The Tertiary volcanic rocks of the Opole Silesia (SW Poland) belong to the easternmost part of the Central European Volcanic Province (CEVP). Various volcanic rocks occur in the Opole region including melanephelinites, melabasanites, nephelinites and nephelinite basalts. Radiometric ages (K – Ar method) of these rocks range from 21,2 to 30,5Ma [1]. Here, we characterize volcanic rocks from two active quarries “Gracze’ and “Rutki – Ligota”.
Abstract Extensional tectonics in the Late Paleozoic Central Europe was accompanied by rift magmatism that triggered voluminous intracontinental caldera-forming eruptions. Among these, the Lower Permian Rochlitz Volcanic System (RVS) in the North Saxon Volcanic Complex (Eastern Germany, Saxony) represents a supereruption (VEI 8, estimated volume of 1056 km 3 ) of monotonous rhyolites followed by monotonous intermediates. Mapping, petrography, whole-rock geochemistry along with mineral chemistry and oxygen isotopes in zircon display its complex eruption history and magma evolution. Crystal-rich (> 35 vol%), rhyolitic Rochlitz-α Ignimbrite with strong to moderate welding compaction erupted in the climactic stage after reheating of the magma by basaltic injections. Due to magma mixing, low-volume trachydacitic-to-rhyolitic Rochlitz-β Ignimbrite succeeded, characterized by high Ti and Zr-values and zircon with mantle δ 18 O. Randomly oriented, sub-horizontally bedded fiamme, and NW–SE striking subvolcanic bodies and faults suggest pyroclastic fountaining along NW–SE-oriented fissures as the dominant eruption style. Intrusion of the Leisnig and the Grimma Laccoliths caused resurgence of the Rochlitz caldera forming several peripheral subbasins. In the post-climactic stage, these were filled with lava complexes, ignimbrites and alluvial to lacustrine sediments. Significant Nb and Ta anomalies and high Nb/Ta ratios (11.8–17.9) display a high degree of crustal contamination for the melts of the RVS. Based on homogenous petrographic and geochemical composition along with a narrow range of δ 18 O in zircon Rochlitz-α Ignimbrite were classified as monotonous rhyolites. For the Rochlitz-β Ignimbrites, underplating and mixing with basic melts are indicated by Mg-rich annite–siderophyllite and δ 18 O < 6.0 in zircon. The wide spectrum of δ 18 O on zircon suggests an incomplete mixing process during the formation of monotonous intermediates in the RVS.
Abstract Amphibole- and clinopyroxene-bearing monzodiorites were emplaced at 340 Ma (CA-ID-TIMS zircon age), suggesting the formation of hydrous and dry magmas closely related in space and time in the NE Bohemian Massif. Hafnium and oxygen isotopes of zircon in less evolved rocks (<55 wt% SiO2) are similar between Amp and Cpx monzodiorites (εHf = −3.3 ± 0.5 and − 3.5 ± 0.8; δ18O = 6.4 ± 1.0 and 6.8 ± 0.7, respectively), consistent with a common source—a contaminated mafic magma derived from an enriched mantle. At the same time, the conditions of crystallization are distinct and zircon appears to be an excellent tool for distinguishing between hydrous and anhydrous crystallization conditions, a process that may be more ambiguously recorded by whole rock and major mineral chemistry. In particular, elements fractionated by either amphibole or plagioclase crystallization, such as Hf, Dy, and Eu, differ in zircon from amphibole- and clinopyroxene-bearing rocks, and Zr/Hf, Yb/Dy, and Eu/Dy are therefore useful indices of crystallization conditions. We show that the composition of zircon from hydrous dioritic magmas is not comparable with that of typical zircon from dioritic-granitic suites worldwide, suggesting a specific process involved in their formation. Here, we propose that fluid-present remelting of a mafic underplate is necessary to explain the rock textures as well as the composition of the whole rock, zircon, and other minerals of amphibole-bearing monzodiorites and that a similar process may control the formation of amphibole-rich dioritic rocks worldwide, including appinitic suites. Overall, we show that dioritic rocks represent snapshots of differentiation processes that occur in the early stages of magma evolution before the magma is homogenized into large-scale batholiths.