Fluid fluxes during low-temperature alteration: implications of multi-style alteration assemblages from the Welsh Borderland,UK

Localized (domainal) low-temperature alteration may indicate variations in the chemistry of alteration fluids and/or discrete fluid flow paths during metamorphism. Occurrences of epidote- and pumpellyite-dominated domains are often used as evidence for large fluxes of Ca-rich fluids. However, comparative studies of two domainal alteration styles from basaltic to andesitic lavas and volcaniclastic rocks at Builth Wells, Wales, UK suggest that such interpretations cannot be applied universally. Here, only one set of domains can be attributed to large fluxes of Ca-rich fluids. In contrast, the second set of domains formed where the host rock supplied the necessary Ca, and fluid/rock ratios were relatively low. These domains are hosted by rocks which show a Caledonian regional metamorphic imprint, characterized by the alteration assemblage albite+chlorite+titanite±prehnite±pumpellyite±calcite±muscovite±quartz (considered to have formed at c. 200°C and ≤2.5 kbar). Type 1 domains lie along fluid channelways, such as veins. Pumpellyite is the dominant secondary mineral, but the alteration assemblage is variable with pumpellyite±prehnite±calcite±titanite±chlorite (±quartz). The domains formed at temperatures of 130–230°C during Ordovician hydrothermal activity, before the peak of regional metamorphism. In contrast, Type 2 domains are not associated with obvious fluid channelways. A central prehnite-dominated zone typically has a rim with the assemblage pumpellyite+calcite±prehnite±chlorite±titanite±K-rich phyllosilicate. These domains probably formed from pelitic xenoliths which contained a volcaniclastic component at temperatures of 130–230°C and at relatively low fluid/rock ratios. However, the timing of domain formation is uncertain. Pyrobitumen, in veins and disseminated throughout the rock, may have influenced the formation of both types of domain by stabilizing pumpellyite in preference to epidote and causing metamorphic calcite formation through the release of CO₂ to the alteration fluids. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

四川丹巴穹状变质地体

四川西部丹巴地区最为引人注目的地质构造是穹状变质地体的发育。华北、扬子和羌塘三个板块之间的南北向和东西向双向收缩,引起区内发育了大小不等的十几个穹状变质地体,自北而南有马奈、春牛场、丹巴、公差、格宗等变质穹隆。多数穹隆的核部出露的是前寒武纪的片麻岩和混合岩,例如春牛场侵入体。其中的片麻岩原岩、黑云母和角闪石质片麻岩均属本区最老的岩石。它不整合于志留纪地层之下,年代学研究证明其年代属新元古代(大约865~785Ma)。混合岩从形态上说,多为条带状,偶见角砾状的角闪石质混合岩。但是也有不少穹隆,核部是花岗岩类。岩石化学研究证明,它们大多属于S型花岗岩,仅个别为I型。穹状变质地体的外围变质带可分三类:(1)巴罗带型区域递增变质带,有的显示变质带的倒转;(2)巴肯型变质带;(3)低级区域变质带,多数是中压绿片岩相。巴罗带变质的泥质岩,多数变晶矿物如黑云母、十字石、石榴石均具早期低级变质矿物的定向包裹物,显示明显叠加变质的信息。变质泥质岩的∑REE=(195~274)×10-6,(La/Yb)n=0·811~1·917。稀土配分曲线和微量元素蛛网图具Nb、P、Ti负异常,显示大陆地壳的特征,是陆缘碎屑物质区域变质产物。巴肯带出露于丹巴以北,主要变质泥质岩是夕线石片麻岩类,常见铁铝榴石而少见堇青石,说明原岩富铁贫镁,局部出现锌铁尖晶石。由北侧的巴肯带到巴罗型变质的公差穹隆到南部的格宗穹隆变质带是从高温到低温连续变化的。因之,我们倾向于认为松潘—甘孜造山带的东南缘是一个规模较大的、呈NE向分布的低—中压区域变质带,总体是一条热轴,垂直走向,向东南温度逐步降低。据前人同位素年龄资料:M1巴罗型区域变质发生于约210~205Ma,马奈花岗岩U-Pb锆石年龄为(197±6)Ma。M2巴肯型变质与岩体侵入有关,年龄约为164Ma。M3喜马拉雅期重结晶的黑云母年龄约为30Ma。总之,丹巴变质穹隆的形成是青藏高原东北部地质构造演化中重要的一幕,其主要活动期起于印支晚期最后结束于喜马拉雅期的隆升和挤出。依据低压高温变质带的空间分布,推测本区印支末期存在一NE向的热轴,同时也是S型花岗岩体的出露区。至于木里一带穹隆与丹巴穹隆在变质程度上的差异,应当归因于印支晚期的陆壳增厚过程中,北倾南倒逆冲剪切造成区域热流的不均一性。也说明了青藏高原东北缘在喜山期隆升之前具有复杂的构造变质历史。     

应用P-T-t理论再认识辽河群变质作用

辽河群是出露于辽宁省东部的独具特色的古元古代变质岩系,赋存丰富的矿产资源,研究历史悠久.但对有关辽河群变质作用的一些重要问题上看法诸多,很难取得一致意见.本文应用P-T-t轨迹理论重新认识这些问题,认为引起辽河群变质作用的根本原因是大陆碰撞造山带使辽河群俯冲到地下深处;辽河群变质作用在时间上和空间上有独特的演化特征;辽河群变质作用与不同规模的构造或不同层次的构造的关系是不一样的.     

谈早前寒武纪侵入岩定位、变形、变质的同期性

依据鲁西地区早前寒武纪花岗质侵入岩普遍具有塑性流变特征和退化变质特征,以及变质作用和变形作用相协调等现象,认为岩体的侵位与变形、变质是同一期构造岩浆作用形成的,是岩浆就位后逐渐冷凝过程中,在持续应力作用下发生的,与后期的地质构造作用无关;固态岩石只能发生脆性变形和局部的脆韧性变形。并从热力场、动力场和化学场的变化趋势对变形、变质作用的制约因素作了简要分析。     

浅析四道沟金矿矿床成因及找矿方向

四道沟金矿是地质条件较为复杂的矿床,对其成因问题前人观点众说不一。比较典型的主要有岩浆热液成因和沉积变质成因,成因不同直接影响着找矿方向。根据矿床地质特征和工作实践认为：该矿床成因应为沉积变质－ 岩浆热液叠加改造型矿床。所以沉积变质和岩浆热液成矿的有利条件均应成为找矿的主要方向。据此开展的找矿工作已初步获得突破性进展。     

High‐ to ultrahigh‐temperature metamorphism in the lower crust: An example resulting from Hikurangi Plateau collision and slab rollback in New Zealand

Lower crustal xenoliths erupted from an intraplate diatreme reveal that a portion of the New Zealand Gondwana margin experienced high‐temperature (HT) to ultrahigh‐temperature (UHT) granulite facies metamorphism just after flat slab subduction ceased at c. 110–105 Ma. P–T calculations for garnet–orthopyroxene‐bearing felsic granulite xenoliths indicate equilibration at ~815 to 910°C and 0.7 to 0.8 GPa, with garnet‐bearing mafic granulite xenoliths yielding at least 900°C. Supporting evidence for the attainment of HT and UHT conditions in felsic granulite comes from re‐integration of exsolution in feldspar (~900–950°C at 0.8 GPa), Ti‐in‐zircon thermometry on Y‐depleted overgrowths on detrital zircon grains (932°C ± 24°C at aTiO₂ = 0.8 ± 0.2), and correlation of observed assemblages and mineral compositions with thermodynamic modelling results (≥850°C at 0.7 to 0.8 GPa). The thin zircon overgrowths, which were mainly targeted by drilling through the cores of grains, yield a U–Pb pooled age of 91.7 ± 2.0 Ma. The cause of Late Cretaceous HT‐UHT metamorphism on the Zealandia Gondwana margin is attributed to collision and partial subduction of the buoyant oceanic Hikurangi Plateau in the Early Cretaceous. The halt of subduction caused the fore‐running shallowly dipping slab to rollback towards the trench position and permitted the upper mantle to rapidly increase the geothermal gradient through the base of the extending (former) accretionary prism. This sequence of events provides a mechanism for achieving regional HT–UHT conditions in the lower crust with little or no sign of this event at the surface.     

Structural and metamorphic evolution of the Moornambool Metamorphic Complex,western Lachlan Fold Belt,southeastern Australia

The wedge‐shaped Moornambool Metamorphic Complex is bounded by the Coongee Fault to the east and the Moyston Fault to the west. This complex was juxtaposed between stable Delamerian crust to the west and the eastward migrating deformation that occurred in the western Lachlan Fold Belt during the Ordovician and Silurian. The complex comprises Cambrian turbidites and mafic volcanics and is subdivided into a lower greenschist eastern zone and a higher grade amphibolite facies western zone, with sub‐greenschist rocks occurring on either side of the complex. The boundary between the two zones is defined by steeply dipping L‐S tectonites of the Mt Ararat ductile high‐strain zone. Deformation reflects marked structural thickening that produced garnet‐bearing amphibolites followed by exhumation via ductile shearing and brittle faulting. Pressure‐temperature estimates on garnet‐bearing amphibolites in the western zone suggest metamorphic pressures of ～0.7–0.8 GPa and temperatures of ～540–590°C. Metamorphic grade variations suggest that between 15 and 20 km of vertical offset occurs across the east‐dipping Moyston Fault. Bounding fault structures show evidence for early ductile deformation followed by later brittle deformation/reactivation. Ductile deformation within the complex is initially marked by early bedding‐parallel cleavages. Later deformation produced tight to isoclinal D₂ folds and steeply dipping ductile high‐strain zones. The S₂ foliation is the dominant fabric in the complex and is shallowly west‐dipping to flat‐lying in the western zone and steeply west‐dipping in the eastern zone. Peak metamorphism is pre‐ to syn‐D₂. Later ductile deformation reoriented the S₂ foliation, produced S₃ crenulation cleavages across both zones and localised S₄ fabrics. The transition to brittle deformation is defined by the development of east‐ and west‐dipping reverse faults that produce a neutral vergence and not the predominant east‐vergent transport observed throughout the rest of the western Lachlan Fold Belt. Later north‐dipping thrusts overprint these fault structures. The majority of fault transport along ductile and brittle structures occurred prior to the intrusion of the Early Devonian Ararat Granodiorite. Late west‐ and east‐dipping faults represent the final stages of major brittle deformation: these are post plutonism.     

Metamorphism of ultrahigh‐pressure eclogites from the Kebuerte Valley,South Tianshan,NW China: phase equilibria and P–T path

Eclogites from the Kebuerte Valley, Chinese South Tianshan, consist of garnet, omphacite, phengite, paragonite, glaucophane, hornblendic amphibole, epidote, quartz and accessory rutile, titanite, apatite and carbonate minerals with occasional presence of coesite or quartz pseudomorphs after coesite. The eclogites are grouped into two: type I contains porphyroblastic garnet, epidote, paragonite and glaucophane in a matrix dominated by omphacite where the proportion of omphacite and garnet is >50 vol.%; and type II contains porphyroblastic epidote in a matrix consisting mainly of fine‐grained garnet, omphacite and glaucophane where the proportion of omphacite and garnet is <50 vol.%. Garnet in both types of eclogites mostly exhibits core–rim zoning with increasing grossular (X_gr) and pyrope (X_py) contents, but a few porphyroblastic garnet grains in type I eclogite shows core–mantle zoning with increasing X_py and a slight decrease in X_gr, and mantle–rim zoning with increases in both X_gr and X_py. Garnet rims in type I eclogite have higher X_py than in type II. Petrographic observations and phase equilibria modelling with pseudosections calculated using thermocalc in the NCKMnFMASHO system for three representative samples suggest that the eclogites have experienced four stages of metamorphism: stage I is the pre‐peak temperature prograde heating to the pressure peak (P_max) which was recognized by the garnet core–mantle zoning with increasing X_py and decreasing X_gr. The P–T conditions at P_max constrained from garnet mantle or core compositions with minimum X_gr content are 29–30 kbar at 526–540 °C for type I and 28.2 kbar at 518 °C for type II, suggesting an apparent thermal gradient of ～5.5 °C km^?1. Stage II is the post‐P_max decompression and heating to the temperature peak (T_max), which was modelled from the garnet zoning with increasing X_gr and X_py contents. The P–T conditions at T_max, defined using the garnet rim compositions with maximum X_py content and the Si content in phengite, are 24–27 kbar at 590 °C for type I and 22 kbar at 540 °C for type II. Stage III is the post‐T_max isothermal decompression characterized by the decomposition of lawsonite, which may have resulted in the release of a large amount of fluid bound in the rocks, leading to the formation of epidote, paragonite and glaucophane porphyroblasts. Stage IV is the late retrograde evolution characterized by the overprint of hornblendic amphibole in eclogite and the occurrence of epidote–amphibole facies mineral assemblages in the margins or in the strongly foliated domains of eclogite blocks due to fluid infiltration. The P–T estimates obtained from conventional garnet–clinopyroxene–phengite thermobarometry for the Tianshan eclogites are roughly consistent with the P–T conditions of stage II at T_max, but with large uncertainties in temperature. On the basis of these metamorphic stages or P–T paths, we reinterpreted that the recently reported zircon U–Pb ages for eclogite may date the T_max stage or the later decompression stage, and the widely distributed (rutile‐bearing) quartz veins in the eclogite terrane may have originated from the lawsonite decomposition during the decompression stage rather than from the transition from blueschist to eclogite as previously proposed.     

Response of detrital zircon and monazite,and their U–Pb isotopic systems,to regional metamorphism and host‐rock partial melting,Cooma Complex,southeastern Australia

Progressive Early Silurian low‐pressure greenschist to granulite facies regional metamorphism of Ordovician flysch at Cooma, southeastern Australia, had different effects on detrital zircon and monazite and their U–Pb isotopic systems. Monazite began to dissolve at lower amphibolite facies, virtually disappearing by upper amphibolite facies, above which it began to regrow, becoming most coarsely grained in migmatite leucosome and the anatectic Cooma Granodiorite. Detrital monazite U–Pb ages survived through mid‐amphibolite facies, but not to higher grade. Monazite in the migmatite and granodiorite records only metamorphism and granite genesis at 432.8 ± 3.5 Ma. Detrital zircon was unaffected by metamorphism until the inception of partial melting, when platelets of new zircon precipitated in preferred orientations on the surface of the grains. These amalgamated to wholly enclose the grains in new growth, characterised by the development of {211} crystal faces, in the migmatite and granodiorite. New growth, although maximum in the leucosome, was best dated in the granodiorite at 435.2 ± 6.3 Ma. The combined best estimate for the age of metamorphism and granite genesis is 433.4 ± 3.1 Ma. Detrital zircon U–Pb ages were preserved unmodified throughout metamorphism and magma genesis and indicate derivation of the Cooma Granodiorite from Lower Palaeozoic source rocks with the same protolith as the Ordovician sediments, not Precambrian basement. Cooling of the metamorphic complex was relatively slow (average ～12°C/10⁶y from ～730 to ～170°C), more consistent with the unroofing of a regional thermal high than cooling of an igneous intrusion. The ages of detrital zircon and monazite from the Ordovician flysch (dominantly composite populations 600–500 Ma and 1.2–0.9 Ga old) indicate its derivation from a source remote from the Australian craton.     

草河群区域变质带及石榴石的研究

辽东草河群由北向南,可以分出比较完整的中压型巴罗式变质带、变质带的分界线或等变质度线和面基本上与地槽褶皱的构造方向一致,显示出带型区域变质作用和复合变质作用的特点。区域变质相带的矿物共生组合、斜长石号码、岩石类型、矿物的物理化学性质都具独自的特征。变质相带的变泥质岩石中的石榴石均属铁铝榴石,随变质度的增高,石榴石成分中的Al2O3、MgO、FeO Fe2O3含量增加,CaO、MnO含量降低。