Physicochemical conditions and timing of rodingite formation: evidence from rodingite-hosted fluid inclusions in the JM Asbestos mine, Asbestos, Québec

Fluid inclusions and geological relationships indicate that rodingite formation in the Asbestos ophiolite, Québec, occurred in two, or possibly three, separate episodes during thrusting of the ophiolite onto the Laurentian margin, and that it involved three fluids. The first episode of rodingitization, which affected diorite, occurred at temperatures of between 290 and 360°C and pressures of 2.5 to 4.5 kbar, and the second episode, which affected granite and slate, occurred at temperatures of between 325 and 400°C and pressures less than 3 kbar. The fluids responsible for these episodes of alteration were moderately to strongly saline (~1.5 to 6.3 m eq. NaCl), rich in divalent cations and contained appreciable methane. A possible third episode of alteration is suggested by primary fluid inclusions in vesuvianite-rich bodies and secondary inclusions in other types of rodingite, with significantly lower trapping temperatures, salinity and methane content. The association of the aqueous fluids with hydrocarbon-rich fluids containing CH4 and higher order alkanes, but no CO2, suggests strongly that the former originated from the serpentinites. The similarities in the composition of the fluids in all rock types indicate that the ophiolite had already been thrust onto the slates when rodingitization occurred

Mid-Crustal Focused Fluid Movement: Thermal Consequences and Silica Transport

Numerical models have been constructed to assess the thermal consequences and silica transport that would result if water released by regional metamorphic dehydration or cooling plutons were focused into large-scale (10 km) fracture zones. Two fracture zone model geometries have been considered, in one the fracture zone is planar, and in the other the fracture zone is radially symmetric. In both models dispersion and collection of fluids is simulated. The model results indicate that for planar or radially symmetric fracture zones, hydrothermal flow rates must approach 0.1 g/s (per m crack length) or 1 kg/s, respectively, to produce significant thermal effects. Given that regional metamorphic fluid fluxes are probably < 10−9 kg/m2−s, generation of a thermal ano-maly by fluids released during metamorphic dehydration into a planar fracture zone requires an unrealistic degree of lateral flow (>50 km). The collection area required to produce a detectable heating effect about a radially symmetric fracture zone is smaller (a radius of ∼ ∼ 15 km), but also implausibly large. These scales suggest tha

Andalusite and Na- and Li-rich cordierite in the La Costa pluton, Sierras Pampeanas, Argentina: textural and chemical evidence for a magmatic origin

The La Costa pluton in the Sierra de Velasco (NW Argentina) consists of S-type granitoids that can be grouped into three igneous facies: the alkali-rich Santa Cruz facies (SCF, SiO2 *67 wt%) distinguished by the presence of andalusite and Na- and Li-rich cordierite (Na2O = 1.55–1.77 wt% and Li2O = 0.14–0.66 wt%), the Anillaco facies (SiO2 *74 wt%) with a significant proportion of Mn-rich garnet, and the Anjullo´n facies (SiO2 *75 wt%) with abundant albitic plagioclase. The petrography, mineral chemistry and whole-rock geochemistry of the SCF are compatible with magmatic crystallization of Na- and Li-rich cordierite, andalusite and muscovite from the peraluminous magma under moderate P–T conditions (*1.9 kbar and ca. 735C). The high Li content of cordierite in the SCF is unusual for granitic rocks of intermediate composition

Variation of illite/muscovite Ar-40/Ar-39 age spectra during progressive low-grade metamorphism: an example from the US Cordillera

Ar/ Ar step-heating data were collected from micron to submicron grain-sizes of correlative illite- and muscovite-rich Cambrian pelitic rocks from the western United States that range in metamorphic grade from the shallow diagenetic zone (zeolite facies) to the epizone (greenschist facies). With increasing metamorphic grade, maximum ages from Ar/ Ar release spectra decrease, as do total gas ages and retention ages. Previous studies have explained similar results as arising dominantly or entirely from the dissolution of detrital muscovite and precipitation/recrystallization of neo-formed illite. While recognizing the importance of these processes in evaluating our results, we suggest that the inverse correlation between apparent age and metamorphic grade is controlled, primarily, by thermally activated volume diffusion, analogous to the decrease in apparent ages with depth observed for many thermochronometers in borehole experiments. Our results suggest that complete resetting of the illite/muscovite Ar thermochronometer occurs between the high anchizone and epizone, or at roughly 300 °C. This empirical result is in agreement with previous calculations based on muscovite diffusion parameters, which indicate that muscovite grains with radii of 0. 05-2 μm should have closure temperatures between 250 and 350 °C. At high anchizone conditions, we observe a reversal in the age/grain-size relationship (the finest grain-size produces the oldest apparent age), which may mark the stage in prograde subgreenschist facies metamorphism of pelitic rocks at which neo-formed illite/muscovite crystallites typically surpass the size of detrital muscovite grains. It is also approximately the stage at which neo-formed illite/muscovite crystallites develop sufficient Ar retentivity to produce geologically meaningful Ar/ Ar ages. Results from our sampling transect of Cambrian strata establish a framework for interpreting illite/muscovite Ar/ Ar age spectra at different stages of low-grade metamorphism and also illuminate the transformation of illite to muscovite. At Frenchman Mtn., NV, where the Cambrian Bright Angel Formation is at zeolite facies conditions, illite/muscovite Ar/ Ar data suggest a detrital muscovite component with an apparent age ≥967 Ma. The correlative Carrara Fm. is at anchizone conditions in the Panamint and Resting Spring Ranges of eastern California, and in these locations, illite/muscovite Ar/ Ar data suggest an early Permian episode of subgreenschist facies metamorphism. The same type of data from equivalent strata at epizone conditions (greenschist facies) in the footwall of the Bullfrog/Fluorspar Canyon detachment in southern Nevada reveals a period of slow-to-moderate Late Cretaceous cooling

P–T–t evolution of eclogite/blueschist facies metamorphism in Alanya Massif: time and space relations with HP event in Bitlis Massif, Turkey

© 2014, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg. The Alanya Massif, which is located to the south of central Taurides in Turkey, presents a typical nappe pile consisting of thrust sheets with contrasting metamorphic histories. In two thrust sheets, Sugözü and Gündogmus nappes, HP metamorphism under eclogite (550–567 °C/14–18 kbar) and blueschist facies (435–480 °C/11–13 kbar) conditions have been recognized, respectively. Whereas the rest of the Massif underwent MP metamorphism under greenschist to amphibolite facies (525–555 °C/6.5–7.5 kbar) conditions. Eclogite facies metamorphism in Sugözü nappe, which consists of homogeneous garnet–glaucophane–phengite schists with eclogite lenses is dated at 84.8 ± 0.8, 84.7 ± 1.5 and 82 ± 3 Ma (Santonian–Campanian) by 40Ar/39Ar phengite, U/Pb zircon and rutile dating methods, respectively. Similarly, phengites in Gündogmus nappe representing an accretionary complex yield 82–80 Ma (Campanian) ages for blueschist facies metamorphism. During the exhumation, the retrograde overprint of the HP units under greenschist–amphibolite facies conditions and tectonic juxtaposition with the Barrovian units occurred during Campanian (75–78 Ma). Petrological and geochronological data clearly indicate a similar Late Cretaceous tectonometamorphic evolution for both Alanya (84–75 Ma) and Bitlis (84–72 Ma) Massifs. They form part of a single continental sliver (Alanya–Bitlis microcontinent), which was rifted from the southern part of the Anatolide–Tauride platform. The P–T–t coherence between two Massifs suggests that both Massifs have been derived from the closure of the same ocean (Alanya–Bitlis Ocean) located to the south of the Anatolide–Tauride block by a northward subduction. The boundary separating the autochthonous Tauride platform to the north from both the Alanya and Bitlis Massifs to the south represents a suture zone, the Pamphylian–Alanya–Bitlis suture