Welcome! This website provides an interactive, digitised version of the Alkaline Rocks and Carbonatites of the World volumes, by Dr. Alan R. Woolley. Information can be accessed by using the map feature, search or occurence information.
Full content from Volume 4 which includes Asia and Europe (excluding the former USSR), Antarctica, Australasia and the oceans cannot be displayed until September 2021 due to copyright restrictions. More information on these occurrences can be found in the monograph, please see the Geological Society of London website.
The definition of alkaline rocks adopted is generally that of Sørensen (1974, p. 7): that they "are characterized by the presence of feldspathoids and/or alkali pyroxenes and amphiboles". The rocks included are, therefore, the nepheline syenites (phonolites) and ijolites (nephelinites), basanites and feldspathoid-bearing gabbroic rocks; peralkaline (i.e. containing alkali pyroxene and/or amphibole) syenite, quartz syenite and granite, together with peralkaline trachyte, comendite and pantellerite. Fenites are also included because of their intimate association with alkaline rocks and carbonatites, as are certain ultramafic and melilite-bearing rocks, including the alnoites and melilitolites. Analcime is treated as a feldspathoid for purposes of the above definition.In the case of volcanic rocks, these are included as alkaline if they plot in the alkaline fields on a TAS diagram.
Occurrence entries are currently 'of their time', however we plan to develop the content of the website to allow each entry to be updated by the scientific community. Please visit back for updates on the progress of updating the occurrence entries and how you can contribute.
For more information on HiTech AlkCarb please visit the project website.