Abstract
A study of the alteration products of olivines in lavas from a number of volcanic regions indicates the temperature and oxidation conditions under which deuteric alteration has taken place. High temperature oxidation of basaltic olivine results in either exsolution of hematite associated with a more forsteritic olivine, or formation of a symplectic intergrowth of magnetite and orthopyroxene. Continued oxidation of the metastable assemblage magnetite + orthopyroxene produces hematite+forsterite. Identical textures and mineralogical assemblages have been produced in a number of heating experiments, and compare closely with natural examples, and with reheated olivines from gabbroic and ultra-basic xenoliths. The advanced oxidation state of coexisting Fe-Ti oxides associated with highly altered olivines confirms the suggestion that processes of oxidation are the prime causes of high temperature deuteric alteration.
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Haggerty, S.E., Baker, I. The alteration of olivine in basaltic and associated lavas. Contr. Mineral. and Petrol. 16, 233–257 (1967). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00371094
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00371094