Geochemical and isotopic (Sr, C, O) data from the alkaline complex of Grønnedal-Íka (South Greenland): Evidence for unmixing and crustal contamination

The alkaline intrusion of Grønnedal-Íka (South Greenland) is the oldest of the ten major rift-related plutonic complexes of southern Greenland that intruded during the Gardar period between 1330 and 1150 Ma into the 2.6-Ga-old gneisses and metasediments of the Ketilidian basement. The Grønnedal-Íka alkaline intrusion consists of carbonatites, silicocarbonatites, transitional carbonatites and nepheline-bearing syenites. The silicocarbonatites exhibit locally ocellar textures that are typical for immiscibility processes. A ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr initial ratio of about 0.703184 major and trace element compositions - including REE and C-, and O-isotope data from 15 carbonatite, 12 silicocarbonatite, 10 transitional carbonatite and 8 syenite and samples - provide evidence for minor crustal contamination of the mantle-derived magma that generated by unmixing carbonatites, silicocarbonatites and syenites. A scatter in major and trace element contents and isotope ratios is related to late- to post-magmatic alteration processes. The Grønnedal-Íka silicocarbonatites are one of the rather rare cases in which unmixing of a highly alkaline mantle-derived magma into an alkalisilicate and a carbonatitic magma-fraction under plutonic conditions is well documented by textural and geochemical data.