Late structural evolution in an accretionary wedge: insights from the Voltri Massif (Ligurian Alps,Italy)

The Voltri Massif underwent a polyphasic tectono-metamorphic evolution that records both the Alpine and part of the Apennine deformation events. So this is a key-area to investigate the relationships between Alpine and Apennine deformation events.

This paper focus on the upper crustal deformations (UCD) that characterize the last stages of the tectonics of the Voltri Massif. In the Voltri Massif UCD are characterized by the superpositions of ductile, brittle-ductile and brittle structures that can be attributed to three main tectonic events (from D3 to D5). The oldest UCD event (D3) developed folds and reverse shear zones under ductile to brittle-ductile conditions. Main compressive NW-SE oriented regime characterized D3 event. Brittle-ductile to brittle reverse shear zones and important strike-slip/transpressive systems overprinted D3 structures. This D4 event was significant at the regional scale and occurred under main transpressive, NE-SW oriented, regime. The latest normal and transtensional brittle structures, that formed during UCD D5 event, locally reactivated the older structures.     

Provenance of Oligocene synorogenic sediments of the Ligurian Alps (NW Italy): inferences on belt age and cooling history

Mineral chemistry, ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar geochronology on white micas and Apatite Fission Track Thermochronology (AFTT), are applied here to study the provenance of the synorogenic Molare Formation (lowermost unit of the Tertiary Piedmont Basin clastic sequence). The Molare Formation was deposited during transgression onto the Ligurian Alps nappe stack in the Early Oligocene. Depositional facies show that clastic distribution remained transversal, with local sources located just landward from the coastline. Phengite mineral chemistry together with ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar data clearly shows two distinctive source areas, each one mirroring the composition of the basement directly beneath the clastic sequence. Amphibole mineral chemistry allows second order provenance distinctions within each sector, reflecting heterogeneous metamorphic evolution of the bedrock complexes. Integrated ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar dating and AFTT suggest that, following a fast cooling/exhumation episode of the Ligurian Alps during the Oligocene, very little net uplift has since occurred. This is due to a period of general subsidence from the Oligocene–Late Miocene followed by comparable uplift from Late Miocene–Pliocene to the present. In general our data provide an image of the Ligurian Alps during the Oligocene, which is very similar to the present-day one.This revised version was published online in September 2003.     

Chronology, Petrology and Isotope Geochemistry of the Erro-Tobbio Peridotites (Ligurian Alps, Italy): Records of Late Palaeozoic Lithospheric Extension

Mantle peridotites from the Erro–Tobbio (ET) ophioliticunit (Voltri Massif, Ligurian Alps) record a tectono-metamorphicdecompressional evolution, indicated by re-equilibration fromspinel- to plagioclase- to amphibole-facies conditions, andprogressive deformation from granular to tectonite to mylonitefabrics. The peridotites are considered to represent subcontinentallithospheric mantle that was tectonically denuded during riftingand opening of the Jurassic Ligurian Tethys ocean, similar tothe Northern Apennine (External Ligurides) ophiolitic peridotites.We performed chemical and isotopic investigations on selectedgranular and tectonite spinel peridotites and plagioclase tectonitesand mylonites, with the aim of defining the nature of the mantleprotoliths, and to date the onset of exhumation of the ET peridotites.Spinel- and plagioclase-bearing tectonites and mylonites exhibitheterogeneous bulk-rock major and trace element composition,despite rather homogeneous mineral chemistry, thus indicatingthat the ET mantle protoliths record a composite history ofpartial melting and melt migration by reactive porous flow.The lack of correlation between the observed geochemical heterogeneityand the structural type (granular, tectonite, mylonite) indicatesthat the inferred reactive porous flow event preceded the exhumation-relatedlithospheric history of the Erro–Tobbio mantle. The tectono-metamorphicevolution caused systematic chemical changes in minerals: (1)Al decrease in orthopyroxene; (2) Al decrease, and Cr and Tiincrease in spinels; (3) Al and Sr decrease, Cr, Ti, Zr, Sc,V and middle to heavy rare earth element increase and developmentof a negative Eu anomaly in clinopyroxene. The studied sampleshave Nd isotope compositions consistent with a mid-ocean ridgebasalt mantle reservoir. Sm/Nd isotope data on plagioclase andclinopyroxene separates (and corresponding whole rocks) fromtwo plagioclase peridotites, representative of the plagioclase-bearingmylonitic extensional shear zone, have yielded ages of 273 ±16 Ma and 313 ± 16 Ma, for the plagioclase-facies recrystallizationstage, significantly older than the expected Jurassic age. Thisindicates that the Erro–Tobbio peridotites represent subcontinentallithospheric mantle that was tectonically exhumed from spinel-faciesdepths to shallower lithospheric levels during Late Carboniferous–Permiantimes. Our results are consistent with the previously documentedevidence for an extensional regime in the Europe–Adrialithosphere during Late Palaeozoic time, and they representthe first record that extensional mechanisms were also activeat lithospheric mantle levels. KEY WORDS: plagioclase-bearing peridotites; subcontinental lithospheric mantle; mantle exhumation; Sm/Nd dating     

The morphology of a Messinian valley and its hinterland (Ventimiglia,NW Italy): a Miocene to Pliocene reconstruction

Along the Ligurian coast (NW Italy), Alpine‐folded and slightly metamorphosed rocks experienced fluvial to marine erosion prior to and during the base level fall associated with the Messinian salinity crisis. Following the subsequent sea‐level rise at the onset of the Pliocene, valleys incised along the coastal margins during the Messinian salinity crisis were partly filled with Pliocene marine and continental deposits. One such valley‐infill system is exposed near Ventimiglia (NW Italy). Using geological cross‐sections and geomorphological analysis we have constrained its shape and dimensions, as well as the morphology of its hinterland. The Messinian valley was very open, ∼10 km wide and probably 500 m deep. The basal unconformity between the Pliocene sediments and the underlying substratum is characterized by a smooth surface that has on either side of the palaeo‐valley a dip between 2 and 10°. The basal unconformity in the southernmost part of the palaeo‐valley roughly coincides with present‐day sea level. The hinterland of the middle Pliocene sea was characterized by kilometres‐wide valleys surrounded by mountains with a relief gentler than at present. The shapes and dimensions of the Messinian Ventimiglia valley and the relief during Pliocene times are different from those derived from comparable structures in SE France and NW Italy. We interpret this as being due to the exhumation history that the Ventimiglia region, different from the surrounding areas, experienced over the last few million years. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Retrograde P-T-t path for the Voltri Massif eclogites (Ligurian Alps, Italy): some tectonic implications

The retrograde P-T trajectory of the eclogitic Fe-Ti-gabbros from the Ligurian Alps is constrained by the appearance of mineral parageneses post-dating the Na-clinopyroxene + garnet eclogitic assemblage and indicating the following sequence of metamorphic events: (1) amphibolitic stage— edenite/katophorite + plagioclase (An_33–43) + oxides in symplectitic aggregates; (2) glaucophanic stage— a porphyroblastic glaucophanic amphibole has overgrown the symplectite, winchite also occurs as thin rims around glaucophane and both amphiboles are, sometimes, armoured by atoll garnets; (3) albite-amphibolite stage—barroisite/katophorite + albite + epidote + oxides ± chlorite overprint the glaucophanic stage minerals; (4) greenschist stage—represented by actinolite + albite + epidote + oxide paragenesis.
The metamorphic evolution is complex and the decompression path, on a P–T diagram, is significantly different from those defined in the literature for the Voltri eclogites. The main features inferred from the P–T path are the following: (1) the pressure climax does not match the thermal climax, the maximum temperature conditions are in fact achieved during the early stage of uplift; (2) a decrease in temperature, suggested by the appearance of glaucophane after the amphibolitic symplectite; (3) successive uplift, probably accompanied by an increase in temperature. The complexity of the P-T path drawn for the Voltri eclogites can be explained with a mechanism of successive underthrusts propagating from the innermost to the outermost sector of the Ligurian Alps.     

The Variscan post-collisional volcanism in Late Carboniferous–Permian sequences of Ligurian Alps, Southern Alps and Sardinia (Italy): a synthesis

In the considered wide sector of the West-Mediterranean southern Europe, the collisional phase of the Variscan orogeny during Late Carboniferous and Permian times was followed by magmatic intrusive and effusive activity and sedimentation into intracontinental, alluvial to lacustrine basins originated by wrench- to normal-fault systems. The first volcanic cycle (generally Late Carboniferous-Early Permian in age) is represented by early calc-alkaline andesites and rhyolites, in variable amounts, and by following large volume of rhyolites, and by dacites. Both andesites and rhyolites show K-normal and high-K calc-alkaline character. The origin of the liquids of the first cycle is ascribed to partial melting processes at the mantle–crust interface telescoped within a thickened crust. The melting is considered as the consequence of thermal re-equilibration following isostatic disequilibrium and the subsequent collapse of the orogenic belt; the ascent of liquids occurred in a (trans-)tensional regime. The second magmatic cycle is represented by alkaline magmatism, and exhibits typical anorogenic features consistent with a rifting regime. This event was no more related with the collapse of the Variscan belt, but rather to the post-Variscan global re-organization of plates that evolved during Late Triassic times to the neo-Tethyan rifting. In both cycles, important differences in timing, areal distribution and outpoured volumes arise.     

A case of successful soil geochemistry: the Rubiales Zn-Pb orebody (NW Spain)

The Rubiales Zn-Pb orebody (NW Spain) is a blind deposit developed in a vertical shear zone during the Variscan Orogenesis. It is about 1200 m long in a N-S direction, with an average thickness of 30 m, and is hosted by lower Cambrian limestones and slates, with some quartzite beds. The deposit has a large hydrothermal alteration aureole. The silicified halo contain sphalerite and galena disseminations, with grades between 0.2 and 3% Pb + Zn.The Rubiales orebody was discovered in the late 60s following a soil geochemical survey. In the regional phase of the survey, 28,622 samples were collected in 57 lines; two of the lines over the Rubiales zone yielded 1400 ppm Pb and 1550 ppm Zn. In a local phase, centred on the anomalous zone, 1716 samples were collected in 21 lines. This local survey defined the geochemical anomalies that were subsequent drill-hole targets. Based on 38 surface-holes, geological ore reserves of 18.6 million tons, with 8.6% Zn + Pb, were estimated.Residual soil geochemical anomalies of Zn and Pb were developed over the silicification zone. The Zn anomaly has a greater extent than the Pb anomaly, due to the greater Zn mobility in surficial environments. The Zn and Pb anomalies exhibit an asymmetrical morphology, with greater extent to the south, due to the down slope creep of residual anomalies. The main cross-faults present in the deposit also control the morphology of the anomalies, as a result of Zn and Pb mobilisation and transport by ground waters along the cross-faults. The Cu anomaly defines two maxima over the feeder zones to the orebody. The two feeder zones, also in the silicification zone, are extensively brecciated and contain the highest grades of the deposit (∗> 20% Zn + Pb) and disseminated chalcopyrite.     

Biogeochemical exploration for massive sulphide deposits in areas of dense vegetation: an orientation survey around the Kanköy Deposit (Trabzon, northeastern Turkey)

The eastern Pontides region is a mountainous terrain favourable for massive sulphide deposits. Besides the known deposits, it is highly likely that there are others to be discovered. This paper, therefore, describes the results of a soil and biogeochemical sampling program to assess the suitability of biogeochemical methods for the exploration of hidden deposits in temperate terrains. Soil sampling in the Pontides is shown to be a reliable follow-up method. It produced a significant geochemical response characterised by extensive Cu and Zn but localised Pb anomalies. Lead therefore is the element which can be used to pinpoint the mineralisation due to its relatively less mobile character. Hydromorphic dispersion enhanced the anomalies indicating that base of slope samples would produce reliable results. Of the plant species sampled, Corylus avellana (hazelnut tree) with deep penetrating roots shows comparable results to soil sampling and could be used to delineate the mineralisation. Rhododendron luteum may also be of help. In both species Pb shows limited dispersion and accumulates in the plants near the mineralised site whereas Cu and Zn tend to move away downslope. This shows that biogeochemical sampling could, with proper attention to species selection, be successfully used as an alternative method in the search of massive sulphide deposits in mountainous terrains with a high rainfall such as the eastern Pontides.     

Late Neogene–Quaternary evolution of the intermontane Clusone Basin (Southern Alps,Italy): integration of seismic and geological data

In the Clusone Basin (a large intermontane basin filled by thick late Neogene–Quaternary sediments in the Middle Val Seriana, Southern Alps), two high‐resolution seismic profiles have been acquired in order to reconstruct the geometries of the sediments that fill the depression, with a maximum thickness of more than 200 m as documented by available well data, and to define their relationships with the bedrock, consisting of Late Triassic carbonates. In addition to standard seismic reflection processing, a seismic refraction inversion technique has been applied. The integration of geological (both surface and well data) and seismic data indicates a complex history of the drainage patterns of the Clusone Basin, documenting a shift of the Serio River from a palaeodrainage toward the southeast (Val Borlezza) to the present situation, toward the south (Val Seriana): between the older and the present‐day drainages an important depositional stage occurred, as documented by the thick sediments that fill the Clusone Basin, controlling the capture of the Serio River along the Val Seriana. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Source of metals in metamorphic ore-forming processes in the Apuane Alps (NW Tuscany,Italy): Constraints by Pb-isotope data

Summary A total of 19 samples of sulfides, barite and country rocks from three important deposits of the Apuane Alps district (Bottino, Pollone and Monte Arsiccio) were analyzed for Pb-isotopic compositions. Ore lead shows a fairly homogeneous isotopic signature (206/204: 18.2-18.4; 207/204 15.7; 208/204: 38.5-38.6), defining a high , high W province suggestive of an evolution in a crustal environment since at least the Middle Proterozoic. Pb-Pb model age of the ores is in the order of 350 Ma, in gross agreement with the Lower-Middle Paleozoic age assigned to most country rocks. The present-day Pb-isotope ratios of presumed exhalative tourmalinites associated with the Bottino deposit and of other country rocks from mineralized areas are also similar. Moreover, most of these rocks show relatively high total Pb contents (> 70 ppm). HCl-soluble lead in these samples also has a roughly similar isotopic signature. In contrast, rock samples collected at greater distances from mineralized bodies have lower Pb concentrations (< 10 ppm) and more radiogenic 206/204 and 208/204 ratios (18.6 to 18.9 and 38.9 to 39.3 respectively). HCl-soluble lead in these samples has distinctly lower 208/204, and to a lesser extent 206/204 ratios (38.6 to 38.9 and 18.5 to 18.9 respectively). In agreement with previously established genetic models, these results may be interpreted in terms of a major episode of lead extraction in the Paleozoic, possibly in association with exhalative tourmalinites, followed by remobilization and reconcentration in vein mineralization during the Apenninic orogeny. The isotopic signature of country rocks in mineralized areas may be ascribed to a Pb-isotope halo effect induced by metamorphism. When compared with Pb-isotope data from deposits of the southern Tuscany mining district, the ore lead in Apuane Alps exhibits similar isotopic patterns, but with lower 208/204 and 206/204 ratios. This fact suggests for the two districts source(s) with similar evolutions of their U/Pb and Th/Pb ratios, but distinctly different times of Pb extraction.

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Die Herkunft von Metallen bei metamorphen erzlagerstättenbildenden Prozessen in den Apuanischen Alpen (NW Toskana, Italien): Eigebnisse von Pb-Isotopendaten

Zusammenfassung In den Apuanischen Alpen (NW Toskana) treten prämetamorphe, schichtförmige Fe-Ba Erzlagerstätten in grünschieferfaziell metamorphen Serien sedimentären und vulkanosedimentären Ursprungs auf (e.g. Pollone und Monte Arsiccio), die von syn- bis spätkinematisch gebildeten, diskordanten Vererzungen begleitet werden. Ein Gangsystem mit Quarz, Karbonat und Pb-Zn-Ag (Bottino) wird von einem stratiformen Turmalinithorizont mit erhöhten Metallgehalten begleitet.Um die Frage eines metamorphogenen Ursprungs der gangförmigen Vererzungen im Gefolge der Appenninischen Metamorphose (Oligozän-Miozän) und die vermutete Herkunft der Metalle aus den schichtförmigen Lagerstätten und Metallanreicherungen zu überprüfen, wurden Pb-Isotopenuntersuchungen an Sulfiden, Bariten, Turmaliniten und Nebengesteinen durchgeführt. Das Erzblei aus stratiformen wie auch gangförmigen Lagerstätten zeigt nur geringe Variationen der Pb-isotopenverhältnisse und ist innerhalb eines Vorkommens homogen (206/204: 18.2-18.4; 207/204: 15.68; 208/204: 38.538.6). Seine relativ hohen - and W-Werte weisen auf eine Bleientwicklung in kontinentalem Krustenmilieu, spätestens seit dem mittleren Proterozoikum hin. Die 207/206 Modellalter von ca. 350 Ma stimmen größenordnungmäßig mit dem vermuteten paläozoischen Alter des Nebengesteins überein, sind aber für die gangförmigen tertiären Vorkommen zu hoch. Baryt-, Turmalinit- und Gesamtgesteinsproben aus der Nähe der Lagerstätten zeigen alle ähnliche Pb-Isotopenverhältnisse wie die Sulfide. Die Gesteine weisen hohe Pb-Gehalte von > 70 ppm auf. In größerer Entfernung zu den Lagerstätten sind die Pb-Gehalte mit < 10 ppm deutlich niedriger und die Pb-Isotopenverhältnisse sind radiogener (206/204: 18.8-18.9; 208/204: 38.9-39.3). Ihr HCl-1ösliches Blei ist hingegen weniger radiogen.Die Resultate stützen die neueren Ansichten, daß es im Paläozoikum zur Bildung von exbalativen Turmaliniten verbunden mit einer Metallanreicherung und von stratiformen Fe-Ba-Lagerstätten kam. Während der appenninischen Metamorphose wurden die Metalle remobilisiert, und es kam zur Bildung von gangförmigen Vorkommen und Lagerstätten. Die hohen Pb-Gehalte der Nebengesteine und die Isotopensignatur des HC1-löslichen Bleis deuten auf eine metamorphogene Halo-Bildung. Die Bleiisotopen von jungtertiären Erzen aus der südlichen Toskana sind im Vergleich mit dem apuanischen Erzblei radiogener. Sie weisen aber dieselben hohen - und W-Werte auf. Das heißt, das Blei stammt aus Gesteinen, die eine qualitativ wie auch quantitativ ähnliche Entwicklung bezüglich der U/Pb und Th/Pb Verhältnisse durchlaufen haben wie jene, die das Blei der apuanischen Lagerstätten geliefert haben.

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This paper was presented at the IGCP 291 Project Symposium Metamorphic Fluids and Mineral Deposits, ETH Zürich, March 21–23, 1991.     

Structural evolution of the Tuscan Nappe in the southeastern sector of the Apuan Alps metamorphic dome (Northern Apennines,Italy)

Structural analysis carried out in the Tuscan Nappe (TN) in the southeastern sector of the Apuan Alps highlights a structural evolution much more complex than that proposed so far. The TN has been deformed by structures developed during four deformation phases. The three early phases resulted from a compressive tectonic regime linked to the construction of the Apenninic fold‐and‐thrust‐belt. The fourth phase, instead, is connected with the extensional tectonics, probably related to the collapse of the belt and/or to the opening of the Tyrrhenian Sea. Our structural and field data suggest the following. (1) The first phase is linked to the main crustal shortening and deformation of the Tuscan Nappe in the internal sectors of the belt. (2) The second deformation phase is responsible for the prominent NW–SE‐trending folds recognized in the study area (Mt. Pescaglino and Pescaglia antiforms and Mt. Piglione and Mt. Prana synforms). (3) The direction of shortening related to the third phase is parallel to the main structural trend of the belt. (4) The interference between the third folding phase and the earlier two tectonic phases could be related to the development of the metamorphic domes. The two directions of horizontal shortening induced buckling and vertical growth of the metamorphic domes, enhancing the process of exhumation of the metamorphic rocks. (5) The exhumation of the Tuscan Nappe occurred mostly in a compressive tectonic setting. A new model for the exhumation of the metamorphic dome of the Apuan Alps is proposed. Its tectonic evolution does not fit with the previously suggested core complex model, but is due to compressive tectonics. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Oligocene to Present kilometres scale subsidence and exhumation of the Ligurian Alps and the Tertiary Piedmont Basin (NW Italy) revealed by apatite (U–Th)/He thermochronology: correlation with regional tectonics

The Ligurian Alps segment of the Alpine–Apennine orogen in NW Italy is unconformably covered by Upper Eocene to Holocene sediments in the Tertiary Piedmont Basin (TPB) and Po Plain. These sediments dip towards the north demonstrating the erosional nature of the southern border of the succession and implying that the adjacent orogenic belt formed the substratum rather than the margin of the sedimentary basin. Apatite (U–Th)/He and fission track thermochronology shows that the orogen first subsided and was buried at >4 km from 30 to 26 Ma and began its exhumation thereafter. From 26 Ma to present, this upward movement was contemporaneous with subsidence in the northern TPB. The couple exhumation in the S and subsidence in the N migrated northwards through time. Vertical movements in the area are similar to those reconstructed in Corsica. In both cases, the onset of exhumation becomes younger away from the Ligurian‐Provençal basin and has little correlation with the opening of the surrounding oceanic basins.     

安徽淮北三铺地区镁夕卡岩金（铜、铁）矿床生成地质环境、分带和流体演化

世界上的含金夕卡岩大多属钙夕卡岩型,镁夕卡岩金矿床十分稀少。本文介绍我国安徽北部三铺地区镁夕卡岩金（铜、铁）矿床的地质地球化学特征。该区含金（铜、铁）镁夕卡岩主要产于台地断拗区燕山期石英二长闪长玢岩与中上寒武统白云质大理岩外接触带。岩体内接触带发育钙夕卡岩和钾长石化,局部有辉钼矿化产出。金矿化与铜的硫化物密切共生,属于镁夕卡岩的退化热液交代作用产物。金属矿化分带序列自蚀变石英二长闪长玢岩到镁夕卡岩     

Fluid evolution during metamorphism of the Otago Schist, New Zealand: (II) Influence of detrital apatite on fluid salinity

Apatite occurs in the zeolite to greenschist facies metamorphic rocks of the Otago Schist, South Island, New Zealand, as both a groundmass constituent and as a hydrothermal phase hosted in metamorphic quartz veins. Groundmass apatite from low-grade rocks, ranging from the zeolite facies to the pumpellyite–actinolite zone, has chloride contents ranging from 0–1.4 wt%, and fluoride contents ranging from 2.2–4.2 wt%, whilst groundmass apatite from the greenschist facies (chlorite to biotite zone) is virtually pure fluorapatite. Vein apatite from all grades is also fluorapatite with little or no chloride. This difference in composition is interpreted as resulting from the preservation of the primary magmatic compositions of detrital Cl-apatite grains, out of equilibrium with the metamorphic fluid, at low grades, whilst higher-grade groundmass apatite and neoformed apatite in quartz veins have compositions in equilibrium with an aqueous metamorphic fluid. The presence of detrital Cl-bearing apatite during the early stages of metamorphism may constitute a significant reservoir of Cl, given the low porosities of compacted sediments undergoing prograde metamorphism. Calculations indicate that the release of Cl from detrital apatite in the Otago Schist, as a result of re-equilibration of apatite with the pore fluid, may have had a significant effect on the salinity of the metamorphic fluid.     

新疆北部弧-盆转化体系下铁氧化物-铜-金矿床的流体演化特征:来自卤族元素和稀有气体同位素的证据

东准噶尔北缘和东天山雅满苏带是中国新疆北部地区两个重要的晚古生代铁氧化物-铜-金矿化潜力区,以老山口、乔夏哈拉和黑尖山矿床作为典型矿床代表。研究表明两区域的铁氧化物-铜-金矿床均产出于盆地闭合的弧盆转化体系下,且具有明显的铁、铜-金两阶段矿化。卤族元素和稀有气体同位素作为可靠的流体示踪剂,被应用于探究这一特定构造环境下的铁氧化物-铜-金矿床的流体演化和矿床成因。结果显示老山口、乔夏哈拉和黑尖山矿床的成矿流体具有明显的混合流体端员特征:(1)岩浆流体端员,主要参与黑尖山矿床磁铁矿阶段,I/Cl、Br/Cl和⁴⁰Ar/³⁶Ar比值分别为(16.3~18.0)×10^-6、(1.03~1.06)×10^-3和352~437;(2)海水表源蒸发成因盐卤水端员,主要参与老山口矿床铜-金矿化阶段,I/Cl、Br/Cl和⁴⁰Ar/³⁶Ar比值分别为(77.1~87.7)×10^-6、(1.53~1.80)×10^-3和672~883;(3)蒸发岩溶解或者深度水-岩反应成因的盐卤水/沉积岩地层水端员,主要参与到老山口、乔夏哈拉矿床的磁铁矿阶段以及黑尖山、乔夏哈拉矿床的铜-金矿化阶段,综合I/Cl、Br/Cl和⁴⁰Ar/³⁶Ar比值分别为(477~26 301)×10^-6、(0.39~1.28)×10^-3和288~510。明显的多阶段矿化和铜-金矿化阶段以非岩浆富Ca高盐度卤水为主的特征与世界范围内的IOCG型矿床极为相似,表明新疆北部的铁氧化物-铜-金矿床应为IOCG型矿床。     

High-resolution analysis of submarine lobes deposits: Seismic-scale outcrops of the Lauzanier area (SE Alps, France)

The Lauzanier area represents the northernmost extension of the Annot Sandstone series and contains deposits between 650 and 900 m-thick. This basin was active from upper Bartonian or lower Priabonian to early Rupelian. It is composed of two superposed units separated by a major unconformity. The sediment supply is due to channelled flows coming from the south. Flow processes include mass flow to turbidity currents. The size of the particles and the absence of fine-grained sediment suggest a transport over a short distance. The Lower Unit is made of coarse-grained tabular beds interpreted as non-channelled lobe deposits. The Upper Unit is made of massive conglomerates interpreted as the channelled part of lobes. These lobe deposits settle in a tectonically confined basin according to topographic compensation that occurs from bed scale to unit scale. The abrupt progradation between the lower and the upper unit seems related to a major tectonic uplift in the area. This uplift is also suggested by a change in the petrographic nature of the source and an abrupt coarsening of the transported clasts.This field example allows providing high resolution analysis for depositional sedimentary sequences of terminal lobe deposits in a coarse-grained turbidite system. The outcrop analysis shows the lateral evolution of deposits and the system progradation allows a longitudinal analysis of facies evolution by superposing on the same outcrops the channelled lobe system and the non-channelled lobe system. These results of high-resolution outcrop analysis can be extrapolated to results obtained on sedimentary lobes in recent deep-sea turbidite system that are either restricted to cores, or with a lesser resolution (seismic).     

Insight into the development of a carbonate platform through a multi-disciplinary approach: a case study from the Upper Devonian slope deposits of Mount Freikofel (Carnic Alps,Austria/Italy)

The development and behavior of million year-scaled depositional sequences recorded within Palaeozoic carbonate platform has remained poorly examined. Therefore, the understanding of palaeoenvironmental changes that occur in geological past is still limited. We herein undertake a multi-disciplinary approach (sedimentology, conodont biostratigraphy, magnetic susceptibility (MS), and geochemistry) of a long-term succession in the Carnic Alps, which offers new insights into the peculiar evolution of one of the best example of Palaeozoic carbonate platform in Europe. The Freikofel section, located in the central part of the Carnic Alps, represents an outstanding succession in a fore-reef setting, extending from the Latest Givetian (indet. falsiovalis conodont zones) to the Early Famennian (Lower crepida conodont zone). Sedimentological analysis allowed to propose a sedimentary model dominated by distal slope and fore-reef-slope deposits. The most distal setting is characterized by an autochthonous pelagic sedimentation showing local occurrence of thin-bedded turbiditic deposits. In the fore-reef slope, in a more proximal setting, there is an accumulation of various autochthonous and allochthonous fine- to coarse-grained sediments originated from the interplay of gravity-flow currents derived from the shallow-water and deepwater area. The temporal evolution of microfacies in the Freikofel section evolves in two main steps corresponding to the Freikofel (Unit 1) and the Pal (Unit 2) limestones. Distal slope to fore-reef lithologies and associate changes are from base to top of the section: (U1) thick bedded litho- and bioclastic breccia beds with local fining upward sequence and fine-grained mudstone intercalations corresponding, in the fore-reef setting, to the dismantlement of the Eifelian–Frasnian carbonate platform during the Early to Late Frasnian time (falsiovalis to rhenana superzones) with one of the causes being the Late Givetian major rift pulse; (U2) occurrence of thin-bedded red nodular and cephalopod-bearing limestones with local lithoclastic grainstone intercalations corresponding to a significant deepening of the area and the progressive withdrawal of sedimentary influxes toward the basin, in relation with Late Frasnian sea-level rise. MS and geochemical analyses were also performed along the Freikofel section and demonstrate the inherent parallel link existing between variation in MS values and proxy for terrestrial input. Interpretation of MS in terms of palaeoenvironmental processes reflects that even though distality remains the major parameter influencing MS values, carbonate production and water agitation also play an important role.     

Trace element redistribution in high-temperature deformed gabbros from East Ligurian ophiolites (Northern Apennines, Italy): constraints on the origin of syndeformation fluids

Abstract Mg-gabbros from East Ligurian ophiolites (Northern Apennines, Italy) display a high-temperature/low-pressure recrystallization localized along ductile shear zones. In deformed gabbros, the igneous diopside is recrystallized into granoblastic aggregates of neoblastic diopside and minor red-brown amphibole. The latter displays a pargasitic composition, with high amounts of Al^IV Na(A) and Ti (± 1.8, 0.7 and 0.4 atoms per formula unit, respectively). Major element composition of neoblastic minerals highlight equilibration temperature conditions in the range 800–950° C. Red-brown Ti-pargasite also occurs as a minor interstitial constituent, presumably growing from a residual trapped liquid, in the differentiated lithologies (Fe-Ti-diorites) of the plutonic ophiolitic complex. By means of ion microprobe (SIMS technique), rare earth (La, Ce, Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd, Dy, Er, Yb) and selected trace elements (Sr, Y, Cr, V, Sc, Zr, Ti) have been analysed in igneous and neoblastic diopside, as well as in Ti-pargasites. Ti-pargasites have also been analysed for F and Cl, and compared with the halogen composition of the amphiboles, mainly hornblendes to actinolites, which are related to the subsequent low-temperature brittle evolution. Neoblastic Ti-pargasite from deformed Mg-gabbros bears close compositional similarities with igneous Ti-pargasite from undeformed Fe-Ti-diorites, whereas it is geochemically distinct from the amphiboles post-dating the ductile event. In particular, Ti-pargasites have relatively high contents of F, REE, Y, Zr and Sr, which are not consistent with crystallization in the presence of seawater-derived hydrothermal fluids. High-grade recrystallization probably developed in the presence of volatile-rich igneous fluids, either trapped between the cumulus minerals or injected into the ductile shear zones from outside the local system. An alternative hypothesis comprises the absence of fluid phase and the development of ductile shear zones in Ti-pargasite-rich layers. The petrological features of deformed gabbros recovered from present-day slow-spreading ridges and fracture zones bear close similarities with the investigated ophiolitic metagabbros. In East Ligurian ophiolites, high-grade ductile shear zones have been related to the initial stages of the uplift of the gabbro-peridotite complex to the sea-floor.     

The emplacement of the Late Miocene Monte Capanne intrusion (Elba Island,Central Italy): constraints from magnetic fabric analyses

Anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS) analysis has been carried out in the thermometamorphic aureole surrounding the Late Miocene Monte Capanne pluton (Elba Island, Central Italy). The identification and separation of the main carriers of the magnetic susceptibility by low-temperature and high-field AMS measurements demonstrate that a correct knowledge of the magnetic fabric is needed in order to use AMS for tectonic interpretations. Magnetic fabric data, combined with structural data from the aureole, and their comparison with data from the pluton itself, were used to constraint the mode of pluton emplacement. Results document an intimate linkage between the magmatic flow pattern and the syn-metamorphic fabrics acquired during pluton emplacement in the host rocks. The magnetic/structural fabric in the aureole rocks is dominated by flattening deformation and no systematic relationship with any regional tectonic feature is observed. These results suggest that local processes induced by magma ascent in the upper crust might have played a primary role in space generation for pluton emplacement in the Tuscan Magmatic Province, suggesting a revaluation of the modes of pluton emplacement during the post-orogenic evolution of the northern Apennine system as a whole.