Stable isotope constraints on the Al2SiO5'triple-point' rocks from the Proterozoic Priest pluton contact aureole, New Mexico, USA

The Priest pluton contact aureole in the Manzano Mountains, central New Mexico preserves evidence for upper amphibolite contact metamorphism and localized retrograde hydrothermal alteration associated with intrusion of the 1.42 Ga Priest pluton. Quartz–garnet and quartz–sillimanite oxygen isotope fractionations in pelitic schist document an increase in the temperatures of metamorphism from 540 °C, at a distance of 1 km from the pluton, to 690 °C at the contact with the pluton. Comparison of calculated temperature estimates with one‐dimensional thermal modelling suggests that background temperatures between 300 and 350 °C existed at the time of intrusion of the Priest pluton. Fibrolite is found within 300 m of the Priest pluton in pelitic and aluminous schist metamorphosed at temperatures >580 °C. Coexisting fibrolite and garnet in pelitic schist are in oxygen isotope equilibrium, suggesting these minerals were stable reaction products during peak metamorphism. The fibrolite‐in isograd is coincident with the staurolite‐out isograd in pelitic schist, and K‐feldspar is not observed with the first occurrence of fibrolite. This suggests that the breakdown of staurolite and not the second sillimanite reaction controls fibrolite growth in staurolite‐bearing pelitic schist. Muscovite‐rich aluminous schist locally preserves the Al₂SiO₅ polymorph triple‐point assemblage – kyanite, andalusite and fibrolite. Andalusite and fibrolite, but not kyanite, are in isotopic equilibrium in the aluminous schist. Co‐nucleation of fibrolite and andalusite at 580 °C in the presence of muscovite and absence of K‐feldspar suggests that univariant growth of andalusite and fibrolite occurred. Kyanite growth occurred during an earlier regional metamorphic event at a temperature nearly 80 °C lower than andalusite and fibrolite growth. Quartz–muscovite fractionations in hydrothermally altered pelitic schist and quartzite are small or negative, suggesting that late isotopic exchange between externally derived fluids and muscovite, but not quartz, occurred after peak contact metamorphism and that hydrothermal alteration in pelitic schist and quartzite occurred below the closure temperature of oxygen self diffusion in quartz (<500 °C).     

中祁连西段托赖岩群变质岩的原岩恢复及其构造环境

对托赖岩群变质岩的岩石特征及地球化学进行研究,结果显示,托赖岩群中的片岩、片麻岩、石英岩、大理岩的原岩为沉积岩,其中片岩、片麻岩原岩为砂质岩、杂砂岩;石英岩原岩为石英砂屑岩;大理岩原岩为灰岩、白云岩。斜长角闪岩原岩为中基性火山岩,岩性为玄武安山岩。变质基性火山岩的构造环境判别结果表明,其形成于板内环境,作为托赖岩群中的特殊夹层,暗示托赖岩群沉积岩的原岩形成环境与变质火山岩的构造环境一致。     

柏树岗金红石矿床含矿岩系地质特征

河南方城柏树岗金红石矿床含矿岩系主要由角闪(片)岩、变粒岩、斜长片岩、石英(片)岩及云母片岩组成、前者是主要含矿岩石。分为石英(片)岩、角闪(片)岩-云母斜长片岩、云母片岩-石英(片)岩三个岩性段,二段是主要含矿岩段。原岩为一套火山岩、正常沉积岩岩性组合。经历了两次变质作用,变质温压400～485℃、200～700MPa,变质时间416.1±0.5Ma,变质热液产生了少量细脉及脉岩。含矿岩系的形成变化是板块运动的结果。基性岩及基性岩质凝灰岩是钛的主要来源,变质作用是主要成矿作用。     

Evolution of bulk composition, mineralogy, strain style and fluid flow during an HT–LP metamorphic event: sillimanite zone of the Catalan Coastal Ranges Variscan basement, NE Iberia

Metamorphic rocks in the Osor complex (Guilleries massif, NE Iberian Peninsula) show the following structural and compositional features: strong differentiation into quartz-rich gneissic semipelitic and quartz-absent, mica-rich schistose bands, higher density of igneous (both basic and leucogranitic) and quartz veins in the schistose domains and strong strain partitioning in the pelitic bands. Garnet is present in both kinds of lithologies, showing also differential textural and chemical features interpreted to be dependent on bulk composition, deformation and fluid interaction histories. Textures, mineral composition and thermobarometry suggest the operation of concurrent mechanical, mass transfer and thermal phenomena such as: (1) variations in strain style, (2) fluid infiltration, (3) magmatic injection and (4) HT–LP metamorphic and metasomatic episodes. The following sequence of events is suggested: initially the cooling of syntectonic high-T basic quartz diorite sheets promoted high strain rates, low dP/dT thermobaric evolution, incipient anatexis in the pelitic bands and devolatilization through a pervasive to vein-channelized prograde fluid flow. The prograde flow enhanced an ongoing compositional tectono-metamorphic differentiation and produced metasomatism through depletion of the Osor rocks in alkalis and calcium. Later injection and cooling of peraluminous leucogranitoid sheets, preferentially along pelitic bands, increased the ratio of magmatic/metamorphic components in the fluids and strongly enriched them in alkalis producing a second metasomatic episode. During crystallization of quartz and leucogranitoid veins, the pelitic bands were strongly enriched back again in alkalis, promoting the blastesis of big crystals of post-peak muscovite and albite as well as the retrogression of garnet. The metasomatic mica-rich levels must have been the preferred locus for development of a new deformation style dominated by shear band fabrics in metapelites and related to a release of the gravitational instability originated previously due to crustal thickening. The increasing decompressional component of the retrograde P–T path also suggests that this style of deformation was prevalent during, if not responsible for, a phase of exhumation of the metamorphic complex. It is suggested that similar patterns of thermomechanical and mass transfer phenomena could well be a fundamental characteristic common to all HT–LP metamorphic belts.     

The subsolidus segregation of layer-parallel quartz-feldspar veins in greenschist to upper amphibolite facies metasediments

Abstract Layer-parallel (i.e. parallel to foliation or bedding) vein formation in the graywackes and pelites of the Quetico Metasedimentary Belt occurred during synchronous prograde metamorphism and regional (D₂) compression. In a traverse across metasediments which change in metamorphic grade from greenschist to upper amphibolite (migmatite) facies, layer-parallel veins show the following trends: (1) an increase in thickness and internal complexity, the latter due to successive boudinage; (2) low-grade veins are parallel to planes of anisotropy due to the original sedimentary fabric of the host rocks, but at higher grades other sites are also used and (3) a systematic increase in plagioclase/quartz ratio in the veins towards higher grade, adjacent mafic selvedges first exhibit quartz depletion then, in the amphibolite facies, plagioclase depletion. Mineralogical zoning is often preserved in a single vein, older parts are more quartz-rich than younger. Mass balance calculations and whole-rock geochemistry based on veins, mafic selvedges and country rock are consistent with a closedsystem subsolidus segregation origin. The layerparallel veins are syntectonic, and migration of the mobile components required to form their mineralogy is a stress-induced mass transfer. The source of these components appears to be dominantly pressure solution of the same minerals in the host rocks, although metamorphic reactions may also have contributed. Veins nucleated first at those sites where initial sedimentary heterogeneites, such as fine-scale graded bedding, provided gradients of normal stress across grain boundaries, and hence of chemical potential, necessary to drive the subsolidus segregation process. The earliest veins are thus parallel to bedding. Later, nucleation of the veins could also occur along more randomly distributed sites within the metasediments, and these veins grew parallel to the schistosity rather than bedding, if the two were distinct. Once formed, the veins themselves, which are more competent than the surrounding rock, provide the stress heterogeneity required for their further growth. The increasing plagioclase/quartz ratio in the veins may be due to a temperature dependent increase in plagioclase component mobility relative to quartz. Alternatively, the increasing transfer distances for silica, resulting from prior quartz depletion in the inner parts of the mafic selvedge, may increase the relative mobility of plagioclase component.     

Metamorphic differentiation at Einasleigh,Northern Queensland

Biotite‐muscovite‐garnet gneisses at Einasleigh contain quartz‐feldspar veins composed of the same minerals as found in the enclosing rock. The vein‐gneiss boundaries are commonly irregular and on a microscopic scale, gradational.

Certain amphibolite layers contain quartz‐feldspar veins composed of the same minerals as found in the amphibolite. Hornblende‐rich extraction zones surround these veins, and material balance calculations show that all or nearly all of the vein‐forming matter was locally derived. Variation in the abundance of hornblende and plagioclase in the amphibolite as a function of distance from a quartz‐feldspar vein can be expressed by error‐function curves, thus suggesting that the mineral‐segregation process was diffusion‐controlled. During the mineral rearrangement, the Na and Ca contents of plagioclase have evidently remained unchanged, but the vein hornblende has become slightly richer in Fe+3, Mg, and Ca, and poorer in Si and Al relative to hornblende in the adjacent amphibolite.

A certain biotite‐plagioclase rock forms layers and boudins in the gneisses and contains pegmatite veins composed of the same minerals as found in the host rock. The plagioclase in these veins is more sodic than that in the host rock while the biotite contains slightly more Ti and Fe+² and less Si and Mg than the biotite of the enclosing rock.

The data indicate that significant portions of the vein‐forming matter at Einasleigh were locally derived. The chemistry of some minerals has changed slightly during the segregation process, resulting possibly from different diffusion rates for the different mineral‐forming constituents.     

High-pressure amphibolite facies dynamic metamorphism and the Mesozoic tectonic evolution of an ancient continental margin, east-central Alaska

Abstract Ductilely deformed amphibolite facies tectonites comprise two adjacent terranes in east-central Alaska. These terranes differ in protoliths, structural level and cooling ages. A structurally complex zone of gently north-dipping tectonites separates the two terranes. The northern, structurally higher Taylor Mountain terrane includes garnet amphibolite, biotite ± hornblende gneiss, marble, quartzite, metachert, pelitic schist and cross-cutting granitoids of intermediate composition (including the Late Triassic to Early Jurassic Taylor Mountain batholith). Lithological associations and isotopic data from the granitoids indicate an oceanic or marginal basin origin for the Taylor Mountain terrane. ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar metamorphic cooling ages from the Taylor Mountain terrane are latest Triassic to earliest Middle Jurassic. The southern, structurally lower Lake George subterrane of the Yukon-Tanana terrane is made up of quartz-biotite schist and gneiss, augen gneiss, pelitic schist, garnet amphibolite and quartzite; we interpret it to comprise a continental margin and granitoid belt built on North American crust. Metamorphic cooling ages from the Lake George subterrane are almost entirely Early Cretaceous. Geothermobarometric analysis of garnet rims and adjacent phases in garnet amphibolite and pelitic schist from the Taylor Mountain terrane and Lake George subterrane indicate peak metamorphic conditions of 7.5-12 kbar at 555-715° C in the northern part of the Taylor Mountain terrane, in which NNE-vergent shear fabrics are preserved; 6.5-10.8 kbar at 520-670° C within the contact zone between the two terranes, in which NW-vergent shear fabrics predominate; and 6.8-11.8 kbar at 570-700° C in the Lake George subterrane of the Yukon-Tanana terrane, in which NW-vergent shear is recorded in the northern part of the study area and SE-vergent shear in the southern part. Where the two shear-sense directions occur together in the northern Lake George subterrane and, locally, in the contact zone, fabrics that record NW-vergent shear are more penetrative and preceded fabrics that record SE-vergent shear. We interpret the pressure, temperature, kinematic and age data to indicate that the metamorphism of the Taylor Mountain terrane and Lake George subterrane took place during different phases of a latest Palaeozoic through early Mesozoic shortening episode resulting from closure of an ocean basin now represented by klippen of the Seventymile-Slide Mountain terrane. High- to intermediate-pressure metamorphism of the Taylor Mountain terrane took place within a SW-dipping (present-day coordinates) subduction system. High- to intermediate-pressure metamorphism of the Lake George subterrane and the structural contact zone occurred during NW-directed overthrusting of the Taylor Mountain, Seventymile-Slide Mountain and Nisutlin terranes, and imbrication of the continental margin in Jurassic time. The difference in metamorphic cooling ages between the Taylor Mountain terrane and adjacent parts of the Lake George subterrane is best explained by Early Cretaceous unroofing of the Lake George subterrane caused by crustal extension, recorded in its younger top-to-the-SE fabric.     

Channelized fluids in subducted continental crust: constraints from δD–δ18O of quartz and fluid inclusions in quartz veins from the Chinese Continental Scientific Drilling Project

Fluid inclusions hosted by quartz veins in high-pressure to ultrahigh-pressure (HP-UHP) metamorphic rocks from the Chinese Continental Scientific Drilling (CCSD) Project main drillhole have low, varied hydrogen isotopic compositions (δD?=??97‰ to??69‰). Quartz δ¹⁸O values range from??2.5‰ to 9.6‰; fluid inclusions hosted in quartz have correspondingly low δ¹⁸O values of??11.66‰ to 0.93‰ (T _h?=?171.2～318.8°C). The low δD and δ¹⁸O isotopic data indicate that protoliths of some CCSD HP-UHP metamorphic rocks reacted with meteoric water at high latitude near the surface before being subducted to great depth. In addition, the δ¹⁸O of the quartz veins and fluid inclusions vary greatly with the drillhole depth. Lower δ¹⁸O values occur at depths of ～900–1000 m and ～2700 m, whereas higher values characterize rocks at depths of about 1770 m and 4000 m, correlating roughly with those of wall-rock minerals. Given that the peak metamorphic temperature of the Dabie-Sulu UHP metamorphic rocks was about 800°C or higher, much higher than the closure temperature of oxygen isotopes in quartz under wet conditions, such synchronous variations can be explained by re-equilibration. In contrast, δD values of fluid inclusions show a different relationship with depth. This is probably because oxygen is a major element of both fluids and silicates and is much more abundant in the quartz veins and silicate minerals than is hydrogen. The oxygen isotope composition of fluid inclusions is evidently more susceptible to late-stage re-equilibration with silicate minerals than is the hydrogen isotope composition. Therefore, different δD and δ¹⁸O patterns imply that dramatic fluid migration occurred, whereas the co-variation of oxygen isotopes in fluid inclusions, quartz veins, and wall-rock minerals can be better interpreted by re-equilibration during exhumation.

Quartz veins in the Dabie-Sulu UHP metamorphic terrane are the product of high-Si fluids. Given that channelized fluid migration is much faster than pervasive flow, and that the veins formed through precipitation of quartz from high-Si fluids, the abundant veins indicate significant fluid mobilization and migration within this subducted continental slab. Many mineral reactions can produce high-Si fluids. For UHP metamorphic rocks, major dehydration during subduction occurred when pressure–temperature conditions exceeded the stability of lawsonite. In contrast, for low-temperature eclogites and other HP metamorphic rocks with peak metamorphic P–T conditions within the stability field of lawsonite, dehydration and associated high-Si fluid release may have occurred as hydrous minerals were destabilized at lower pressure during exhumation. Because subduction is a continuous process whereas only a minor fraction of the subducted slabs returns to the surface, dehydration during underflow is more prevalent than exhumation even in subducted continental crust, which is considerably drier than altered oceanic crust.     

Incipient metamorphism and deformation in the Variscides of SW Dyfed, Wales: first steps towards isotopic equilibrium

Incipient metamorphism accompanying thrusting, folding and cleavage development has been investigated in a varied sequence of Palaeozoic sediments near the Variscan front in SW Dyfed, Wales. The aim was to evaluate a critical stage in the progression from heterogeneous sediment, whose detrital phases are neither in equilibrium with one another, nor with pore fluids, through indurated sedimentary rock to metamorphic rock comprising newly formed crystals that equilibrated with one another as they grew. Quartz veins are widely developed in the area, especially in the more psammitic lithologies, while finer grained rocks became cleaved during tectonic deformation. Mineralogical constraints and fluid inclusion measurements suggest maximum temperatures around 200-310d? C (slightly higher in the Marloes-Musselwick Thrust Sheet than in other parts of the structural succession) at depths of the order of 6-13 km. Quartz veins yield distinctly heavier oxygen isotopic compositions than detrital quartz grains in the adjacent wall rocks, although care must be taken in interpreting the data because slivers of detrital grains may become incorporated into veins, while matrix detrital grains may incorporate veinlets or rims of newly formed quartz. It is concluded that vein quartz grew in isotopic equilibrium with a fluid phase whose isotopic composition was primarily controlled by exchange with phyllosilicates, not detrital quartz grains. Vein and matrix quartzes from the Marloes-Musselwick Thrust Sheet are distinctly lighter (δ¹⁸O_veins=+14 to +18% and δ¹⁸O_matrix=+11 to +14%) than those from other thrust sheets (δ¹⁸O =+17 to +20% and +14 to +17%, respectively). We conclude that vein quartz and phyllosilicate grains in cleavage domains probably attained equilibrium with a locally buffered pore fluid at the peak of metamorphism, but many relict grains of different chemical and isotopic composition remained elsewhere in the rock. Local fluid migration along veins and through cleavage lamellae facilitated the attainment of equilibrium, but there is little evidence for large-scale infiltration of externally derived fluids. With further metamorphism the quartz in these rocks would attain an isotopic composition intermediate between that of the heavy vein material and light detritus which coexist here.     

Isotopic evidence for channeled fluid flow in low-grade metamorphosed Jurassic accretionary complex in the Northern Chichibu belt, western Shikoku, Japan

The low‐grade metamorphosed Jurassic accretionary complex of the Northern Chichibu Belt, Hijikawa area, western Shikoku, is divided into two units, the Hijikawa and Kanogawa units, that are separated by an out‐of‐sequence thrust (OOST), the Ozu‐Kawabegawa Fault. The Kanogawa unit south of the Ozu‐Kawabegawa fault consists mainly of sandstone, shale, broken formation of alternating sandstone and shale, greenstone, chert, and pelitic melange, while the Hijikawa unit is characterized by a stack of subunits separated by small‐scale thrusts. The subunits are mainly made up of basic, pelitic and psammitic semischists, schistose pelitic melange, and chert. Petrological and mineralogical constraints suggest peak metamorphic conditions of 204–247 °C at 1–3 kbar in the Kanogawa unit, and 228–289 °C at 3–5.6 kbar in the Hijikawa unit. Quartz and quartz‐calcite veins are widely developed in the study area, especially in the Hijikawa unit. Regional variations in stable isotopic data show that the δ¹⁸O_quartz and δ¹⁸O_calcite values in veins tend to increase towards the Ozu‐Kawabegawa Fault. The δ¹⁸O_{whole rock} values are remarkably high in some subunits close to OOSTs within the Hijikawa unit. Oxygen isotopic compositions from vein quartz indicate that a higher δ¹⁸O fluid migrated upward from depth along the Ozu‐Kawabegawa Fault within the accretionary prism during prehnite‐pumpellyite facies metamorphism. The fluid source is inferred to be pelitic rocks at higher temperatures and greater depths within the accretionary prism.     

Stable isotope and fluid inclusion evidence for the origin of the Brandberg West area Sn–W vein deposits, NW Namibia

The Brandberg West region of NW Namibia is dominated by poly-deformed turbidites and carbonate rocks of the Neoproterozoic Damara Supergoup, which have been regionally metamorphosed to greenschist facies and thermally metamorphosed up to mid-amphibolite facies by Neoproterozoic granite plutons. The meta-sedimentary rocks host Damaran-age hydrothermal quartz vein-hosted Sn–W mineralization at Brandberg West and numerous nearby smaller deposits. Fluid inclusion microthermometric studies of the vein quartz suggests that the ore-forming fluids at the Brandberg West mine were CO₂-bearing aqueous fluids represented by the NaCl–CaCl₂–H₂O–CO₂ system with moderate salinity (mean=8.6 wt% NaCl_equivalent).Temperatures determined using oxygen isotope thermometry are 415–521°C (quartz–muscovite), 392–447°C (quartz–cassiterite), and 444–490°C (quartz–hematite). At Brandberg West, the oxygen isotope ratios of quartz veins and siliciclastic host rocks in the mineralized area are lower than those in the rocks and veins of the surrounding areas suggesting that pervasive fluid–rock interaction occurred during mineralization. The O- and H-isotope data of quartz–muscovite veins and fluid inclusions indicate that the ore fluids were dominantly of magmatic origin, implying that mineralization occurred above a shallow granite pluton. Simple mass balance calculations suggest water/rock ratios of 1.88 (closed system) and 1.01 (open system). The CO₂ component of the fluid inclusions had similar δ ¹³C to the carbonate rocks intercalated with the turbidites. It is most likely that mineralization at Brandberg West was caused by a combination of an impermeable marble barrier and interaction of the fluids with the marble. The minor deposits in the area have quartz veins with higher δ ¹⁸O values, which is consistent with these deposits being similar geological environments exposed at higher erosion levels.     

Melt infiltration into quartzite during partial melting in the Little Cottonwood Contact Aureole (UT,USA): implication for xenocryst formation

Melt infiltration into quartzite took place due to generation and migration of partial melts within the high‐grade metamorphic rocks of the Big Cottonwood (BC) formation in the Little Cottonwood contact aureole (UT, USA). Melt was produced by muscovite and biotite dehydration melting reactions in the BC formation, which contains pelite and quartzite interlayered on a centimetre to decimetre scale. In the migmatite zone, melt extraction from the pelites resulted in restitic schollen surrounded by K‐feldspar‐enriched quartzite. Melt accumulation occurred in extensional or transpressional domains such as boudin necks, veins and ductile shear zones, during intrusion‐related deformation in the contact aureole. The transition between the quartzofeldspathic segregations and quartzite shows a gradual change in texture. Here, thin K‐feldspar rims surround single, round quartz grains. The textures are interpreted as melt infiltration texture. Pervasive melt infiltration into the quartzite induced widening of the quartz–quartz grain boundaries, and led to progressive isolation of quartz grains. First as clusters of grains, and with increasing infiltration as single quartz grains in the K‐feldspar‐rich matrix of the melt segregation. A 3D–μCT reconstruction showed that melt formed an interconnected network in the quartzites. Despite abundant macroscopic evidence for deformation in the migmatite zone, individual quartz grains found in quartzofeldspathic segregations have a rounded crystal shape and lack quartz crystallographic orientation, as documented with electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD). Water‐rich melts, similar to pegmatitic melts documented in this field study, were able to infiltrate the quartz network and disaggregate grain coherency of the quartzites. The proposed mechanism can serve as a model to explain abundant xenocrysts found in magmatic systems.     

Polymetamorphism, zircon growth and retention of early assemblages through the dynamic evolution of a continental arc in Fiordland, New Zealand

The Marguerite Amphibolite and associated rocks in northern Fiordland, New Zealand, contain evidence for retention of Carboniferous metamorphic assemblages through Cretaceous collision of an arc, emplacement of large volumes of mafic magma, high‐P metamorphism and then extensional exhumation. The amphibolite occurs as five dismembered aluminous meta‐gabbroic xenoliths up to 2 km wide that are enclosed within meta‐leucotonalite of the Lake Hankinson Complex. A first metamorphic event (M1) is manifest in the amphibolite as a pervasively lineated pargasite–anorthite–kyanite or corundum ± rutile assemblage, and as diffusion‐zoned garnet in pelitic schist xenoliths within the amphibolite. Thin zones of metasomatically Al‐enriched leucotonalite directly at the margins of each amphibolite xenolith indicate element redistribution during M1 and equilibration at 6.6 ± 0.8 kbar and 618 ± 25 °C. A second phase of recrystallization (M2) formed patchy and static margarite ± kyanite–staurolite–chlorite–plagioclase–epidote assemblages in the amphibolite, pseudomorphs of coronas in gabbronorite, and thin high‐grossular garnet rims in the pelitic schists. Conditions of M2, 8.8 ± 0.6 kbar and 643 ± 27 °C, are recorded from the rims of garnet in the pelitic schists. Cathodoluminescence imaging and simultaneous acquisition of U‐Th‐Pb isotopes and trace elements by depth‐profiling zircon grains from one pelitic schist reveals four stages of growth, two of which are metamorphic. The first metamorphic stage, dated as 340.2 ± 2.2 Ma, is correlated with M1 on the basis that the unusual zircon trace element compositions indicate growth from a metasomatic fluid derived from the surrounding amphibolite during penetrative deformation. A second phase of zircon overgrowth coupled with crosscutting relationships date M2 to between 119 and 117 Ma. The Early Carboniferous event has not previously been recognized in northern Fiordland, whereas the latter event, which has been identified in Early Cretaceous batholiths, their xenoliths, and rocks directly at batholith margins, is here shown to have also affected the country rock. However, the effects of M2 are fragmentary due to limited element mobility, lack of deformation, distance from a heat source and short residence time in the lower crust during peak P and T. It is possible that many parts of the Fiordland continental arc achieved high‐P conditions in the Early Cretaceous but retain earlier metamorphic or igneous assemblages.     

Ore Genesis and Tectonic Significance of the Xiaojiashan Tungsten Deposit,Eastern Tianshan,Xinjiang, China: Evidence from Geology,Fluid Inclusions,and Stable Isotope Geochemistry

The Xiaojiashan tungsten deposit is located about 200 km northwest of Hami City, the Eastern Tianshan orogenic belt, Xinjiang, northwestern China, and is a quartz vein‐type tungsten deposit. Combined fluid inclusion microthermometry, host rock geochemistry, and H–O isotopic compositions are used to constrain the ore genesis and tectonic setting of the Xiaojiashan tungsten deposit. The orebodies occur in granite intrusions adjacent to the metamorphic crystal tuff, which consists of the second lithological section of the first Sub‐Formation of the Dananhu Formation (D₂d ₁²). Biotite granite is the most widely distributed intrusive bodies in the Xiaojiashan tungsten deposit. Altered diorite and metamorphic crystal tuff are the main surrounding rocks. The granite belongs to peraluminous A‐type granite with high potassic calc‐alkaline series, and all rocks show light Rare Earth Element (REE)‐enriched patterns. The trace element characters suggest that crystallization differentiation might even occur in the diagenetic process. The granite belongs to postcollisional extension granite, and the rocks formed in an extensional tectonic environment, which might result from magma activity in such an extensional tectonic environment. Tungsten‐bearing quartz veins are divided into gray quartz vein and white quartz veins. Based on petrography observation, fluid inclusions in both kinds of vein quartz are mainly aqueous inclusions. Microthermometry shows that gray quartz veins have 143–354°C of T_h, and white quartz veins have 154–312°C of T_h. The laser‐Raman test shows that CO₂ is found in fluid inclusions of the tungsten‐bearing quartz veins. Quadrupole mass spectrometry reveals that fluid inclusions contain major vapor‐phase contents of CO₂, H₂O. Meanwhile, fluid inclusions contain major liquid‐phase contents of Cl^?, Na⁺. It can be speculated that the ore‐forming fluid of the Xiaojiashan tungsten deposit is characterized by an H₂O–CO₂, low salinity, and H₂O–CO₂–NaCl system. The range of hydrogen and oxygen isotope compositions indicated that the ore‐forming fluids of the tungsten deposit were mainly magmatic water. The ore‐forming age of the Xiaojiashan deposit should to be ~227 Ma. During the ore‐forming process, the magmatic water had separated from magmatic intrusions, and the ore‐bearing complex was taken to a portion where tungsten‐bearing ores could be mineralized. The magmatic fluid was mixed by meteoric water in the late stage.     

The role of the grain boundary at chemical and isotopic fronts in marble during contact metamorphism

Carbon and oxygen isotopic profiles around a low pressure metasomatic wollastonite reaction front in a marble of the Hida metamorphic terrain, central Japan, display typical metamorphic fluid-enhanced isotopic zonations. Isotopic profiles obtained from detailed microscale analyses perpendicular to the chemical reaction front in calcite marble show that diffusion-enhanced isotopic exchange may control these profiles. Carbon and oxygen isotopic behaviour in grain boundaries is remarkably different. Oxygen isotopic troughs (¹⁸O depleted rims) around the calcite-grain boundaries are widely observed in this contact aureole, demonstrating that diffusion of oxygen in calcite grain boundary dominates over lattice diffusion in calcite. In contrast, no difference is observed in carbon isotopic profiles obtained from grain cores and rims. There is thus no specific role of the grain boundary for diffusion of carbonic species in the metamorphic fluid during transportation. Carbon chemical species such as CO₂ and CO₃ ions in metamorphic fluid migrate mainly through lattice diffusion. The carbon and oxygen isotope profiles may be modelled by diffusion into a semi-infinite medium. Empirically lattice diffusion of oxygen isotopes is almost six times faster than that of carbon isotopes, and oxygen grain-boundary diffusion is ten times faster than oxygen lattice diffusion. Oxygen isotopic results around the wollastonite vein indicate that migration of the metamorphic fluid into calcite marble was small and was parallel to the aquifer. From the stability of wollastonite and the attainment of oxygen isotopic equilibrium, we suggest that diffusion of oxygen occurred through an aqueous fluid phase. The timescale of formation of the oxygen isotopic profile around the wollastonite vein is calculated to be about 0.76 × 10⁶ years using the experimentally determined diffusion constant. Received: 14 January 1997 / Accepted: 23 April 1998     

榴辉岩相峰期流体活动：来自东昆仑榴辉岩石英脉的证据

本文通过对东昆仑温泉地区榴辉岩中石英脉的锆石U-Pb定年和Lu-Hf同位素的综合研究,为榴辉岩相峰期变质阶段的流体活动提供了一定的证据。石英脉中的锆石晶型较好,具有振荡环带或弱分带,排除了从寄主榴辉岩中捕获锆石的可能性。石英脉和寄主榴辉岩中锆石U-Pb年龄的加权平均值分别为450±2Ma和451±2Ma,说明石英脉中锆石的形成年龄与榴辉岩相的峰期变质阶段一致。两种锆石Hf同位素组成的相似性说明形成石英脉的流体/熔体为内部来源,推测可能为榴辉岩中石英发生溶解以及绿辉石和石榴石分子结构中羟基的出溶作用形成。锆石较低的U、Th含量以及Th/U比值说明石英脉更可能是流体活动形成而非熔体。     

Fluid inclusions in coesite-bearing eclogites and jadeite quartzite at Shuanghe, Dabie Shan (China)

Fluid inclusions in coesite‐bearing eclogites and jadeite quartzite at Shuanghe in Dabie Shan, East‐central China, have preserved remnants of early, prograde and/or peak metamorphic fluids, reset during post‐UHP (ultrahigh‐pressure) metamorphic uplift. Inclusions occur in several minerals (e.g. omphacite & epidote), notably as isolated, primary inclusions in quartz included in various host minerals. Two major fluid types have been identified: non‐polar fluid species (N₂ or CO₂) and aqueous, the latter is by far the most predominant. Aqueous fluids cover a wide range of salinity, from halite‐bearing brines to low salinity fluids. For non‐polar fluids, few N₂ inclusions occur in undeformed eclogite, whereas a number of CO₂‐rich inclusions have been found in microshear zones of eclogite or jadeite quartzite in close proximity to marble occurrences. The primary character of N₂ and high‐salinity aqueous inclusions indicates that they are remnants from UHP metamorphic fluids and for some there is the distinct possibility that they are ultimately derived from pre‐metamorphic fluids. This conclusion is supported by the preservation, in some samples, of microdomains containing synchronous inclusions of variable salinities, which tend to relate to the chemical composition of the host crystal. Carbonic fluids may be derived from neighbouring rocks, notably marble and carbonate‐bearing metasediments, during post‐metamorphic uplift. During post‐UHP exhumation, a limited decrease of the fluid density has occurred, with formation of new sets of fluid inclusions. Fluid movements, however, remained exceedingly limited, at the scale of the enclosing crystal.     

Meteoric incursion and oxygen fronts in the Dalradian metamorphic belt, southwest Scotland: a new hypothesis for regional gold mobility

Post-metamorphic quartz veins which occur over hundreds of square kilometres in the biotite zone of the Dalradian metamorphic belt consist of three principal types: anhedral quartz with pyrite, anhedral quartz with hematite, and prismatic quartz with hematite or rutile. The oxide minerals in anhedral veins have formed by oxidation of pre-existing sulphides, and gold was mobilized during this oxidation. Anhedral quartz veins formed from an aqueous fluid with up to 5 wt% dissolved salts and 16 wt% CO₂ at about 300 °C. Texturally later prismatic quartz crystals formed from a compositionally similar fluid which was undergoing phase separation at the H₂O-CO₂ solvus at 160–200 °C and 500 to 1200 bars fluid pressure. Oxygen isotope ratios for quartz from the veins range from 12.0 to 15.3‰, with hematite-bearing veins generally isotopically heavier than pyrite-bearing veins. Calculated fluid oxygen isotope ratios range from + 8‰ for pyrite-bearing veins to -2‰ for late prismatic crystals. The mineralizing fluid contained a substantial component of meteoric water whose isotopic and chemical composition evolved with progressive water-rock interaction. Evolution of meteoric fluid composition involved migration of oxidation and oxygen isotope fronts in the down-flow direction as head-driven water passed through structurally controlled fractures in the schist pile. A gold solubility trough occurs for the observed fluid in the oxidation frontal zone. Gold remobilization and reprecipitation occurred progressively as the oxidation front migrated through the schist pile.     

辽宁省清原县南龙王庙金矿地质特征与成矿

南龙王庙金矿位于抚顺-清原太古宙绿岩带内.金矿赋存于太古宇鞍山群红透山岩组上部的火山岩-碎屑岩建造中,容矿围岩为磁铁角闪石英岩、黑云变粒岩及浅粒岩.矿体产出受韧性剪切带控制,金矿体沿韧性剪切带分布,呈透镜状、脉状、似层状,矿体规模一般较小.矿体为浸染-细脉含金黄铁矿和含金黄铁矿石英脉.金以自然金形式产出.硫同位素源自深部,铅同位素表明矿质来自绿岩,氢氧同位素指示成矿流体是变质水和大气降水的混合.研究认为南龙王庙金矿为具层控性受韧性剪切带控制的变质-大气降水混合热液型金矿.     

关于大别山榴辉岩相变质作用

大别山产出的榴辉岩相岩石包括石榴橄榄岩、榴辉岩、榴云片岩、榴辉片麻岩、榴玉英岩和榴辉大理岩等不同系列,它们均分布于花岗质片麻岩中。矿物共生序列研究表明,榴辉岩相岩石经历了从绿帘角闪岩相、柯石英榴辉岩相、角闪榴辉岩相、绿帘角闪岩相到绿片岩相的演化过程。花岗质片麻岩及变质火山—沉积岩系并未经历超高压变质作用,但却与榴辉岩相岩石经历了同一期绿帘角闪岩相变质事件,证明二者在地壳范围内发生了构造合并