Geobarometry for Peridotites: Experiments in Simple and Natural Systems from 6 to 10 GPa

Experiments with peridotite minerals in simple (MgO–Al₂O₃–SiO₂,CaO–MgO–SiO₂ and CaO–MgO–Al₂O₃–SiO₂)and natural systems were conducted at 1300–1500°Cand 6–10 GPa using a multi-anvil apparatus. The experimentsin simple systems demonstrated consistency with previous lowerpressure experiments in belt and piston–cylinder set-ups.The analysis of spatial variations in pyroxene compositionswithin experimental samples was used to demonstrate that pressureand temperature variations within the samples were less than0·4 GPa and 50°C. Olivine capsules were used in natural-systemexperiments with two mineral mixtures: SC1 (olivine + high-Alorthopyroxene + high-Al clinopyroxene + spinel) and J4 (olivine+ low-Al orthopyroxene + low-Al clinopyroxene + garnet). Theexperiments produced olivine + orthopyroxene + garnet ±clinopyroxene assemblages, occasionally with magnesite and carbonate-richmelt. Equilibrium compositions were derived by the analysisof grain rims and evaluation of mineral zoning. They were comparedwith our previous experiments with the same starting mixturesat 2·8–6·0 GPa and the results from simplesystems. The compositions of minerals from experiments withnatural mixtures show smooth pressure and temperature dependencesup to a pressure of 8 GPa. The experiments at 9 and 10 GPa producedandradite-rich garnets and pyroxene compositions deviating fromthe trends defined by the lower pressure experiments (e.g. higherAl in orthopyroxene and Ca in clinopyroxene). This discrepancyis attributed to a higher degree of oxidation in the high-pressureexperiments and an orthopyroxene–high-P clinopyroxenephase transition at 9 GPa. Based on new and previous resultsin simple and natural systems, a new version of the Al-in-orthopyroxenebarometer is presented. The new barometer adequately reproducesexperimental pressures up to 8 GPa. KEY WORDS: garnet; mineral equilibrium; multi-anvil apparatus; orthopyroxene; geobarometry     

Calculated Phase Relations in the System NCKFMASH (Na2O-CaO-K2O-FeO-MgO-Al2O3-SiO2-H2O) for High-Pressure Metapelites

Petrogenetic grids in the system NCKFMASH (Na₂O–CaO–K₂O–FeO–MgO–Al₂O₃–SiO₂–H₂O)and the subsystems NCKMASH and NCKFASH calculated with the softwareTHERMOCALC 3.1 are presented for the P–T range 7–30kbar and 450–680°C, for assemblages involving garnet,chloritoid, biotite, carpholite, talc, chlorite, kyanite, staurolite,paragonite, glaucophane, jadeite, omphacite, diopsidic pyroxene,plagioclase, zoisite and lawsonite, with phengite, quartz/coesiteand H₂O in excess. These grids, together with calculated compatibilitydiagrams and P–T and T–X_Ca and P–X_Ca pseudosectionsfor different bulk-rock compositions, show that incorporationof Ca into the NKFMASH system leads to many of the NKFMASH invariantequilibria moving to lower pressure and/or lower temperature,which results, in most cases, in the stability of jadeite andgarnet being enlarged, but in the reduction of stability ofglaucophane, plagioclase and AFM phases. The effect of Ca onthe stability of paragonite is dependent on mineral assemblageat different P–T conditions. The calculated NCKFMASH diagramsare powerful in delineating the phase equilibria and P–Tconditions of natural pelitic assemblages. Moreover, contoursof the calculated phengite Si isopleths in P–T and P–X_Capseudosections confirm that phengite barometry in NCKFMASH isstrongly dependent on mineral assemblage. KEY WORDS: phase relations; metapelites; NCKFMASH; THERMOCALC; phengite geobarometry     

Petrography and uplift history of the Quaternary Takidani Granodiorite: could it have hosted a supercritical (HDR) geothermal reservoir?

The Quaternary Takidani Granodiorite (Japan Alps) is analogous to the type of deep-seated (3–5 km deep) intrusive-hosted fracture network system that might support (supercritical) hot dry/wet rock (HDR/HWR) energy extraction. The I-type Takidani Granodiorite comprises: porphyritic granodiorite, porphyritic granite, biotite-hornblende granodiorite, hornblende-biotite granodiorite, biotite-hornblende granite and biotite granite facies; the intrusion has a reverse chemical zonation, characterized by >70 wt% SiO₂ at its inferred margin and <67 wt% SiO₂ at the core. Fluid inclusion evidence indicates that fractured Takidani Granodiorite at one time hosted a liquid-dominated, convective hydrothermal system, with <380°C, low-salinity reservoir fluids at hydrostatic (mesothermal) pressure conditions. ‘Healed’ microfractures also trapped >600°C, hypersaline (35 wt% NaCl_eq) fluids of magmatic origin, with inferred minimum pressures of formation being 600–750 bar, which corresponds to fluid entrapment at 2.4–3.0 km depth. Al-in-hornblende geobarometry indicates that hornblende crystallization occurred at about 1.45 Ma (7.7–9.4 km depth) in the (marginal) eastern Takidani Granodiorite, but later (at 1.25 Ma) and shallower (6.5–7.0 km) near the core of the intrusion. The average rate of uplift across the Takidani Granodiorite from the time of hornblende crystallization has been 5.1–5.9 mm/yr (although uplift was about 7.5 mm/yr prior to 1.2 Ma), which is faster than average uplift rates in the Japan Alps (3 mm/yr during the last 2 million years). A temperature–depth–time window, when the Takidani Granodiorite had potential to host an HDR system, would have been when the internal temperature of the intrusive was cooling from 500°C to 400°C. Taking into account the initial (7.5 mm/yr) rate of uplift and effects of erosion, an optimal temperature–time–depth window is proposed: for 500°C at 1.54–1.57 Ma and 5.2±0.9 km (drilling) depth; and 400°C at 1.36–1.38 Ma and 3.3±0.8 km (drilling) depth, which is within the capabilities of modern drilling technologies, and similar to measured temperature–depth profiles in other active hydrothermal systems (e.g. at Kakkonda, Japan).     

多硅白云母压力计在退变质作用中的稳定性探讨

探讨多硅白云母地质压力计在低温退变质过程中的稳定性，在对大别山东缘和苏鲁造山带西缘郯庐左旋走滑韧性剪切带糜棱岩中的多硅白云母残斑由中心向两侧边缘进行电子探针分析后发现：由中心向两侧边缘Si减少,Al增加,Fe，Mg略有降低，部分样品中K，Na有不同程度的增加．而Ti则显示不活动富集。这是由于退变质过程中流体的活动常会改变残斑白云母的成分．并且在流体活动过程相对短暂的情况下，使残斑白云母的成分不能发生充分变化．最终会导致白云母不同部位具有不同的成分。因而,经历了富流体活动的退变质作用后,岩石中的多硅白云母残斑已不能完全保存其形成时的压力信息。     

Exhumation of the Mesozoic Guojialing Granodiorite: Implication for the Preservation of Gold Deposits in the Jiaobei Terrane,China

Preservation conditions are very important for mineral systems and a suitable exhumation process is critical for endogenetic deposits, especially for those deposits formed in orogenic settings, where deposits are inclined to erode away due to strong uplift. The G uojialing batholith, intruding into the L inglong granites and the J iaodong G roup right before regional gold mineralization, is one of the most important gold ore‐hosting M esozoic intrusions in the J iaobei terrane. Gold deposits and the intrusion together underwent similar tectonothermal evolutionary processes. Exhumation and denudation process of the G uojialing granodiorite was constrained by biotite geobarometry and apatite fission track (FT ) analysis. Biotite geobarometric data yields an emplacement depth of 3.0 km, while denudation since 110 M a was calculated from the FT data at about 2.7 km. FT inverse modeling revealed a rapid uplift since ca 100 Ma. Compared with the gold ore‐forming depth which is confined between 2.5 and 9.5 km by fluid inclusion studies, great gold potential in the depths is inferred in the J iaobei terrane. Our result is consistent, to some extent, with the hypothesis of a M esozoic paleoplateau in E ast C hina.     

蓟县中、新元古界的成岩作用——源于矿物学的数据

本文运用系列黏土矿物学和碳酸盐结构占位的方法研究了蓟县中、新元古界剖面出露的碎屑岩和碳酸盐岩.这些方法包括了伊利石结晶度、绿泥石结晶度、黏土矿物组合、粒度分布、多型、有序度、Mg/Ca离子占位以及地质温压计.结果表明:伊利石结晶度Kübler指数范围为0.37°～1.37°Δ2θ,绿泥石结晶度árkai指数范围为0.31°～2.40°Δ2θ,以及1Md的多型,一致指示本区处于晚期成岩作用影响范围,仅非常有限局部达到了初始变质的状态;黏土矿物组合主要是伊利石、伊蒙混层、绿蒙混层和高岭石;粒度分布范围为8～24 nm,其上界(23～24 nm)达到了NEWMOD计算的理论成岩带/近变质带界限,与结晶度数据一致,也表明了本区处于晚期成岩阶段.白云石有序度的数据表明,本区碳酸盐岩白云石的有序度值范围为0.19～0.99,可分为4个带:甚低级有序带、低级有序带、中级有序带、高级有序带.与川东石炭-二叠系碳酸盐岩相比,中低级有序带有一定的油气前景.本区由西向东,由甚低级有序带变化到高级有序带,白云石有序度升高.估计的成岩作用温度为183～200±20℃,压力为330 MPa,古地热梯度为17～21℃/km.     

中国东北地区上地幔组成、结构及热状态

本文通过对中国东北地区新生代玄武岩中超镁铁质包体的研究,根据地质压力计所估算的包体形成深度、玄武岩浆及辉石岩浆起源的深度等,建立了中国东北地区上地幔组成模式:1.壳幔过渡带;2.尖晶石二辉橄榄岩层;3.含有痕量硅酸盐熔体的低速层;4.尖晶石方辉橄榄岩层;5.石榴石二辉橄榄岩层。与此同时,根据地质温度计与地质压力计推算资料,作者认为中国东北地区上地幔属大洋地温。与典型克拉通地温相比,低速层位置较浅,上地幔处于过热状态,这与大陆裂谷的发育有关。     

极低级变质作用及其研究方法

近年来国际上极低级变质作用的研究进展包括综合运用了伊利石结晶度等各项指标 ,将极低级变质带划分为成岩带、近变质带和浅变质带 ,成岩带和近变质带又可进一步划分为低级成岩带、高级成岩带、低级近变质带和高级近变质带 ;研究了伸展背景、阿尔卑斯碰撞背景和增生背景下的极低级变质作用 ;进一步理解了矿物的转变过程 ,建立了变质泥质岩石的矿物反应系列。即变质泥质岩石的二八面体矿物反应系列 ,为蒙皂石—伊 /蒙混层 (I/S)—伊利石—白云母 ;对应变质镁铁质岩石的三八面体矿物反应系列 ,为蒙皂石—绿泥石 /蒙皂石混层 (C/S)—绿泥石。岩石微构造也发生同步变化 ;明确了广泛应用的伊利石结晶度的本质是雏晶大小的一种量度 ,也与晶格应变有关 ,主要受反应动力的控制 ;建立了系统的研究技术方法 ,包括野外采样方法、室内X光衍射法 (XRD)、透射电镜法 (TEM )、地质温度计、地质压力计、岩石学方法、同位素地质学方法等     

Footwall dip of a core complex detachment fault: thermobarometric constraints from the northern Snake Range (Basin and Range,USA)

Low‐angle detachment faults are common features in areas of large‐scale continental extension and are typically associated with metamorphic core complexes, where they separate upper plate brittle extension from lower plate ductile stretching and metamorphism. In many core complexes, the footwall rocks have been exhumed from middle to lower crustal depths, leading to considerable debate about the relationship between hangingwall and footwall rocks, and the role that detachment faults play in footwall exhumation. Here, garnet–biotite thermometry and garnet–muscovite–biotite–plagioclase barometry results are presented, together with garnet and zircon geochronology data, from seven locations within metapelitic rocks in the footwall of the northern Snake Range décollement (NSRD). These locations lie both parallel and normal to the direction of footwall transport to constrain the pre‐exhumation geometry of the footwall. To determine P–T gradients precisely within the footwall, the ΔPT method of Worley & Powell (2000) has been employed, which minimizes the contribution of systematic uncertainties to thermobarometric calculations. The results show that footwall rocks reached pressures of 6–8 kbar and temperatures of 500–650 °C, equivalent to burial depths of 23–30 km. Burial depth remains constant in the WNW–ESE direction of footwall transport, but increases from south to north. The lack of a burial gradient in the direction of footwall transport implies that the footwall rocks, which today define a sub‐horizontal datum in the direction of fault transport, also defined a sub‐horizontal datum at depth in Late Cretaceous time. This suggests that the footwall was not tilted about the normal to the fault transport direction during exhumation, and hence that the NSRD did not form as a low‐angle normal fault cutting down through the lower crust. Instead, the following evolution for the northern Snake Range footwall is proposed. (i) Mesozoic contraction caused substantial crustal thickening by duplication and folding of the miogeoclinal sequence, accompanied by upper greenschist to amphibolite facies metamorphism. (ii) About half of the total exhumation was accomplished by roughly coaxial stretching and thinning in Late Cretaceous to Early Tertiary time, accompanied by retrogression and mylonitic deformation. (iii) The footwall rocks were then ‘captured’ from the middle crust along a moderately dipping NSRD that soled into the middle crust with a rolling‐hinge geometry at both upper and lower terminations.     

Mineralogy, petrology and P–T–t path of Ca–Na amphibole assemblages, Saint-Martin des Noyers formation, Vendée, France

Abstract The Saint-Martin des Noyers Formation is interpreted as a slice of an island-arc system of Lower to Middle Palaeozoic age, located in the internal part of the Variscan orogen in Vendée (Armorican Massif, France). Metamorphosed igneous rocks range in composition from ultramafic to rhyolitic. The regular increase in the FeO/(FeO+MgO) ratio, from mafic to silicic samples, results in a systematic variability in the nature and composition of the metamorphic phases. In basaltic samples, the occurrence of relict garnet-barroisite assemblages suggests relatively high-pressure conditions for the peak of metamorphism. During a subsequent retrograde evolution, the primary barroisitic hornblendes recrystallized to texturally complex mixtures of actinolite and hornblende. Despite this complication, it is possible to decipher a P–T-t path based on amphibole chemistry. The P–T trajectory deduced is dominated by the effect of pressure and consistent with early underthrusting and subsequent tectonic uplift of the ancient arc of Saint-Martin des Noyers.