Abstract
PERHAPS the most detailed investigation of the fractionation of trace elements during the deposition of a mineral is that carried out on the basic magma of the Skaergaard intrusion1. We will consider the formation from the melt of the solid silicate phase of this magma, examining the inclusion of trace elements. The time sequence of the solidification is fairly well established1. Thus the deposition of the trace elements can be followed as a function of the percentage, X, of the solid phase formed. This is done in Figs. 1 and 2, where R gives the ratio of the concentration of the element in the liquid after X per cent solidification to the concentration in the initial liquid. A downward curvature to a line represents preferential removal of the element or a partition coefficient of that element favouring the solid rather than the liquid. The orders of deposition are: NiII > CoII > FeII, NiII > CuII, and CrIII > VIII > ScIII > GaIII > FeIII I offer the following explanation of these orders.
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References
Wager, and Mitchell, Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta, 1, 129 (1951).
Orgel, J. Chem. Soc., 4756 (1952).
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WILLIAMS, R. Deposition of Trace Elements in Basic Magma. Nature 184, 44 (1959). https://doi.org/10.1038/184044a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/184044a0
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