Vitrophyre

Abstract: The Northwest Africa (NWA) 7475 meteorite is one of the several stones of paired regolith breccias from Mars based on petrography, oxygen isotope, mineral compositions, and bulk rock compositions. Its inventory of lithic clasts is dominated by vitrophyre impact melts that were emplaced while they were still molten. Other clast types include crystallized impact melt rocks, evolved plutonic rocks, possible basalts, contact metamorphosed rocks, and siltstones. Impact spherules and vitrophyre shards record airborne transport, and accreted dust rims were sintered on most clasts, presumably during residence in an ejecta plume. The clast assemblage records at least three impact events, one that formed an impact melt sheet on Mars ≤4.4 Ga ago, a second that assembled NWA 7475 from impactites associated with the impact melt sheet at 1.7–1.4 Ga, and a third that launched NWA 7475 from Mars ~5 Ma ago. Mildly shocked pyroxene and plagioclase constrain shock metamorphic conditions during launch to >5 and <15 GPa. The mild postshock-heating that resulted from these shock pressures would have been insufficient to sterilize this water-bearing lithology during launch. Magnetite, maghemite, and pyrite are likely products of secondary alteration on Mars. Textural relationships suggest that calcium-carbonate and goethite are probably of terrestrial origin, yet trace element chemistry indicates relatively low terrestrial alteration. Comparison of Mars Odyssey gamma-ray spectrometer data with the Fe and Th abundances of NWA 7475 points to a provenance in the ancient southern highlands of Mars. Gratteri crater, with an age of ~5 Ma and an apparent diameter of 6.9 km, marks one possible launch site of NWA 7475.

Abstract: The rhyolite of Comb Peak is one of a series of related rhyolitic lava flows and domes that postdate formation of the Timber Mountain caldera in southern Nevada. The Comb Peak body consists of bedded rhyolitic tuffs overlain by a rhyolitic lava flow that has a foliated interior with fluidal struc- ture, enveloped by breccia. The vent for the lava flow and the pre-eruption topography have been exposed by erosion and indicate the general condi- tions and direction of flow. These indications have been corroborated by study of the foliation pattern and by a semiquantitative statistical analysis of flow folds and related features. Geologic relationships in- dicate that brecciation of the lava flow occurred mainly during periods when the flow was spreading, whereas the body eroded its floor and walls much as does a glacier during periods when the flow was con- fined. Tuffs adjacent to parts of the lava flow have been conspicuously modified. Local compaction and in- duration ("fusion") by the hot lava caused the bed- ded tuffs to weld so that they resemble welded ash- flow tuffs except for characteristic bedding and sorting indicative of their ash-fall origin. The zone of "fusion" is everywhere parallel to the contacts of the lava flow and intersects bedding at high angles. Locally "fusion" affected the tuffs for a thickness of 75 m or more from the contact of the flow. Approxi- mate calculation of the heat flow necessary to ac- complish the observed alteration indicates that sim- ple conduction from the margins of the flow would not have been adequate. Heat transfer was greatly increased, probably by convection of superheated steam from the edges of the flow through porous tuffs. Simultaneous cooling and crystallization of the "fused" tuffs and the lava flow produced a series of zones that encompass the entire Comb Peak body and cross contacts between emplacement units. The basal vitrophyre zone, for example, is in the lowest part of the lava flow in many places, but elsewhere it is entirely within "fused" tuffs and has been mapped as much as 300 m beyond the present posi- tion of the flow contact.

Abstract: Esmeralda Bank is the southernmost active volcano in the Izu-Volcano-Mariana Arc. This submarine volcano is one of the most active vents in the western Pacific. It has a total volume of about 27 km3, rising to within 30 m of sea level. Two dredge hauls from Esmeralda recovered fresh, nearly aphyric, vesicular basalts and basaltic andesites and minor basaltic vitrophyre. These samples reflect uniform yet unusual major and trace element chemistries. Mean abundances of TiO2 (1.3%) and FeO* (12.6%) are higher and CaO (9.2%) and Al2O3 (15.1%) are lower than rocks of similar silica content from other active Mariana Arc volcanoes. Mean incompatible element ratios K/Rb (488) and K/Ba (29) of Esmeralda rocks are indistinguishable from those of other Mariana Arc volcanoes. On a Ti-Zr plot, Esmeralda samples plot in the field of oceanic basalts while other Mariana Arc volcanic rocks plot in the field for island arcs.

Abstract: Megaspherulites occur in the middle zone of a thick sequence of rhyolitic vitrophyre that occupies a small, late Eocene to early Oligocene volcanic-tectonic basin near Silver Cliff, Custer County, Colorado. Diameters of the megaspherulites range from 0.3 m to over 3.66 m, including a clay envelope. The megaspherulites are compound spherulites. consisting of an extremely large number (3.8 x 10(exp 9) to 9.9 x 10(exp 9)) of individual growth cones averaging 3 mm long by 1.25 mm wide at their termination. They are holocrystalline, very fine- to fine-grained, composed of disordered to ordered sanidine (orthoclase) and quartz, and surrounded by a thin K-feldspar, quartz rich rind, an inner clay layer with mordenite, and an outer clay layer composed wholly of 15 A montmorillonite. Whole rock analyses of the megaspherulites show a restricted composition from their core to their outer edge, with an average analyses of 76.3% SiO2, 0.34% CaO, 2.17% Na2O, 6.92% K2O, 0.83% H2O+ compared to the rhyolitic vitrophyre from which they crystallize with 71.07% SiO2, 0.57% CaO, 4.06% Na2O,4.l0% K2O, and 6.40% H2O+. The remaining oxides of Fe2O3 (total Fe), A12O3, MnO,MgO, TiO2, P2O5, Cr2O3, and trace elements show uniform distribution between the megaspherulites and the rhyolitic vitrophyre. Megaspherulite crystallization began soon after the rhyolitic lava ceased to flow as the result of sparse heterogeneous nucleation, under nonequilibrium conditions, due to a high degree of undercooling, delta T. The crystals grow with a fibrous habit which is favored by a large delta T ranging between 245 C and 295 C, despite lowered viscosity, and enhanced diffusion due to the high H2O content, ranging between 5% and 7%. Therefore, megaspherulite growth proceeded in a diffusion controlled manner, where the diffusion, rate lags behind the crystal growth rate at the crystal-liquid interface, restricting fibril lengths and diameters to the 10 micron to 15 micron and 3 micron and 8 micron ranges respectively. Once diffusion reestablishes itself at the crystallization front, a new nucleation event occurs at the terminated tips of the fibril cones and a new cone begins to develop with a similar orientation (small angle branching) to the earlier cones. During crystallization, these fibril cones impinge upon each other, resulting in fibril cone-free areas. These cone-free areas consist of coarser, fine-grained phases, dominated by quartz, which crystallized from the melt as it accumulated between the crystallizing K-feldspar fibrils of the cones. The anhydrous nature of the disordered to ordered sanidine (orthoclase) and quartz, suggests that water in the vitrophyre moved ahead of the crystallization front, resulting in a water rich fluid being enriched in Si, K, Na, Mg, Ca, Sr, Ba, and Y. The clay layers associated with the megaspherulites are therefore, the result of the deuteric alteration between the fractionated water and the vitrophyre, as indicated by the presence of the minerals mordenite and montmorillonite. This silica rich fluid also resulted in the total silicification of the megaspherulites within the upper 3 m of the vitrophyre.