Miarolitic Pegmatites, New Hampshire

Subvolcanically emplaced granitic, miarolitic pegmatites associated with the White Mountain Igneous Province (WMIP), New Hampshire, were sampled and analyzed using modern analytical techniques including X-ray fluorescence, electron microprobe, scanning electron microscopy, and direct-coupled plasma spectrophotometry. Analytical results suggest that all the sampled miarolitic pegmatites from this study are petrogenetically related to the same intrusive suite, the WMIP. Based on the geochemical data, all the samples formed in an anorogenic tectonic setting and are rift-related. They are classified as NYF-type and plot in the within plate granite field on tectonic discrimination diagrams. The majority of the samples are peraluminous, A1-type granites. The trace element abundances on the spider diagram and chondrite-normalized diagram, which include a pronounced negative Eu anomaly and REE enrichments, are consistent with these miarolitic pegmatites resulting from a strongly fractionated granitic parental melts, but less fractionated than the classic NYF-systems such as South Platte (Simmons et al. 1987) and the Wausau Syenite Complex (Meyers et al. 1984).