Uraniferous leukogranites from the Namaqualand metamorphic complex: Pt. 1

A number of small leucogranite or alaskite bodies intrude the Modderfontein augen gneiss on the farm Nooitgedacht, south-west of Springbok. These intrusions, correlated with the Kweekfontein Granite of the Spektakel Suite, are anomalously enriched in uranium and thorium, and certain of them have been assessed as potential low-grade deposits. The leucogranites are highly differentiated and are characterized by a pervasive alteration which has sericitized the feldspars and propylitized the biotite. Alteration was probably of a deuteric nature, associated with the late magmatic-early subsolidus stages, and was neither a low-temperature, open-system event, nor was it related to regional retrogressive metamorphism. The leucogranite bodies have I-type characteristics and appear to have been derived by partial melting of lower crustal material. A subset of eight leucogranites were analysed by neutron activation analysis for the rare-earth elements. Typical depleted lower crust is ruled out as a source, however, because of the necessity to markedly enrich the leucogranite magma in elements such as K, Rb, U, and Th. Scatter in Rb-Sr isotope ratios for the Nooitgedacht alaskites indicates that the source may have been heterogeneous and/or anomalously fertile in certain selected elements. In addition, a component of scatter was probably introduced during the extensive alteration of the rocks