The Petrology of Late Tertiary Dolerite Plugs in the South Cariboo Region, British Columbia

The petrology of four plugs of fresh, coarse-grained olivine dolerite, of Pliocene age, is described in this paper. Two plugs, which exhibit textural and mineralogical variations, are described in detail. Major element analyses and selected trace element analyses for fifteen samples illustrate the chemical nature of the dolerite as well as fractionation in small marginal portions of the plugs. Strontium isotope values indicate that the plugs represent basaltic magma that was not contaminated by crastal matter. Both the mineralogy and the chemistry of the plugs indicate that the magma was mildly alkaline, and suggest that it was a differentiate of a primary olivine basalt magma, perhaps derived through crystal fractionation in a high-level magma chamber.