A Review OF THE Existing Hypotheses ON THE Origin OF THE Secondary Silicate Zones AT THE Contacts OF Intru-Sives With Limestones
A Review OF THE Existing Hypotheses ON THE Origin OF THE Secondary Silicate Zones AT THE Contacts OF Intru-Sives With Limestones
A Review OF THE Existing Hypotheses ON THE Origin OF THE Secondary Silicate Zones AT THE Contacts OF Intru-Sives With Limestones
BY W. L. UGLOW.
INTRODUCTION.
Distribution.--Contacts
of limestones
with intrusiveigneous
rocks occur in greatestnumberin the westernpart of the con-
tinent of North America. They are here developedalong the
borders of extensivebatholi'thsof igneous rock which have
invaded sedimentaryseriesand which have beenrevealedat the
surface by the erosk)nof the overlying covers. In the eastern
part of the continent they are less abundant. Some important
ones occur, however, in he Adirondacks,the highlandsof New
Jersey, and the Piedmont district. The metamorphosedsedi-
mentary rocks here are mostly Algonkian o.r Paleozoic. The
sedimentsin theseeasternoccurrences have probablybeen sub-
jected to repeateddynamicmetamorphism,so that all, or nearly
all, evidenceof early contaciactionhas beencompletelyobliter-
ated. In the western occurrences,on the other hand, the invaded
rocksare frequentlyof late Paleozoicor early Metazoicage, and
the contactzones,exceptfor weathering,remain today in prac-
tically their original condition. They furnish, iherefore, excel-
lent opportunitiesfor criti.calstudy.
Invaded Rocks.--The sedimentaryrocks into which the in-
trusives have made their way are not exclu.sivelylimestones.
Shales,sandstones,and conglomeratesare of frequent occurrence.
There are, of course,gradationsbetween all of these different
types. Limestonesfrequentlycontainsand'or clay; sandstones,
lime, clay,or iron; while the shalesmay :ontainlime or sand. In
nearly all of the westernoccurrencesa variety of sedimentary
rocks are present,and all of the main typesof sedimentswith
ORIGIN OF SECONDARY SILICATE ZONES. :2I
Contact
Metamorphic
Minerals.'
Associated
withthemetallic
minerals are gangues.of lime silicatesand other contact meta-
morphicminerals,which showno marked variationwhetheriron
or copper
minerals
preponderate
in'theore.
Below is a list of the common ".contact-metamorphic"
minerals. They have been arranged in two distinct groups.
Group 2 includesthoseminerals which contain elementssuch as
boron, fluorine, chlorine or for other reasonslater discussedmay
be admidedly the productsof igneousemanation; group x con-
tains the disputedseriesof what will be here termed the "silicate
zone" group. It is mainly about 'thisgroup that discussionhas
arisen.
GROUP I. GROUP 2.
IIYPOTI-IESES OF ORIGIN.
ically divided into 'two parts, one part of which is formed en-
tirely by recrystallizationin the early stagesof the metamor-
phism,and the otherpart by later additionof materialin the way
of emanationsfrom the magma. The mineralswhich bel.ongto
the first class are those mentioned in the left-hand columns on
pages7 and 8, while thoseof the secondclassinclude among
others th.oselisted in the righ,t-handcolumn on the samepages,
together with the metal'Itcminerals. It will be noticed that the
non-metallicminerals of the 1,atter,classnearly all contain an
elementmore or lessforeignto sedimentaryseries,e. #., boron,
fluorine,chlorine,beryllimn,etc. These are typically found in
mag-maticemanations. The metallic minerals may be either
direct contributionsfrom the magma, or hot water depositsre-
sulting from the xvorkingover of the hot intrusives. Defini,te
evidence is obtained in the area described of the earlier forma-
tion of the first class of minerals. The two periods no doubt
overlapped,but there is a somewhatwell-marked distinction in
the matter of time.
The magnitudeof the iron depositsof the West, especiallyas
they occur in connecti'onwith acidic intrusives,makes it almost
impossibleto supposethat they have been formed in any other
way than by direct introductionfrom the coolingmagma. The
copper deposits,on the other hand, are low grade and are dis-
seminated. The igneousrocks with which they are associated
s'h<)wthe resultsof leachingby hydrothermalaction,and alsocon-
tain traces of copper. There seemsto be no reason why .the
coppercould not have been at least partial,lycontributedby the
hot waters that leached the intru'sives. 2
The last hypothesisseemsto the wri:terto be the mos,tprobable.
In the presentpaper,an attemptis madeto collectand correlate
facts that will tend to substantiate,thishypothesis. During the
discussion,the applicationof the expressions "second,arysilicate
zone," "contact-zone," etc., .will be limited to that phasechar-
acterizedby the presenceof the minerals of the first class,as
x Personal communication.
2 Personal communication.
ORIGIN OF SECONDARY SILICATE ZONES. 27
o
i .
o
o
o
ORIGIN 0I; SECONDARY SILICATE ZONES. 29
30 W. L. UGLOW.
4 4
ORIGIN OF SECONDARYSILICATE ZONES. 31
o
u
u
32 W. L. UGLOW.
ORIGIN OF SECONDARY SILICATE ZONES. 33
34- W. L. UGLOW.
35,
36 W. L. UGLOW
ORIGIN OF SECONDARY SILICATE ZONES. 37
38 W.L. UGLOW.
ORIGIN OF SECONDARYSILICATE ZONES. 39
o
u
u
4o W. L. UGLOW.
ORIGIN OF SECONDARY SILICATE ZONES 41
4:2 W. L. UGLOW.
ORIGIN OF SECONDARY
SILICATEZONES. 43
44 1. L. UGLOV'.
ORIGIN OF SECONDARY SILICATE ZONES. 45
SMMARY OF CRITERIA.
In the following summaryis a tabulation of the chief points
favoring one or oher of the two hypothesesdiscussedabove.
The lists are arranged without referenceto the specialdistricts
from whichthevariouspiecesof evidenceare taken. A few sug-
gestionsare alsoofferedwhich are in line with the hypothesis'of
recrystallization. It mustbe rememberedthat the useof the term
"secondarysilicatezone" is in accordance
with the interpreta-
tion given on page I4. '
stonecontact-zones.Thi,sf,avorsfhe recrystallization
ratherthan
the infiltration hypothesis.
20. Advocatesof the infiltrati,on,theoryargue that it is pre-
posterous to demandthe reductionof volumerequiredaccording
to the recrystal,
lizati.onhypothesis.On the otherhandit is just
as improbablethat there has beenan introductionof sucha tre-
mendousamount of material from the intrusive, as is required
by thosewho believein infiltra,tk)n.
2I. In accordance with the theoryof crystallizationof a magma
the volatile constituentsand mineralizersare emi,ttedchieflywhile
the magma is changingfrom the liquid to the solid form. If a
magma be in.tru,dedint,oa seriesof impure limestones,at a tem-
peratureof 1,000, for instance,is it not likely that great changes
will take place in the compositionof the invaded rock, wh.ilethe
intrusiveis coolingdown to the temperatureof crystalliza, tion?
As a matterof fact, it is a very commonoccurrence to find peg-
matire dikes, aplite dikes, quartz veins ("blouts" of Lawson)
cuttingacrossthe already formed "contact zone" of silicates. In
thesedikes and veins,the minera.lizersof the intrusiveare very
largely concentraered.
22. The katamorphismof limes.tones in the southernAppa-
lachiansgivesa residualclayeyma'reriaI,but is usedas iron ore.
The percentagesof Si02, A120a, Fe in the fresh limestoneare in
the sameratio as in the ore materiaD If anamorph,osed, these
deposits
wouldgivesecondary
sillcat,
eswithfreeironoxide.
I. In manycases,garnetmasses
are f.oundentirelyapart from
limestones,andapparentlyconnected
emirelywith intrusiveigne-
ous rocks.
2. As a general rule, the literature bears ou.t the sCatement
that basicintrusivesdo not producenearly as great a contact
zone as acidicones. Acidic magmasor thosehigh in silica are
t R. J. Holden, "The Brown Ores of the New River, Cripple Creek Dis-
trict, Va.," U.S. G. S., Bull. 285.
5o w. L. UGLOW.
(To be confirmed)
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