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An unusual ruby-sapphire-sapphirine-spinel assemblage from the Tertiary Barrington volcanic province, New South Wales, Australia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 July 2018

F. Lin Sutherland  and
Robert R. Coenraads
F. Lin Sutherland
Affiliation:
Mineralogy and Petrology Section, Australian Museum, 6 College Street, Sydney, N.S.W. 2000, Australia
Robert R. Coenraads
Affiliation:
Gemmological Association of Australia (N.S.W. Division), 24 Wentworth Avenue, Sydney, N.S.W. 2000, Australia
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Abstract

Ruby-sapphire-sapphirine-spinel forms small, corroded, crystalline aggregates in corundum bearing alluvials shed from the Tertiary Barrington basalt shield volcano. Sapphirine is near a 7:9:3 (MgO-Al2O3-SiO2) composition and, together with the corundum, shows reaction rims of pleonaste spinel. Spinel in the aggregates has a compositional range Sp 68–73 Hc 27–29 Cm 0–3. The aggregates give new insights into the ruby-sapphire source rocks. Potential origins include metamorphic recrystallization of aluminous material (below 1460°C) or high temperature-high pressure crystallization reactions related to lamprophyric or basaltic magmas (up to 1300°C and 20 kbar). Sapphirine-spinel thermometry suggests final crystallization temperatures for the aggregates around 780 to 940°C and reaction with host magmas at over 1000°C.

The Barrington gemfield includes two distinct corundum suites. One, typical in eastern Australia, is dominated by blue-green, well-crystallized, growth-zoned sapphire, commonly containing rutile silk and Ferich spinel inclusions (Hc 51–73, Mt 18–35, Mf 6–8, Usp 2–6). The other, an unusual suite, is dominated by ruby and pastel coloured sapphires, with little crystal shape or growth zonation and restricted mineral inclusions, mostly chromian pleonaste and pleonaste. The ruby-sapphire-sapphirine-spinel aggregates provoke new thoughts on the origin of rubies and sapphires and their indicator minerals in eastern Australian and southeastern Asian volcanic gemfields.

Keywords

rubysapphiresapphirinexenolithsxenocrystsBarrington volcanic provinceAustralian gemfieldsThailand gemfields
Type
Mineralogy
Information
Mineralogical Magazine , Volume 60 , Issue 401 , August 1996 , pp. 623 - 638
Copyright
Copyright © The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 1996

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