Calc-alkaline lamprophyre (minette) dykes in the eastern Southern Upla
nds of Scotland form part of a swarm nearly parallel to the inferred I
apetus Suture, stretching from the Ards Peninsula of Northern Ireland
to St. Abbs Head in the east. The dykes are clustered close to several
small granitoid bosses, but appear to be younger than the plutons and
their associated porphyrite-porphyry dykes. Mica- (minette and kersan
titic-minette) and hornblende-lamprophyres are present further west ne
ar Hawick where no intermediate-acid plutons or dykes occur. The lampr
ophyres have enrichments in LILE and LREE and relative depletions of H
FS elements typical of subduction-related ultrapotassic magmas. These
incompatible element enrichments are present in rocks with high Mg num
ber and Ni and Cr contents, which combined with experimental constrain
ts, their fine-grained nature and presence of chilled margins, imply a
near-primary status for the least evolved varieties. High values of L
REE, LILE, La/Nb, La/Yb, E Sr & low & Nd imply derivation from a previ
ously metasomatised source. The minettes were probably derived from a
source containing garnet and phlogopite, and the hornblende varieties
from a shallower source in the stability field of amphibole. The minet
tes of the eastern Southern Uplands have not provided a parental compo
nent to the 410 Ma. granitoids which were derived from a more depleted
source. The similarity of the lamprophyres to those in the Lake Distr
ict south of the Iapetus Suture is taken to indicate underthrusting of
Lake District lithosphere beneath the Southern Uplands. Emplacement o
f lamprophyre dyke swarms is likely to be structurally controlled, and
the presence of the main swarm in the Southern Uplands may indicate t
he sub-surface trace of the Iapetus Suture.