Mineralogy and Petrology (2002) 76: 6374

DOI 10.1007/s00710-001-0178-8

Magma mixing and mingling textures

in granitoids: examples from the
Galway Granite, Connemara, Ireland
S. Baxter and M. Feely

Department of Geology, National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland

Received November 18, 2000; revised version accepted November 6, 2001

Published online June 20, 2002; # Springer-Verlag 2002

Summary
Many granitoid intrusions display textural evidence for the interaction of mac and
silicic magmas during their genesis. The  400 Ma Galway Granite exhibits excellent
evidence for magma mixing and mingling both at outcrop=map scale (magma mingling
and mixing zones), and at thin-section=crystal scale (mixing textures). These textures
quartz ocelli, rapakivi feldspars, acicular and mixed apatite morphologies, inclusion
zones in feldspars, anorthite `spikes' in plagioclase, sphene ocelli, K-feldspar mega-
crysts in mac microgranular enclaves (MME), and mac clots constitute a textural
assemblage whose origin can be explained in terms of magma mixing and mingling
models. Furthermore, textures from this assemblage have been recorded throughout the
Galway batholith indicating that magma mingling and mixing played a key role during
its evolution.

Introduction
It is recognised that mac (mantle-derived) magmas have an important role to play
in the generation of granitic melts, through, for example, providing the heat energy
for crustal anatexis (e.g. Huppert and Sparks, 1988; Wiebe, 1996). Petrologists
have also recognised that the wide range of rock types observed in many calc-
alkaline intrusions can be produced through mixing and mingling of mac and
felsic magmas (e.g. Reid et al., 1983; Frost and Mahood, 1987; Hibbard, 1991)
for a historical review of this idea see Wilcox (1999). Often, it will be geochemical
and isotopic data that provide much of the evidence for hybridisation (linear trends
on Harker diagrams being an obvious example), but fundamental to such inter-
pretations is the recognition of petrographic textures that may form during such
64 S. Baxter and M. Feely

Fig. 1. Simplied map of the Galway Granite, showing the distribution of the major
granites (s.l.). The Barna area is outlined

interactions (Hibbard, 1991). Field evidence for magma mingling (mac sheets and
MME hosted by the incompletely mixed magma mingling and mixing zone
(MMZ) granodiorite) and geochemical evidence for magma mixing (linear trends
on Harker diagrams) have been described previously from the Galway Granite,
Connemara, Ireland (El Desouky et al., 1996; Crowley and Feely, 1997). This paper
describes an assemblage of magma mixing and mingling textures from the recently
mapped Barna area (Baxter, 2000) at the eastern end of the Galway Granite (Fig. 1).

Geological setting of the Galway Granite

The Galway Granite is a late-Caledonian calc-alkaline batholith which was in-
truded at c. 400 Ma (Leggo et al., 1966; Pidgeon, 1969) into the 475470 Ma old
Metagabbro-Gneiss suite to the north (Friedrich et al., 1999) and into Lower
Ordovician greenschist facies rocks (the South Connemara Group) to the south
(McKie and Burke, 1955; Williams et al., 1988). To the east, the granite is overlain
by Carboniferous limestone (O'Raghallaigh et al., 1997). Gravity and aero-
magnetic studies show the continuation of the batholith under the Carboniferous
limestone of the Galway Bay area (Murphy, 1952; Max et al., 1983; Madden,
1987). The NNE-trending Shannawona Fault Zone (SFZ) and the NNW-trending
Barna Fault Zone (BFZ) divide the batholith into three blocks. The Western and
Eastern Blocks expose granodiorites (Carna Granite), granites (Errisbeg Townland
 Magma mixing and mingling textures in granitoids 65

Granite), alkali feldspar granites (Murvey Granite), and the Roundstone Granite
satellite pluton (Coats and Wilson, 1971; Leake, 1974, 1978). The upthrown
Central Block (Leake, 1978; Madden, 1987) exposes a much wider range of li-
thologies. An axial ESE-trending magma mixing and mingling zone (MMZ),
composed of mac enclaves hosted in the MMZ Granodiorite, is bound to the
north by the Megacrystic Granite (MG) and intruded to the south by the Lough
Lurgan, Knock and Murvey Granites (El Desouky et al., 1996; Crowley and Feely,
1997).
In the Barna area, Baxter (2000) recorded a new but signicantly narrower
(< 100 m) magma mingling and mixing zone (the Barna Mingling and Mixing
Zone BMZ see Fig. 1). It strikes in an ESE direction across the southern part of
the area, approximately parallel to the 34 km wide MMZ mapped to the west
(El Desouky et al., 1996; Crowley and Feely, 1997). The BMZ is similar, but not
identical, to the MMZ, which has an aphyric or weakly plagioclase-phyric
granodiorite host the MMZ Granodiorite contrasting with the megacrystic
nature of the BMZ Granodiorite.

The lithologies of the Barna area

The geology of the Barna area is dominated by the Megacrystic Granite, with the
narrow BMZ occurring to the south.

Megacrystic Granite (MG)

The Megacrystic Granite is a distinctive porphyritic granite comprising large (15
80 mm), euhedral, pink megacrysts of K-feldspar (1520%) set in a coarse-grained
(25 mm) subhedral anhedral groundmass of plagioclase (3352%), quartz (16
28%), biotite (410%), K-feldspar (38%), and hornblende (0.12%) with acces-
sory sphene, allanite, apatite, zircon and opaque minerals. The MG plots mainly in
the granite granodiorite elds in a Streckeisen (1976) QAP diagram (Fig. 2a).
Discoidal mac microgranular enclaves (MME) are a minor but important con-
stituent of the MG (El Desouky et al., 1996; Crowley and Feely, 1997). The MME
are medium to dark grey in colour, are 0.20.8 m in length and have axial ratios
ranging from 2 : 1 to 12 : 1. They appear to be widely scattered, as there are large
areas of the MG devoid of MME, but in some areas they are concentrated in
`swarms', postulated to represent dismembered synplutonic dikes (Hill, 1988).
Mineralogically, the MME classify as diorites and quartz diorites (Streckeisen,
1976) (Fig. 2a) and contain phenocrysts (14 mm) of subhedral plagioclase  K-
feldspar  quartz, in a subhedral anhedral groundmass (< 0.5 mm) of plagioclase
(4856%), biotite (1547%), hornblende (515%) and quartz (0.72.3%), with
accessory K-feldspar, sphene, apatite, allanite and opaque minerals. The accessory
minerals often occur in association with hornblende in mac `clots', which are 2
5 mm long. The minerals in the MME (especially the biotite and the hornblende
clots) are usually aligned parallel to the crenulate contact between the enclave and
the MG, providing incontrovertible evidence that the MME were once mac
globules (Vernon, 1991).
66 S. Baxter and M. Feely

Fig. 2. Streckeisen (1976) QAP (quartz-alkali feldspar-plagioclase) plots for a the MG

(open triangles) and the MME hosted by the MG (lled triangles); b the BMZ Granodiorite
(open squares) and MME hosted by the BMZ Granodiorite (lled squares represent MME
that are more mac than those represented by half-lled squares)

Barna Mixing and Mingling Zone (BMZ)

The BMZ comprises a heterogeneous hybrid granodiorite (BMZ Granodiorite)
(Fig. 2b) in which MME of varying shapes, sizes and compositions are distributed.
The BMZ Granodiorite is a heterogeneous, coarse-grained grey rock with euhedral
K-feldspar megacrysts (up to 50 mm in longest dimension and varying between 5
and 20% of the mode) set in a groundmass (15 mm) of stubby, subhedral pla-
gioclase (4560%), quartz aggregates (1520%), anhedral biotite (1013%), K-
feldspar (27%) and euhedral hornblende (to 1%), with accessory sphene, apatite,
allanite, zircon and opaque minerals.
The MME hosted by the BMZ Granodiorite are generally large (up to 1.2 m)
oblate forms, with axial ratios usually between 4 : 1 and 10 : 1. They are porphy-
ritic, ne-grained, dark grey rocks with resorbed K-feldspar megacrysts and small
plagioclase phenocrysts. The K-feldspar megacrysts sometimes lie athwart the
contact between the MME and the host. The rounded plagioclase phenocrysts
(< 2.5 mm long) account for  20% of the mode and are hosted in a ne-grained
(< 0.5 mm) subhedral anhedral groundmass of plagioclase (34%), biotite (14
25%), quartz (1323%), hornblende (46%) and K-feldspar (02%), with acces-
sory sphene, apatite, allanite and opaque minerals (Fig. 2b).
A second population of MME hosted by the BMZ is noticeably more mac
than those described above (Fig. 2b). The MME are also smaller (< 0.3 m) and less
elongate (length : width  3 : 1). In hand specimen these MME are dark grey with
sparse anhedral plagioclase (to 7 mm) and quartz (to 4 mm) phenocrysts. Thin
section analyses reveal quartz (05%) and plagioclase (510%) phenocrysts set in
a ne-grained (0.20.5 mm) subhedral anhedral groundmass of plagioclase (42
47%), biotite (2933%) and hornblende (413%), with minor interstitial quartz
(02%) and K-feldspar (< 0.5%). The accessory minerals are sphene, apatite,
allanite and opaques.
 Magma mixing and mingling textures in granitoids 67

The magma mingling and mixing textures from the Barna area
The textures presented below come from the two mappable units (the Megacrystic
Granite and the BMZ) described in the previous section (also see Table 1). These
textures, attributable to magma mingling and mixing, are as follows: (a) quartz
ocelli; (b) rapakivi and anti-rapakivi feldspars; (c) acicular and mixed apatite
morphologies; (d) inclusion zones in feldspars; (e) anorthite `spikes' in plagio-
clase; (f) sphene-plagioclase ocelli; (g) K-feldspar megacrysts in MME; (h) mac
clots.

Quartz ocelli
These consist of quartz crystals rimmed by hornblende and=or biotite (Fig. 3a,b).
They are recorded from the MG-hosted MME, and from the MME from the BMZ.
In the latter, hornblende-rimmed quartz ocelli ( 1 cm in diameter) can occur
locally at a population density of 10 per 100 cm2. Cole (1916) described the BMZ
as `composite gneiss near Barna' and interpreted the magma mixing and mingling
features as being the result of granite entering schists along their foliation planes.
The invading magma was inferred to have increased the silica-percentage of the
schists ``as may be seen by the abundance of small knots of quartz.'' Over fty

Table 1. The lithological distribution of the magma mingling and mixing textures in the
Barna area, with indication as to the relative abundance of each texture in each lithology
Texture=Host rock Megacrystic MME hosted BMZ MME hosted
Granite by Megacrystic Granodiorite by BMZ
Granite Granodiorite
Mac clots Very frequent Frequent Frequent Frequent
near MME,
rare otherwise
Quartz ocelli Infrequent Frequent in
some zones,
rare in others
Rapakivi feldspars Infrequent Frequent Frequent
Acicular and Frequent Frequent
mixed apatite
Inclusion zones Frequent Frequent Frequent
in feldspar
Anorthite spikes Frequent Frequent
in feldspar
Sphene-plagioclase Infrequent Infrequent
ocelli (although
frequent in
certain areas
of the MMZ)
K-feldspar Frequent Frequent
megacrysts in MME
Fig. 3. Field and thin section photographs of various hybridisation textures in the Galway Granite. a Quartz-hornblende ocelli in hybrid MME from the BMZ;
b Thin section of quartz-hornblende ocellus from hybrid MME, BMZ; c Resorbed K-feldspar with plagioclase mantle (rapakivi texture), BMZ Granodiorite;
d Acicular apatite and mac clot, MME from BMZ; e Zone of inclusions of biotite and hornblende, BMZ Granodiorite; f Anorthite spike and apatite-rich
overgrowth on plagioclase, MG-hosted MME. g Polished hand specimen of MME from MMZ, showing numerous sphene-plagioclase ocelli, with h thin section
(PPL) of this sample; i Two sphene-plagioclase ocelli from MG-hosted MME. Note lack of mac minerals in plagioclase `halo'; j Part of sphene-plagioclase
ocellus from MG-hosted MME. Note laths of plagioclase in ophitic relationship with sphene; k Hybrid MME from BMZ, with K-feldspar megacrysts crossing
contact between MME and host granodiorite; l Mac clot (mainly hornblende and opaques) in MG adjacent to MME
 S. Baxter and M. Feely: Magma mixing and mingling textures in granitoids 69

years later, Coats and Wilson (1971) wrote of quartz and K-feldspar invading the
cognate xenoliths ( MME) in the MG increasingly as granitisation proceeds, with
the resultant quartz porphyroblasts sometimes having a mac rim. These quartz
based textures are most likely the quartz ocelli described above.
The formation of quartz ocellar hybrid rocks in the Tyrone Igneous Series was
attributed by Angus (1962) to metasomatic transformation of basalt xenoliths en-
gulfed in granitic magma. More recent interpretations of the structure (Vernon,
1990, 1991; Hibbard, 1991) conclude that as mac and felsic magmas mix, quartz
crystals from the felsic system are introduced into a new, more mac hybrid magma,
an environment in which they are unstable. Marginal solution of the quartz
xenocryst extracts latent heat of crystallisation from the adjacent melt, causing
localised under-cooling. This promotes the nucleation of, for example, hornblende,
leading to the growth of ne-grained aggregates which use the xenocrysts as a
substrate. Subsequent precipitation of quartz may `lock in' the hornblende rim,
preserving the texture, and leading to an outer rim which is devoid of mac minerals
(Fig. 4a). A review of the ocellar texture both its occurrence and petrogenetic
interpretations of its origin by Palivcova et al. (1995) concluded that magma
mixing was the only process which could satisfactorily explain its occurrence.

Fig. 4. Schematic diagrams (after Hibbard, 1991) illustrating possible ways in which the
recorded magma mixing and mingling textures from the Barna area may have formed
70 S. Baxter and M. Feely

Rapakivi feldspars
This texture, in which K-feldspar crystals are rimmed by plagioclase, is most
obvious in the BMZ Granodiorite and MME (Fig. 3c). Hibbard (1981) attributed the
formation of mantled feldspars to magma mixing (Fig. 4b), and used the texture as
one of the twelve textures which could form part of an assemblage of magma
mixing textures (Hibbard, 1991). Mixing of magmas of contrasting composition
leads to quenching of the more mac magma, and may result in the epitaxial growth
of plagioclase onto K-feldspar crystals derived from the more felsic magma.

Acicular and mixed apatite morphologies

Acicular apatite was recognised as a quench texture by Wyllie et al. (1962), and its
presence in MME, in particular, is taken to indicate that the MME represent blobs of
mac magma which cooled rapidly upon their incorporation into the relatively
cooler felsic host rock (Fig. 3d). Acicular apatite is listed by Hibbard (1991) as a
mixing texture, but the presence of mixed apatite morphologies, where acicular
apatite crystals coexist with the more usual stubby prismatic form, is another texture
whose genesis may be explained through magma mingling and mixing (Fig. 4c).

Inclusion zones in feldspar

This is a texture whereby `foreign' crystals (e.g. biotite, hornblende or plagioclase)
are zonally included in K-feldspar crystals. If the inclusions are of biotite or
hornblende, then the texture may be regarded as similar to the quartz ocellar
texture, in that it requires the K-feldspar crystals of the more felsic system to be
brought into contact with the biotite and hornblende crystals of the more mac
system. Overgrowth of K-feldspar on the mac rim `locks in' the mac minerals,
and leads to the formation of the zone of inclusions (Fig. 3e, Fig. 4d). A variation in
this texture has been noted in some of the lithologies from the Barna area (the MG-
hosted MME and the BMZ MME), where apatite-rich zones are observed in
plagioclase. These zones may form the overgrowth on a crystal that has undergone
some resorption, or form a zone within the crystal which has then been overgrown
by an apatite-free rim (Fig. 4e). The acicular nature of the apatite included in these
zones suggests that they grew in a quenched environment, while the rounded nature
of the original plagioclase crystal indicates that it was resorbed in a hotter
environment. This raises the possibility that the texture needs two mixing events to
produce it, as shown schematically in Fig. 4e.

Anorthite spikes in plagioclase

The anorthite `spike' is a zone of more calcic plagioclase in a less calcic host
plagioclase crystal (Fig. 3f). The texture was rst described by Wiebe (1968), who
attributed its formation to magma mixing. The MME from the MG display this
texture. The spike may form when a more sodic plagioclase crystal from a felsic
melt is introduced into a more mac melt which is crystallising out a more calcic
 Magma mixing and mingling textures in granitoids 71

plagioclase. The return to `normal' composition may be achieved either through

equilibration of the hybrid system, with zoning continuing out to a more sodic rim,
or through a second mixing event, which brings the crystal back into a more felsic
magma (Fig. 4f).

Sphene-plagioclase ocelli
This texture consists of sphene crystals (commonly in ophitic relationship with
calcic plagioclase laths) within a zone of plagioclase  quartz  K-feldspar, which
is notably devoid of biotite and hornblende. These ovoid ocelli are up to 0.5 cm
across and a spectacular occurrence of the texture is found in the MMZ, outside the
Barna area (Fig. 3g,h). The texture is also displayed by the MME in the MG and
the BMZ (Fig. 3i,j). Hibbard (1991) presents a two-stage mixing model for the
formation of this texture (Fig. 4g). During the rst mixing, the undercooling of
the more mac system results in the crystallisation of the plagioclase and sphene in
ophitic relationship in the more mac magma. Mixing leads to the mantling of the
sphene-plagioclase unit with plagioclase, K-feldspar and quartz. A second mixing
event with more mac magma causes these partially-crystallised units to dis-
aggregate, and leads to the crystallisation of biotite in the inter-ocellar area.
Hibbard (1991) notes that, due to the special conditions required to create this
texture, it is quite rare.

K-feldspar megacrysts in MME

The presence of K-feldspar megacrysts in MME has exercised the minds of
igneous petrologists for many years. It is now generally accepted that because K-
feldspar megacryst-bearing MME are common in K-feldspar megacrystic granites,
they must have a similar origin (Vernon, 1991). In addition, K-feldspar megacrysts
in granites are now recognised as phenocrysts, not porphyroblasts (Vernon, 1986),
and so the megacrysts hosted by MME must also be phenocrysts. However, the
chemistry of MME does not favour the crystallisation of K-feldspar, especially in
the early stages of crystallisation, and so the mechanical transfer of K-feldspar
megacrysts from a more felsic magma into the more mac magma during magma
mixing has been suggested as a likely process (Vernon, 1991). Once incorporated
into the MME, the K-feldspar may be resorbed, resulting in a rounded morphology,
or be mantled by plagioclase in a rapakivi texture. K-feldspar megacrysts have
been recorded from the MG-hosted MME, and from the BMZ, where some
examples show signs of resorption with subsequent mantling by plagioclase. In
addition, there are examples of K-feldspar megacrysts cross-cutting the contact
between MME and the host granodiorite, frozen in the process, as it were, of
transfer from one lithology to the other (Fig. 3k).

Mac clots
Hornblende occurs in association with biotite and the accessory minerals sphene,
allanite, apatite and the opaque minerals in `mac clots' (c. 2 mm long), where
72 S. Baxter and M. Feely

the component crystals are 0.1 to 0.5 mm in size (Fig. 3l). These clots have a
granular texture, with the constituent crystals being euhedral to subhedral, and
are of edenitic ferrohornblende composition (Crowley, 1997). The clots occur
in all of the lithologies described from the Barna area. Indeed, similar clots have
been recorded by previous workers in similar lithologies to the west and east of
the Barna area, e.g. Coats and Wilson (1971), and Callaghan (1999). Elsewhere,
mac clots with a ``granoblastic-like texture'' have been described from calc-
alkaline plutons by Castro and Stephens (1992), and Sial et al. (1998). They
may be the result of pyroxene crystals reacting with a magma precipitating calcic
amphibole. While these mac clots are common in the MG-hosted MME
(sometimes comprising up to 15% of the rock), they are usually only seen in
samples of the MG itself which are adjacent to MME (Callaghan, 1999; Baxter,
2000). This distribution suggests that the clots have originated in the mac magma
which has formed the MME, and their presence in the MG is due to limited
interaction between the MG and the mac magma.

Conclusions
This paper has shown that the Galway Granite in general, and the Barna area in
particular, is an outstanding natural laboratory in which to study magma mingling
and mixing, due to the many mixing-compatible textures which are identiable.
The heterogeneous nature of this mixing is indicated by the varying distribution of
the textures between and indeed within lithologies. Does this reect localised
incidental mixing? Petrographic descriptions by previous workers from adjoining
areas, e.g. Coats and Wilson (1971), Feely (1982), El Desouky (1992), Crowley
(1997) and Callaghan (1999), indicate their presence on a regional scale within the
Central Block of the Galway Granite. Furthermore, mac clots, rapakivi texture
and inclusion zones in feldspars have been described from the Carna and Errisbeg
Townland Granites exposed at the western end of the batholith (Wright, 1964;
Leake, 1974). This regional distribution of mixing-compatible textures combined
with the recorded occurrences of MME on the same regional scale suggest that
magma mingling and mixing was a major process during the evolution of the
Galway Granite.
Finally, it should be noted that even the most mac of the MME recorded in this
study exhibit mingling and mixing textures (e.g. sphene-plagioclase and quartz-
feldspar ocelli) prompting the question do any true mac end member lithologies
remain at the present exposure level in the Galway Granite? a question that must be
addressed when choosing end member lithologies for magma mingling and mixing
models.

Acknowledgements
S. Baxter gratefully acknowledges receipt of a Department of Education for Northern
Ireland Postgraduate Studentship, and of an Enterprise Ireland Basic Research Grant during
the course of her studies on the geology of the Barna area. The manuscript benetted from
the reviews of K. McCaffrey and V. Janousek.
 Magma mixing and mingling textures in granitoids 73

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Authors' address: S. Baxter (e-mail: sadhbh.baxter@ireland.com), and M. Feely (e-mail:

martin.feely@nuigalway.ie), Department of Geology, National University of Ireland,
Galway, Ireland