The smectite to chlorite transition in a fossil seamount hydrothermal system: the Basement Complex of La Palma, Canary Islands

Abstract The hydrothermal metamorphism of a sequence of Pliocene-aged seamount extrusive and volcanoclastic rocks on La Palma includes a relatively complete low-P-T facies series encompassing the zeolite, prehnite-pumpellyite, and greenschist facies. The observed mineral zonations imply metamorphic gradients of 200–300° C km^-1. The transition from smectite to chlorite in the La Palma seamount series is characterized by discontinuous steps between discrete smectite, corrensite and chlorite, which occur ubiquitously as vesicles and, to a much lesser extent, vein in-fillings. Trioctahedral smectites (Mg/(Fe + Mg) = 0.4–0.75] occur with palagonite and Na-Ca zeolites such as analcime and a thompsonite/natrolite solid solution. Corrensite (Mg/(Fe + Mg) = 0.5–0.65] first appears at stratigraphic depths closely corresponding to the disappearance of analcime and first appearance of pumpellyite. Discrete chlorite (Mg/(Fe + Mg) = 0.4–0.6] becomes the dominant layer silicate mineral coincident with the appearance of epidote and andraditic garnet. Within the stratigraphic section there is some overlap in the distribution of the three discrete layer silicate phases, although random interstratifications of these phases have not been observed. Although smectite occurs as both low- and high-charge forms, the La Palma corrensite is a compositionally restricted, 1:1 mixture of low-charge, trioctahedral smectite and chlorite. Electron microprobe analyses of coarse-grained corrensite yield structural formulae close to ideal values based on 50 negative charge recalculations. Calcium (average 0.20 cations/formula unit) is the dominant interlayer cation, with lesser Mg, K and Na. The absence of randomly interlayered chlorite/smectite in the La Palma seamount series may reflect high, time-integrated fluid fluxes through the seamount sequence. This is consistent with the ubiquity of high-variance metamorphic mineral assemblages and the general absence of relict igneous minerals in these samples.