Browsing by Subject "Kangasala"

The orbicular quartz monzonite from Kuohenmaa, Southwest Finland, is one of the most beautiful and well-known orbicular rocks in the world. The cores of the orbicules are peraluminous in composition, most likely of xenolithic metasedimentary origin. The cores are surrounded by orbicule mantles, which consist of several alternating biotite- and plagioclase-rich shells. There are three types of orbicules in Kuohenmaa orbicular rock: proto-, small-, and large-orbicular types. Proto-orbicules have only a few shells, small orbicules ~ 50 shells in average, and large orbicules over 250 distinct shells. In addition to shells, one sample was observed to be associated with comb layering in the contact of proto-orbicular and large orbicular types. Structures and textures of the comb layer resembles those of the outer shells of large orbicules. The orbicules are embedded in interstitial coarse-grained groundmass that forms locally almost pegmatitic patches. The petrographic observations were acquired from eight samples or sample photographs gathered from different collections. A mineral chemistry dataset was measured from a single large orbicule from the University of Helsinki collections. The main minerals of the Kuohenmaa orbicular rock are plagioclase, biotite, microcline, muscovite, and chlorite. The shell textures vary from branching plagioclase-rich shells to fine-grained plagioclase- or biotite-rich shells. Branching shells are mainly oligoclase, but a few granular andesine crystals were detected in the core. Peculiar interstitial fibrous allanite masses were found in the inner branching plagioclase-rich shells. The plagioclase compositions generally follow a regular fractional crystallization trend from core to groundmass, but some changes towards more primary compositions are observed in the orbicule mantle. Plagioclase crystals display only minor compositional zoning, suggesting rather quick crystallization. Biotite is very aluminous (Al2O3 17.63–18.53) in composition, and the compositional changes seem to have somewhat positive correlation with plagioclase compositions, suggesting changes in their crystallization conditions. Injections of primary melt from a deeper source most likely caused the observed changes to more primitive composition in plagioclase and biotite composition. Through the detailed petrographic and geochemical studies, a model of undercooling caused by decompression driven fluid saturation is proposed as a mechanism for orbicule formation in the Kuohenmaa orbicular rock. Branching plagioclase with interstitial fibrous allanite masses and several fluid inclusions in plagioclase indicates separate aqueous REE-enriched melt and rapid crystallization. Further studies of fluid inclusions and REE-enriched phases could provide information of the fluid origin and crystallization conditions.