The Skaergaard intrusion (Fig. 1) is probably the most stud- ied layered gabbro intrusion in the world (Wager & Deer

• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Greenland; East Greenland; North Atlantic
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.631.5904; http://www.geus.dk/publications/bull/nr17/nr17_p61-64.pdf

2004). The intrusion is c. 54.5 Ma old and was formed dur-ing the Palaeogene opening of the North Atlantic Ocean, intruding into the base of the East Greenland flood basalts. The intrusion is relatively small with a volume of c. 300 km3 (Nielsen 2004). Spectacular magmatic layering and system-atic evolution in the compositions of liquidus phases and esti-mated melt compositions (e.g. Wager & Brown 1968) have made the intrusion the most studied example of the develop-ment of the ‘Fenner trend ’ of iron enrichment in basaltic liquids (e.g. Thy et al. in press; Veksler in press). The identification in the late 1980s of significant plat-inum-group elements (PGE) and gold (Au) occurrences in the intrusion (e.g. Bird et al. 1991; Nielsen et al. 2005) has led to continued investigation and exploration drilling. The Skaergaard intrusion is suggested to hold c. 33 million ounces