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Ilmenite composition in the Tellnes Fe–Ti deposit, SW Norway: fractional crystallization, postcumulus evolution and ilmenite–zircon relation

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Abstract

Major and trace element XRF and in situ LA-ICP-MS analyses of ilmenite in the Tellnes ilmenite deposit, Rogaland Anorthosite Province, SW Norway, constrains a two stage fractional crystallization model of a ferrodioritic Fe-Ti-P rich melt. Stage 1 is characterized by ilmenite-plagioclase cumulates, partly stored in the lower part of the ore body (Lower Central Zone, LCZ), and stage 2 by ilmenite-plagioclase-orthopyroxene-olivine cumulates (Upper Central Zone, UCZ). The concentration of V and Cr in ilmenite, corrected for the trapped liquid effect, (1) defines the cotectic proportion of ilmenite to be 17.5 wt% during stage 1, and (2) implies an increase of D IlmV during stage 2, most likely related to a shift in fO2. The proportion of 17.5 wt% is lower than the modal proportion of ilmenite (ca. 50 wt%) in the ore body, implying accumulation of ilmenite and flotation of plagioclase. The fraction of residual liquid left after crystallization of Tellnes cumulates is estimated at 0.6 and the flotation of plagioclase at 26 wt% of the initial melt mass. The increasing content of intercumulus magnetite with stratigraphic height, from 0 to ca. 3 wt%, results from differentiation of the trapped liquid towards magnetite saturation. The MgO content of ilmenite (1.4–4.4 wt%) is much lower than the expected cumulus composition. It shows extensive postcumulus re-equilibration with trapped liquid and ferromagnesian silicates, correlated with distance to the host anorthosite. The Zr content of ilmenite, provided by in situ analyses, is low (<114 ppm) and uncorrelated with stratigraphy or Cr content. The data demonstrate that zircon coronas observed around ilmenite formed by subsolidus exsolution of ZrO2 from ilmenite. The U-Pb zircon age of 920 ± 3 Ma probably records this exsolution process.

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Acknowledgments

This work was funded by the Belgian Fund for Joint Research and the Fund for Research in Industry and Agriculture (FRIA). TITANIA A/S and the Geological Survey of Norway are gratefully acknowledged for their financial support and permission to use unpublished data. Guy Bologne is thanked for assistance with XRF analyses. We also acknowledge Kåre Kullerud for sharing unpublished microprobe data. This paper has benefited from constructive comments by Brian Robins, Richard Wilson and Gurli Meyer. Reviews by Mike Toplis, Bernard Bingen and Grant Cawthorn helped us improve the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geology, B20, University of Liège, 4000, Sart Tilman, Belgium

    Bernard Charlier, Jean-Clair Duchesne & Jacqueline Vander Auwera

  2. Geological Survey of Norway, Leiv Eirikssons vei 39, 7494, Trondheim, Norway

    Øyvind Skår & Are Korneliussen

Authors
  1. Bernard Charlier
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  2. Øyvind Skår
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  3. Are Korneliussen
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  4. Jean-Clair Duchesne
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  5. Jacqueline Vander Auwera
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Bernard Charlier.

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Communicated by J. Hoefs.

Electronic supplementary material

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410_2007_186_MOESM1_ESM.pdf

eFig. 1 a–c Spatial distribution of the ilmenite proportion (wt%) in sections 800, 1200 and 1600 of the Tellnes ilmenite deposit. Data from Charlier et al. (2006). (PDF 21 kb)

410_2007_186_MOESM2_ESM.pdf

eFig. 2 a–c Cr (ppm), MgO (wt%) and Nb (ppm) contents in ilmenite in sections 800, 1200 and 1600 of the Tellnes ilmenite deposit. (PDF 23 kb)

eFig. 3 a–b Mg# of orthopyroxene in sections 1200 and 1600 of the Tellnes ilmenite deposit. (PDF 17 kb)

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Charlier, B., Skår, Ø., Korneliussen, A. et al. Ilmenite composition in the Tellnes Fe–Ti deposit, SW Norway: fractional crystallization, postcumulus evolution and ilmenite–zircon relation. Contrib Mineral Petrol 154, 119–134 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00410-007-0186-8

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