Avon Alkaline Igneous Province, Missouri: Characterization of subcontinental mantle source and evolution via chemical analysis of olivine

This article presents the crystallization age of, and composition of olivine phenocrysts within an alnoite of, the Avon Alkaline Igneous Province (AAIP) of Ste. Genevieve County, Missouri. The AAIP is an ultramafic igneous province consisting of approx. 80 known intrusives of diverse lithology and texture. 40Ar/39 Ar geochronology indicates an emplacement age of 386 +/- 1 Ma, which establishes the AAIP as the only known Devonian-age ultramafic igneous body in the Midwestern U.S. Study of the AAIP provides a unique opportunity to characterize the Devonian-age subcontinental mantle and the processes that generated the suite of ultramafic rocks present in the province. The compositions of 52 olivine crystals are characterized using electron microprobe analysis. Olivine major element compositions are homogeneous, Mg-rich (Fo86.9-Fo89.9), and exhibit variation in trace element (e.g., Ni, Cr, Co, Ti, P) abundances consistent with fractional crystallization. These results indicate that AAIP olivines are phenocrysts rather than mantle xenocrysts. Olivine geothermometry indicates derivation at temperatures of approx. 1500-1750⁰C at pressures of 1.6 to 5.4 GPa. Olivine trace element discrimination diagrams indicate AAIP magmas were derived from mantle sources with a compositional alkalic affinity, similar to other continental alkaline rocks and kimberlite. A mantle origin via partial melting of peridotite mantle is suggested due to the high Mg content, results of geothermometric modeling, and high Ca and Ti abundance within olivine phenocrysts. Disequilibrium textures observed in alnöite olivine are consistent with resorption of magmatic olivine as a result of decompression and fractional crystallization --Abstract, page iv