A very poorly sorted rock with variably sized and angular quartz and feldspar pieces (both plagioclase and orthoclase; some fresh, others sericitized) set in a finer-grained matrix of chlorite, sericite, carbonate, silky quartz, leucoxene, magnetite and pyrite. Matrix chlorite corrodes quartz grains marginally. A few microfragments of rock (quartzite, granite, gneiss) also are present. Accessory detritals include muscovite, sphene, tourmaline and epidote. Most of the quartz pieces are markedly undulatory. A very low degree of incipient metamorphism is indicated by abundant secondary epidote in the matrix which also locally contains minute platelets of stilpnomelane.
A uniformly fine-grained parallel-oriented aggregate of angular quartz grains, feldspar fragments, chlorite flakes, sericite flakes and shreds, aggregates of submicroscopic clay minerals (chiefly kaolinite), and carbonaceous shreds. Accessory detrital species recognizable are biotite, apatite, zircon, epidote, and tourmaline.
This allotriomorphic granite shows evidence of weathering as most feldspars are partially obscured by a dusting of clay minerals. Tartan twinning of microcline is obvious throughout the sample. The curving of biotite cleavage and subhedral grain shapes indicates the biotite is not pristine. It is commonly found occurring with subhedral hornblende as well as large, clear to light brown, anhedral sphene crystals.
Grain shapes in this thin section are consistantly anhedral. Weathering of the feldspars give them a dusty appearance. Because the thin section is cut too thick, the birefringence of quartz and some k-feldspars is as high as second order blues. Mnay hornblende crystals are nearly opaque and they are frequently found surrounding and likely replacing inclusions of pyroxene (perhaps). The biotite and hornblende are rather skeletal. Euhedral sphene and apatite are occasionally scattered throughout.
This thin section is divided in half diagonally by texture and grain size. The fine-grained side consists of roughly equigranular quartz, microcline, albite, biotite, and riebeckite. More quartzofeldspathic-rich portions have sutured grain boundaries whereas in more mafic patches the grains are typically equant and subhedral. The mineral phases in the coarse-grained half of the thin section are the same though the grain size increases several fold and clear grain boundaries are rarer.
This gabbro is altered to the point of being nearly unrecongnizable. All primary phases are obsecured secondary mineralization. Clays have replaced the plagioclase grains and mats of chlorite and iddingsite, with some minor biotite are found clustered around the euhedral opaques. Overprinting all of this are euhderal apatite grains that range up to nearly a centimeter in length.
The riebeckite grains in this sample are embayed in a skeletal fashion, with embayments strongly controlled by the amphibole cleavage. The feldspars have classic albite and tartan twins in addition to patchy lamellae.
The hornblende crystals in this thin section are prismatic and subhedral to euhedral in shape. They are strongly aligned. Filling in between the amphiboles are altered feldspars, granular epidote crystals and euhedral apatites.
The groundmass of this thin section contains a combination of glass and indiscernible crystals. It is densely populated by phenocrysts of a wide range of sizes and composition, which due to their angularity, lend a very fragmental texture to the rock. The quartzofeldspathic phases span a broad range of sizes, though the largest phenocrysts are all brittley-fractured and may be strongly embayed. No reaction rims are present in this sample. Biotite grains do not get as large as the quartzofeldspathic phases and display varying degrees of 'freshness.'
This hypidiomorphic, equigranular monazite has a classic granitic texture with a mosaic of grains all crystallizing simultaneously and impinging on one another's growth. Hornblende is particularly abundant and generally in contact with some combination of biotite, chlorite, and opaques. Some plagioclase grains are concentrically zoned.
Perthitic intergrowths of k-feldspar and albite are prevalent throughout this coarse-grained, nearly allotriomorphic granite. Riebeckite and biotite are found intergrown together in anhedral masses. The rare tiny, equant olivine crystal is observable.
The olivine phenocrysts in this vesicular basalt are unaltered, in contrast to the second phenocrystic phase, plagioclase, which has a speckled, mottled alteration texture encroaching concentrically inwards from the grain boundaries. Only the cores and a thin corona of plagioclase on the outermost edges of the phenocrysts remains unaltered by this opaque phase. The glassy groundmass contains of unoriented plagioclase microlites and tiny olivine crystals. Olivine phenocrysts are smaller and less abundant in CF1B than CF1A. Plucking of olivine crystals is extensive.
The vesicles in this microporphyritic vesicular basalt are substantially smaller than the other Carr Mountain samples, though composition remains similar. More calcite permeates the groundmass, in which plagioclase microlites are visible. Unaltered augite and olivine microphenocrysts are observed. An isotropic zeolite, presumably analcite, is seen infilling several vesicles.
The outer rim phenocrysts of augite and olivine, though the red stain, which concentrates in the glass and olivine phases, obscures the characteristic birefringence of the olivine. Plagioclase microlites are present in the glass and calcite has infilled some pore spaces. The core of this bomb appears to be hematite and glass cemented tiny quartz crystals.
Augite and olivine are the two predominant crystalline phases in this vesicular basalt and define a microporphyritic fabric. Iddingsite replacement of olivine is minimal. As smaller crystals, both phases, along with opaques, a feldspar, and glass, comprise the groundmass.
Described by Western Minerals Inc. as 'porphyroblastic metasediments/hybrid rocks, interpreted by Eales and his coworkers as metamorphosed 'Red Beds' Formation sediments but conceivably magmatic in origin. The specimens illustrate the range in textures and compositions.' If so, textures in this sample, though difficult to describe, better resemble those of igneous than sedimentary rocks. This sample is jumbled mess of bladed, graphically intergrown k-feldspar and clinopyroxene, subhedral plagioclase altering to a dendritic, cloudy mineral, patches of anhedral, granular quartz, and elongate, poikilitic opaques.
This thin section is comprised entirely of glass and aligned plagioclase microlites. A few hematite nodules are found throughout. One weathered biotite phenocrysts can be seen.
Plagioclase and clinopyroxene form subhedral, unaltered grains amongst a background of finer-grained, intermingled iddingsite and zeolites. Iddingsite may be a pseudomorph after biotite. Described by Western Minerals Inc. as an 'interstitial ferrotholeiite, very highly fractionated…textures are similar to those associated with rapidly frozen or highly viscous melts.'
Plagioclase and clinopyroxene abundances are lower in this gabbro compared to others of Birds River. Radiating splays of zeolites with serpentinized margins, as well as iddingsite and chlorite replacement of an equant mineral phase contributes nearly half the bulk of the thin section.
The salt-n-pepper groundmass of opaques, pyroxenes, and feldspars appears almost intserstitial due to the high abundance of microphenocrysts. The phenocrystic population is dominated by subhedral plagioclase and, to a much lesser degree, clinopyroxene. Rounded, phenocryst-sized pockets of granular quartz are found throughout the groundmass.
Based on grain size, two populations of pyroxenes and plagioclase exist in this sample; the first are the fine-grained, equant crystals of the glassy groundmass, and the second, the subhedral to anhedral phenocrysts visible in handsample. The inconsistently-shaped plagioclase grains are sometimes zoned and frequently contain inclusions of glass.
Indiscernable, amorphous quartzofeldspathic crystals, opaques, and glass comprise over 95% of this thin section. The remainder are subhedral quartz and feldspar phenocrysts. The handsample contains biotite flakes and feldspar phenocrysts up to 8 mm in length, none of which were captured in thin section.
This metamorphosed granite has a weak spaced foliation defined by moderately aligned elongate minerals and slight compositional layering. The opaque phases are segregated into two discrete bands, along which, large quartz grains show a crystallographically preferred orientation, causing them to appear nearly isotropic. Alternatively, this nearly isotropic phase could be untwinned leucite, however, an the lack of twins and association with the remaining phases is unlikely. The chlorite and muscovite phases appear to be collectively pseudomorphing a preexisting phase, as evidenced by dark, elongate inclusions within the chlorite grains.
This hypidiomorphic inequigranular granite has rather scalloped grain boundaries, particularly among the quartzofeldspathic phases, though the biotite grains exhibit similar textures with the feldspars. One anhedral biotite grain has bulbs protruding into the neighboring k-feldspar grain. Quartz extinction is uniform. Olivine is present in trace amounts and the highly-fractured phase is typically surrounded by a thick rim of iddingsite.
Most crystals in this thin section are highly embayed, including the distinctive riebeckite grains.
