock Chart - General

IUGS Intrusive Igneous Rock Chart

Plutonic Igneous Rocks

Grain size is larger than extrusive rocks Grains are visible, usually identifiable Volume percent abundance is an important means of rock classification Total lack of glass - slow cooling allows matter to achieve the lowest energy state, which is as crystalline matter
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Plutonic Igneous Rocks Continued

Generally, intrusive rock field names are more reliable than the extrusive rock names because of the larger, more visible crystals Accurate determination of rock name demands a careful examination of thin sections of selected specimens

Gabbroic Layered Intrusions

The rocks in this laboratory may occur in a variety of geologic settings. One setting in which these rocks are often associated is a gabbroic layered intrusion. These intrusions include some of the largest plutonic bodies in the world including Bushveld (South Africa), Skaergard (East Greenland), Duluth Gabbro, Muskox (Northwest Territories, Canada), Great Dike (Zimbabwe), and the Stillwater Complex (Montana).
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Gabbroic Layered Intrusions

Gabbroic layered intrusions, as the name indicates, show distinct layers Layers may be quite complex Origin of layering is often at least partially due to fractional crystallization
Early formed crystals segregate themselves from the main magma body by sinking (mafics) or rising (calcic plagioclase)
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Layering Sequence in Gabbro Intrusions

A typical sequence might be:
Anorthosite Norite, feldspathic pyroxenites Harzburgite, Dunite (ultramafic rocks) Peridotite Fine-grained norite

Gabbro
Intrusive igneous, plutonic to hypabyssal A phaneritic mafic rock with medium to coarse grains Gabbro is the intrusive equivalent of basalt The name may come from the gabbro region, Tuscany, Italy

Gabbro Mineralogy
Essential: Mid to calcic plagioclase, commonly labradorite to bytownite (occasionally anorthite) Essential: Clinopyroxene, usually augite Accessory: Olivine and/or orthopyroxene Plagioclase grains range from equant to lathshaped, and are almost always well-twinned Zoning is limited to the edge of the plagioclase grains, if present at all
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Gabbro Mineralogy Continued

Clinopyroxene is augite or diopside
Some of these may be brown due to titanium and/or ferric iron content

Twinning is often present, but zoning is very rare

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Gabbro: IUGS
Q = 0-5% Q P/(A + P) >90 pl/(pl + px + ol) is 10 - 90 Plagioclase composition > An50

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Olivine Gabbro
Contains olivine in addition to plagioclase and cpx Olivine gabbro is often richer in mafics than normal gabbro

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Hornblende Gabbro
Contains hornblende in place of the normal cpx Hornblende may be green or brown in thin section It may occur as independent prisms or as crusts on the pyroxene

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Gabbro Photomicrographs
CN views of gabbros The brightly colored minerals are clinopyroxene The white to gray minerals are plagioclase - note albite twinning The black minerals in both pictures are opaque grains of magnetite
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Gabbro Photomicrographs
Olivine gabbro in CN Brightly colored and fractured olivine surrounded by plagioclase (upper photo) small veins in olivine are serpentine Gabbro (lower photo) with cumulate texture, plagioclase poikilitically enclosed by clinopyroxene
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Ophiolites
Pieces of oceanic plate that have been thrust (obducted) onto the edge of continental plates Provide information about processes at midocean ridges Composed of an assemblage of mafic and ultramafic lavas and hypabyssal rocks found in association with sedimentary rocks like greywackes and cherts Found in areas that have complex structure
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Ophiolite Obduction
Ophiolites have been found in Cyprus, New Guinea, Newfoundland, California, and Oman

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Typical Ophiolite Sequence

Ophiolites are characterized by a classic sequence of rocks This sequence is well exposed at the Samail ophiolite Base of the sequence is sedimentary rocks of the Arabian shield, not part of the ophiolite, on which the oceanic plate was pushed From base to top the ophiolite is made of: peridotite, layered gabbro, massive gabbro, dikes, and volcanic rocks At Samail this entire sequence is 15 km thick.
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Samail Ophiolite
The basal peridotite is made of a rock called harzburgite (made mostly of the minerals olivine and enstatite) Within the peridotite are many dikes of gabbro and dunite The peridotite is deformed and is overlain by dunite (an intrusive igneous rock made mostly of the mineral olivine) that grades upward to gabbro (an intrusive igneous rock made mostly of plagioclase and clinopyroxene - augite) Sequence is capped by dikes and volcanic rocks (pillow basalts that erupted on the ocean floor) 20

Mid-Ocean Ridge Cross-section

From a tectonic perspective, peridotite is depleted mantle that was under the magma chamber at the midocean ridge crest Gabbro layer is related, in some way, to the crystallization of the magma chamber (probably with repeated injections of magma) Dikes and volcanic rocks are formed by magma in 21 transit to or at the surface

Gabbro Dikes (Ophiolite)

Oceanic detachment fault, Troodos ophiolite, Cyprus Slide shows the first recognized extensional detachment fault found within an ophiolite Detachment separates sheeted dikes (lower part of oceanic

Layer 2) from the underlying gabbro of the plutonic complex (oceanic Layer 3) Dikes above the detachment are presently near-horizontal and were tilted by normal faulting to this position from originally vertical attitudes, as shown by paleomagnetic data 22 Photo: Robert Varga, College of Wooster

Norite
Intrusive igneous, plutonic to hypabyssal A gabbro with predominantly orthorhombic pyroxene (enstatite or hypersthene) rather than clinopyroxenes Opx may sometimes be identified in hand specimen by the presence of Schiller luster The name is for Norway, the original locality where it was first identified
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Norite, IUGS
Opx/(opx + cpx) > 95 Q = 0-5% P/(A + P) > 90 Pl/(pl + px + ol) is 10 - 90

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Origin of Gabbro and Norite

Found in sills, dikes, stocks, lopoliths, and other bodies. Mineralogy and texture of gabbros, norites, diabases, and basalts indicates that they are probably derived from the same type of magma crystallized under different conditions Diabase and gabbro are often found together Gabbroic layered intrusions may show considerable gradation in rock types between layers

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Diorite
Intrusive igneous, plutonic Essential: sodic plagioclase (oligoclase or andesine) Essential: A mafic, usually hornblende, or more rarely, biotite or pyroxene The name is from the Greek, diorizein, to distinguish, because the grains are large enough to be recognized in hand specimen
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Diorite Continued
These rocks are found in small bodies such as satellite stocks or batholiths, of the type associated with subduction zones Diorite is the intrusive equivalent of andesite

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Diorite Photo
Diorite cut by two veins dipping away from each other, and these in turn are cross cut by faults. From area in Quebec about 85 miles southwest of Chibougamau Photo: Richard Stenstrom
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Quartz Diorite
Intrusive igneous, plutonic Essential sodic plagioclase (oligoclase or andesine) Essential quartz, Q > 5% Usually, a mafic such as biotite or hornblende, or rarely pyroxene Quartz diorite is the intrusive equivalent of quartz andesite
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Quartz Diorite, IUGS

Q = 5 - 20 P/(A + P) >90 Plagioclase composition < An50

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Quartz Diorite Photo

Handspecimen of quartz diorite, location unknown

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Diorite IUGS
Q= 0 - 5 P/(A + P) >90 Plagioclase composition < An50 Mafics are generally 10-40% of the rock

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Diorite Mineralogy
Quartz is present as an interstitial, anhedral component, often not visible in hand specimen Hornblende is generally green, and may be replacing pyroxene (uralite) Biotite is very commonly found with the hornblende and is generally brown

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Diorite Photomicrographs
Upper photo, CN; lower, PP Large, twinned plagioclase crystals Hornblende grains Porphyritic texture

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Tonalite
Intrusive igneous, plutonic Occurrence: Batholiths Sometimes mistakenly used as synonymous with quartz diorite

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Tonalite Mineralogy: Essential

Essential: Quartz, Q > 20 Quartz is almost always anhedral Essential: Plagioclase feldspar, usually andesine Zoning in plagioclase is common and often very strong Zoning may be oscillatory
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Tonalite Mineralogy: Accessory

Accessory : K-spar - if K-feldspar is present it should be less than 5% of the rock
Typically it will be orthoclase or perthitic orthoclase

Accessory: Mafics such as hornblende, biotite, and/or pyroxene Hornblende is the characteristic mafic mineral Biotite is usually brown to brownish-green

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Tonalite, IUGS
Q = 20 - 60 P/(A + P) >90 If M < 10, the rock may be called Trondhjemite (after Trondhjem, Norway, the type locality)

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Tonalite Photomicrographs
Upper photo, CN; Lower, PP Large grain of zoned, altered plagioclase in the lower right (partially altered to sericite and epidote) Large pleochroic crystals of biotite. The extinct (dark) areas in the upper left corner and lower left corner of the photo on the top are quartz crystals at extinction
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Anorthosite
Intrusive igneous, plutonic Composed of calcic plagioclase with less than 10% ferro-magnesium minerals plagioclase may be labradorite, bytownite, or anorthite The name is from anorthose, an old name for triclinic feldspars Anorthosite is often associated with gabbro
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Anorthosite: IUGS
Q =0-5% P/(A + P) >90 M < 10 (M = Mafics)

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Anorthosite Photo
Garnets in a gabbroic anorthosite Location : Gore Mountain Garnet mine, Adirondack Mtn. NY Photo: R.L.Chase

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