Timing and nature of fluid flow and alteration during Mesoproterozoic shear zone formation, Olary Domain, South Australia

The development of shear zones at mid‐crustal levels in the Proterozoic Willyama Supergroup was synchronous with widespread fluid flow resulting in albitization and calcsilicate alteration. Monazite dating of shear zone fabrics reveal that they formed at 1582 ± 22 Ma, at the end of the Olarian D3 deformational event and immediately prior to the emplacement of regional S‐type granites. Two stages of fluid flow are identified in the area: first an albitizing event which involved the addition of Na and loss of Si, K and Fe; and a second phase of calcsilicate alteration with additions of Ca, Fe, Mg and Si and removal of Na. Fluid fluxes calculated for albitization and calcsilicate alteration were 5.56 × 10⁹ to 1.02 × 10¹⁰ mol m^?2 and 2.57 × 10⁸–5.20 × 10⁹ mol m^?2 respectively. These fluxes are consistent with estimates for fluid flow through mid‐crustal shear zones in other terranes. The fluids associated with shearing and alteration are calculated to have δ¹⁸O and δD values ranging between +8 and +11‰, and ?33 and ?42‰, respectively, and ?Nd values between ?2.24 and ?8.11. Our results indicate that fluids were derived from metamorphic dehydration of the Willyama Supergroup metasediments. Fluid generation occurred during prograde metamorphism of deeper crustal rocks at or near peak pressure conditions. Shear zones acted as conduits for major crustal fluid flow to shallow levels where peak metamorphic conditions had been attained earlier leading to the apparent ‘retrograde’ fluid‐flow event. Thus, the peak metamorphism conditions at upper and lower crustal levels were achieved at differing times, prior to regional granite formation, during the same orogenic cycle leading to the formation of retrograde mineral assemblages during shearing.     

新疆伊犁北部石炭纪火山岩地球化学特征及其地质意义

石炭纪火山岩广泛分布于西天山伊犁陆块周缘,其岩性复杂,并大多与陆源碎屑岩伴生或互层。其中伊宁阿希、尼勒克和那拉提3个剖面的火山岩岩石地球化学特征显示,这些火山岩属于钙碱性系列,由玄武岩、粗玄岩、玄武质安山岩、玄武质粗面安山岩、安山岩、流纹岩、英安岩和粗面岩组成。稀土元素含量较高,轻稀土元素较重稀土元素富集。这些火山岩亏损高场强元素Nb,Ta,Zr等,而富集大离子亲石元素Th,Rb等,因而这些岩石的形成与板块俯冲有关。微量元素地球化学图解进一步表明,这些岩石形成于大陆岛弧环境。与之共生的早、中石炭世浅海—滨海相沉积地层以及伊犁陆块北缘巴音沟—莫托沙拉沟晚泥盆世—早石炭世蛇绿岩带的存在,表明伊犁陆块北缘在石炭纪时其环境为活动大陆边缘,石炭纪火山岩的形成可能与晚泥盆世—中石炭世早期北天山洋盆向南的俯冲作用有关。     

Formation of Spinifex Texture in Komatiites: an Experimental Study

The formation of platy olivine spinifex, the texture that characterizeskomatiite lavas, has long been enigmatic. A major problem isthat the dendritic morphology of the olivine resembles thatof crystals grown in laboratory experiments at high coolingrates (>50°C/h), but at the position where these texturesform, up to several meters below the komatiite flow top, thecooling rate cannot have been greater than 1–5°C/h.We performed experiments that demonstrate that the platy habitof spinifex olivine or pyroxene is a consequence of slow coolingof ultramafic magma in a thermal gradient (7–35°C/cm).The charges were cooled at rates between 2 and 1428°C/hand, even at the low cooling rates, the thermal gradient ledto constrained growth and the development of preferentiallyoriented dendritic crystals with morphologies like those innatural platy spinifex-textured lavas. Under these conditions,olivine starts to crystallize at temperatures well below theequilibrium liquidus temperature (37°C < –T<56°C) depending on the composition of the starting material.When the cooling rate is high, the thermal gradient has a negligibleeffect on the texture and the crystals have a random orientation,like that in the upper parts of komatiite flows. KEY WORDS: komatiite; spinifex; cooling rate; experimental petrology; thermal gradient