Granitic Pegmatites:

Scientific Wonders
and Economic Bonanzas Pink pezzottaite crystal,
1.2 cm long, from
Ambatovita,
Fianarantsoa Province,
David London1 and Daniel J. Kontak 2 Madagascar. The rim of
the crystal is white beryl
1811-5209/12/0008-0257$2.50  DOI: 10.2113/gselements.8.4.257 with minor microcrystals
of milarite and bavenite.

G
Named in honor of
ranitic pegmatites have been a focal point of research by petrologists Federico Pezzotta. Photo
Matteo Chinellato
and mineralogists for over a century. Mineralogical interest stems
from the diversity of rare minerals that some pegmatites contain.
Petrologic efforts are aimed at resolving the processes or agents that produce
the complex textures and spatial heterogeneity that distinguish pegmatites
from granites. Much of the scientific study of pegmatites has been motivated
by exploration for the economic commodities they provide. Pegmatites yield
quartz, feldspars, and micas for industrial uses; strategic rare metals for
electronic, aerospace, and energy applications; and many of the world’s finest synonymous with a granitic
composition. The bulk composi-
gem and mineral specimens.
tions of pegmatites plot close to
Keywords : pegmatite, granite, rare metals, industrial minerals, gemstones the thermal-minimum composi-
tion in the granite system, which
INTRODUCTION includes rocks with nearly equal
proportions of quartz, sodic plagioclase, and potassic
Pegmatites are texturally distinct variants of the more (alkali) feldspar. Only a small proportion of pegmatites
common and more voluminous plutonic igneous rocks, (<1%) possess assemblages that contain uncommon
including gabbros, granites, syenites, etc. Whereas common minerals, e.g. those with essential lithium, beryllium,
plutonic bodies tend to be mineralogically and texturally cesium, boron, phosphorus, and tantalum. These exotic
homogeneous throughout large volumes of rock, pegma- rocks are termed rare-element pegmatites (not to be
tites are precisely the opposite. Most pegmatite bodies are confused with rare earth element pegmatites, which are a
small, with dimensions on the scale of meters rather than subset of rare-element pegmatites). Gem-quality crystals
kilometers, and display internally complex fabrics. They for the jewelry industry are found in a small number of
occur as segregations within granites (Fig. 1a) and as these already sparse rare-element pegmatites. Most gem-
sharply discordant dikes intruding igneous and metamor- bearing pegmatites are classified as miarolitic, which refers
phic rocks (Fig. 1b). Exceedingly coarse crystal size is a to the presence of clay-filled or open, crystal-lined
hallmark of pegmatites for most geoscientists (Fig. 2), but cavities.
gigantic crystal size is not the sole or even a necessary
defining factor. Other fabrics that qualify as pegmatitic
include systematic coarsening in crystal size from the
THE PEGMATITE PUZZLE
margins to the centers of bodies (Fig. 3); sharp mineral- Pegmatites have long been viewed as essentially igneous
ogical zonation from margin to center (Fig. 4); anisotropic rocks because of their bulk compositions. The origin of
fabrics, including layering or highly oriented crystal- pegmatitic rock fabrics, however, has intrigued and baffled
growth directions; and graphic (skeletal) intergrowths of petrologists. By the end of the 19th century, virtually every
quartz and feldspar, termed “graphic granite” (Fig. 5). conceivable process had been proffered to explain the
Pegmatites and hydrothermal vein deposits share all of complex textures and the assemblages of uncommon
these textural attributes but one: that of graphic granite, minerals found in some pegmatites. Because pegmatites
which is not only unique to pegmatites but was the texture and hydrothermal veins share common textural features,
for which the term pegmatite (from phgnumi, to make stout many petrologists have called upon an aqueous fluid, alone
by binding together) was coined. or acting in concert with a coexisting silicate melt, to
generate the complexities of grain size and mineral zona-
Pegmatitic textures can be found in igneous rocks of all tion that are diagnostic of pegmatites.
compositions. However, pegmatitic textures are so preva-
lent in granitic compositions that the term pegmatite Two concepts of pegmatite formation have dominated
implies a granitic composition to many geoscientists. For scientific thought for a century. A model now associated
the sake of brevity, most of the authors of the articles in with Cameron et al. (1949) attributed the chemical evolu-
this issue use the term pegmatite, without a modifier, as tion of pegmatites (among and within individual bodies)
to the fractional crystallization of melt inward from the
margins of bodies. Through this process, rare elements (e.g.
1 ConocoPhillips School of Geology and Geophysics
University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK 73019, USA Li, Be, and Ta), fluxes (e.g. B, P, and F), and other volatile
E-mail: dlondon@ou.edu components (e.g. H 2O and Cl) that are excluded by the
2 Department of Earth Sciences, Laurentian University initial crystallization of quartz and feldspars become
Sudbury, ON P3E 2C6, Canada concentrated inward into a diminishing fraction of residual
E-mail: dkontak@laurentian.ca

E lements , V ol . 8, pp. 257–261 257 A ugus t 2012

A B

pegmatite

granite

FIGURE 1 (A) A pegmatitic segregation within granite,

Middletown, Connecticut (USA). The scale measures
9 cm. The yellow dashed line indicates the margins of the pegma-
tite. (B) Geologists ponder a set of parallel pegmatite dikes that
cut amphibolite and gneiss, Haddam, Connecticut (USA).

Yet somehow, within this state of high viscosity and rapidly

dwindling thermal energy, giant crystals manage to grow.
The fluxing components cited above are regarded as essen-
tial to the crystallization of gigantic crystals of silicates in
pegmatites. Hence, one conundrum in the puzzle of pegma-
melt; eventually, this melt becomes saturated in minerals
tites is this: how can the need for high concentrations of
containing these exotic components. In the model identi-
fluxing components be reconciled with their manifestly
fied with Jahns and Burnham (1969), the silicate melt was
low abundance in all but a very few pegmatites? London
the source of constituents, and the defi ning textures and
and Morgan (2012) address this problem and, in so doing,
mineralogical zonation of pegmatites were ascribed to crys-
reconcile the disparities between the models of Cameron
tallization from an aqueous fluid that “scoured” certain
et al. (1949) and Jahns and Burnham (1969).
elements from the melt and redistributed them to growing
crystals in all parts of the pegmatite body.
PEGMATITES AS ORE BODIES
Since these models were introduced, our knowledge of the
Pegmatites host an exceptionally diverse range of economic
bulk compositions, depths, and cooling histories of pegma-
commodities, and academic interest in granitic pegmatites
tites has improved. The more we have learned, the more
has stemmed in large measure from the scientific quest to
problematic some aspects of pegmatite geology (and prior
understand ore-forming processes. The same factors that
conceptual models) have become. For example, pegmatite
make pegmatites so exceptional in terms of textures are
compositions lie close to the bulk composition of the
also likely responsible for the exceedingly efficient mecha-
minimum-temperature melt in the hydrous granite system
nisms that concentrate trace elements as chemically diverse
(NaAlSi3O8 –KAlSi3O8 –SiO2 –H 2O). Even the most chemi-
as Li, B, Cs, Ta, and Bi to values that are thousands of times
cally evolved pegmatites contain only a few weight percent
their average crustal abundances. Element pairs that
of viscosity-reducing components like H 2O, B, P, and F.
behave in a chemically coherent fashion, such as Zr–Hf
Most pegmatites form thin dikes injected into cooler, brittle
and Nb–Ta, are extensively fractionated among pegmatites
host rocks (FIGS. 1B, 4). Evidence from mineral compositions
and within individual bodies, leading to the formation of
and thermal models indicates that crystallization within
such exotic mineral species as hafnon (HfSiO4) and tantite
pegmatites commences at ~450 °C, which is ~200–250 °C
(Ta2O5). The process of rare-element enrichment in pegma-
below the liquidus temperature at which crystallization
tites appears to proceed, in an essentially closed system,
should commence. The viscosity of hydrous granitic liquid
from a small fraction of residual silicate liquid derived from
at this temperature is ~10 8 Pa⋅s, similar to the viscosity of
a much larger magma body. This process contrasts mark-
asphaltic pitch at 25 °C. Such high viscosity severely
edly with other ore-forming systems, for example, Cu- and
impedes the diffusion of components through a melt and
Mo-mineralized felsic porphyries, that originate from inter-
commensurately diminishes the transfer of nutrient
actions between large volumes of magmatic rocks and
components to growing crystal surfaces. In their review of
hydrothermal fluids in chemically open systems.
the principal models for the internal evolution of pegma-
tites, London and Morgan (2012 this issue) call attention Pegmatites have always been sought for minerals and
to graphic granite, the defi ning texture that is unique to metals that have specialty uses. In the 1940s, that search
pegmatites. From what we understand about the origin of was for sheet muscovite, a mica, which was employed as
graphic granite (Fenn 1986), this texture represents prima grid separators in electronic vacuum tubes (a high-
facie evidence of the conditions of pronounced under- technology application of that time); for beryllium as a
cooling below the liquidus temperature and high super- component of copper alloys used mostly for bearings and
saturation of very viscous melt in quartz- and gears; and for tantalum as the optimal dielectric oxide for
feldspar-forming components. electrolytic capacitors. Today, niobium, tantalum, tin,

E LEMENTS 258 A UGUS T 2012

 m
Any mineral,
largest crystal
Spodumene
average

Average size of crystals

1.0

(long dimension)
Perthite average
0.5

0
wall 20 40 60 80 center
Proportion (%) of wall-to-center distance
in pegmatite bodies
Systematics of crystal size variation from the margin
FIGURE 3
to the center of pegmatite dikes. Modifi ed from Jahns
(1953), this figure shows the average dimension of crystals along
their longest axis of growth versus their location within the pegma-
tite as a percentage of the distance from the margin (wall) to the
dike center. Two curves are specific to perthitic K-feldspar and
spodumene; the curve for “any mineral” represents an average that
may involve more than one mineral species. The data are based on
measurements from 27 large, zoned pegmatites in the Hualapai,
FIGURE 2 A gigantic skeletal crystal of tourmaline radiating into Bagdad, and White Picacho pegmatite districts of western Arizona
a pegmatite from the upper contact, from the Água (USA).
Santa pegmatite, Coronel Murta, Jequitinhonha valley, Minas
Gerais, Brazil (Robert F. Martin for scale). PHOTO : M ILAN NOVAK

nate. These significant rare-element ores precipitate from

a silicate liquid, and hydrothermal processes exert only a
beryllium, lithium, cesium, rare earths, and other normally
minor role in the internal redistribution of the ore-forming
rare elements are mined from pegmatites for applications
elements. As chemically evolved as these ore-producing
in electronics, nuclear energy, aerospace, deep drilling, and
pegmatites are, their concentrations of most rare metals
other specialized industries.
are not sufficient to reach saturation of the melt at the
Granitic Pegmatites – temperature of the liquidus (the silicate liquid–crystal field
boundary at equilibrium). Linnen et al. (2012), therefore,
Storehouses of Industrial Minerals
account for the primary deposition of rare-element ores
Not all pegmatitic ores consist of rare elements or rare mostly by the crystallization of melt at temperatures well
minerals. Pegmatites are the primary sources of feldspar below the liquidus. Pegmatite-forming melts contain suffi-
for the glass and ceramics industries. The low iron and cient concentrations of rare elements to achieve saturation
calcium contents of feldspars in pegmatite make these in rare-element minerals (such as beryl, tantalite, pollucite,
materials most desirable for these applications. Quartz is etc.) at temperatures that are mostly 100–200 °C below the
used primarily in the manufacture of glasses, but ultrahigh- liquidus temperature.
purity quartz from pegmatite is a foundational material in
the electronics industry. Because pegmatites consist chiefly Granitic Pegmatites as Sources
of quartz and feldspars, the ore grade of some of the most of Colored Gemstones
important deposits approaches 100% of the minable rock,
Pegmatites are sources of some of the finest and most prized
a benefit that is rare in the mining industry. Even the clay
mineral specimens in the collections of museums and
minerals that are produced from weathered or hydrother-
private individuals (FIG. 6). Many of the colored stones on
mally altered pegmatites now fulfi ll a significant role in
the gem market today—varieties of beryl, topaz, tourma-
the fabrication of microprocessors. Glover et al. (2012 this
line, and others—are produced mainly or solely from
issue) describe the myriad other uses of quartz, feldspars,
pegmatites. Simmons et al. (2012 this issue) provide an
clays, and other industrial minerals derived from pegma-
overview of the gem materials mined worldwide from
tites. They make the case that pegmatite-derived industrial
pegmatites, with examples from some of the most prolific
minerals play some part in the daily lives of most people
and spectacular occurrences. Although historically impor-
who live in modern societies.
tant sources in Brazil, Russia, Madagascar, and the United
Granitic Pegmatites as Sources States continue to supply much of the gem materials
derived from pegmatites, these regions are now joined by
of Strategic Metals
countries in southern Africa and by Afghanistan and
In this issue, Linnen et al. (2012) assess the likely fluid Pakistan in southern Asia. Mining gems from pegmatites
media and mechanisms that lead to the ore-grade concen- is labor-intensive and suitable for what is known as “arti-
trations of these normally trace elements and observe that sanal” mining activity at a small, local scale. Most gem-
pegmatitic ores are endogenic, meaning that they are quality minerals come from open or clay-fi lled “miarolitic
deposited within the igneous body from which they origi- cavities” in pegmatite. The smooth, shiny faces of these

E LEMENTS 259 A UGUS T 2012

 border zone granitic (LCT) as a diagnostic signature, and pegmatites that carry
3 cm
niobium, yttrium, and fluorine (NYF) as a trace element
graphic signature. Pegmatites of the LCT family are strongly corre-
plagioclase lated with S-type granites, whose ultimate protoliths can
-quartz be traced to chemically mature sedimentary sources, such
as marine shales. Pegmatites of the NYF family are associ-
intermediate
zones ated with A-type granites that form within intracontinental
oriented
rifts. The origins of A-type granites are more complex than
microcline the origins of S-type granites and involve varying degrees
core margin of crustal or mantle input. Pegmatites are notably sparse
among the subduction-related I-type granites, except where
such plutons have inherited a small component of sedi-
beryl mentary material. Č erný et al. (2012) propose that the
associations between specific granite types and their
core
tendency to form pegmatites hinge upon the availability
pure quartz
of fluxing components, such as B, P, and F, in the source
regions of those granites.
core margin
oriented
intermediate muscovite GRANITIC PEGMATITES AS COMPLEX
zones ISOTOPIC SYSTEMS
graphic
plagioclase-
Pegmatites have been the focus of mineralogical and
quartz geochemical studies but little isotopic work. Despite this
relative lack of data, valuable insight is provided by
layered aplite garnet isotopes, indicating that this is an area worthy of future
effort. Many radiometric isotope systems (e.g. U–Pb, Rb–Sr,
Nd–Sm, K–Ar) have been employed to obtain ages or infor-
skeletal mation about sources of pegmatites. Significantly, some
wall zone K-feldspar studies indicate that the ages for pegmatites are younger
border zone granitic than known granites that might represent their sources
(Tomascak et al. 1998; Kontak et al. 2005), thus raising
Textural and zonal attributes of pegmatites. The important questions about temporal and source relations
FIGURE 4 between granites and pegmatites.
image shows a complete section of a pegmatite dike,
about 28 cm thick, located near Palomar Mountain, San Diego
County, California (USA). Stable isotope systems provide a means of unraveling the
provenance of pegmatite-forming melts. For example, the
fact that the oxygen isotope ratios for the LCT-type pegma-
minerals and an abundance of hydrous minerals, including tites can vary by several per mil (e.g. Longstaffe et al. 1981
clays and zeolites, in association with gem-quality minerals versus Anderson et al. 2011) suggests distinctly different
signify that aqueous fluid plays a major role in the fi nal source materials. Comprehensive studies using multiple
stages of consolidation of these very rare pegmatite bodies. isotopic tracers (O, Pb, Sr, B, Li) remain to be done for single
Simmons et al. (2012) ascribe miarolitic cavities to the pegmatite bodies or pegmatite fields, and such work will
exsolution of aqueous fluid from the pegmatite-forming provide important data relevant to addressing melt sources.
melt and to the transfer of melt-derived components via
aqueous fluid to the surfaces of growing crystals.

PEGMATITES AS REFLECTIONS
OF THEIR SOURCES
Most geoscientists would agree that pegmatites represent
the terminal stage in the fractionation of granitic magmas.
That process begins with the redistribution of elements
between parental rocks deep within the Earth’s continental
crust (with mantle influences in some cases) and their
partial melts. It continues as crystal fractionation proceeds
toward completion in upwardly mobile magma bodies,
with variable degrees of interaction with other rock types
along the way. Considering the protracted history of
granitic magmas, one might not expect their culmination
as pegmatites to preserve a record of their origins at the
source. In fact, they do, and to a surprising extent—the
affi liations of granitic pegmatites with certain source rocks
and particular tectonic environments are evident in a
majority of instances. The chemical and tectonic links
between pegmatites at one end of the magmatic spectrum
and their source rocks at the other is considered by Černý
et al. (2012 this issue). The distinctive signatures of
normally trace elements, but with elevated concentrations
in pegmatites through fractional crystallization of their
source granitic magmas, fall into two chemical families:
pegmatites enriched in lithium, cesium, and tantalum FIGURE 5 Graphic granite: quartz (gray) in microcline (white),
Colorado (USA). This texture is unique to pegmatites.

E LEMENTS 260 A UGUS T 2012

The systematic fractionation of isotopes (18O/16O, D/H)
provides a means to assess equilibrium and, hence, temper-
atures of crystallization (Walker et al. 1986). However,
many studies indicate widespread ingress of externally
derived aqueous fluids, which results in resetting or
disequilibrium among the mineral reservoirs of stable
isotopes, especially where pegmatites occur within large
granite plutons (Carruzzo et al. 2004). The application of
high-resolution analytical techniques provides a means to
explore equilibrium in these systems and investigate the
role of undercooling in pegmatites.

Relatively new studies of 11B/10B and 7 Li/ 6Li by in situ

methods are beginning to document the differential frac-
tionation of these isotopes among mineral phases, melt,
and fluids due to environmentally induced changes in the
coordination number of each element ( IIIB versus IV B, and
IV Li versus VI Li) (Marschall and Jiang 2011). Thus, these

isotopes provide a means to detect the presence of a fluid

phase and to test when fluids appear in the evolution of
pegmatite systems. For example, Trumbull et al. (2008)
used boron isotopes to show that a hydrothermal fluid
played a role during the growth of tourmaline in a late-
stage quartz–tourmaline intergrowth (i.e. orbicule) in a
granite from Namibia.

WHY STUDY PEGMATITES?

The ore-forming processes that lead to unparalleled element
fractionation and rare-element enrichment in pegmatites
would be scientific reason enough to want to understand
the underlying processes of formation. However, it is the
textural features of pegmatites that have generated the
most scientific debate and have intrigued scientists from
the inception of field petrology in the 19th century. Nothing
that geoscientists learn as students prepares them for inter- FIGURE 6 Spodumene (var. purple kunzite), beryl (var. pink
morganite), quartz, albite, and lepidolite from Kunar
preting rock textures as complex as those in pegmatites.
Valley, Nuristan Province, Afghanistan (26 × 17 × 13 cm). This is a
Understanding the textures and mineral zonation of common late-stage assemblage in lithium-rich pegmatites, but it is
granitic pegmatites is tantamount to understanding the rarely so beautifully crystallized in a miarolitic cavity. See Fig. 3 of
fundamental process of crystallization. It is a challenge to Linnen et al. (2012) for the petrologic significance of the assem-
blage spodumene + quartz. PHOTO: JOE BUDD, COURTESY OF THE ARKENSTONE
our ability to discern, beyond reasonable doubt, what is
igneous and what is hydrothermal. This is the context that
has drawn many professional geoscientists to pegmatites
for all or part of their careers.

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