Publication details
Mineralogy and geochemistry of pegmatites on Mount Begbie, British Columbia
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2014 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | Canadian Mineralogist |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Doi | http://dx.doi.org/10.3749/canmin.52.1.129 |
| Field | Geology and mineralogy |
| Keywords | granitic pegmatite; mineralogy; tourmaline; sekaninaite; qitianlingite; Mount Begbie; Thor-Odin Culmination; British Columbia; Canada |
| Description | The pegmatite group on the northern slope of Mount Begbie, near Revelstoke, B.C., comprises more than 50 relatively small pegmatite bodies. The pegmatites have diverse ranges of mineralogy; most of them are barren with micas and tourmaline as the only accessory minerals, but 12 dikes are more fractionated and correspond to beryl-columbite, beryl-columbite-phosphate, and lepidolite subtypes. Detailed study of tourmaline (dravite, schorl, fluor-elbaite, Mn-rich elbaite), cordierite-sekaninaite, garnet, rare element-bearing silicate minerals (beryl, chrysoberyl, bertrandite, euclase, trilithionite, Li-muscovite, petalite, pollucite), rare element-bearing oxide minerals (columbite-tantalite, bismutotantalite, Nb-rutile, cassiterite, hubnerite, qitianlingite), phosphate minerals (triplite, lithiophilite, Mn-rich apatite, xenotime, monazite), and zircon provides insight into the mineralogy and geochemistry of the individual dikes. Fractionation within the pegmatite group increases from the southeast to the northwest, suggesting that the source pluton may be located to the southeast of the study area at depth, likely related to the Ladybird granite suite. Elevated Be and Li contents in sekaninaite, the occurrence of Mn-rich elbaite in a beryl-columbite-phosphate pegmatite, and the relatively common presence of hubnerite and qitianlingite in the Mount Begbie pegmatite group are unusual compared to rare element pegmatite fields worldwide. |