Genetic implications of minor-element and Sr-isotope geochemistry of alkaline rock complexes in the Wet Mountains area, Fremont and Custer counties, Colorado

Concentrations of Rb, Sr, and REE (rare earth elements), and Sr-isotopic ratios in rocks of the Cambrian alkaline complexes in the Wet Mountains area, Colorado, show that rocks formed as end-products of a variety of magmas generated from different source materials. The complexes generally contain a bimodal suite of cumulus mafic-ultramafic rocks and younger leucocratic rocks that include nepheline syenite and hornblende-biotite syenite in the McClure Mountain Complex, nepheline syenite pegmatite in the Gem Park Complex, and quartz syenite in the complex at Democrat Creek. The nepheline syenite and hornblende-biotite syenite at McClure Mountain (535??5m.y.) are older than the syenitic rocks at Democrat Creek (511??8m.y.). REE concentrations indicate that the nepheline syenite at McClure Mountain cannot be derived from the hornblende-biotite syenite, which it intrudes, or from the associated mafic-ultramafic rocks. REE also indicate that mafic-ultramafic rocks at McClure Mountain have a source distinct from that of the mafic-ultramafic rocks at Democrat Creek. In the McClure Mountain Complex, initial87Sr/86Sr ratios for mafic-ultramafic rocks (0.7046??0.0002) are similar to those of hornblende-biotite syenite (0.7045??0.0002), suggesting a similar magmatic source, whereas ratios for carbonatites (0.7038??0.0002) are similar to those of nepheline syenite (0.7038??0.0002). At Democrat Creek, initial ratios of syenitic rocks (0.7032??0.0002) and mafic-ultramafic rocks (0.7028??0.0002) are different from those of corresponding rocks at McClure Mountain. ?? 1982 Springer-Verlag.