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Rare earth element geochemistry of Thetford Mines ophiolite complex, Northern Appalachians, Canada

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Abstract

The Thetford Mines complex is a complete ophiolite which is part of an ultramafic-mafic belt within Québec Appalachians. These allochtonous bodies were emplaced during the Early Ordovician. The Thetford Mines complex comprises a lower unit of metamorphic harzburgite (in which tabular, dyke-like, dunitic bodies occur) overlain successively by ultramafic cumulates, mafic cumulates, ophitic gabbros, diabase sills and dykes, and basaltic volcanic rocks. Field evidence, petrography and chemical data indicate that the tabular dunitic bodies formed when fractures in the metamorphic harzburgite (which constituted the floor of the magma chamber) filled with early cumulates (i.e., olivine±chromite). Representative rocks from all units were analyzed for major and rare earth elements (REE). Metamorphic harzburgite samples from Thetford Mines complex have U-shaped chondrite-normalized REE patterns. Pyroxenites and wehrlites of the cumulate sequence are all strongly light-REE depleted and have heavy REE ranging from 0.4 to 1.5 times chondrite. REE data from ultramafic and volcanic rocks of Thetford Mines complex and geochemical modelling indicate that the metamorphic harzburgite has the chemical characteristics of depleted upper mantle residues with U-shaped patterns, and that the ultramafic cumulates crystallized from magmas having different La/Yb ratios.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. GEOTERAP, Université du Québec à Montréal, PO Box 8888, Station A, H3C 3P8, Montréal, Québec, Canada

    Luc Harnois

  2. Departement des Sciences de la Terre, Université du Québec à Montréal, PO Box 8888, Station A, H3C 3P8, Montréal, Québec, Canada

    Maurice Morency

  3. Groupe Minier Morisco, 800 West, Boulevard René-Lévesque (Room 450), H3B 1X9, Montréal, Québec, Canada

    Jacques Trottier

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  1. Luc Harnois
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  2. Jacques Trottier
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Harnois, L., Trottier, J. & Morency, M. Rare earth element geochemistry of Thetford Mines ophiolite complex, Northern Appalachians, Canada. Contrib Mineral Petrol 105, 433–445 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00286830

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