- Lopolith
A lopolith is a large
igneous intrusion which is lenticular in shape with a depressed central region. Lopoliths are generally concordant with the intruded strata with dike or funnel-shaped feeder bodies below the body. The term was first defined and used by Frank Fitch Grout during the early 1900s in describing theDuluth gabbro complex in northernMinnesota and adjacentOntario .Lopoliths typically consist of large
ultramafic to mafic layered intrusions that range in age fromArchean toEocene . Examples include the Duluth gabbro, theSudbury Igneous Complex of Ontario, theBushveld igneous complex ofSouth Africa , theSkaergaard complex of Greenland and the Humboldt lopolith ofNevada . The Sudbury and Bushveld occurrences have been attributed toimpact event s and associated crustal melting.References
*Blatt, Harvey and Robert J. Tracy, 1996, "Petrology: Igneous, Sedimentary and Metamorphic", 2nd ed., pp. 15-16, Freeman, ISBN 0-7167-2438-3
*Guilbert, John M., and Park, Charles F., Jr. (1986) "The Geology of Ore Deposits", Freeman, ISBN 0-7167-1456-6
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