奥地利东阿尔卑斯山地区杂砂岩带中赋存于碳酸盐岩中的晶质菱镁矿床

奥地利东阿尔卑斯山地区Austroalpine杂砂岩带中的石炭纪Veitsch逆冲推覆体是"Veitsch型"晶质菱镁矿化的典型地区。几十年来,对其成因的解释一直是人们争论的焦点。为了解决这一长久以来的问题,本文对Veitsch推覆体的地质学、矿物学和地球化学制约条件进行了论述。菱镁矿仅仅存在于Veitsch推覆体之中,而其它推覆体中的碳酸盐岩岩层中则无菱镁矿。赋存于Veitsch推覆体中的碳酸盐岩石中的菱镁矿以不规则的岩株状、透镜状和层状产出。块状和厚层状的菱镁矿总是被白云岩包裹。在Veitsch推覆体中,沉积作用开始于晚维宪期的后造山的类磨拉石海相建造,并晚于内部基底带的变形和变质作用("Bretonic期")形成,该基底带位于现代的东阿尔卑斯山地区。沉积序列研究表明,演化从浅海大陆架开始,有时还穿插有高盐度的泻湖和透镜状生物礁,发展到海退的海岸线伴随有发育强烈的三角洲沉积的分支海湾和河流。由于成矿作用有好几个期次,所以对地球化学数据的解释相当复杂。 在Hohentauern／Sunk矿床中,石膏和硬石膏层在菱镁矿质沉积主岩中互层,其δ34S值分别为 17.6±0.2‰和 17.2±0.2‰,表现出石炭纪海水的特征。白云岩和菱镁矿的REE浓度要高于石灰质主岩。在Hohentauern／Sunk矿床中,球形白云岩中的白云岩球体和白云质基质     

Tertiary metallogenesis in the Eastern Alps: the Waldenstein hematite deposit (Austria)

The specularite deposit at Waldenstein is an epigenetic replacement/vein-type hematite mineralization with distinct alteration zones. It is situated in highly metamorphosed schists and, gneisses of the Koralm Crystalline Complex. Sericitization and chloritization are strictly bound to this alteration and occur within a few meters of the hematite veins. Radiometric dating of the sericitization and the implicity of the mineralization yield a Middle Eocene age. Petrographic evidence proves an early, relatively reduced paragenesis (magnetite, ilmenite) being partly replaced by hematite and chlorite during the main phase of ore formation. Fluid inclusion and stable isotope investigations indicate that formation temperatures were approximately 300°C during the main stage and decreased to 200°C in the latest stage of the hydrothermal event. The H-isotope compositions of chlorites and of fluid inclusions in quartz indicate the influence of seawater. This also explains the high salinities determined by fluid inclusion studies (20–30% NaCl equiv.). According to the genetic model presented in this paper the hydrothermal activity started when the deformation accompanying the uplift of the Koralm Crystalline Complex passed from a ductile to brittle regime (Middle Eocene). The brittle faults acted as channelways for rising, deep fluids, probably of metamorphic origin. Temperature differences between the different uplifting crustal segments supported fluid circulation. Precipitation of the ore occurred at shallow crustal levels where the hydraulic regime was dominated by seawater, and oxidation of the original reducing fluids took place.     

A Metamorphosed Early Cambrian Crust-Mantle Transition in the Eastern Alps, Austria

In the Speik Complex (Eastern Alps, Austria), highly melt-depleted,metamorphosed harzburgites with abundant pods and layers ofchromitite are interlayered with a suite of metamorphosed orthopyroxenites,clinopyroxenites and gabbros. Coarse-grained orthopyroxenitesoccur as centimetre- to metre-wide veinlets and pods, but alsoas intrusive plugs several tens of metres wide. Intimately associatedmetaclinopyroxenite and metagabbro are present as bodies upto several metres thick at a distinct stratigraphic level withinthe complex. In the ultramafic rocks, relict magmatic olivine,orthopyroxene, clinopyroxene and spinel have been overprintedby a metamorphic assemblage of forsterite, diopside, tremolite,anthophyllite, chlorite, serpentine, talc and Cr–Fe-richspinel. Hornblende, epidote, zoisite and chlorite dominate themetamorphic paragenesis in metagabbros, in addition to rarerelicts of clinopyroxene and two phases of Ca-rich garnet. Thepolymetamorphic evolution of the Speik Complex includes rarelypreserved pre-Variscan (400 Ma) eclogite-facies conditions,Variscan (330 Ma) amphibolite-facies conditions (600–700°C,>5 kbar) and Eoalpine (100 Ma) greenschist- to amphibolite-faciesconditions reaching 550°C and 7–10 kbar. Orthopyroxenitesare characterized by high concentrations of SiO₂, MgO and Cr,and by U-shaped chondrite-normalized rare earth element (REE)patterns similar to those of their harzburgite hosts. The REEpatterns of the clinopyroxenites are flat to slightly enrichedin light REE. Metagabbro compositions are variable, but generallycharacterized by low SiO₂ and high mg-numbers (61–78).Their REE patterns all have Gd_N/Yb_N > 1; some samples havelarge positive Eu anomalies implying the original presence ofcumulus plagioclase. In the orthopyroxenites, clinopyroxenitesand some peridotites, Pt, Pd and Re are distinctly enrichedcompared with Os, Ir and Ru, whereas most harzburgites haveunfractionated to slightly fractionated platinum-group element(PGE) patterns with respect to average upper mantle. The Re–Osisotope compositions of the pyroxenites define an errorchronat 550 ± 17 Ma and a supra-chondritic ¹⁸⁷Os/¹⁸⁸Os of0·179 ± 0·003. An isochron age of 554 ±37 Ma with _Nd(i) +0·7 is indicated by the Sm–Ndisotope compositions of whole-rock pyroxenite and gabbro samples,whereas the harzburgites plot on an errorchron of 745 ±45 Ma and _Nd(i) +6. The pyroxenites and gabbros probably representa cogenetic suite of magmatic dykes intruded into uppermost,highly depleted, suboceanic mantle below the crust–mantletransition zone in an oceanic basin close to the northwesternmargin of Gondwana. KEY WORDS: pyroxenite; metagabbro; geochemistry; Re–Os isotopes; Sm–Nd isotopes     

Variscan geodynamic evolution of the Carnic Alps (Austria/Italy)

The South-Alpine Carnic Alps are part of the southern flank of the European Variscides and display a continuous sedimentary record from Late Ordovician to Devonian times followed by Carboniferous S-directed nappe stacking and Late Carboniferous to Early Permian post-collisional collapse. The tectonometamorphic and sedimentary evolution of the Carnic Alps resembles a continuous process where pre- and syn-orogenic volcanism, syn-orogenic flysch sedimentation, deformation including nappe stacking, metamorphism and tectonic collapse shift in age from internal zones in the N towards external zones in the S. New structural, petrological and sedimentological data are presented concerning the tectonometamorphic history of the Carnic Alps. We distinguish three thrust sheets or tectonic nappes differing in their stratigraphic, sedimentological, deformational and metamorphic histories which were thrust over each other in Carboniferous times. Our data lead to a new geodynamic model showing an evolution from rifting or back-arc spreading in the Late Ordovician to the establishment of a mature passive continental margin in the Late Devonian/Early Carboniferous, flysch sedimentation in an active continental margin setting during the Visean/Namurian and finally collision during the Late Carboniferous between the northern margin of Gondwana and a microcontinent to the N.     

Isotopic constraints on fluid/rock ratios in carbonate rocks: Barite-sulfide mineralization in the Schwaz Dolomite, Tyrol (Eastern Alps, Austria)

The significance of isotopic data on constraining the physical conditions of fluid-rock interaction and mineralization processes in carbonate rocks is discussed, based on the example of barite-tetrahedrite mineralization in Lower Devonian platform carbonates of the Western Greywacke Zone (Tyrol, Austria). Available strontium, oxygen, carbon and sulfur isotopic data are complemented with oxygen isotopic data for barite. Barites are homogeneous in δ¹⁸O_V-SMOW and δ³⁴S_CDT with values of + 15.4 and + 23.5‰, respectively. Their ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios vary between 0.7128 and 0.7113 for the first generation and between 0.7117 and 0.7123 for younger remobilization. The dolomitic host rock shows a significant variation in Sr, O and C isotopic composition between non-mineralized and mineralized zones: ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios vary between 0.7076 and 0.7133, δ¹⁸O_V-SMOW-values between +28.11 and +20.65‰, and δ¹³C_PDB-values between −1.15 and + 3.06‰. Fluid/rock volume ratios on the order of 1.3–3.2 are calculated for open-system behaviour by modelling Sr, O and C isotopic shifting capacities. The isotope data combined with other geological evidence support the following genetic model: Subsequent to synsedimentary sulfide mineralization during an Early Devonian rifting stage, collision tectonics in Carboniferous time led to the expulsion of Ba- and Sr-rich orogenic brines, which evolved from metamorphic fluids consisting essentially of H₂O and some CH₄, into an external sedimentary fold-and-thrust belt. The brines remobilized the synsedimentary sulfides, mixed with meteoric waters in the platform carbonates, reacted with evaporitic horizons and finally caused the recrystallization of dolomite and the precipitation of Sr-rich barite in structurally weak zones at 70–130°C. During the later Alpine orogeny supergene oxidation products were formed, and sulfates, sulfides and carbonates were further remobilized into late faults and fractures.     

The Tauern Window (Eastern Alps, Austria): a new tectonic map, with cross-sections and a tectonometamorphic synthesis

We present a tectonic map of the Tauern Window and surrounding units (Eastern Alps, Austria), combined with a series of crustal-scale cross-sections parallel and perpendicular to the Alpine orogen. This compilation, largely based on literature data and completed by own investigations, reveals that the present-day structure of the Tauern Window is primarily characterized by a crustal-scale duplex, the Venediger Duplex (Venediger Nappe system), formed during the Oligocene, and overprinted by doming and lateral extrusion during the Miocene. This severe Miocene overprint was most probably triggered by the indentation of the Southalpine Units east of the Giudicarie Belt, initiating at 23–21 Ma and linked to a lithosphere-scale reorganization of the geometry of mantle slabs. A kinematic reconstruction shows that accretion of European lithosphere and oceanic domains to the Adriatic (Austroalpine) upper plate, accompanied by high-pressure overprint of some of the units of the Tauern Window, has a long history, starting in Turonian time (around 90 Ma) and culminating in Lutetian to Bartonian time (45–37 Ma).     

Preservation of Permo–Triassic low-pressure assemblages in the Cretaceous high-pressure metamorphic Saualpe crystalline basement (Eastern Alps, Austria)

Metapelites and intercalated metapegmatites of the Saualpe crystalline basement, which forms part of the Austroalpine nappe complex in the Eastern Alps, display a polyphase tectonometamorphic history. Here, we focus on the evolution that these rocks underwent prior to Cretaceous (eo‐Alpine) high‐pressure metamorphism and related penetrative deformation. Geothermobarometry on coarse‐grained porphyroclastic parageneses (garnet–biotite–muscovite–plagioclase–sillimanite–quartz), which occur as relics in kyanite–garnet, two‐mica gneiss, yielded 600 °C/0.4 GPa. Results from a corundum‐bearing lithology suggest that higher temperatures may have been reached in very restricted areas. The matrix of these rocks displays intense recrystallization during a pressure‐dominated metamorphic overprint. Microstructures and mineral chemistry indicate that this low‐pressure metamorphism was the first significant metamorphic imprint in these rocks. Mineral relics in all metapelitic rock types reflect low‐pressure conditions for this interkinematic crystallization phase. The distribution, macroscopic and microscopic observations and the mineralogical composition of intercalated metapegmatites point to regionally elevated temperature conditions during their emplacement. Therefore, pegmatite formation is correlated with mineral formation in metapelites. Sm–Nd‐dating of magmatic garnet from the pegmatite gneiss yielded 249 ± 3 Ma, which is interpreted to represent the age of pegmatite‐emplacement and low‐pressure metamorphism in the metapelites. Since the pegmatites are overprinted by mylonitisation and high‐pressure metamorphism, this Permo–Triassic age also sets an upper age‐limit to the eclogite facies metamorphic event, which affected considerable parts of the Saualpe crystalline basement.     

Authigenic aluminium phosphate-sulphates in sandstones of the Mitterberg Formation, Northern Calcareous Alps, Austria

Complex aluminium phosphate-sulphate minerals of the hinsdalite group have been identified as early diagenetic precipitates in Late Permian sandstones of the Northern Calcareous Alps, western Austria. According to their chemical composition they can be regarded as solid solutions between woodhouseite, svanbergite, crandallite and goyazite. The model proposed for their origin involves the dissolution of detrital apatite in a low-pH environment and subsequent precipitation of aluminium phosphate-sulphate minerals, which clearly pre-date syntaxial quartz cementation of the sediment. Their occurrence probably has been overlooked in other sandstones showing diagenetic apatite dissolution. The recognition of such minerals could provide a significant insight into early phosphate diagenesis.     

Hydrocarbon-bearing fluid inclusions in the Drau Range (Eastern Alps, Austria): implications for the genesis of Bleiberg-type Pb-Zn deposits

Summary Hydrocarbons in ore minerals of Bleiberg-type Pb-Zn deposits and in authigenic quartz of the Drau Range (Eastern Alps) have been analysed by bulk-sample gas chromatography and fluorescence microscopy. Microthermometric data and the molecular composition of the hydrocarbons indicate a hot (120° to 130°C) pulse of migrating condensate-like hydrocarbons within Late Triassic sediments during Middle Cretaceous to Early Tertiary times. The molecular composition of hydrocarbons enclosed in authigenic quartz corresponds to the composition of hydrocarbons trapped in Bleiberg-type ore minerals, therefore a common fluid source is assumed. The hydrocarbons possibly played an important role as reducing agents in the late stage of sulfide precipitation.

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Kohlenwasserstoffhältige Flüssigkeitseinschlüsse im Drauzug (Ostalpen, Österreich) und ihre Bedeutung für die Genese der Pb-Zn-Lagerstätten vom Bleiberg-Typ

Zusammenfassung Die organo-chemische Zusammensetzung von Kohlenwasserstoffen, die in Erzmineralen vom Typus Bleiberg and in authigenen Quarzen des Drauzuges (Ostalpen) eingeschlossen sind, wurde durch gaschromatographische and fluoreszenzmikroskopische Untersuchungen charakterisiert. Mikrothermometrische Daten und die molekulare Zusammensetzung dieser Kohlenwasserstoffphasen weisen auf migrierende kondensatartige Kohlenwasserstoffe in den Sedimenten der Obertrias während des Zeitraumes zwischen der Mittelkreide und dem Alttertiär hin. In Erzmineralen der Pb-Zn-Vererzungen vom Bleiberg-Typ können Kohlenwasserstoffe nachgewiesen werden deren molekulare Zusammensetzung dem Chemismus von Kohlenwasserstoffen, die in authigenen Quarzen eingeschlossen wurden, entspricht. Es wird vermutet, daß diese Kohlenwasserstoffe während der späten Vererzungsphase als Reduktanten wirkten.

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With 6 Figures     

Hydrogeologic evidence for a continuous basal shear zone within a deep-seated gravitational slope deformation (Eastern Alps, Tyrol, Austria)

The currently inactive deep-seated gravitational slope deformation (DGSD) Sagspitz in Tyrol, Austria, covers an area of 3 km² and originated along a glacially over-steepened slope composed mainly of phyllites belonging to the Innsbruck Quartzphyllite Complex. Past mass movement processes caused the formation of fracture systems and slump bodies which consequently form the aquifers of relatively large springs in a rock type with generally very low permeability and poor porosity. Analysis of water chemistry, oxygen isotope, and field parameters of the springs emerging from the DGSD imply that multilevel aquifers exist and enabled the detection of continuous deep flow paths through the entire length of the mass movement from the main scarp to the toe of the slope. It is shown that the aquifer boundaries and spring emergences throughout the loosened rock mass can be correlated to the internal and basal shear zones of the DGSD so that this hydrogeological approach proved to be useful for evaluating the mass movement structure.     

The Neogene Fohnsdorf Basin: basin formation and basin inversion during lateral extrusion in the Eastern Alps (Austria)

The evolution of the early/middle Miocene Fohnsdorf Basin has been studied using borehole data, reflection seismic lines, and vitrinite reflectance. The basin is located along the sinistral Mur-Mürz fault system and probably formed as an asymmetric pull-apart basin, which was subsequently modified by halfgraben tectonics, as a consequence of eastward lateral extrusion. Sedimentation started with the deposition of fluvio-deltaic sediments. Thick coal accumulated in the northwestern basin. Thereafter subsidence rates increased dramatically with the formation of a lake several hundred meters deep. The lake was filled mainly from the north with more than 1500?m of sediments showing a coarsening-upward trend due to southward prograding deltaic lobes. A sequence of more than 1000?m of boulder gravels (Blockschotter) in the southeastern part of the basin are interpreted as the upper part of a coarse-grained fan delta succession, which accumulated along a normal fault along the southern basin margin. Fan deltas reached the central basin only during the early stages of sedimentation and during the late stages of basin formation. Miocene heat flow was approximately 65–70?mW/m², which is significantly lower than in other basins along the Mur-Mürz fault system. The present-day southwestern basin margin is a recent feature, which is related to transpression along the dextral Pöls-Lavanttal fault system. It is formed by reverse faults constituting the northeastern part of a flower structure. Miocene sediments in the Feeberg valley are preserved along its southwestern part. Uplift of the central part of the flower structure was at least 2.4?km. North–south compression resulted in the deformation of the basin fill, uplift of the E/W-trending basement ridge separating the Fohnsdorf and Seckau basins, and in the erosion of 1750?m of sediments along the northern basin margin.     

Breccias of the Adnet Formation: indicators of a Mid-Liassic tectonic event in the Northern Calcareous Alps (Salzburg/Austria)

Stratigraphy, lithology and depositional structures of Liassic red limestone-breccias of the Adnet Formation, including the Adnet Scheck, were studied at several outcrops of the Northern Calcareous Alps (NCA) south-east of Salzburg. A four-fold lithostratigraphic division is proposed for the Adnet Formation of the Osterhorn Mountains: the hemipelagic Schmiedwirt (Sinemurian) and Kehlbach (Carixian) members are separated from the pelagic Saubach Member (Toarcian) by a layer of amalgamated breccias (Scheck Member, probably Domerian to early Toarcian). Several other breccia beds occur locally from the base of the Kehlbach Member up to the lower Saubach Member. Although the sediments overlying the Scheck Member breccias are of coeval age, the ages of the underlying strata are very different. This can be explained by submarine Liassic erosion during a period of resedimentation from the middle Carixian until the early Toarcian. At least 10–15 m of partly lithified sediments were eroded by gravity flows. The entire Kehlbach Member and up to two-thirds of the Schmiedwirt Member were removed at Adnet. The breccias originated from submarine debris flows. Repeated flows over a long period and the depositional setting exclude a triggering by sea-level fluctuations. Most probably they arose from tectonically triggered slumps and slides of superficial sediments. The Scheck was initiated on the steep upper slope of the drowned Triassic Adnet reef and flowed to the north-east. The Pliensbachian to early Toarcian period of tectonic activity indicated by the breccias was the most important during the Liassic in the Osterhorn Mountains and other parts of the NCA. From the large-scale regional distribution of the breccias and in accord with published data, a roughly northeast trending strike-slip fault zone is proposed, crossing the NCA south of the Osterhorn block, with a peaking activity during the Pliensbachian to early Toarcian as the cause of the tectonic movements.     

Metamorphic Evolution of Iron-rich Mafic Cumulates from the Otztal-Stubai Crystalline Complex, Eastern Alps, Austria

Olivine-rich rocks containing olivine + orthopyroxene + spinel+ Ca-amphibole ± clinopyroxene ± garnet are presentin the central Ötztal–Stubai crystalline basementassociated with eclogites of tholeiitic affinity. These rockscontain centimetre-sized garnet layers and lenses with garnet+ clinopyroxene ± corundum. Protoliths of the olivine-richrocks are thought to be olivine + orthopyroxene + spinel dominatedcumulates generated from an already differentiated Fe-rich () tholeiitic magma that was emplaced into shallowcontinental crust. Protoliths of the garnet-rich rocks are interpretedas layers enriched in plagioclase and spinel intercalated ina cumulate rock sequence that is devoid of, or poor in, plagioclase.U–Pb sensitive high-resolution ion microprobe dating ofzircons from a garnet layer indicates that emplacement of thecumulates took place no later than 517 ± 7 Myr ago. Aftertheir emplacement, the cumulates were subjected to progressivemetamorphism, reaching eclogite-facies conditions around 800°Cand >2 GPa during a Variscan metamorphic event between 350and 360 Ma. Progressive high-P metamorphism induced breakdownof spinel to form garnet in the olivine-rich rocks and of plagioclase+ spinel to form garnet + clinopyroxene ± corundum inthe garnet layers. Retrogressive metamorphism at T 650–680°Cled to the formation of Ca-amphibole, chlorite and talc in theolivine-rich rocks. In the garnet layers, högbomite formedfrom corundum + spinel along with Al-rich spinel, Ca-amphibole,chlorite, aspidolite–preiswerkite, magnetite, ilmeniteand apatite at the interface between olivine-rich rocks andgarnet layers at P < 0·8 GPa. Progressive desiccationof retrogade fluids through crystallization of hydrous phasesled to a local formation of saline brines in the garnet layers.The presence of these brines resulted in a late-stage formationof Fe- and K-rich Ca-amphibole and Sr-rich apatite, both characterizedby extremely high Cl contents of up to 3·5 and 6·5wt % Cl, respectively. KEY WORDS: cumulates; Variscan metamorphism; SHRIMP dating; högbomite; saline brines     

Micro-scale sulfur isotope and chemical variations in sphalerite from the Bleiberg Pb-Zn deposit,Eastern Alps,Austria

The Bleiberg Pb-Zn deposit in the Drau Range is the type locality of Alpine-type carbonate-hosted Pb-Zn deposits. Its origin has been the subject of on-going controversy with two contrasting genetic models proposed: (1) the SEDEX model, with ore forming contemporaneously with sedimentation of the Triassic host rocks at about 220 Ma vs. (2) the epigenetic MVT model, with ores forming after host rock sedimentation at about 200 Ma or later. Both models assume that, on a deposit or even district scale, a fixed paragenetic sequence of ore minerals can be established. The results of our detailed petrographic, chemical and sulfur isotope study of two key ore-samples from two major ore horizons in the Wetterstein Formation at Bleiberg (EHK02 Erzkalk horizon and Blb17 Maxer Bänke horizon) demonstrate that there is no fixed paragenetic sequence of ore minerals. Small-scale non-systematic variations are recorded in textures, sphalerite chemistry and δ³⁴S. In each sample, texturally different sphalerite types (colloform schalenblende, fine- and coarse-grained crystalline sphalerite) co-occur on a millimeter to centimeter scale. These sphalerites represent multiple mineralization stages/pulses since they differ in their trace element inventory and in their δ³⁴S. Nonetheless, there is some correspondence of sphalerite micro-textures, sulfur isotope and chemical composition between the two samples, with microcrystalline colloform schalenblende being Fe-rich, having high Fe/Cd (15 and 9, respectively) and a light sulfur isotope composition (δ³⁴S −26.0 to −16.2‰). Cadmium-rich and Fe-poor sphalerite in both samples has relatively heavier sulfur isotope composition: in sample EHK02 this sphalerite has Fe/Cd of ∼0.5 and δ³⁴S from −6.6 to −4.6‰; in sample Blb17 Fe/Cd is ∼0.1 and δ³⁴S ranges from −15.0 to −1.5‰. Barite, which is restricted to sample EHK02, has δ³⁴S ≈ 17‰. The large variations in δ³⁴S recorded on the mm to cm-scale is consistent with variable contributions of reduced sulfur from two different sulfur reservoirs. The dominant reservoir with δ³⁴S values <−20‰ likely results from local bacteriogenic sulfate reduction (BSR), whereas the second reservoir, with δ³⁴S about −5‰ suggests a hydrothermal source likely linked with thermochemical sulfate reduction (TSR). Based on this small- to micro-scale study, no simple, deposit-wide paragenetic and sulfur isotope evolution with time can be established. In the Erzkalk ore (sample EHK02) an earlier Pb-Zn-Ba stage, characterized by heavy sulfur isotope values, is succeeded by a light δ³⁴S-dominated Zn-Pb-F stage. In contrast, the several mineralization pulses identified in the stratiform Zn-Pb-F Maxer Bänke ore (sample Blb17) define a broad trend to heavier sulfur isotope values with time. The interaction documented in these samples between two sulfur reservoirs is considered a key mechanism of ore formation.     

Dynamics of an active rock glacier (Ötztal Alps, Austria)

The rock glacier Innere Ölgrube, located in a small side valley of the Kauner Valley (Ötztal Alps, Austria), consists of two separate, tongue-shaped rock glaciers lying next to each other. Investigations indicate that both rock glaciers contain a core of massive ice. During winter, the temperature at the base of the snow cover (BTS) is significantly lower at the active rock glacier than on permafrost-free ground adjacent to the rock glacier. Discharge is characterized by strong seasonal and diurnal variations, and is strongly controlled by the local weather conditions. Water temperature of the rock glacier springs remains constantly low, mostly below 1°C during the whole melt season. The morphology of the rock glaciers and the presence of meltwater lakes in their rooting zones as well as the high surface flow velocities of >1 m/yr point to a glacial origin. The northern rock glacier, which is bounded by lateral moraines, evolved from the debris-covered tongue of a small glacier of the Little Ice Age with its last highstand around A.D. 1850. Due to the global warming in the following decades, the upper parts of the steep and debris-free ice glacier melted, whereas the debris-covered glacier tongue transformed into an active rock glacier. Due to this evolution and due to the downslope movement, the northern rock glacier, although still active, at present is cut off from its ice and debris supply. The southern rock glacier has developed approximately during the same period from a debris-covered cirque glacier at the foot of the Wannetspitze massif.