ROLE OF CO2 ON DIFFERENTIATION OF ULTRAMAFIC ALKALINE SERIES: LIQUID IMMISCIBILITY IN CARBONATE-BEARING PHONOLITIC DYKES (POLAR SIBERIA)

Abstract

The Maimecha-Kotui province in the North of Siberian platform is the largest province of ultramafic alkaline rocks in the world. The province comprises thirty-seven central-type complexes together with numerous dykes. The majority of dykes are radially disposed around the ultramafic alkaline massifs. Data are presented for dykes of the Dolbykha carbonatite complex, which comprises olivine and melilite nephelinites; nosean, calcite and cancrinite phonolites; calcite trachytes and calcite carbonatites. Some peralkaline phonolitic dykes contain carbonate-bearing globules with sizes of 1−2 mm to 17−20 mm. Globules consist of polycrystalline calcitic aggregates together with albite, phlogopite, apatite, Sr-lueshite, zircon, ancylite, ilmenite and strontianite. The phonolites have phenocrysts of albite, phlogopite and ilmenite. Albite, phlogopite, calcite and nepheline are also present in the groundmass. Analysis of these materials in the light of experimental data on the liquid immiscibility in carbonate-silicate systems suggests that separation of carbonatite from phonolitic melts took place due to immiscibility in the liquid state. I propose that carbonate melts contained originally significantly higher alkali contents which were subsequently lost into the fluid phase due to the incongruent dissolution of calcium-sodium carbonates in aqueous fluid at low temperatures. The discovery of nyerereite in the carbonatite of Polar Siberia confirms this conclusion. I infer that one of the mechanisms for the genesis of carbonatite melt in Polar Siberia was liquid immiscibility in strongly differentiated phonolitic magmas. The generation of the carbonatites was probably controlled by the depth (and P CO 2 ) of the crustal magma chamber where differentiation took place and probably also by the alkalinity of melts, and the rapidity of magma ascent to the surface.