Grain to outcrop-scale frozen moments of dynamic magma mixing in the syenite magma chamber, Yelagiri Alkaline Complex, South India

Magma mixing process is unusual in the petrogenesis of felsic rocks associated with alkaline complex worldwide. Here we present a rare example of magma mixing in syenite from the Yelagiri Alkaline Complex, South India. Yelagiri syenite is a reversely zoned massif with shoshonitic (Na2O + K2O=5–10 wt.%, Na2O/K2O = 0.5–2, TiO2 <0.7 wt.%) and metaluminous character. Systematic modal variation of plagioclase (An11–16 Ab82–88), K-feldspar (Or27–95 Ab5–61), diopside (En34–40Fs11–18Wo46–49), biotite, and Ca-amphibole (edenite) build up three syenite facies within it and imply the role of in-situ fractional crystallization (FC). Evidences such as (1) disequilibrium micro-textures in feldspars, (2) microgranular mafic enclaves (MME) and (3) synplutonic dykes signify mixing of shoshonitic mafic magma (MgO = 4–5 wt.%, SiO2 = 54–59 wt.%, K2O/Na2O = 0.4–0.9) with syenite. Molecular-scale mixing of mafic magma resulted disequilibrium growth of feldspars in syenite. Physical entity of mafic magma preserved as MME due to high thermal-rheological contrast with syenite magma show various hybridization through chemical exchange, mechanical dilution enhanced by chaotic advection and phenocryst migration. In synplutonic dykes, disaggregation and mixing of mafic magma was confined within the conduit of injection. Major-oxides mass balance test quantified that approximately 0.6 portions of mafic magma had interacted with most evolved syenite magma and generated most hybridized MME and dyke samples. It is unique that all the rock types (syenite, MME and synplutonic dykes) share similar shoshonitic and metaluminous character; mineral chemistry, REE content, coherent geochemical variation in Harker diagram suggest that mixing of magma between similar composition. Outcrop-scale features of crystal accumulation and flow fabrics also significant along with MME and synplutonic dykes in syenite suggesting that Yelagiri syenite magma chamber had evolved through multiple physical processes like convection, shear flow, crystal accumulation and magma mixing.