The role of magma mixing in the formation of the Kuna Crest lobe of the Tuolumne batholith, Sierra Nevada, USA: Lessons from minor and trace element distributions in K-feldspar

Geochemical and geochronologic studies emphasize the role of incremental growth of large magma chambers and associated complex magma processes. One of the major results of these studies is that volcanic and plutonic rocks tend to consist of different crystal populations recording complex individual histories. Detailed geochemical observations of individual minerals provide direct access to petrogenetic processes such as magma mixing, assimilation and fractionation and their role for the evolution of the magma chamber.