Geochemistry and structure of the Hawley Formation: Northwestern Massachusetts
- State Univ. of New York, Buffalo, NY (United States). Dept. of Geology
The Hawley Formation in northwestern Massachusetts is composed of mafic and felsic, (trondhjemitic) igneous units and black sulfidic schists and quartzites. The dominant lithology is a thinly foliated hbd-plag.-chi-qtz.-Fe carbonate schist with or without hornblende fasicules. Locally, this schist has alternating folia of chl/hbd and plag. and probably has a volcaniclastic protolith. Distinct pillows and tuffs are observed locally. In general, these schists have flat REE patterns at 10X chondrite and plot as IABs on discrimination diagrams. In the eastern part of the Hawley, some amphibolites show concave upward REE patterns, plot in the IAT or boninite field on discrimination diagrams, and appear to have boninitic affinities. The felsic lithologies are trondhjemitic and are intrusive into the IAT/boninite amphibolites. The intrusive nature is based on the presence of mafic xenoliths and intruded rafts of country rock in the trondhjemite as well as the occurrence of thin tabular trondhjemite bodies in sharp contact with the surrounding amphibolite. The trondhjemite varies from coarse-grained weakly foliated qtz-plag.-biotite gneiss with probable relict igneous zoned plagioclases to finer-grained well foliated qtz-plag.-garnet-hbd gneiss. REE patterns for the trondhjemites are weakly U-shaped with moderate to pronounced negative Eu anomalies. The trondhjemites, surrounding amphibolites, and black sulfidic schists and quartzites of the eastern part of the Hawley are intruded by massive, granular, medium grained, plagioclase phenocryst amphibolites with chilled margins. These intrusive sills predate or are coeval with the dominant foliation in the Hawley. Both sills and country rock contain a contact-parallel foliation as well as a later foliation at a low angle to the earlier foliation. The sill amphibolites are high TiO2 high Zr varieties that plot as MORBs to WPBs on discrimination diagrams and exhibit slightly LREE enriched MORB-like to T-MORB REE patterns.
- OSTI ID:
- 5505882
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-9303211-; CODEN: GAAPBC
- Journal Information:
- Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs; (United States), Vol. 25:2; Conference: 28. annual Geological Society of America (GSA) Northeastern Section meeting, Burlington, VT (United States), 22-24 Mar 1993; ISSN 0016-7592
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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