Abstract
The middle Ordovician Ascot Formation of southeastern Quebec consists of greenschist facies metamorphosed silicic to mafic pyroclastic rocks and lava flows and associated metasediments. Chemical analyses of lavas reveal a preponderance of metarhyolites and metabasalts, together with some porphyritic rocks with intermediate SiO2 contents. The metabasalts exhibit wide ranges in concentrations of TiO2 (0.25–2.0 wt.°), Y (9–46 ppm), and Zr (5–135 ppm). The extent of the ranges, and unusual interelement ratios, suggest that the concentrations of these normally immobile elements have been affected by secondary processes.
There is a strong correlation between trace-element concentrations and the degree of carbonatization of the metabasalts. Low carbonate rocks are severely depleted in Ti, Y, and Zr whereas high carbonate rocks are depleted in Y and Zr and enriched in Ti. The differing movement of Ti can be explained in terms of variable chemical potential due to the various carbonatization reactions affecting titaniferous phases. Overall mobility of these generally “immobile/rd elements is attributed to high CO2 levels in the fluid phase during metamorphism.
Extrapolation of the two alteration trends to a common origin enables one to infer primary concentrations of the trace-elements. Primary inter-element ratios arrived at in this way are compatible with an island-arc origin for the Ascot Formation although TiO2 concentrations are a little high (1.5 wt/%).
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Hynes, A. Carbonatization and mobility of Ti, Y, and Zr in Ascot Formation metabasalts, SE Quebec. Contr. Mineral. and Petrol. 75, 79–87 (1980). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00371891
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00371891