A strontium,neodymium and oxygen isotope study of hydrothermal metamorphism and crustal anatexis in the Trois Seigneurs Massif,Pyrenees, France

Nd, Sr, and O isotope analyses have been made on metamorphic and igneous rocks and minerals from a 310–340 Ma Hercynian-age metamorphic terrane in the Pyrenees, France. Lower Paleozoic shales and phyllites have ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr values of 0.707–0.717 at 310 Ma, but model values at 310 Ma of 0.709–0.736 (based on assumed depositional age of 450 Ma and an initial ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr=0.707). On a regional scale, ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr was homogenized to about 0.713 to 0.717 in the higher-grade pelitic schists during metamorphism. Much of this ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr exchange occurred at very low grades (below the biotite isograd), but significant changes also accompanied the δ ¹⁸O lowering of the phyllites (+13 to +16) during their transformation to andalusite- and sillimanite-grade schists (δ ¹⁸O=+11 to +12); all of these effects are attributed to pervasive interactions with hydrothermal fluids (Wickham and Taylor 1985). The data also show that a syn-metamorphic plutonic complex, dominated by a biotite granite body, was derived by mixing of a relatively mafic magmatic end-member (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr～ 0.7025–0.7050 and δ ¹⁸O～ +7.5 to +8.0) with two metasedimentary sources, both having ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr～0.715 and δ ¹⁸O～ +10.0 to +12.0, but with one being more homogeneous than the other. The more homogeneous component and the (mantle-derived?) magmatic end-member dominate at low structural levels within the complex. The less homogeneous end-member that dominates at high levels is clearly derived from the local Paleozoic pelitic schists. A Rb-Sr age of 330±20 Ma was obtained on hornblende from a deep level within the complex, which fixes this age for the regional metamorphism, as well. Although a post-metamorphic granodiorite magma body at Trois Seigneurs also displays heterogeneities in δ ¹⁸O and ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr (and thus does not give a clear-cut Rb-Sr isochron), the data are consistent with an emplacement age between 260 and 310 Ma, similar to ages of other late granodiorites in the Pyrenees. ¹⁴³Nd/ ¹⁴⁴Nd is very uniform within the Hercynian crust, both at Trois Seigneurs (? _Nd=?3 to ?7) and elsewhere in the Pyrenees; almost all igneous lithologies have depleted-mantle, mid-Proterozoic model ages, consistent with efficient recycling of crustal material following original crustal accretion in this area at about 1600 Ma or earlier. Rb-Sr mineral ages exhibit a complex cooling history reflecting late Hercynian and Mesozoic thermal events. Our results show that profound homogenization of the ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr and ¹⁸O/¹⁶O ratios of large volumes of the crust can occur during regional metamorphism and crustal anatexis, particularly in regions undergoing extensional tectonics. Such processes can significantly modify the isotopic compositions of the protoliths of granitic magmas; this may explain why many peraluminous Hercynian granitoids of Western Europe have anomalously low (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr) initial values compared to their probable sedimentary parent rocks.