Trace elements in igneous quartz – frozen information about silicite melt evolution

Aim of this project is the utilization of the chemical composition of magmatic quartz to better understand the genesis of Variscan granites and rhyolites in the Bohemian Massif.Quartz is the relatively most stable rock-forming mineral during majority of post-magmatic processes. Quartz, its internal texture and chemical composition, provide detail information about pT and chemical evolution of silicic magma. Internal texture of quartz crystals visualised by cathodoluminiscence (CL) and in-situ determination of trace element using laser-ablation ICP MS will be combined with existing data of whole-rock chemistry, accessory mineral assemblage, isotopic geochemistry, and eventual also melt inclusions study to reconstruct evolution of several contrasting types of  Variscan granitoid magma in the Bohemian Massif.Another significance of this project is to support methodological development of a new ICP-MS instrument equipped with laser-ablation, which will be installed at the Institute of Geology AS CR,v.v.i. in autumn 2009. Quartz is the simplest matrix among geological materials and thus represents the optimal target for establishment of methodical procedures in a new laboratory.