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Analysis Of Glasses Present In Quartz And Apatite Phenocrysts From Ordovician K-Bentonites In The Mohawk Valley, Ny, Stefanie Dannenmann

Geology Theses and Dissertations

More than 20 bentonites occur in the Middle Ordovician black shales of the Utica Formation that outcrop along tributaries to the Mohawk River in New York State. Pristine melt inclusions within quartz and apatite phenocrysts are commonly found in at least 40% of the bentonites. Constraints on magmatic processes can be obtained by examining the major-, minor- and trace-element variations among different melt inclusions in quartz and apatite phenocrysts from individual bentonites. The melt inclusions in apatite range in composition from rhyodacitic to rhyolitic, while those in quartz are high-silica rhyolites. Most bentonites within the Middle Ordovician sequence in New …