The Composition and Origin of the Connemara Dolomitic Marbles and Ophicalcites, Ireland

The Connemara ophicalcites and associated marbles contain varyingproportions of calcite, dolomite, tremolitic amphibole, serpentinizedolivine, diopside, humite, phlogopite, clinochlore, and quartz.They formed from a chemically precipitated 'primary' dolomitewith a small amount of mica and clay minerals in which muchof the trace and minor element content of the rock, e.g. Al,Fe, Ti, Zn, Ni, Cr, Zr, K, Rb, and rare earths was concentrated.The rock was probably silicified after deposition, possiblyduring metamorphism, and was probably not deposited with majoradmixed detrital quartz or feldspar. The formation during metamorphismof complementary segregated layers rich in either olivine (Fo_98±2)or calcite resulted from important chemical changes controlledby the composition of the stable metamorphic minerals, i.e.those for which solution concentrations exceeded the solubilityproduct for the pore fluid. The mineralogy influenced the localconcentrations of both major and trace elements and emphasizesthe importance of solutions and the stable metamorphic mineralogyin manipulating the composition of some metamorphic rocks. Somecriteria for recognizing segregated layers in metamorphic rocksare given. Serpentinization was probably by addition of water and silicaand not by movement of Fe or Mg. Chemical analyses of forty-threesamples each for twenty-six oxides and elements are given andthe first occurrence of humite in Connemara is reported.     

The Composition and Origin of the Striped Amphibolites of Connemara, Ireland

Major- and trace-element analyses, accompanied by modal analysesand mineralogical data, are given for thirty-three striped amphibolitesfrom Connemara. It is concluded that prior to metamorphism theserocks were intrusions, lavas or tuffs of sodic basalt composition.     

The Composition and Origin of the Striped Amphibolites of Connemara, Ireland

Major- and trace-element analyses, accompanied by modal analysesand mineralogical data, are given for thirty-three striped amphibolitesfrom Connemara. It is concluded that prior to metamorphism theserocks were intrusions, lavas or tuffs of sodic basalt composition.     

The age of the Oughterard Granite,Connemara, Ireland

Despite a wide latitude for interpretation of previous Rb–Sr isotopic data on the Oughterard Granite the age of this intrusion has been regarded as a critical time-marker in resolving the Caledonian evolution of Connemara. New isotopic data suggest that the age of the intrusion be revised from c. 460 Ma to c. 400 Ma, thus making the Oughterard Granite one among the many Newer Caledonian Granites in Ireland. The preferred age is 407 ± 23 Ma, and the initial ⁸⁷ Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratio is 0·7076 ± 1. Heterogeneity within the granite is demonstrated, which explains the difficulty in obtaining reliable isotopic ages from this intrusion.     

The Metamorphism of Fe-rich Pelites from Connemara, Ireland

Connemara pelites show progressive metamorphism from stauroliteto upper sillimanite zones and possess low Mg/(Fe + Mg) values,typically 0.30 to 0.35 from about 100 analyses. As a consequenceof their composition, many sillimanite zone pelites lack bothmuscovite and K-feldspar. Staurolite, garnet, biotite, muscovite,feldspars and iron ores have been microprobe analysed in 48samples. Assemblages, textures and mineral compositions indicatethat metamorphism followed a sequence of continuous and discontinuousreactions with systematic variations in mineral Mg/(Mg + Fe)as predicted by theory. Contrary to some common assumptions,most reaction takes place along divariant equilibria; univariantreactions are seldom reached because reactants such as chloriteor muscovite are first consumed along divariant curves. Pelitepetrogenetic grids showing univariant curves can only indicatelimits to natural assemblages; they typically do not show whichreactions have actually taken place. Physical conditions of metamorphism have been calculated bya variety of means; temperatures range from 550° for thestaurolite zone to 650° for the upper silimanite zone, withthe first appearance of sillimanite near 580°. An earlykyanite-staurolite metamorphism at pressures above about 5 kbwas followed by a steepening of the thermal gradient leadingto regional cordierite and andalusite. This was probably accompaniedby uplift with pressures of around 4 kb for roeks near the sillimanite-inisograd.     

The nature and significance of the mechanism of sillimanite growth in the Connemara schists,Ireland

During prograde metamorphism of the Connemara pelites, sillimanite first develops in biotite immediately adjacent to, or replacing, garnet. In some rocks, breakdown of garnet+muscovite and staurolite +muscovite+quartz leads to the development of fibrolite pseudomorphs after garnet. The textures indicate a constant volume replacement of garnet with movement of Al from staurolite and muscovite in the matrix towards the few, widely scattered, garnet sites. The complex ionic reaction patterns are the result of the strong preference of sillimanite to grow on biotite that is replacing garnet, and this pattern of preferred nucleations is taken to indicate that the equilibrium conditions for the reaction were only overstepped by the minimum required for initial sillimanite nucleation. Chemical movements were controlled by the heterogeneous nucleation pattern, not by intrinsic properties of the moving species. In order for extensive reaction to occur under near-equilibrium conditions, the rate at which the total thermal reaction proceeded must have been controlled by the supply of heat to the rocks rather than by diffusion or local reaction steps.     

Regional Metasomatism and the Geochemistry of the Dalradian Metasediments of Connemara, Western Ireland

Based on 225 analyses of quartzites, siliceous granoblastites,calc silicate rocks, calcite and dolomite marbles, including120 analyses of pelites and semipelites, sedimentary trendsof chemical variation are identified in staurolite and sillimanitegrade rocks. The correlation of original clay mineral contentwith Ti, Fe, K, Rb, Y, Nb, Ca, Ni, Ga, Zn and probably Ba andMn is shown. A similar clay mineral (whose composition is calculated)was added to all the sediments except the quartz-rich sandstones,now quartzites. This pattern appears to be general for mostsediments, based on crustal averages. The form of the originaladdition of Sr in the sediments might be identified as eithercarbonate or feldspar by a Ca vs. Sr plot. The southern pelites in a 2–4 km peripheral zone to theConnemara orthogneisses and migmatites have been metasomatized.The crude order of elemental enrichment from the elements increasedthe most to those increased the least relative to the same stratigraphicalhorizons in the north is: Mn, Ba, Th, Cu, Ca, Sr, Y, Pb, Zn,Pr, Ge, Nd, La, Mg, S, Ce, Rb, Sm, Ti, Na, K and Ga while Si,Al, Cr, Ni, Co, Fe and P are unchanged or removed. The sourceof the material added is postulated to be the water-rich residualfraction of the migmatitic quartz diorite gneiss, the transportbeing by movement of a water-rich fluid out of the migmatites,the fixation being mainly in biotite and new, more calcic, plagioclaseporphyroblasts, there being a positive correlation between elementenrichment and ionic radius.     

Silica mobility and fluid movement during metamorphism of the Connemara schists, Ireland

Quartz veins are developed in a wide range of metasediment types in the upper amphibolite facies rocks of Connemara, and attest to considerable migration of silica. Contrary to common assumptions, there is clear evidence that these veins do not primarily result from movement of fluid to regions of lower P–T down the regional geothermal gradient. Under amphibolite facies conditions, a dilute chloride fluid moving down temperature has the potential to alter 60g of plagioclase to muscovite for each gram of vein quartz precipitated, while cooling over the temperature interval from 650 to 500° C. The absence of significant metasomatic effects in the vein walls effectively precludes a simple origin from such through-flowing, externally derived fluids. The oxygen isotopic composition of matrix quartz shows considerable differences between different rock types (quartzite, pelite and marble), with a range of δ¹⁸O_SMOW from c.+ 11.5% (quartzite) to + 18.5% (marble). In each rock type, vein quartz compositions closely match those of the matrix quartz. These results demonstrate the importance of local segregation processes in the formation of veins, and suggest that fluid convection cells were not developed during metamorphism on a scale larger than the individual sedimentary formations, if at all. Both oxygen isotope data and the absence of metasomatism indicate that veins form primarily by segregation of quartz from the host lithologies, with only a relatively minor component of through flow of externally derived fluid. Veins are clearly not the major pathways of metamorphic dewatering. It is proposed that abundant veins in the predominantly pelitic Ballynakill Formation formed during peak metamorphic D3 folding because the formation was embrittled by high fluid pressures but was capped by impermeable marble. Hence the pelitic formation fractured repeatedly and the pore fluid drained through the fractures to form veins, while irreversible loss through the rest of the succession was a much less important process. In the central mountains of Connemara, rather pure, unreactive quartzites are cut by widely spaced, laterally extensive quartz veins that are axial planar to D3 folds. These veins may mark pathways whereby metamorphic fluid made its way through the massive impermeable quartzite from lower parts of the nappe pile, but here too, oxygen isotope data indicate considerable segregation of locally derived quartz, reflecting the importance of pumping of fluid between wail rocks and fractures relative to the component of through flow.     

Relationships between the chemical and modal compositions of metapelites from Connemara,Ireland

Multiple regression analysis has been used to obtain expressions for the modal abundances of major pelite phases as a function of rock composition for a suite of staurolite grade rocks from north east Connemara, and for a suite of nearby sillimanite grade pelites of the same range of bulk compositions. The abundances of the principal silicate phases at both grades are controlled by the concentrations of their major components in the rock, except for garnet whose abundance is dominantly controlled by the Ca-content of the rock. Prediction equations have been used to evaluate changes in mineral abundances between the staurolite and sillimanite zones for individual samples, and it is found that breakdown of staurolite, muscovite and some garnet is accompanied by growth of biotite, sillimanite and plagioclase.     

Mechanism of Mineral Reactions Inferred from Textures of Impure Dolomitic Marbles from East Greenland

Mineral assemblages and chemical compositions of minerals foundin impure dolomitic marbles embedded in gneisses and migmatitesof the E. Greenland Caledonian fold belt (Scoresby Sund) suggestthat the marbles were metamorphosed near 630 °C at 5 kbpressure. The analysis of complex textural and mineralogicalrelations among minerals such as dolomite, calcite, forsterite,pargasite, chlorite, spinel, diopside and phlogopite led tothe conclusion that the major mineralogical features of therocks were probably caused by sodium metasomatism at constanttemperature and pressure. The effect of the inferred sodiummetasomatism may be summarized by three schematic reactionsall involving modal changes of excess dolomite, calcite, forsterite,chlorite and spinel: (a) nucleation and growth of pargasite,(b) resorption of phlogopite, and (c) growth of pargasite fromphlogopite.     

A stable isotope study of retrograde alteration in SW Connemara,Ireland

Dalradian metamorphic rocks, Lower Ordovician meta-igneous rocks (MGS) and Caledonian granites of the Connemara complex in SW Connemara all show intense retrograde alteration. Alteration primarily involves sericitization and saussuritization of plagioclase, the alteration of biotite and hornblende to chlorite and the formation of secondary epidote. The alteration is associated with sealed microcracks in all rocks and planes of secondary fluid inclusions in quartz where it occurs, and was the result of a phase of fluid influx into these rocks. In hand specimen K-feldspar becomes progressively reddened with increasing alteration. Mineralogical alteration in the MGS and Caledonian granites took place at temperatures 275±15°C and in the MGS P_fluid is estimated to be 1.5 kbar during alteration. The °D values of alteration phases are:-18 to-29 (fluid inclusions),-47 to-61 (chlorites) and-11 to-31 (epidotes). Chlorite ¹⁸O values are +0.2 to +4.3, while ¹⁸O values for quartz-K-feldspar pairs show both positively sloped (MGS) and highly unusual negatively sloped (Caledonian granites) arrays, diverging from the normal magmatic field on a - plot. The stable isotope data show that the fluid that caused retrogression continued to be present in most rocks until temperatures fell to 200–140°C. The retrograde fluid had D -20 to-30 in all lithologies, but the fluid ¹⁸O varied both spatially and temporally within the range-4 to +7. The fO₂ of the fluid that deposited the epidotes in the MGS varied with its ¹⁸O value, with the most ¹⁸O-depleted fluid being the most oxidizing. The D values, together with low (<0) ¹⁸O values for the retrograde fluid in some lithologies indicate that this fluid was of meteoric origin. This meteoric fluid was probably responsible for the alteration in all lithologies during a single phase of fluid infiltration. The variation in retrograde fluid ¹⁸O values is attributed to the effects of variable oxygen isotope shifting of this meteoric fluid by fluid-rock interaction. Infiltration of meteoric fluid into this area was most likely accomplished by convection of pore fluids around the heat anomaly of the Galway granite soon after intrusion at 400 Ma. However convective circulation of meteoric water and mineralogical alteration could possible have occurred considerably later.     

Magma mixing and mingling textures in granitoids: examples from the Galway Granite, Connemara, Ireland

Summary ?Many granitoid intrusions display textural evidence for the interaction of mafic and silicic magmas during their genesis. The ∼ 400 Ma Galway Granite exhibits excellent evidence for magma mixing and mingling both at outcrop/map scale (magma mingling and mixing zones), and at thin-section/crystal scale (mixing textures). These textures – quartz ocelli, rapakivi feldspars, acicular and mixed apatite morphologies, inclusion zones in feldspars, anorthite ‘spikes’ in plagioclase, sphene ocelli, K-feldspar megacrysts in mafic microgranular enclaves (MME), and mafic clots – constitute a textural assemblage whose origin can be explained in terms of magma mixing and mingling models. Furthermore, textures from this assemblage have been recorded throughout the Galway batholith indicating that magma mingling and mixing played a key role during its evolution. Received November 18, 2000; revised version accepted November 6, 2001     

A fluid inclusion and stable isotope study of 200 Ma of fluid evolution in the Galway Granite, Connemara, Ireland

Fluid inclusions in granite quartz and three generations of veins indicate that three fluids have affected the Caledonian Galway Granite. These fluids were examined by petrography, microthermometry, chlorite thermometry, fluid chemistry and stable isotope studies. The earliest fluid was a H₂O-CO₂-NaCl fluid of moderate salinity (4–10 wt% NaCl eq.) that deposited late-magmatic molybdenite mineralised quartz veins (V₁) and formed the earliest secondary inclusions in granite quartz. This fluid is more abundant in the west of the batholith, corresponding to a decrease in emplacement depth. Within veins, and to the east, this fluid was trapped homogeneously, but in granite quartz in the west it unmixed at 305–390 °C and 0.7–1.8 kbar. Homogeneous quartz δ¹⁸O across the batholith (9.5 ± 0.4‰n = 12) suggests V₁ precipitation at high temperatures (perhaps 600 °C) and pressures (1–3 kbar) from magmatic fluids. Microthermometric data for V₁ indicate lower temperatures, suggesting inclusion volumes re-equilibrated during cooling. The second fluid was a H₂O-NaCl-KCl, low-moderate salinity (0–10 wt% NaCl eq.), moderate temperature (270–340 °C), high δD (−18 ± 2‰), low δ¹⁸O (0.5–2.0‰) fluid of meteoric origin. This fluid penetrated the batholith via quartz veins (V₂) which infill faults active during post-consolidation uplift of the batholith. It forms the most common inclusion type in granite quartz throughout the batholith and is responsible for widespread retrograde alteration involving chloritization of biotite and hornblende, sericitization and saussuritization of plagioclase, and reddening of K-feldspar. The salinity was generated by fluid-rock interactions within the granite. Within granite quartz this fluid was trapped at 0.5–2.3 kbar, having become overpressured. This fluid probably infiltrated the Granite in a meteoric-convection system during cooling after intrusion, but a later age cannot be ruled out. The final fluid to enter the Granite and its host rocks was a H₂O-NaCl-CaCl₂-KCl fluid with variable salinity (8–28 wt% NaCl eq.), temperature (125–205 °C), δD (−17 to −45‰), δ¹⁸O (−3 to + 1.2‰), δ¹³C_CO2 (−19 to 0‰) and δ³⁴S_sulphate (13–23‰) that deposited veins containing quartz, fluorite, calcite, barite, galena, chalcopyrite sphalerite and pyrite (V₃). Correlations of salinity, temperature, δD and δ¹⁸O are interpreted as the result of mixing of two fluid end-members, one a high-δD (−17 to −8‰), moderate-δ¹⁸O (1.2–2.5‰), high-δ¹³C_CO2 (> −4‰), low-δ³⁴S_sulphate (13‰), high-temperature (205–230 °C), moderate-salinity (8–12 wt% NaCl eq.) fluid, the other a low-δD (−61 to −45‰), low-δ¹⁸O (−5.4 to −3‰), low-δ¹³C (<−10‰), high-δ³⁴S_sulphate (20–23‰) low-temperature (80–125 °C), high-salinity (21–28 wt% NaCl eq.) fluid. Geochronological evidence suggests V₃ veins are late Triassic; the high-δD end-member is interpreted as a contemporaneous surface fluid, probably mixed meteoric water and evaporated seawater and/or dissolved evaporites, whereas the low-δD end-member is interpreted as a basinal brine derived from the adjacent Carboniferous sequence. This study demonstrates that the Galway Granite was a locus for repeated fluid events for a variety of reasons; from expulsion of magmatic fluids during the final stages of crystallisation, through a meteoric convection system, probably driven by waning magmatic heat, to much later mineralisation, concentrated in its vicinity due to thermal, tectonic and compositional properties of granite batholiths which encourage mineralisation long after magmatic heat has abated. Received: 3 April 1996 / Accepted: 5 May 1997     

乌尔禾—风城地区二叠系白云质岩类岩石学特征及成因分析

为了探讨准噶尔盆地西北缘乌尔禾—风城地区二叠系风城组白云质岩类的成因,利用岩矿鉴定技术,地球化学分析技术等手段,系统分析该套云质岩类的地球化学特征。研究表明,该区云质岩类有别于海相碳酸盐岩,受外物源的影响较大,成份复杂,多为过渡性岩类。以泥质白云岩和白云质泥岩和白云质粉砂岩为主,含有少量的凝灰质白云岩和白云质凝灰岩。岩石矿物学特征和地球化学分析数据均表明,研究区的云质岩类主要形成于水体安静、深度较大、盐度偏高的半封闭陆源近海湖湾环境。二叠系时期气候炎热,蒸发作用强烈与火山活动频繁,加之淡水补给相对匮乏,为该区的云质岩类形成提供了良好的镁离子来源和水动力条件。这时湖湾中沉积的富含文石或高镁方解石     

二连盆地阿南凹陷下白垩统腾格尔组湖相云质岩成因

二连盆地阿南凹陷下白垩统腾格尔组发育一套湖相的富含致密油云质岩段,包括云质泥岩、云质沉凝灰岩和云质砂岩,但这类云质岩中的白云石岩石学特征及成因尚不明确.通过岩心、薄片、扫描电镜及碳氧同位素分析,将云质岩中的白云石分为两类:(1) 分布在纹层状和星点状云质泥岩或云质沉凝灰岩的非平直晶面、半自形微粉晶白云石;(2) 分布在块状云质沉凝灰岩或云质砂岩的非平直-平直晶面、自形粉细晶白云石.两类白云石的成因机制不同:(1) 半自形微粉晶白云石具偏高的δ13C_PDB值(平均为5.4‰),主要受产甲烷菌的代谢活动影响,其δ18O_PDB值负偏移量较小(平均为-13.0‰),计算形成温度约50~75 ℃,推测为成岩早期成因白云石,Mg2+离子主要来源于富火山灰的凝灰物质大量水解.(2) 自形粉细晶白云石晶体较大、晶形好,其δ13C_PDB值偏低(0.2‰~0.7‰),受产甲烷菌的代谢活动和深层有机质热催化共同影响,其δ18O_PDB值较低(平均为-19.4‰),计算形成温度约119 ℃,推测为成岩晚期埋藏成因白云石,Mg2+离子可能与粘土矿物水解及深部流体上涌有关.      

Modelling of the thermal history of metamorphic zoning in the Connemara region (western Ireland)

The Connemara region of the Irish Caledonides is a classic example of regional-scale metamorphism of low pressure and high temperature. This terrane is considered as part of a fold belt comprising metasedimentary and metavolcanic rocks that are correlated with the Neoproterozoic–Lower Paleozoic Dalradian Supergroup of Scotland. In mid-Ordovician time, the extensive and high-temperature metamorphism was superimposed on the Dalradian rocks resulting in the Connemara zoning. The key feature of the zoning is elevated horizontal thermal gradient of ca. 14 °C/km. Geological data and geochronological evidence point to a causative link between metamorphism and associated magmatic intrusions, and a brief period of development for the metamorphic zoning. Magmatic intrusion into the middle part of continental crust is treated as a most plausible source of heat for metamorphism, and other conjectures as to the origin of the zoning (flow of hot fluid through the permeable rocks, fracture conduit flushed by flowing magma) are believed to be improbable. To examine in sufficient detail the problem of the nature of heat source, a series of appropriate calculations have been performed to reach the best agreement between the observed and simulated spatial distribution of maximum temperatures at different times. The mathematical modelling shows that the temperature–spatial structure of the Connemara zoning is best explained by the model version based on mid-crustal heating above the upper contact of magmatic intrusive body gently curved and tilted at an angle between 20° and 40°, with an initial temperature of the magma appropriate to a basaltic melt. The model estimate of total lifetime of the temperature anomaly in the crust is of the order of 5–6 Ma. In general, this is in rather good agreement with the currently available evidence of geochronological duration of metamorphism and magmatism in Connemara.     

U–Pb isotopic dating of fluid infiltration and metasomatism during Dalradian regional metamorphism in Connemara, western Ireland

Abstract A metasomatic diopside rock occurs at the top of the dolomitic Connemara Marble Formation of western Ireland and contains titanite and K-feldspar in addition to around 90% diopside ( X _Mg= 0.90–0.97). U–Pb isotopic measurements on this mineral assemblage show that the titanite is both unusually uranium-rich and isotopically concordant, with the result that a precise U–Pb age of 478 ± 2.5 Ma can be determined. The age is identical within error to a less precise Rb–Sr age of diopside–K-feldspar of 483 ± 6 Ma. Petrological evidence indicates that the assemblage crystallized at c . 620° C close to or below the closure temperature of titanite. The age thus provides a precise estimate of the time of metamorphism; this age is 11 ± 3 Ma younger than the 490 Ma age for nearby gabbroic plutons which has previously been used to constrain the peak metamorphic age. This difference accords well with geological evidence that the gabbros were emplaced prior to the metamorphic peak. Analysis of minerals with high closure temperature from assemblages whose crystallization is unambiguously associated with a specific episode of fluid infiltration at the peak of metamorphism provides the basis for a new approach to dating metamorphism. The success of this approach is demonstrated by the results from Connemara.