Southern complex: geology, geochemistry, mineralogy, and mineral chemistry of selected uranium- and thorium-rich granites

Thesis/Dissertation · Thu Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1987

OSTI ID:6176993

Hoffman, M A

Four major rock groups are defined in the Southern Complex: the Bell Creek Granite (BCG), the Clotted Granitoids (CGR), the Albite Granite (AGR), and the Migmatite Complex. Metatexites of the Migmatite Complex are the oldest rocks and include paleosome of a metasedimentary and metavolcanic protolith represented by Banded Iron Formation, Banded Amphibolite, and Banded Gneisses, and interlayered or crosscutting leucogranites. The CGR span the range from metatexite to diatexite and represent in-situ partial melting of metapelitic layers in the protolith during intrusion of the BCG. The BCG cuts the migmatites, is locally cut by the CGR, and was derived by partial melting of a dominantly metasedimentary protolith at some depth below the presently exposed migmatites during a regional tectonothermal event. The Albite Granite is a 2km diameter, muscovite-fluorite-columbite-bearing intrusive stock that cuts all other major units. The thorium history of the BCG is a function of the history of monazite. The thorium history of the CGR is also dominated by monazite but the thorium content of this unit cannot be entirely accounted for by original restite monazite. The uranium history of the BCG and CGR was dominated by magmatic differentiation and post magmatic, metamorphic and supergene redistributions and is largely independent of the thorium history. The thorium and uranium history of the AGR was dominated by magmatic/deuteric processes unlike the BCG and CGR.

• Research Organization: Michigan Technological Univ., Houghton (USA)
• OSTI ID: 6176993
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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