Stable Isotope and Crystal Chemistry of Tourmaline Across Pegmatite - Country Rock Boundaries at Black Mountain and Mount Mica, Southwestern Maine, U.S.A

Authors

Darby Dyar, Smith College
Charles V. Guidott, University of Maine
Daniel P. Core, The College of Wooster
Katherine M. Wearn, Williams College
Michael A. Wise, National Museum of Natural History
Carl A. Francis, Harvard Mineralogical Museum
Kathleen Johnson, University of New Orleans
John B. Brady, Smith CollegeFollow
J. David Robertson, University of Kentucky
Laura R. Cross, University of Kentucky

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1999

Publication Title

European Journal of Mineralogy

Abstract

Major element and stable isotope chemistry of tourmaline from two complexly-zoned rare element pegmatites has been studied to gain insights into the processes by which the pegmatites were formed. Two locations in the Oxford Pegmatite Field of western Maine, U.S.A., were chosen for this study: Black Mountain, an isolated body located in sillimanite zone, highly sulfidic metapelites and quartzite; and Mount Mica, which is bounded by schists and pegmatite and aplitic granite bodies commonly having gradational contacts with each other. At each locality, tourmaline was sampled from the surrounding country rocks into the contact and wall zones through to the pegmatite cores. Along these traverses, trends in major element crystal chemistry of tourmaline are similar for both localities; these include Li + AlMg + Fe2+ , Na + Ca + KH3O + , and B —> Si substitutions. Tourmaline compositions also reflect the parageneses in which they occur, especially Mg/Fe2+ , which increases as Fe2+ is taken up by pyrrhotite in the country rock at Black Mountain. Differences in the major element compositions of tourmaline between the two localities are readily understood in the context of parageneses. However, stable isotopes strongly suggest that two contrasting styles of pegmatite are involved. Black Mountain has tourmaline showing gradational isotope signatures between the pegmatite and surrounding country rocks. Mount Mica contains tourmaline that is clearly isotopically distinct from tourmaline in the surrounding country rock. One interpretation of this difference is that Black Mountain may have formed from partial melting of metasediments, in combination with precipitation from hydrothermal fluids related to the nearby batholiths, whereas Mount Mica formed as a fractionate of the nearby Sebago Batholith.

Keywords

tourmaline, stable isotopes, pegmatite, Maine, crystal chemistry, Black Mountain, Mount Mica

Volume

11

First Page

281

Last Page

294

Rights

@ 1999 E. Schweizerbart'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung. D-70176 Stuttgart

Comments

Archived as published.

Recommended Citation

Dyar, Darby; Guidott, Charles V.; Core, Daniel P.; Wearn, Katherine M.; Wise, Michael A.; Francis, Carl A.; Johnson, Kathleen; Brady, John B.; Robertson, J. David; and Cross, Laura R., "Stable Isotope and Crystal Chemistry of Tourmaline Across Pegmatite - Country Rock Boundaries at Black Mountain and Mount Mica, Southwestern Maine, U.S.A" (1999). Geosciences: Faculty Publications, Smith College, Northampton, MA.
https://scholarworks.smith.edu/geo_facpubs/36