Accessory Minerals in Felsic Igneous Rocks - Part 3: Composition of monazite-(Ce) from Paleoproterozoic granitoids and gneisses from the Fort McMurray area (Alberta, Canada)

This data set is the third of a series reporting chemical data for accessory minerals from felsic igneous rocks. It compiles the results of electron-microprobe spot analyses of monazite-(Ce) from various Paleoproterozoic granitoids and spatially associated gneisses located in the wider Fort McMurray area in northeastern Alberta, Canada. The data were generated in connection with the Master of Science thesis of Nathanial John Walsh (Walsh 2013) at the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences of the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada, but remained unpublished. The thesis was part of the Helmholtz - Alberta - Initiative (HAI) between the University of Alberta and the Helmholtz Association.
Interestingly, monazite from the diverse basement rocks display various kinds of pattern with respect to composition and origin. The great bulk of measured grains display variably declined chondrite-normalized LREE patterns virtually free of anomalies indicative for significant fluid-induced overprinting. We have rocks characterized by largely unzoned, chemically homogeneous grains. There are as well rocks containing nicely patchy-zoned grains showing a wide range in composition, in particular regarding the Th/LREE proportions. Here, maximum measured Th concentration amounted to 33 wt% ThO2. Incorporation of Th into the crystal structure is almost exclusively governed by the huttonite substitution reaction, i.e., Th^4+ + Si^4+ = REE^3+ + P^5+, as characteristic for this chemical type of granites (Förster 1998). The suite of rocks also included samples containing small-sized inclusions of Th-poor monazite in apatite, which formed in response to metamorphic, fluid-aided dissolution-reprecipitation processes (Harlov and Förster 2003, Harlov et al. 2005). Finally, we have a quartz monzonite containing Th-poor monazite in apatite together with matrix monazite of normal Th concentration, the origin if which is not yet fully resolved (cf. Foerster-2018-004_monazite-alberta-BSE images.pdf. presenting back-scattered electron images of monazite grains). In brief, the data set provides information on several aspects of formation and alteration of monazite in non-metamorphic and metamorphic granite.
The data set published here contains the complete pile of data acquired for monazite-(Ce) and back-scattered electron (BSE) images of many of the probed grains. Chemical data are provided as Excel and machine-readable .csv files, which contain the information listed in Table 1 of the data description file. Column headers in red (only in the Excel version) indicate that the data and information provided in these columns is from Walsh (2013). “0.00” means that the concentrations of the respective elements were measured, but were below their limits of detection. Blank boxes in oxide concentrations columns indicate that the respective elements were not sought. The collection of BSE images is presented as pdf.file. The sample and grain numbers are given below each mineral image and are corresponding to the Sample No. and the Grain No. in the data table.
The thesis of N. Walsh "Walsh, N.J. (2013) Geochemistry and geochronology of the Precambrian basement domains in the vicinity of Fort MacMurray, Alberta: a geothermal perspective. Master of Science thesis, Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Alberta, Canada" is not available online.