Whole-rock geochemical and Sm/Nd isotope data are presented for a representative suite of crustal rocks from the Pindos Ophiolite in order to resolve the origin of the geochemical signature of the boninites. Comparison is made with Triassic MORB from the Avdella mélange and with other ophiolitic rocks of northwestern Greece. Hydrothermal alteration results in large scatter in Sr and K and some variability in Ba, Th and U. The Pindos boninites contain high Zr and Hf with respect to REE, characteristic of many boninites. Pb, La/Sm and Nb decrease with decreasing TiO₂ from MORB to IAT, but then increase in the boninites. Nd isotopic values expressed as ε_Nd decrease systematically with decreasing TiO₂, from 7–8 in IAT to 0.6–3.0 in boninites. As mantle wedge harzburgite became increasingly depleted, another magma source contributed significant amounts of Pb, REE and probably Nb. The Pb and other large-ion lithophile elements may have been transported in aqueous solutions from the subducting slab, but the REE and Nb imply an ocean-island basalt (OIB)-type source within the mantle wedge. This OIB source is a consequence of mantle plume activity during late Triassic rifting.

Hydrated alumino-phosphate-sulfate (APS) minerals of the woodhouseite and crandallite series are found as microcrystalline aggregates replacing volcanic glass and apatite and filling pores in sandstones of the fluvial Lower Cretaceous Chaswood Formation, southeastern Canada. Mineral grains from heavy mineral separates and rock samples were analyzed with an electron microprobe. As the crandallite component of the grains increases, REE and F content increases. The APS minerals formed during early diagenesis as a result of the flux of meteoric water below the water table, beneath regional intraformational unconformities at which oxisols had developed. Sulfate was derived from the oxidation of very early diagenetic pyrite, and phosphate from dissolution of detrital apatite. The APS minerals are commonly associated with detrital dolomite, which may have played a role in increasing pH in the circulating meteoric water. Zoning of APS grains to lower S concentrations outward suggests that SO²⁻₄ concentration was a determining factor in APS mineralogy and mineral composition.

Wells in the Orpheus graben encountered the most proximal part of the deltaic Lower Cretaceous rocks of the Scotian Basin. More distal sandstones are important gas reservoir rocks, with good reservoir quality where Fe-rich chlorite (chamosite) rims on framework grains have inhibited quartz cementation. Cutting samples from the Orpheus graben show the presence of Fe-rich sheet silicates (berthierine or chamosite) and early diagenetic phosphorite. These minerals were analyzed by electron microprobe, and their textures were mapped with backscattered electron images. Studies in the North Sea have shown a relationship between high phosphorus and the presence of good chlorite rims in reservoir rocks. The mineralization of pore-water phosphorus, instead of its return to seawater, is favored by Fe-rich sediments and sorption on iron oxides during shallow sea-floor diagenesis. The Fe, Ti, and P contents are uncommonly high in Scotian Basin shales compared with global average shale compositions. The uncommon occurrence of inner-shelf phosphorite in this study is interpreted to be a consequence of the same high Fe content of the sediment that also favors the formation of Fe-rich sheet silicates. In rapidly deposited deltaic sandstones of the offshore reservoirs, the dominance of type 3 kerogen led to sulfate depletion occurring at depths of tens of meters and a corresponding great thickness for overlying Eh (oxidation potential)-controlled diagenetic zones. The thick Fe-reduction zone allowed the formation of early diagenetic berthierine, which on burial formed the chamosite rims that resulted in the improved reservoir quality in sandstones. The distribution of phosphorus minerals may be an indicator of conditions suitable for berthierine formation.