Emplacement and differentiation of the york haven diabase sheet, Pennsylvania

M. T. Mangan; B.D. Marsh; A.J. Froelich; D. Gottfried

doi:10.1093/petrology/34.6.1271

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Emplacement and differentiation of the york haven diabase sheet, Pennsylvania

M. T. Mangan·B.D. Marsh·A.J. Froelich·D. Gottfried

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Abstract

Many of the high-Ti quartz-normative tholeiitic intrusive sheets in the early Mesozoic rift basins of the Eastern USA exhibit lateral differentiation from mafic cumulate units, through diabase, to relatively evolved iron-rich rock types. We have investigated a representative example in detail, the York Haven sheet in the Gettysburg basin of south-central Pennsylvania. It ranges in thickness from 330 m to 675 m, and we have sampled it from base to top along four separate stratigraphic sections evenly spaced over the extent of the intrusion. The easternmost section (York Haven) is entirely basaltic bronzite cumulate (average 15 vol. % bronzite), whereas the westernmost (Reesers Summit) consists of diabase and low-MgO diabase with a middle to upper 'sandwich zone' of ferrogabbro. The intervening sections feature rock types transitional between the two end-member sequences. Chemically, the rock series shows a gradual east to west depletion of compatible elements (Mg, Ca, Ni, and Cr), and enrichment of incompatible elements [Ti, Fe, Na, K, P, Cu, Zr, Th, Ta, Hf, Sb, Cs, As, platinum group elements (PGEs), and rare earth elements (REEs)].We suggest two main processes for the trends observed in the York Haven sheet. First, flow differentiation during ascent and lateral injection of the parental magma produced a tongue of basaltic bronzite cumulate that thins from southeast to northwest and passes laterally into diabase, and, at the distal end of the intrusion, into low-MgO diabase. Then, in the latter stages of crystallization, densitydriven hydrothermal fluids transported incompatible elements westward, into structurally higher parts of the intrusion. Reaction of this residual aqueous fluid with partly crystallized low-MgO diabase produced a zone of ferrogabbro rich in hydrothermal replacement products (e.g., Cl-amphibole, biotite, ferrohypersthene, and skeletal ilmenite) and precipitates (e.g., quartz, fayalite, Cl-apatite, sulfides, and PGE minerals). © 1993 Oxford University Press.

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Journal of Petrology Article

Source-reported bounding extent: 39.7198° to 42.26986° latitude; -80.519891° to -74.689516° longitude. This indicates report coverage, not an exact sampling location. View area on OpenStreetMap.

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M. T. Mangan, B.D. Marsh, A.J. Froelich, D. Gottfried. 1993. Emplacement and differentiation of the york haven diabase sheet, Pennsylvania. https://doi.org/10.1093/petrology%2F34.6.1271

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