Felsic

Abstract: Geophysical, petrological, and geochemical data provide important clues about the composition of the deep continental crust. On the basis of seismic refraction data, we divide the crust into type sections associated with different tectonic provinces. Each shows a three-layer crust consisting of upper, middle, and lower crust, in which P wave velocities increase progressively with depth. There is large variation in average P wave velocity of the lower crust between different type sections, but in general, lower crustal velocities are high (>6.9 km s−1) and average middle crustal velocities range between 6.3 and 6.7 km s−1. Heat-producing elements decrease with depth in the crust owing to their depletion in felsic rocks caused by granulite facies metamorphism and an increase in the proportion of mafic rocks with depth. Studies of crustal cross sections show that in Archean regions, 50–85% of the heat flowing from the surface of the Earth is generated within the crust. Granulite terrains that experienced isobaric cooling are representative of middle or lower crust and have higher proportions of mafic rocks than do granulite terrains that experienced isothermal decompression. The latter are probably not representative of the deep crust but are merely upper crustal rocks that have been through an orogenic cycle. Granulite xenoliths provide some of the deepest samples of the continental crust and are composed largely of mafic rock types. Ultrasonic velocity measurements for a wide variety of deep crustal rocks provide a link between crustal velocity and lithology. Meta-igneous felsic, intermediate and mafic granulite, and amphibolite facies rocks are distinguishable on the basis of P and S wave velocities, but metamorphosed shales (metapelites) have velocities that overlap the complete velocity range displayed by the meta-igneous lithologies. The high heat production of metapelites, coupled with their generally limited volumetric extent in granulite terrains and xenoliths, suggests they constitute only a small proportion of the lower crust. Using average P wave velocities derived from the crustal type sections, the estimated areal extent of each type of crust, and the average compositions of different types of granulites, we estimate the average lower and middle crust composition. The lower crust is composed of rocks in the granulite facies and is lithologically heterogeneous. Its average composition is mafic, approaching that of a primitive mantle-derived basalt, but it may range to intermediate bulk compositions in some regions. The middle crust is composed of rocks in the amphibolite facies and is intermediate in bulk composition, containing significant K, Th, and U contents. Average continental crust is intermediate in composition and contains a significant proportion of the bulk silicate Earth's incompatible trace element budget (35–55% of Rb, Ba, K, Pb, Th, and U).

Abstract: In the Lachlan Fold Belt of southeastern Australia, Upper Devonian A-type granite suites were emplaced after the Lower Devonian I-type granites of the Bega Batholith. Individual plutons of two A-type suites are homogeneous and the granites are characterized by late interstitial annite. Chemically they are distinguished from I-type granites with similar SiO2 contents of the Bega Batholith, by higher abundances of large highly charged cations such as Nb, Ga, Y, and the REE and lower Al, Mg and Ca: high Ga/Al is diagnostic. These A-type suites are metaluminous, but peralkaline and peraluminous A-type granites also occur in Australia and elsewhere. Partial melting of felsic granulite is the preferred genetic model. This source rock is the residue remaining in the lower crust after production of a previous granite. High temperature, vapour-absent melting of the granulitic source generates a low viscosity, relatively anhydrous melt containing F and possibly Cl. The framework structure of this melt is considerably distorted by the presence of these dissolved halides allowing the large highly charged cations to form stable high co-ordination structures. The high concentration of Zr and probably other elements such as the REE in peralkaline or near peralkaline A-type melts is a result of the counter ion effect where excess alkali cations stabilize structures in the melt such as alkali-zircono-silicates. The melt structure determines the trace element composition of the granite. Separation of a fluid phase from an A-type magma results in destabilization of co-ordination complexes and in the formation of rare-metal deposits commonly associated with fluorite. At this stage the role of Cl in metal transport is considered more important than F.