A Study of Potash Fenitization around the Brent Crater, Ontario,—A Paleozoic Alkaline Complex
Fractured and brecciated granitoid gneisses around and within the Brent Crater display progressive chemical and mineralogical changes due to metasomatism, culminating in potassic, silica-undersaturated metasomatic rocks. In the metasomatized rocks, potash feldspar increases in amount and degree of triclinicity with increasing metasomatism, while quartz and plagioclase decline in amount. Calcite of carbonatitic isotopic character is found in some of the breccia matrices. Alkaline ultrabasic dikes, identical in chemistry, petrography, and radiometric age to those of the Nippissing alkaline petrographic province, cut the breccia. Potassic trachyte, which appears to form dikes and lenses within the crater, may be the result of anatexis of potassic metasomatites. The geometric form, petrography, and chemical trends of the metasomatized rocks are virtually identical to those of the fenite aureole of the Callander Bay alkaline carbonatite complex, 42 miles (67.6 km) to the west, suggesting that they result from ...