ABSTRACT

All fourteen REE and Y have been determined for eight GSJ reference rocks including granitic and rhyolitic samples by ICP-AES with a preconcentration method. The two rhyolites (JR-1 and JR-2) and one granite (JG-2) exhibit convex tetrad effects of the M-type even in their chondrite-normalized REE patterns. Their tetrad effects, however, are modified from ideal ones by some step-like variations in their abundances from Tm to Lu. Similar step-like irregularities are seen commonly in chondrite-normalized patterns of other samples: granodiorites (JG-1, JG-1a, and JG-3), a fresh water lake sediment (JLk-1), and an alkali basalt (JB-1). We normalized the REE analyses for JR-1, JR-2, and JG-2 by those for JB-1, and then found that they clearly indicate quite regular convex tetrad effects of the M-type without apparent irregularities in heavy REE. The other samples, when similarly normalized by JB-1, also display analogous but less marked convex tetrad effects except for JG-3. Our present results are strong evidence for the tetrad effect in magmatic processes relevant to granitic and rhyolitic rocks formations. There are common chemical characteristics among JG-2, JR-1, and JR-2: (1) large negative Eu anomalies, and (2) rather high F contents of about 1, 000 ppm. The chemical characteristics and the theoretical basis of tetrad effects may suggest that the granitic and rhyolitic rocks with the convex tetrad effects of the M-type are residual silicate melts having partitioned REE with fluids in late stages of differentiation processes. The basalt-normalization appears to be so effective for extracting tetrad effects of granitic and rhyolitic rocks. It filters off the REE characteristics common in magmatic products like the step-like irregularities in heavy REE abundances when normalized by chondrite. This makes it easier to identify lanthanide tetrad effects in magmatic rocks.