V.—Contributions to the Geology of Ceylon: 4. Intrusive Pyroxenites, Mica-Pyroxenites, and Mica-Rocks in the Charnookite Series or Granulites in Ceylon

Abstract

The object of the present paper is to provide a short account of a group of rocks to which the general name of pyroxenite may be given, inasmuch as they are essentially non-felspathic plutonic rocks, free from olivine, and of igneous origin, and with a nearly colourless monoclinic pyroxene as the chief or only constituent of many of the most conspicuous varieties. The exposures are widely distributed in the Central, Ova, and Sabaragamuwa provinces, and probably throughout Ceylon, but are individually of very small extent. The rocks are composed of the minerals diopside, amphibole, phlogopite (or biotite), scapolite, pyrite, sphene, and sometimes felspar, calcite, and spinel; the dominant mineral is the pale green or grey granular diopside, colourless in thin sections: the rocks are often entirely, or almost entirely, composed of this mineral; next in importance are green amphibole (dark in hand-specimens, but very pale in thin sections), and a pale golden-brown phlogopite, which sometimes forms a large proportion of the rock, and in extreme cases the whole bulk of sills or dykes several feet in thickness.