High-density CO2 inclusions in the Colorado Front Range

A fluid density in an inclusion is commonly observed to be too low for the P-T estimates for the postulated time of trapping, and is generally attributed to a fluid loss during the uplift process. It is more difficult to explain a fluid density which is too high. In the 1700 m.y. Front Range migmatites, such high densities occur in some of CO₂ inclusions which were deduced to have formed during the migmatization episode. The peak P-T estimates for migmatization in the Front Range are 4–6 kb and 650°–700° C (in sillimanite field) but pressures required to form the most dense inclusions are >7.6 kb (in kyanite field). The high density is not likely to be a relic of a higher pressure condition earlier than the main migmatization episode for the following reasons: (a) no kyanite (or any other relic high pressure phase) has been found in the Precambrian Front Range; (b) the high density inclusions are rare in zones with least signs of deformation and melting (paleosomes and quartz inclusions within feldspar grains) which instead contain relatively undisturbed early inclusions; (c) high density inclusions with Th <–30° C are associated with heavily altered plagioclase caused by hydrothermal activity which was a late event in leucosome formation. Further, there is evidence for post-entrapment change(s) in density: an intragranular trail in quartz contains CO₂ inclusions that exhibit almost the whole range in Th (–40 to +24° C) as displayed by the entire population of the early CO₂ inclusions (–66 to +30° C). The density of an inclusion in the trail is not related to inclusion size but to the position of the inclusion relative to apparent micro-shear zones crossing the CO₂ trail. A change to a higher density (=a smaller volume) could have resulted from an initially isobaric cooling path which intersects CO₂ isochores with increasingly higher densities. Additional excess pressure may have resulted from overthrusting. However, because high density inclusions occur selectively in the zones in which plagioclase shows alteration indicating a high and because there is a correlation between shear zones and high density inclusions, it is postulated that local hydrolytic weakening of quartz was necessary for the decrease of inclusion volume which occurred during deformation. The localized deformation may also result in an excess pressure. However, the introduction of a small amount of H₂O into these inclusions as a possible cause of high density inclusions cannot be ruled out.