The Orestes Melt Zone, McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica: Spatially Distributed Melting Regimes in a Contact Melt Zone, with Implications for the Formation of Rapakivi and Albite Granites

The Orestes Melt Zone (OMZ) is a massive contact melt zone (∼20 m thick by several kilometers long), located in the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica. The OMZ formed at shallow crustal depths by melting of the A-type Orestes Granite owing to intrusion of the underlying, doleritic Basement Sill. The OMZ can be divided broadly into two melting facies. The upper melting facies is distal from the contact and formed by melting at low temperature and water-saturated, or near water-saturated, conditions. The lower melting facies is proximal to the contact and formed by melting at high temperature and water-undersaturated conditions. Separate melting reactions occurred in both of the melting facies, resulting in distinct textures and melt compositions. Melting in the distal facies generated melts with compositions that plot near a predicted eutectic composition. Melting in the proximal facies was accomplished in part by replacement reactions in restitic feldspars. These reactions resulted in the development of plagioclase mantles on both restitic plagioclase and K-feldspar, and melt compositions that diverged from predicted minimum melt along an unexpected path, towards enrichment in orthoclase component. Thermal modeling indicates that this melt zone was active for a minimum of ∼150 years, with a contact temperature of ∼900 °C. Upon cooling, recrystallization generated ocellar textures around restitic quartz, as well as faceted albite as a late-stage product. Observations of the OMZ, combined with thermal modeling, provide new insights into the origin of rapakivi and albite granites. This study has implications for the origin of these two associated granite types in other geological settings.

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