Origin of the Okrouhlá Radouň episyenite-hosted uranium deposit,Bohemian Massif,Czech Republic: fluid inclusion and stable isotope constraints

The Okrouhlá Radouň shear zone hosted uranium deposit is developed along the contact of Variscan granites and high-grade metasedimentary rocks of the Moldanubian Zone of the Bohemian Massif. The pre-ore pervasive alteration of wall rocks is characterized by chloritization of mafic minerals, followed by albitization of feldspars and dissolution of quartz giving rise to episyenites. The subsequent fluid circulation led to precipitation of disseminated uraninite and coffinite, and later on, post-ore quartz and carbonate mineralization containing base metal sulfides. The fluid inclusion and stable isotope data suggest low homogenization temperatures (～50–140 °C during pre-ore albitization and post-ore carbonatization, up to 230 °C during pre-ore chloritization), variable fluid salinities (0–25 wt.% NaCl eq.), low fluid δ¹⁸O values (?10 to +2 ‰ V-SMOW), low fluid δ¹³C values (?9 to ?15 ‰ V-PDB), and highly variable ionic composition of the aqueous fluids (especially Na/Ca, Br/Cl, I/Cl, SO₄/Cl, NO₃/Cl ratios). The available data suggest participation of three fluid endmembers of primarily surficial origin during alteration and mineralization at the deposit: (1) local meteoric water, (2) Na–Ca–Cl basinal brines or shield brines, (3) SO₄–NO₃–Cl–(H)CO₃ playa-like fluids. Pre-ore albitization was caused by circulation of alkaline, oxidized, and Na-rich playa fluids, whereas basinal/shield brines and meteoric water were more important during the post-ore stage of alteration.     

Testing the preservation potential of early diagenetic dolomites as geochemical archives

Early marine diagenetic dolomite is a rather thermodynamically-stable carbonate phase and has potential to act as an archive of marine porewater properties. However, the variety of early to late diagenetic dolomite phases that can coexist within a single sample can result in extensive complexity. Here, the archive potential of early marine dolomites exposed to extreme post-depositional processes is tested using various types of analyses, including: petrography, fluid inclusion data, stable δ¹³C and δ¹⁸O isotopes, ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios, and U-Pb age dating of various dolomite phases. In this example, a Triassic carbonate platform was dissected and overprinted (diagenetic temperatures of 50 to 430°C) in a strike-slip zone in Southern Spain. Eight episodes of dolomitization, a dolostone cataclasite and late stage meteoric/vadose cementation were recognized. The following processes were found to be diagenetically relevant: (i) protolith deposition and fabric-preservation, and marine dolomitization of precursor aragonite and calcite during the Middle–Late Triassic; (ii) intermediate burial and formation of zebra saddle dolomite and precipitation of various dolomite cements in a Proto-Atlantic opening stress regime (T ca 250°C) during the Early–Middle Jurassic; (iii) dolomite cement precipitation during early Alpine tectonism, rapid burial to ca 15 km, and high-grade anchizone overprint during Alpine tectonic evolution in the Early Eocene to Early Miocene; (iv) brecciation of dolostones to cataclasite during the onset of the Carboneras Fault Zone activity during the Middle Miocene; and (v) late-stage regression and subsequent meteoric overprint. Data shown here document that, under favourable conditions, early diagenetic marine dolomites and their archive data may resist petrographic and geochemical resetting over time intervals of 10⁸ or more years. Evidence for this preservation includes preserved Late Triassic seawater δ¹³C_DIC values and primary fluid inclusion data. Data also indicate that oversimplified statements based on bulk data from other petrographically-complex dolomite archives must be considered with caution.     

Crustal structure of the northeastern margin of the Tibetan plateau from the Songpan-Ganzi terrane to the Ordos basin

The 1000-km-long Darlag–Lanzhou–Jingbian seismic refraction profile is located in the NE margin of the Tibetan plateau. This profile crosses the northern Songpan-Ganzi terrane, the Qinling-Qilian fold system, the Haiyuan arcuate tectonic region, and the stable Ordos basin. The P-wave and S-wave velocity structure and Poisson's ratios reveal many significant characteristics in the profile. The crustal thickness increases from northeast to southwest. The average crustal thickness observed increases from 42 km in the Ordos basin to 63 km in the Songpan-Ganzi terrane. The crust becomes obviously thicker south of the Haiyuan fault and beneath the West-Qinlin Shan. The crustal velocities have significant variations along the profile. The average P-wave velocities for the crystalline crust vary between 6.3 and 6.4 km/s. Beneath the Songpan-Ganzi terrane, West-Qinling Shan, and Haiyuan arcuate tectonic region P-wave velocities of 6.3 km/s are 0.15 km/s lower than the worldwide average of 6.45 km/s. North of the Kunlun fault, with exclusion of the Haiyuan arcuate tectonic region, the average P-wave velocity is 6.4 km/s and only 0.5 km/s lower than the worldwide average. A combination of the P-wave velocity and Poisson's ratio suggests that the crust is dominantly felsic in composition with an intermediate composition at the base. A mafic lower crust is absent in the NE margin of the Tibetan plateau from the Songpan-Ganzi terrane to the Ordos basin. There are low velocity zones in the West-Qinling Shan and the Haiyuan arcuate tectonic region. The low velocity zones have low S-wave velocities and high Poisson's ratios, so it is possible these zones are due to partial melting. The crust is divided into two layers, the upper and the lower crust, with crustal thickening mainly in the lower crust as the NE Tibetan plateau is approached. The results in the study show that the thickness of the lower crust increases from 22 to 38 km as the crustal thickness increases from 42 km in the Ordos basin to 63 km in the Songpan-Ganzi terrane south of the Kunlun fault. Both the Conrad discontinuity and Moho in the West-Qinling Shan and in the Haiyuan arcuate tectonic region are laminated interfaces, implying intense tectonic activity. The arcuate faults and large earthquakes in the Haiyuan arcuate tectonic region are the result of interaction between the Tibetan plateau and the Sino–Korean and Gobi Ala Shan platforms.     

Origin of sub-lithospheric diamonds from the Juina-5 kimberlite (Brazil): constraints from carbon isotopes and inclusion compositions

Forty-one diamonds sourced from the Juina-5 kimberlite pipe in Southern Brazil, which contain optically identifiable inclusions, have been studied using an integrated approach. The diamonds contain <20 ppm nitrogen (N) that is fully aggregated as B centres. Internal structures in several diamonds revealed using cathodoluminescence (CL) are unlike those normally observed in lithospheric samples. The majority of the diamonds are composed of isotopically light carbon, and the collection has a unimodal distribution heavily skewed towards δ¹³C ~ ?25 ‰. Individual diamonds can display large carbon isotope heterogeneity of up to ~15 ‰ and predominantly have isotopically lighter cores displaying blue CL, and heavier rims with green CL. The light carbon isotopic compositions are interpreted as evidence of diamond growth from abiotic organic carbon added to the oceanic crust during hydrothermal alteration. The bulk isotopic composition of the oceanic crust, carbonates plus organics, is equal to the composition of mantle carbon (?5 ‰), and we suggest that recycling/mixing of subducted material will replenish this reservoir over geological time. Several exposed, syngenetic inclusions have bulk compositions consistent with former eclogitic magnesium silicate perovskite, calcium silicate perovskite and NAL or CF phases that have re-equilibrated during their exhumation to the surface. There are multiple occurrences of majoritic garnet with pyroxene exsolution, coesite with and without kyanite exsolution, clinopyroxene, Fe or Fe-carbide and sulphide minerals alongside single occurrences of olivine and ferropericlase. As a group, the inclusions have eclogitic affinity and provide evidence for diamond formation at pressures extending to Earth’s deep transition zone and possibly the lower mantle. It is observed that the major element composition of inclusions and isotopic compositions of host Juina-5 diamonds are not correlated. The diamond and inclusion compositions are intimately related to subducted material and record a polybaric growth history across a depth interval stretching from the lower mantle to the base of the lithosphere. It is suggested that the interaction of slab-derived melts and mantle material combined with subsequent upward transport in channelised networks or a buoyant diapir explains the formation of Juina-5 diamonds. We conclude that these samples, despite originating at great mantle depths, do not provide direct information about the ambient mantle, instead, providing a snapshot of the Earth’s deep carbon cycle.     

Silicate and carbonate mineral weathering in soil profiles developed on Pleistocene glacial drift (Michigan, USA): Mass balances based on soil water geochemistry

Geochemistry of soil, soil water, and soil gas was characterized in representative soil profiles of three Michigan watersheds. Because of differences in source regions, parent materials in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan (the Tahquamenon watershed) contain only silicates, while those in the Lower Peninsula (the Cheboygan and the Huron watersheds) have significant mixtures of silicate and carbonate minerals. These differences in soil mineralogy and climate conditions permit us to examine controls on carbonate and silicate mineral weathering rates and to better define the importance of silicate versus carbonate dissolution in the early stage of soil-water cation acquisition.Soil waters of the Tahquamenon watershed are the most dilute; solutes reflect amphibole and plagioclase dissolution along with significant contributions from atmospheric precipitation sources. Soil waters in the Cheboygan and the Huron watersheds begin their evolution as relatively dilute solutions dominated by silicate weathering in shallow carbonate-free soil horizons. Here, silicate dissolution is rapid and reaction rates dominantly are controlled by mineral abundances. In the deeper soil horizons, silicate dissolution slows down and soil-water chemistry is dominated by calcite and dolomite weathering, where solutions reach equilibrium with carbonate minerals within the soil profile. Thus, carbonate weathering intensities are dominantly controlled by annual precipitation, temperature and soil pCO₂. Results of a conceptual model support these field observations, implying that dolomite and calcite are dissolving at a similar rate, and further dissolution of more soluble dolomite after calcite equilibrium produces higher dissolved inorganic carbon concentrations and a Mg²⁺/Ca²⁺ ratio of 0.4.Mass balance calculations show that overall, silicate minerals and atmospheric inputs generally contribute <10% of Ca²⁺ and Mg²⁺ in natural waters. Dolomite dissolution appears to be a major process, rivaling calcite dissolution as a control on divalent cation and inorganic carbon contents of soil waters. Furthermore, the fraction of Mg²⁺ derived from silicate mineral weathering is much smaller than most of the values previously estimated from riverine chemistry.