Date of Award
5-2009
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
M.S.
Degree Program
Geology
Department
Earth and Environmental Sciences
Major Professor
Simmons, William B.
Second Advisor
Webber, Karen
Third Advisor
Falster, Alexander U.
Abstract
The twenty approved members of the eudialyte group are complex zirconosilicates, primarily with general formula N15M(1)6M(2)3M(3)M(4)Z3[Si24O72]O4X2. An algorithm was created to address the inherent recalculation difficulties in the absence of single-crystal X-ray data and was an overall improvement over previous schemes. Eudialyte group minerals were analyzed from the East Hill Suite of the Mont Saint-Hilaire alkaline complex. Recalculations revealed previously undocumented eudialyte-group compositions and degrees of chemical zonation. These data suggest that late-stage melt heterogeneity in alkaline systems is far more pronounced than previously thought. All analyses exhibited a negative neodymium anomaly in chondrite-normalized data. This supports data from other investigators that point to a preintrusion fractionation event in the underlying mantle. Potassium content of the eudialyte group minerals from the East Hill Suite was restricted to a narrow range, as was that of analyses from numerous other localities, suggesting some internal control on potassium content in eudialyte group minerals.
Recommended Citation
Tice, Peter, "Mineralogy of Eudialyte Group Minerals From the East Hill Suite Of the Mont Saint-Hilaire Alkaline Plutonic Complex, Including an Alternative Site-Assignment Algorithm & A Proposed Classification System" (2009). University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations. 965.
https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/965
Rights
The University of New Orleans and its agents retain the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible this dissertation or thesis in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. The author retains all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis or dissertation.