ChemRock: a lithogeochemical data analysis and interpretation system as a tool to the petrological study of igneous rocks and their tectonic setting

Abstract

Petrology of igneous rocks is strongly based on calculations of whole-rock geochemical data, which applied to a large number of samples can be very time-consuming. This paper presents ChemRock, a computer-based system used to analyze, interpret and visualize lithogeochemical data in a petrologic and geodynamic approach. It oper-ates in a Windows platform and offers a simple and user-friendly inter-face. Within the same environment it is able to gather rock classification graphs used to discriminate series of tectonic paleoenvironments, and modules used to interpret normative (CIPW and mesonorm) and isotopic data. Besides, normalization and partition coefficients tables proposed by different authors, quantification modules of partial melting processes, crystal fractionation and binary mixture have been provided. It is capable of generating hundreds of graphs and pre-formatted tables that can be inserted in digital reports, and it is also provided with a module to generate its own reports. ChemRock is a tool to speed up petrogenetic analysis by offering methods and functionalities used in current literature.