Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-ndmmz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-01T20:21:47.694Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Mineralogy of Precambrian Gneiss from the Bighorn Mountains, Wyoming

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2009

R. A. Heimlich
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Kent State University, Kent, Ohio
G. C. Nelson
Affiliation:
Geology Department, Homestake Mining Company, Lead, South Dakota
R. J. Malcuit
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan

Summary

Precambrian rocks throughout most of the southern part of the Bighorn Mountains, Wyoming, are dominated by a biotite-bearing plagioclase–quartz gneiss containing hornblende-rich or microcline-rich layers locally. Compositional and/or optical data are presented for plagioclase, biotite, and hornblende as well as optical and X-ray data for microcline and preliminary morphologic data for zircon in the gneiss. These data, supplemented by field and petrographic observations, suggest that the gneiss was formed under conditions of the low amphibolite facies, that late-occurring potash metasomatism accompanied the metamorphism, and that the gneiss was derived from a relatively chemically uniform parent rock.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1972

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Condie, K. C. & Heimlich, R. A. 1969. Interpretation of Precambrian K–Ar biotite dates in the Bighorn Mountains, Wyoming. Earth Planet. Sci. Let. 6, 209–12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Deer, W. A., Howie, R. A. & Zussman, J. 1966. An introduction to the rock-forming minerals. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, 528 pp.Google Scholar
Dietrich, R. V. 1960. Banded gneisses. J. Petrology 1, 99120.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fyfe, W. S., Turner, F. J. & Verhoogen, J. 1958. Metamorphic reactions and metamorphic facies. Mem. geol. Soc. Am. 73, 259.Google Scholar
Goldsmith, J. R. & Laves, F. 1954. The microcline–sanidine stability relations:Geochim, cosmochim. Acta 5, 119.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heimlich, R. A. 1969. Reconnaissance petrology of Precambrian rocks in the Bighorn Mountains, Wyoming. Contrib. Geol. 8, 4761.Google Scholar
Heimlich, R. A. 1972, Chemical data for major Precambrian rock types, Bighorn Mountains, Wyoming. Contrib. Geol. (in press).Google Scholar
Heimlich, R. A. & Banks, P. O. 1968. Radiometric age determinations, Bighorn Mountains, Wyoming. Am. J. Sci. 266, 180–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heinrich, E. W., 1965, Microscopic Identification of Minerals. McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York, 414 pp.Google Scholar
Hess, H. H. 1960. Stillwater igneous complex: Mem. geol. Soc. Am. 80.Google Scholar
Hoppin, Richard A. 1961. Precambrian rocks and their relationship to Laramide structure along the east flank of the Bighorn Mountains near Buffalo, Wyoming. Bull. geol. Soc. Am. 72, 351–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hoppin, Richard A., Palmquist, John C. & Williams, L. O. 1965. Control by Pre-cambrian basement structure on the location of the Tensleep-Beaver Creek Fault, Bighorn Mountains, Wyoming. J. Geol. 73, 189–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hudson, R. F. 1969. Structural geology of the Piney Creek Thrust area, Bighorn Mountains, Wyoming. Bull. geol. Soc. Am. 80, 283–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kretz, R. 1961. Preliminary examination of quartz–plagioclase layers and veins in amphibolite facies gneisses, southwestern Quebec. Proc. geol. Ass. Can. 13, 2343.Google Scholar
Kretz, R. 1966 Metamorphic differentiation at Einasleigh northern Queensland. J. geol. Soc. Aust. 13, 561–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mehnert, K. R. 1968. Migmatites and the Origin of Granitic Rocks. Elsevier Pub. Co., New York, 393.Google Scholar
Osterwald, F. W. 1959. Structure and petrology of the Northern Bighorn Mountains, Wyoming. Bull. geol. Survey Wyoming. 48, 47.Google Scholar
Palmquist, John C. 1965. Petrology of the Horn area, Bighorn Mountains, Wyoming. Trans. Ill. State Acad. Sci. 58, 241–54.Google Scholar
Palmquist, John C. 1967 Structural analysis of the Horn area Bighorn Mountains, Wyoming. Bull. geol. Soc. Am. 78, 283–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peikert, E. W. 1963. Biotite variation as a guide to petrogenesis of granitic rocks in the Precambrian of northeastern Alberta. J. Petrology 4, 432–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rimsaite, J. H. Y. 1967. Studies of rock-forming micas. Bull. geol. Surv. Can. 149.Google Scholar
Scotford, D. M. 1969. Metasomatic augen gneiss in greenschist facies, western Turkey. Bull. geol. Soc. Am. 80, 1079–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shelley, D. 1964. On myrmekite. Am. Miner. 49, 4152.Google Scholar
Starmer, I. C. 1969. The migmatite complex of the Risor area. Aust-Agder, Norway. Norsk Geol. Tidsskr. 49, 356.Google Scholar
Steiger, R. H. & Hart, S. R. 1967. The microcline–orthoclase transition within a contact aureole: Am. Miner. 52, 87116.Google Scholar
Uthe, R. E. & Heimlich, R. A. 1969. Geochemistry of the Hazelton Peak ortho-amphibolite, Bighorn Mountains, Wyoming (Abs.). Geol. Soc. America Abstracts with Programs for 1969. p. 228.Google Scholar
Wright, T. L. 1968. X-ray and optical study of alkali feldspar: II. An X-ray method determining the composition and structural state from measurement of 2θ values for three reflections. Am. Miner. 53, 88104.Google Scholar