Metamorphic Environments around the Cretaceous Kurihashi Pluton in the Kitakami Mountains, NE Japan: in Comparison to the Ganidake Pluton - Kamaishi Skarn Metasomatism

Abstract. Many granitic plutons of Early Cretaceous age are intruded on various scales in the Kitakami Mountains. The stock‐type Ganidake pluton accompanies enormous Fe‐Cu mineralization of the Kamaishi deposits, whereas the Kurihashi pluton accompanies less mineralization. To elucidate the cause of these differences, the metamorphic conditions and redox state of the contact metamorphic aureole around the Kurihashi pluton have been examined by the petrochemical study and gas analysis of the metamorphic rocks. A typical mineral assemblage in the pelitic rocks in the lowest‐grade part is biotite‐muscovite‐chlorite‐quartz‐plagio‐clase‐graphite, which occur more than 2 km away from the contact point with the Kurihashi pluton. Graphite disappears at the 1550 m point, and cordierite and garnet appear in the middle and highest‐grade parts, respectively. A typical mineral assemblage in the tuffaceous rocks in the lower‐grade part is chlorite‐actinolite‐biotite‐quartz‐plagioclase. Actinolite changes into hornblende near to the pluton. The CO₂/CH₄ ratios obtained in measurements by gas chromatography exceeds 100 in the pelitic rocks at the contact point with the pluton. The ratios decrease and become less than 0.1 with distance from the pluton. Equilibrium temperatures calculated from a garnet‐biotite pair in the pelitic rock and a hornblende‐plagioclase pair in the tuffaceous rock are 640d? and 681 d?C at the contact point, respectively. The log?o₂ values among these metamorphic aureoles estimated from the CO₂/CH₄ ratios are slightly lower than the FMQ‐buffer. Redox states of the contact metamorphic aureole are kept in an intermediate condition between oxidized magma of the Kurihashi pluton and graphite‐bearing pelitic country rocks. Judging from these metamorphic conditions around the Kurihashi pluton and from the re‐evaluation of the previous knowledge about contact metasomatism around the Ganidake pluton, the Kurihashi metamorphism has occurred at higher temperatures and dry conditions than the Ganidake metasomatism. These differences in the metamorphic conditions and presence or absence of a large limestone mass around the pluton might be the principal reasons why the Kurihashi pluton accompanies less mineralization and the Ganidake pluton accompanies gigantic Kamaishi skarn mineralization.     

Combining trace-element compositions, U–Pb geochronology and Hf isotopes in zircons to unravel complex calcalkaline magma chambers in the Upper Cretaceous Srednogorie zone (Bulgaria)

Precise U–Pb geochronology and Hf isotope tracing of zircon is combined with whole-rock geochemical and Sr and Nd isotope data in order to unravel processes affecting mafic to felsic calcalkaline magmas prior to and during their crystallization in crustal magma chambers along the southern border of Central Srednogorie tectonic zone in Bulgaria (SE Europe). ID-TIMS U–Pb dating of single zircons from felsic and mixed/mingled dioritic to gabbroic horizons of single plutons define crystallization ages of around 86.5–86.0, 85.0–84.5 and 82 Ma. Concordia age uncertainties are generally less than 0.3 Ma (0.35%–2σ), and as good as 0.08 Ma (0.1%), when the weighted mean ²⁰⁶Pb/²³⁸U value is used. Such precision allows the distinction of magma replenishment processes if separated by more than 0.6–1.0 Ma and when they are marked by newly saturated zircons. We interpret zircon dates from a single sample that do not overlap to reflect new zircon growth during magma recharge in a long-lived crustal chamber. Mingling/mixing of the basaltic magma with colder granitoid mush at mid- to upper-crustal levels is proposed to explain zircon saturation and fast crystallization of U- and REE-rich zircons in the hybrid gabbro.Major and trace-element distribution and Sr and Nd whole-rock isotope chemistry define island arc affinities for the studied plutons. Slab derived fluids and a sediment component are constrained as enrichment sources for the mantle wedge-derived magma, though Hf isotopes in zircon suggest crustal assimilation was also important. Inherited zircons, and their corresponding ε-Hf, from the hybrid gabbroic rocks trace the lower crust as possible source for enrichment of the mantle magma. These inherited zircons are about 440 Ma old with ε-Hf of − 7 at 82 Ma, whereas newly saturated concordant Upper Cretaceous zircons reveal mantle ε-Hf values of + 7.2 to + 10.1. The upper and middle crusts contribute in the generation of the granitoid rocks. Their zircon inheritance is Lower Palaeozoic or significantly older and crustal dominated with 82–85 Ma corrected ε-Hf values of − 28. The Cretaceous concordant zircons in the granitoids are mantle dominated with a ε-Hf values spreading from + 3.9 to + 7.