Quick Search:    advanced search

GSW Home   GeoRef Home   My GSW Alerts   Contact GSW   About GSW   Journals List   Help

Journal of the Geological Society

This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by ZHOU, J.-X. Search for Related Content GeoRef GeoRef Citation

An occurrence of shoshonites near Kilmelford in the Scottish Caledonides and its tectonic implications

Department of Geology, Imperial College of Science and Technology, Prince Consort Road, London SW7 2BP, UK and c/o Professor Wu Liren, 6th Division, Institute of Geology, The Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing, The People's Republic of China

The Kilmelford intrusives were emplaced in Dalradian metasediments and eruptives during the late stages of the Caledonian orogeny. The suite of rocks includes biotite–hornblende diorite and, to a minor extent, biotite–pyroxene and biotite–hornblende–pyroxene diorites, together with hornblende–biotite–quartz diorite, granodiorite, porphyrites of dioritic and dacitic composition and volcanic breccia. The major element geochemistry shows that the Kilmelford rock suite is alkali-calcic having petrogenetic affinities with the igneous rocks of the New Guinea 'continental arc'. The high contents of K, Sr, Ba, Rb, Zr and Ce, together with a high K₂O/Na₂O ratio, give these rocks their shoshonitic signature, which is of interest as an unusual example of the occurrence of shoshonites in the Scottish Caledonides. The rocks have very steep REE patterns (Ce_N/Yb_N = 10–28) and do not show a Eu anomaly. The shoshonitic signature of the Kilmelford rocks is interpreted as due to the late orogenic nature of the magmatism which took place when subduction had abated following the collision of the two continents.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				J.C. Neilson, B.P. Kokelaar, and Q.G. Crowley Timing, relations and cause of plutonic and volcanic activity of the Siluro-Devonian post-collision magmatic episode in the Grampian Terrane, Scotland Journal of the Geological Society, May 1, 2009; 166(3): 545 - 561. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				B. E. Leake and J. Cobbing Transient and long-term correspondence of erosion level and the tops of granite plutons Scottish Journal of Geology, November 1, 1993; 29(2): 177 - 182. [Abstract] [PDF]

				B. E. LEAKE Granite magmas: their sources, initiation and consequences of emplacement Journal of the Geological Society, August 1, 1990; 147(4): 579 - 589. [Abstract] [PDF]