ALKALINE IGNEOUS ROCKS OF MAGNET COVE, ARKANSAS - MINERALOGY AND GEOCHEMISTRY OF SYENITES

Syenites from the Magnet Cove alkaline igneous complex form a diverse mineralogical and geochemical suite. Compositional zoning in primary and late-stage minerals indicates complex, multi-stage crystallization and replacement histories. Residual magmatic fluids, rich in F, Cl, CO2 and H2O, reacted with primary minerals to form complex intergrowths of minerals such as rinkite, fluorite, V-bearing magnetite, F-bearing garnet and aegirine. Abundant sodalite and natrolite formed in pegmatitic segregations within nepheline syenite where Cl- and Na-rich fluids were trapped. During autometasomatism compatible elements such as Mn, Ti, V and Zr were redistributed on a local scale and concentrated in late-stage minerals. Early crystallization of apatite and perovskite controlled the compatible behavior of P and Ti, respectively. The formation of melanite garnet also affected the behaviour of Ti, as well as Zr, Hf and the heavy rare-earth elements. Pseudoleucite syenite and garnet-nepheline syenite differentiated along separate trends, but the two groups are related to the same parental magma by early fractionation of leucite, the presumed precursor of intergrowths of K-feldspar and nepheline. The Diamond Jo nepheline syenite group defines a different differentiation trend. Sphene-nepheline syenite, alkali syenite and several miscellaneous nepheline syenites do not consistently plot with the other syenite groups or each other on element and oxide variation diagrams, indicating that they were derived from still other parental syenite magmas. Mineral assemblages indicate that relatively high f(O2), at or above the fayalite-magnetite-quartz buffer, prevailed throughout the crystallization history of the syenites.