First results on the LPO-derived seismic properties of iron ores from the Quadrilátero Ferrífero region, southeastern Brazil

The role of hydrothermal fluids in assisting the activity of strike-slip faults is investigated using a range of new geological, geophysical, and geochemical data obtained on the Argentat fault, Massif Central, France. This fault zone, 180-km-long and 6 to 8 km-width, has experienced coeval intense channeling of hydrothermal fluids and brittle deformation during a short time span (300–295 Ma). According to seismic data, the fault core is a 4-km-wide, vertical zone of high fracture density that rooted in the middle crust (~ 13 km) and that involved fluids in its deeper parts (9–13 km depth). If stress analyses in the fault core and strain analyses in the damage zone both support a left-lateral movement along the fault zone, it is inferred that hydrothermal fluids have strongly influenced fault development, and the resulting fault has influenced fluid flow. Fluid pressure made easier fracturing and faulting in zones of competent rocks units and along rheological boundaries. Repeated cycles of increase of fault-fracture permeability then overpressure of hydrothermal fluids at fault extremity favored strong and fast development of the crustal-scale strike-slip fault. The high permeability obtained along the fault zone permitted a decrease of coupling across the weak fault core. Connections between shallower and lower crustal fluids reservoirs precipitate the decrease of fault activity by quartz precipitation and sulfides deposition. The zones of intense hydrothermal alteration at shallows crustal levels and the zones of fluid overpressure at the base of the upper crust both controlled the final geometry of the crustal-scale fault zone.     

Microtectonic and geochemical characterization of thrusting in a foreland basin: Example of the South-Pyrenean orogenic wedge (Spain)

In orogenic systems, thrust faults play a major role in stacking different tectonic units and may act as conduits for the expulsion of large amounts of fluid of different origins (metamorphic, diagenetic, meteoric). This study focuses on the Monte Perdido thrust unit emplaced in the Paleogene Jaca thrust-sheet-top basin, in the SW-central Pyrenees. We aim to decipher the mechanisms and P-T conditions of deformation in fault zones and characterize the related fluid involvement, through combined microstructural, geochemical and microthermometry analyses. Two thrust faults cutting platform limestones, marls and siliciclastic turbidites of the lower part of the basin-fill (Paleocene–lower Eocene) have been studied. The fault zones are characterized by metre-thick shear zones with highly deformed, foliated clay-rich sediments. Foliation is underlined by preferentially oriented phyllosilicates. Several generations of shear and extension calcite, quartz and chlorite-bearing veins attest to fluid-rock interactions during a multi-stage deformation. Microstructural observations and stable isotope analyses on calcite from veins and host sediments suggest that deformation was aseismic and dominated by diffusive mass transfer from pressure solution sites along cleavage and stylolites to the precipitation sites in veins, with mineralizing fluids in equilibrium with the host sediments. Our results suggest an essentially closed hydrologic system, and imply the absence of significant fluid flow along the studied fault zones. Microthermometric study on fluid inclusions present in calcite and quartz veins, and calcite-quartz oxygen isotopic fractionation determined for the first generation shear veins, allow a geothermal gradient of 34 °C/km to be estimated. Analytical results demonstrate an evolution of the fault zones in three stages. The first stage was related to the emplacement of the Monte Perdido thrust unit during the middle Eocene at a temperature of ～208 °C and a burial depth of ～5.7 km. The second stage corresponds to a fault reactivation at a temperature of ～240 °C and a burial depth of ～6.5 km. The latter deformation may have been related to folding of the Monte Perdido thrust unit during the emplacement of the underlying Gavarnie thrust unit during the late Eocene–early Oligocene, with deeper burial resulting from aggradation of the thrust-sheet-top basin-fill. The last event corresponds to the formation of a dilatant vein system likely related to the exhumation of the massif.     

Fluid flow in cataclastic thrust fault zones in sandstones, Sub-Andean Zone, southern Bolivia

The Bolivian Sub-Andean Zone (SAZ) corresponds to a Neogene thrust system that affects an about 10-km thick Palaeozoic to Neogene siliciclastic succession. The analysis of macro and microstructures and cement distribution in thrust fault zones shows that they are sealed by quartz at depths >3 km, due to local silica transfer by pressure-solution/precipitation activated at temperatures >70–90 °C. At shallower depths, faults have remained open and could be preferential drains for lateral flow of carbonate-bearing fluids, as shown by the occurrence of carbonate cements in fractures and their host-sandstone. Due to decreasing burial, resulting from foothill erosion during fault activity, critically buried fault segments can be affected by non-quartz-sealed structures that post-date initial quartz-sealed structures. The integration of textural, fluid inclusion and isotopic data shows that carbonates precipitated at shallow depth (<3 km), low temperature (<80 °C) and relatively late during the thrusting history. Isotopic data also show that precipitation occurred from the mixing of gravity-driven meteoric water with deeper formation water bearing carbonate carbon derived from the maturation of hydrocarbon source rocks (Silurian and Devonian shales). The combined microstructural and isotopic analyses indicate that: (i) fluid flow in fault zones often occurred with successive pulses derived from different or evolving sources and probably related to episodic fault activity, and (ii) at a large-scale, the faults have a low transverse permeability and they separate thrust sheets with different fluid histories.     

东天山中段晚古生代面状剪切带形成机制与金成矿关系研究

东天山晚古生代康古尔塔格构造—金矿带的中段南带开展构造控矿研究,为区域金矿定位预测与勘探提供依据。采用区域构造分析和构造解析方法,在雅满苏北部厘定出一类已发生变形改造的大型面状脆韧性—韧性剪切带,构造恢复表明,其形成于晚古生代造山早期向北的分层剪切或低角度逆冲剪切(S₁//S₀)作用,并作为区域金矿的一级控矿构造而成为俯冲带深源成矿流体向上运移成矿的主通道。在造山过程中递进变形的分层剪切或低角度逆冲剪切晚期、向南北向横向缩短转换阶段,伴随区域抬升和断褶作用,拆离剪切带分支断裂开始成生并向上突破,导致封闭在拆离带内运移的深源含矿流体以断层阀方式分流排泄,成矿流体沿分支断裂向上运移,在断裂上盘或上盘背斜枢纽处的低序次的断裂、破裂中聚集卸载,形成充填石英脉和交代蚀变岩型(造山型)金矿,并有时限为276.5±2.9Ma的石英闪长斑岩侵入产出;晚期褶皱、断裂等叠加构造则对矿床(体)破坏、改造及保存起了重要作用。     

东天山中段晚古生代面状剪切带形成机制与金成矿关系研究

东天山晚古生代康古尔塔格构造—金矿带的中段南带开展构造控矿研究,为区域金矿定位预测与勘探提供依据。采用区域构造分析和构造解析方法,在雅满苏北部厘定出一类已发生变形改造的大型面状脆韧性—韧性剪切带,构造恢复表明,其形成于晚古生代造山早期向北的分层剪切或低角度逆冲剪切（S1//S0）作用,并作为区域金矿的一级控矿构造而成为俯冲带深源成矿流体向上运移成矿的主通道。在造山过程中递进变形的分层剪切或低角度逆冲剪切晚期、向南北向横向缩短转换阶段,伴随区域抬升和断褶作用,拆离剪切带分支断裂开始成生并向上突破,导致封闭在拆离带内运移的深源含矿流体以断层阀方式分流排泄,成矿流体沿分支断裂向上运移,在断裂上盘或上盘背斜枢纽处的低序次的断裂、破裂中聚集卸载,形成充填石英脉和交代蚀变岩型（造山型）金矿,并有时限为276. 5±2. 9Ma的石英闪长斑岩侵入产出;晚期褶皱、断裂等叠加构造则对矿床（体）破坏、改造及保存起了重要作用。     

韧-脆性剪切带构造控矿演化模式--以青海省乌兰县托莫尔日特金矿区为例

通过对青海省乌兰县托莫尔日特金矿区韧－脆性剪切带变形特征、成矿物质与热液来源及运移条件分析，提出了该区构造控矿演化的四阶段模式。该模式认为，早期的韧性剪切变形导致了成矿物质的由深部向浅部、由韧性剪切带外部向韧性剪切带内部的活化迁移，成矿热液在韧性剪切带上部（即韧脆性转换带附近）得以大量聚集。韧性变形后期温压条件降低，韧性变形转化为脆性变形，地表大气降水沿贯通性较强的脆性破裂带大量下渗，到达韧－脆性转换带附近，与该处积聚的成矿热液充分混合，热液性质发生改变，在相对张性或较薄弱的构造有利部位大量沉淀。由于断裂带的周期性活动，成矿物质得到多次沉淀而不断富集，最终形成金矿体。矿体形成后的构造隆升及剥蚀作用，使韧－脆性剪切带出露地表，金矿床也随之出露到近地表处。因此在矿区石英脉型金矿体的下部，可能会存在糜棱岩型金矿体，但品位可能会有所下降。     

Deformation mechanisms and hydraulic properties of fault zones in unconsolidated sediments; the Roer Valley Rift System,The Netherlands

In general, faults cutting through the unconsolidated sediments of the Roer Valley Rift System (RVRS), The Netherlands, form strong barriers to horizontal groundwater flow. The relationships between deformation mechanisms along fault zones and their impact on the hydrogeological structure of the fault zone are analyzed in a shallow (0–5 m below land surface) trench over one of the faults in the study area. Recently developed digital-image-analysis techniques are used to estimate the spatial distribution of hydraulic conductivity at the millimeter-scale and to describe the micromorphologic characteristics of the fault zone. In addition, laboratory measurements of hydraulic conductivity on core-plug samples show the larger-scale distribution of hydraulic conductivity in the damage zone flanking the main fault plane. Particulate flow is the deformation mechanism at shallow depths, which causes the damage zone around the fault, in the sand-rich parts, to have a relatively enhanced hydraulic conductivity. The fault core is characterized by reduced hydraulic conductivity due to clay smearing, grain-scale mixing, and iron-oxide precipitation. Electronic Publication     

The role of fluids in partitioning brittle deformation and ductile creep in auriferous shear zones between 500 and 700 °C

The fabric, mineralogy, geochemistry, and stable isotope systematics of auriferous shear zones in various hydrothermal gold deposits were studied in order to discuss the role of fluids in rock deformation at temperatures between 500 °C and 700 °C. The strong hydrothermal alteration and gold mineralization indicates that effective permeability development goes ahead with high-temperature rock deformation. The economic gold enrichment is often hosted by breccias and quartz veins in the ductile shear zones, which either formed at fast strain rates or by low strain continuous deformation at slow strain rates. Both processes require (1) a close-to lithostatic to supralithostatic fluid pressure and/or (2) a strong rheology contrast of the deformed lithologies that is often developed during progressive hydrothermal alteration. Compartments of high fluid pressure are sealed from the rest of the shear zones by high-temperature deformation mechanisms, e.g. intracrystalline plasticity and diffusion creep, and compaction. In contrast, in mylonites with heterogeneous crystal plastic and brittle deformation mechanisms for the various minerals, an interconnected network of a grain-scale porosity forms an effective fluid conduit, which hampers fluid pressure build-up and the formation of veins.The auriferous shear zones of the various gold mines represent fluid conduits in the deeper crust, 100 m along strike and up to 1000 m down-dip. The hydrothermal fluids infiltrated may be responsible for low magnitude earthquakes in the Earth's lower crust, which otherwise deforms viscously.     

Microtextural investigation (SEM and TEM study) of phyllosilicates in a major thrust fault zone (Monte Perdido, southern Pyrenees): impact on fault reactivation

Thrusting fault zone in foreland basins are characterized by highly foliated zones generally enriched in phyllosilicates which can play a major role on the mechanical behaviour of the fault. In this context, investigations of synkinematic clay minerals permit to determine the origin of the fluid from which they precipitated as well as the mechanisms of deformation. Our study is focused on clay mineral assemblages (illite and chlorite) in a major thrust fault located in the Monte Perdido massif (southern Pyrenees), a shallow thrust that affects upper cretaceous-paleocene platform carbonates and lower Eocene marls and turbidites. It implied 3?km of displacement of the Monte Perdido thrust unit with respect to the underlying Gavarnie unit. In this area the cleavage development by pressure-solution is linked to the Monte Perdido and Gavarnie thrust activity. The core zone of the fault, about 6?m thick, consists of an interval of intensely deformed clay-bearing rocks bounded by major shear surfaces. The deformed sediment is markedly darker than the protolith. Calcite-quartz shear veins along the shear planes are abundant. Detailed SEM and TEM observations of highly deformed fault zone samples indicate that clay mineral enrichment in the core zone of the fault is not only related to passive increase by pressure-solution mechanism but that dissolution?Crecrystallization of phyllosilicates occurs during deformation. A mineral segregation is observed in the highly deformed zone. Newly formed 2M ₁ muscovite is present along the cleavage whereas IIb chlorite crystals fill S_V2 shear veins suggesting syntectonic growth of phyllosilicates in the presence of fluids in low-grade metamorphic conditions. These mineralogical reactions act as weakening processes and would favour Monte Perdido fault creeping.     

Segmented, curved faults: the example of the Balduini Thrust Zone, Northern Apennines, Italy

Meso- and micro-structural studies of the well-exposed Balduini Thrust (Northern Apennines, Italy) indicate that the structure formed during a single folding event, contemporaneous with diagenesis, and is a zone comprising curved, en-échelon fault segments. The geometry of each segment is arcuate with pure compression at one end and right-lateral displacement along the other. The thrust developed during the Tortonian within a single mud-rich formation, the Upper Eocene–Upper Oligocene Scaglia Cinerea, but rheological variations within the unit led to differences in deformation style; zones of scaly fabric are discontinuous and calcite veins vary in abundance. The mesoscopic morphology of the veins and the distribution of calcium carbonate along the formation indicate variations in the distribution of fluids at the time of deformation, which affected both diagenesis and the structural response of the material. Systematic variations of mechanical properties within the thickness of the Scaglia Cinerea Formation account for the curvature of the propagating thrust. Together with the heterogeneity of the stress field, the confinement of the arcing thrust to this single, weak unit lead to repeated initiation of new fractures and hence segmentation of the propagating thrust. Geometric analysis of the calcite veins and their microscopic characters suggests that hydrofracturing was involved, with the Scaglia Cinerea Formation experiencing high fluid pressure followed by rapid water expulsion. The Balduini Thrust is therefore an example of a fluid-driven, refracted compound shear zone. The analysis presented here provides insights into the three-dimensional arrangement of fault zones and fluid-migration patterns during regional faulting.     

Formation of chlorite during thrust fault reactivation. Record of fluid origin and P–T conditions in the Monte Perdido thrust fault (southern Pyrenees)

The chemical and isotopic compositions of clay minerals such as illite and chlorite are commonly used to quantify diagenetic and low-grade metamorphic conditions, an approach that is also used in the present study of the Monte Perdido thrust fault from the South Pyrenean fold-and-thrust belt. The Monte Perdido thrust fault is a shallow thrust juxtaposing upper Cretaceous–Paleocene platform carbonates and Lower Eocene marls and turbidites from the Jaca basin. The core zone of the fault, about 6 m thick, consists of intensely deformed clay-bearing rocks bounded by major shear surfaces. Illite and chlorite are the main hydrous minerals in the fault zone. Illite is oriented along cleavage planes while chlorite formed along shear veins (<50 μm in thickness). Authigenic chlorite provides essential information about the origin of fluids and their temperature. δ¹⁸O and δD values of newly formed chlorite support equilibration with sedimentary interstitial water, directly derived from the local hanging wall and footwall during deformation. Given the absence of large-scale fluid flow, the mineralization observed in the thrust faults records the P–T conditions of thrust activity. Temperatures of chlorite formation of about 240°C are obtained via two independent methods: chlorite compositional thermometers and oxygen isotope fractionation between cogenetic chlorite and quartz. Burial depth conditions of 7 km are determined for the Monte Perdido thrust reactivation, coupling calculated temperature and fluid inclusion isochores. The present study demonstrates that both isotopic and thermodynamic methods applied to clay minerals formed in thrust fault are useful to help constrain diagenetic and low-grade metamorphic conditions.     

Are feldspar-to-mica reactions necessarily reaction-softening processes in fault zones?

Reaction-softening by mineralogical changes from feldspars to sericite has been documented from many fault zones. During external crystalline basement deformation in the Alpine orogeny, the Ser Barbier thrust and splay faults in the Pelvoux Massif experienced ultracataclasis and sericitisation. Microstructural information and geochemical data from the fault rocks suggest that different muscovitisation reactions occurred at different times within the evolution of the fault zone, and each reaction had its own impact on fault rheology. Early cataclasis aided chemical breakdown of orthoclase feldspars to muscovite, yet quartz release accompanying this process resulted in local cementation and consequent hardening of the ultracataclasite. Continued deformation was accompanied by muscovitisation of the albite feldspar, and resulted in the formation of mica-rich fault rocks which experienced progressive silica removal by the fluid with increasing deformation. At this stage, reaction-enhanced ductility dominated. Much of the early cemented ultracataclasites escaped later deformation, and their low permeability allowed preservation of their early geochemical characteristics by preventing later fluid access. Such findings demonstrate how the complex interplay between deformation processes and geochemical reactions may result in a changing rheology during fault zone evolution.     

Fluid overpressure along an Oligocene out-of-sequence thrust in the Shimanto Belt,SW Japan

Out-of-sequence thrusts (OSTs) exposed in ancient accretionary prisms are considered as fossil analogs of present-day megasplay faults in subduction margins and can provide direct information about the conditions of deformation during thrust activity. In modern as well as in ancient accretionary prisms, first-order megasplay faults or OSTs truncate or merge with faults of lesser importance called second-order OSTs. Structural analysis of the Makinokuchi fault, a branch of an Oligocene to lower Miocene second-order OST in the Tertiary Shimanto Belt of central Kyushu, SW Japan, brings information about the conditions of deformation at the time of thrusting. The studied exposure shows that the fault footwall and, to a much lesser extent, the fault hanging-wall, consist of quartz-cemented syntectonic dilatant hydraulic breccias testifying to pore fluid pressures larger than the least principal stress component. The footwall sandstones are crossed by several centimeters thick quartz veins that merge with the footwall breccias. The continuity between the veins and the breccias suggest that the veins acted as conduits which likely collected fluids from the footwall side sandstones upward and toward the fault. Fluid inclusions indicate that the quartz cementing the breccias and that filling the feeder veins crystallized from similar fluids and under similar pressure and temperature conditions (245–285 °C and 5–8 km depth). These similarities suggest that the fluids responsible for syn-tectonic hydraulic brecciation were collected from the footwall through the conduits. The fluid inclusion trapping temperatures are close to the temperatures expected to be reached along the seismogenic zone. Our analysis shows that fluid overpressures can play a key role in the growth and activity of second-order OSTs in accretionary prisms and suggests that fluids collected along second-order OSTs or splay faults may flow upward along first-order OSTs or megasplay faults.     

Deformation mechanisms in granitic rocks at shallow crustal levels

Microstructural observations of naturally faulted granitic gneisses show that feldspar grains are weaker than quartz grains at temperatures below 325γC and at depths of less than 8–10 km. Feldspar grains sustained most of the deformation by grain-scale faulting, slip along cleavage-controlled fractures and cataclasis. Fracture of feldspar grains within fault zones promoted their alteration to kaolinite. Quartz grains also deformed by fracturing, and often healed to form quartz porphyroclasts and mosaics in a comminuted matrix of feldspar and kaolinite. Syntectonic alteration of the feldspar grains may have weakened the fault zones over time and resulted in foliated textures within the fault zones. This study of naturally deformed rocks confirms published experimental results on the behavior of granitic rocks at low temperatures and pressures and, taken together, these data show that the theology of the upper 10 km of the crust is greatly influenced by cataclastic processes in feldspar.     

Deformation and fluid flow during orogeny at the palaeo-Pacific active margin of Gondwana: the Early Palaeozoic Robertson Bay accretionary complex (north Victoria Land, Antarctica)

Structural investigations, integrated with X‐ray diffraction, fluid inclusion microthermometry and oxygen‐stable isotope analyses are used to reconstruct the deformation history and the palaeo‐fluid circulation during formation of the low‐grade, turbidite‐dominated Early Palaeozoic Robertson Bay accretionary complex of north Victoria Land (Antarctica). Evidence for progressive deformation is elucidated by analysing the textural fabric of chronologically distinct, thrust‐related quartz vein generations, incrementally developed during progressive shortening and thickening of the Robertson Bay accretionary complex. Our data attest that orogenic deformation was mainly controlled by dissolution–precipitation creep, modulated by stress‐ and strain‐rate‐dependent fluid pressure cycling, associated with local and regional permeability variations induced by the distribution and evolution of the fracture network during regional thrusting. Fracture‐related fluid pathways constituted efficient conduits for episodic fluid flow. The dominant migrating fluid was pre‐to‐syn‐folding and associated with the migration of warm (160–200 °C) nitrogen‐ and carbonic (CO₂ and CH₄)‐bearing fluids. Both fluid advection and diffusive mass transfer are recognized as operative mechanisms for fluid–rock interaction and vein formation during continuous shortening. In particular, fluid–rock interaction was the consequence of dissolution–precipitation creep assisted by tectonically driven cooling fluids moving through the rock section as a result of seismic pumping. The most likely source of the migrating fluids would be the frontal part of the growing accretionary complex, where fluids from the deep levels in the hinterland are driven trough channelization operated by the thrust‐related fracture (fault) systems.     

内蒙古西部狼山温更逆冲断层的地质特征

内蒙古西部狼山温更逆冲断层发育在温更侏罗纪沉积盆地西北边界, 是一条规模较大的逆冲断裂构造带。断层倾向北西, 上盘由太古宙-元古宙变质地层和古生代深成侵入体构成, 下盘为侏罗纪沉积, 由北西向南东方向逆冲。断层切割改造了早-中侏罗世沉积地层, 被早白垩世沉积地层覆盖, 表明了逆冲断层形成在下中侏罗统沉积之后白垩系固阳组沉积之前。断层带同构造石英脉中流体包裹体的分析结果表明, 断层形成于5.5～6 km浅部地壳构造层之上, 温度为195℃～210℃, 围压为50 ～60 MPa, 断层带的宏观和显微构造显示断层以脆性变形机制为主。     

Fluid behaviors from the seismogenic region of Longmenshan fault zone,eastern Tibetan PlateauSCIEI北大核心CSCD

震间期、同震期和震后期流体对断裂带物质的强度和运动性质起到重要作用。前人已识别出断裂带浅部区域流体对断层的弱化以及矿物沉淀导致的断层愈合,然而对于断裂带深部流体的研究鲜有报道。为深入了解孕震区流体行为以及地震成核过程中流体对断层的影响,本文以龙门山断裂带的映秀-北川断裂南段虹口乡八角庙村附近碎裂岩滑动带中石英和方解石脉为研究对象,通过对断裂带脉体的显微构造、碳氧同位素和主量元素含量等分析,开展地震相关脉体的特征结构、流体来源和矿物沉淀环境的研究。结果表明,碎裂岩主滑移带由颜色结构不同的三层断层泥和细小的方解石条带组成,在主滑动带边部和上盘碎裂岩中则分别发育了指示震间期、同震期和震后期三个阶段断层活动的脉体:(1)沿阶步生长的纤维状方解石脉和拉伸型柱状颗粒方解石脉;(2)断层泥楔入脉;(3)近等粒状方解石脉以及具有横向竞争生长结构的非等粒状方解石脉和石英脉。它们分别代表了震间期封闭的还原环境下的微滑动、同震外源高压流体注入以及震后开放的氧化环境至还原环境下的矿物沉淀。碳氧同位素结果表明主滑动带和碎裂岩方解石脉δ^(18)O V-PDB值为-20.5‰~-20.3‰,低于围岩碳酸钙胶结物,表明方解石脉具有大气水来源特征。方解石沉淀温度结合地温梯度表明方解石脉的形成深度大于4km,与碎裂岩形成深度及龙门山断裂带震源深度一致。该地区方解石脉和石英脉的研究深化了关于龙门山断裂带孕震区流体行为的理解,并且对进一步认识震间期、同震期和震后期断层的强度变化机制具有重要意义。     

上地壳环境中的流体作用与灰岩的脆—韧性转变

对取自西南非纳米比亚Damara造山带Waterberg断层带中的细粒灰岩的变形结构与亚微结构开展的多方面综合研究 ,揭示出在流体相遍布的上部地壳环境中 ,细粒灰岩的变形属性具有双重性 :脆性与晶质塑性。这种双重性突出表现在破裂与微破裂构造的广泛发育 ,以及细粒动态重结晶颗粒沿着破裂带 (面 )的出现。导致这种双重过程的主要因素在于岩石变形作用过程中流体相的介入。破裂与微破裂的出现 ,为流体相介入岩石变形提供了通道 ,使得流体相能够弥散于高应变带及高应变晶体内。水解弱化是流体相影响岩石变形的重要机理。流体相促进位错滑移与攀移 ,并加速应变颗粒的恢复作用 ,以协调破裂过程。     

Gold mineralization in the West Hoggar shear zone,Algeria

The Amesmessa gold prospect is located along a vertical N-S-trending crustal-scale ductile shear zone; stretching lineations are subhorizontal. This major shear zone is a Late Pan African dextral strike-slip fault of the Pharusian Belt of the Tuareg Shield (Algeria). The Amesmessa shear zone is asymmetric: strong thermal and deformational gradients are present along its western border where biotitic ultramylonites are in contact with a rigid Archean complex (In Ouzzal block), whereas there is a progressive gradation, through mylonite then protomylonite, to the Proterozoic gneiss of the Eastern block which displays co-axial Pan African structures. The Amesmessa shear zone is characterized by the presence of a felsic dike complex emplaced during shearing, and forming the most important parent material for ultramylonites. Basic magmas and carbonatites also intruded within the shear zone. The gold-rich quartz veins are located within the ultramylonitic western part of the shear zone. These N-S-trending laminated quartz veins formed during the late increments of shearing (plastic/brittle transition), by repeated syntectonic hydraulic fracturing along zones of rheological contrast parallel to foliation. The ore mineral association (pyrite, galena, native gold, sphalerite) crystallized in the deformed quartz matrix along late shear planes. Undeformed E-W trending banded quartz veins are present in the mylonitic eastern part of the shear zone; their gold content is low and no native gold has been observed. A strong hydrothermal alteration resulted in the development (along the walls of the N-S gold-bearing quartz veins) of a 5-m-wide carbonate-sericite-albite-pyrite secondary mineral association which implies an important CO₂ supply and moderate temperature conditions. There is no alteration halo around the E-W quartz veins. Ultramylonites, hydrothermally altered rocks and quartz veins display similar REE patterns characterized by strong LREE enrichments. Shear-related fluids could be likely parental fluids for the Amesmessa gold mineralization and the associated hydrothermal alteration. Hydrothermal fluids were drawn into dilation zones and filled opening fractures along the main planar discontinuity of the most deformed rocks. The supply of CO₂ may come from a deep-seated source as suggested by the presence of carbonatite dikes in the shear zones and the existence of CO₂-H₂O-rich fluid inclusions in quartz. The location of the gold-bearing quartz veins in the western part of the shear zone can be explained by the presence of strong thermal and rheological gradients.     

Emerald mineralisation in Colombia: fluid chemistry and the role of brine mixing

Emerald mineralisation in Colombia is located in two distinct zones along the borders of the Eastern Cordillera, some 80 km apart. Mineralisation in the western zone has been dated at ca. 35 Ma whereas in the eastern zone it is 30 Ma older. Crush leach analysis of the electrolyte chemistry of fluid inclusions contained in emerald, quartz, calcite, dolomite and fluorite from both zones, demonstrates that in each region brines associated with emerald mineralisation range between two extremes with many samples yielding intermediate compositions. Fluid 1, found mainly in emerald-hosted fluid inclusions, is dominated by NaCl with high Cl:Br ratios indicating that the salinity was derived by dissolution of halite, most probably from the local salt beds. Fluid 2, found notably in quartz hosted-fluid inclusions, is of similar salinity but contains less Na and significant concentrations of Ca–K–Fe–Cl and other cations. It has lower Cl:Br ratios, more comparable with formation waters, but is inferred to have obtained part of its salinity by halite dissolution. Bivariate plots of almost all cations have linear or sublinear trends regardless of the mineral hosting the inclusions or the locality from which the samples originated, demonstrating that mixing of the two saline fluids has occurred. Because the same two fluids occur in both eastern and western zones, despite the difference in space and time, it is inferred that fluid compositions were rock controlled by similar interactions with evaporites and black shales in both instances. It is proposed that beryllium was transported as Be–F complexes in the NaCl-fluid, and was precipitated as emerald after mixing with the calcic brine caused precipitation of fluorite and parisite. Received: 9 April 1999 / Accepted: 14 March 2000