Pantelleritic liquids and their phenocrysts

Abstract

The phenocrysts of four porphyritic obsidians from Pantelleria have been analysed chemically, together with the residual glasses (liquids). Three new analyses of anorthoclase (one partial analysis), two of sodic ferrohedenbergite, one of fayalitic olivine, and two of cossyrite are presented together with their optical properties, and the relationship of these phenocrysts to their liquids is considered. The experimental studies in the system NaAlSi3O8-KAlSi3O8-SiO2-H2O show that for synthetic liquids of similar composition to the normative salic constituents of the pantelleritic liquids, a potassic alkali feldspar crystallizes, whereas in the pantelleritic liquids phenocrysts of anorthoclase (Ab67–Ab61) occur. It is suggested that sodium metasilicate, which appears in the norms of all the pantelleritic liquids, may be responsible for the divergence in trend between the synthetic feldspar-liquid tie-lines and the pantelleritic feldspar-liquid tie-lines.