Plagioclase transfer from a host granodiorite to mafic microgranular enclaves: diverse records of magma mixing

Abstract

Chemical and structural zoning in plagioclase can develop in response to a number of different magmatic processes. We examine plagioclase zonation formed during the transfer of plagioclase from a granodioritic host to a monzodioritic enclave to understand the development of different zonation patterns caused by this relatively simple magma mixing process. The transferred plagioclase records two stages of evolution: crystallization of oscillatory plagioclase in the host granodioritic magma and crystallization of high An zones and low An rims in the hybrid enclave magma. High An zones (up to An<inf>72</inf>) are formed only in the hybrid enclaves after plagioclase transfer. Plagioclase from a primitive enclave, showing no or only minimal interaction with the host, is An<inf>30–43</inf>. The implication is that high An zones crystallize only from the hybrid magma and not from the primitive one, probably because of an increase in water content in the hybrid magma. Complex interactions between the two magmas are also recorded in Sr content in plagioclase, which indicates an initial increase in Sr concentration in the melt upon transfer. This is contrary to what is expected from the mixing of low Sr enclave magma with a high Sr granodiorite one. Such Sr distribution in the plagioclase implies that the transfer of the plagioclase took place before the onset of plagioclase crystallization in the enclave magma. Therefore, the mixing between high Sr granodiorite magma and low Sr enclave magma was recorded only in plagioclase rims and not in the high An zones.