In situ fractionation and inward migration of the solidification front in the Skaergaard intrusion, East Greenland

Abstract

For more than 80 years the Skaergaard intrusion, 68°N in southern East Greenland, has been a foremost natural laboratory for the study of the crystallisation and fractionation of basaltic magma. This process has been of prime importance in the evolution of the Earth and other stony planets. Models that have been developed and refined during numerous studies of this particular intrusion have been part of the foundation for petrogenetic modelling for decades. In later years, vast amounts of new data have been added, due to systematic sampling in the field and from analysis of exploration drill cores. Methods for the study on grain-size scale have advanced, and the quest for a wellsupported genetic model for the PGE-Au mineralisation of the intrusion has intensified. The new data and insight question the applicability of conventional petrogenetic modelling, and as a consequence, increasing importance is placed on in situ crystallisation and fractionation in mush zones at the roof, walls and floor of the intrusion.