ALBERT

Notes: Abstract We determined the δ18O and δ13C composition of the same fixed growth increment in severalPorites lutea coral skeletons from Phuket, South Thailand. Skeletal growth rate and δ18O are inversely related. We explain this in terms of McConnaughey's kinetic isotopic disequilibria model. Annual trends in δ18O cannot be solely explained by observed variations in seawater temperature or salinity and may also reflect seasonal variations in calcification rate. Coral tissue chlorophylla content and δ13C of the underlying 1 mm of skeleton are positively related, suggesting that algal modification of the dissolved inorganic carbonate pool is the main control on skeletal δ13C. However, in corals that bleached during a period of exceptionally high seawater temperatures in the summer of 1991, δ13C of the outer 1 mm of skeleton and skeletal growth rate (over 9 months up to and including the bleaching event) are inversely related. Seasonal variations in °13C may reflect variations in calcification rate, zooxanthellae photosynthesis or in seawater δ13C composition. Bleached corals had reduced calcification over the 9-month period up to and including the bleaching event and over the event they deposited carbonate enriched in13C and18O compared with unaffected corals. However, calcification during the event was limited and insufficient material was deposited to influence significantly the isotopic signature of the larger seasonal profile samples. In profile, overall decreases in δ18O and δ13C were observed, supporting evidence that positive temperature anomalies caused the bleaching event and reflecting the loss of zooxanthellae photosynthesis.

Notes: Abstract.  We determined the δ18O and δ13C composition of the same fixed growth increment in several Porites lutea coral skeletons from Phuket, South Thailand. Skeletal growth rate and δ18O are inversely related. We explain this in terms of McConnaughey’s kinetic isotopic disequilibria model. Annual trends in δ18O cannot be solely explained by observed variations in seawater temperature or salinity and may also reflect seasonal variations in calcification rate. Coral tissue chlorophyll a content and δ13C of the underlying 1 mm of skeleton are positively related, suggesting that algal modification of the dissolved inorganic carbonate pool is the main control on skeletal δ13C. However, in corals that bleached during a period of exceptionally high seawater temperatures in the summer of 1991, δ13C of the outer 1 mm of skeleton and skeletal growth rate (over 9 months up to and including the bleaching event) are inversely related. Seasonal variations in δ13C may reflect variations in calcification rate, zooxanthellae photosynthesis or in seawater δ13C composition. Bleached corals had reduced calcification over the 9-month period up to and including the bleaching event and over the event they deposited carbonate enriched in 13C and 18O compared with unaffected corals. However, calcification during the event was limited and insufficient material was deposited to influence significantly the isotopic signature of the larger seasonal profile samples. In profile, overall decreases in δ18O and δ13C were observed, supporting evidence that positive temperature anomalies caused the bleaching event and reflecting the loss of zooxanthellae photosynthesis.

Notes: Abstract Poorly crystalline carbonaceous matter was observed in chlorite to sillimanite grade metasediments from the Trois Seigneurs Massif, in contrast to other studies of carbon crystallinity which observed well crystallised graphite under upper greenschist facies conditions. Using transmission electron microscopy four types of carbon particle were identified; globular carbon, composite flakes, homogeneous flakes and crystalline graphite. Globular carbon and composite flakes are poorly crystalline microporous carbon. Homogeneous flakes decompose in the electron beam and are probably composed of heavy volatile hydrocarbons. Graphite is confined to samples from retrograde shear zones and often occurs with globular carbon. The lack of graphitisation in metasediments is probably a consequence of the microporous structure of the carbonaceous matter combined with low f O 2. The preservation of carbonaceous matter in the Trois Seigneurs metasediments is not compatible with the metasediments having been externally buffered by a high X H2O fluid syn-metamorphism. An alternative hypothesis of internal buffering is preferred to explain the carbonaceous matter in the Trois Seigneurs metasediments.

Notes: Abstract Dalradian metamorphic rocks, Lower Ordovician meta-igneous rocks (MGS) and Caledonian granites of the Connemara complex in SW Connemara all show intense retrograde alteration. Alteration primarily involves sericitization and saussuritization of plagioclase, the alteration of biotite and hornblende to chlorite and the formation of secondary epidote. The alteration is associated with sealed microcracks in all rocks and planes of secondary fluid inclusions in quartz where it occurs, and was the result of a phase of fluid influx into these rocks. In hand specimen K-feldspar becomes progressively reddened with increasing alteration. Mineralogical alteration in the MGS and Caledonian granites took place at temperatures ∼275±15°C and in the MGS Pfluid is estimated to be ≤1.5 kbar during alteration. The °D values of alteration phases are:-18 to-29‰ (fluid inclusions),-47 to-61‰ (chlorites) and-11 to-31‰ (epidotes). Chlorite δ18O values are +0.2 to +4.3‰, while δ18O values for quartz-K-feldspar pairs show both positively sloped (MGS) and highly unusual negatively sloped (Caledonian granites) arrays, diverging from the normal magmatic field on a δ-δ plot. The stable isotope data show that the fluid that caused retrogression continued to be present in most rocks until temperatures fell to 200–140°C. The retrograde fluid had δD ∼-20 to-30‰ in all lithologies, but the fluid δ18O varied both spatially and temporally within the range-4 to +7‰. The fO2 of the fluid that deposited the epidotes in the MGS varied with its δ18O value, with the most 18O-depleted fluid being the most oxidizing. The δD values, together with low (〈0‰) δ18O values for the retrograde fluid in some lithologies indicate that this fluid was of meteoric origin. This meteoric fluid was probably responsible for the alteration in all lithologies during a single phase of fluid infiltration. The variation in retrograde fluid δ18O values is attributed to the effects of variable oxygen isotope shifting of this meteoric fluid by fluid-rock interaction. Infiltration of meteoric fluid into this area was most likely accomplished by convection of pore fluids around the heat anomaly of the Galway granite soon after intrusion at ∼400 Ma. However convective circulation of meteoric water and mineralogical alteration could possible have occurred considerably later.

Notes: Abstract  Infiltration of a metabasite sill from Islay, Scotland by an H2O-CO2 fluid caused (1) modification of δ18O and (2) carbonation at the sill margins. Maps of δ18O and reaction progress were constructed from a 20 × 47.7 metre sample grid across the sill. The grid consisted of 300 samples, spaced at m, dm and cm intervals, many of which were analysed for both δ18O and reaction progress. The δ18O was determined by laser fluorination of whole rock silicate powders and reaction progress was determined by rapid field-based measurement of % calcite (“fizz-o-meter”, Skelton et al. 1995). Reaction and isotope fronts outlined tube-like features that emanate from the sill margin and discrete nodes that, although detached from the sill margin in two dimensions, are thought to represent sections through similar tubes in three dimensions. We envisage that these protrusions are the fossil record of metamorphic “fluid pathways” whereby fluid permeated the sill. Isotope and reaction fronts are found to correlate spatially as predicted by a modified form of the chromatographic equation which describes this envisaged geometry, that is where isotopic and reactive transport in the fluid phase are facilitated by advection along specific fluid pathways and transverse diffusion in the surrounding rock. These fluid pathways consist of bundles of anastomosing grain boundary channels or micro-cracks, which are thought to propagate through transient cyclic infiltration, reaction, porosity enhancement and fracturing. This mechanism is self-perpetuating and accentuates random perturbations at the sill margin to form the observed tubes. We argue that this is the earliest stage of the infiltration process which has affected metabasites of the SW Scottish Highlands and that subsequent shear deformation of the reacted rims of these pathways, has caused their re-orientation and juxtaposition to form the reacted sill margins described by Skelton et al. (1995).

Notes: Abstract Fluid inclusions in granite quartz and three generations of veins indicate that three fluids have affected the Caledonian Galway Granite. These fluids were examined by petrography, microthermometry, chlorite thermometry, fluid chemistry and stable isotope studies. The earliest fluid was a H2O-CO2-NaCl fluid of moderate salinity (4–10 wt% NaCl eq.) that deposited late-magmatic molybdenite mineralised quartz veins (V1) and formed the earliest secondary inclusions in granite quartz. This fluid is more abundant in the west of the batholith, corresponding to a decrease in emplacement depth. Within veins, and to the east, this fluid was trapped homogeneously, but in granite quartz in the west it unmixed at 305–390 °C and 0.7–1.8 kbar. Homogeneous quartz δ18O across the batholith (9.5 ± 0.4‰n = 12) suggests V1 precipitation at high temperatures (perhaps 600 °C) and pressures (1–3 kbar) from magmatic fluids. Microthermometric data for V1 indicate lower temperatures, suggesting inclusion volumes re-equilibrated during cooling. The second fluid was a H2O-NaCl-KCl, low-moderate salinity (0–10 wt% NaCl eq.), moderate temperature (270–340 °C), high δD (−18 ± 2‰), low δ18O (0.5–2.0‰) fluid of meteoric origin. This fluid penetrated the batholith via quartz veins (V2) which infill faults active during post-consolidation uplift of the batholith. It forms the most common inclusion type in granite quartz throughout the batholith and is responsible for widespread retrograde alteration involving chloritization of biotite and hornblende, sericitization and saussuritization of plagioclase, and reddening of K-feldspar. The salinity was generated by fluid-rock interactions within the granite. Within granite quartz this fluid was trapped at 0.5–2.3 kbar, having become overpressured. This fluid probably infiltrated the Granite in a meteoric-convection system during cooling after intrusion, but a later age cannot be ruled out. The final fluid to enter the Granite and its host rocks was a H2O-NaCl-CaCl2-KCl fluid with variable salinity (8–28 wt% NaCl eq.), temperature (125–205 °C), δD (−17 to −45‰), δ18O (−3 to + 1.2‰), δ13CCO2 (−19 to 0‰) and δ34Ssulphate (13–23‰) that deposited veins containing quartz, fluorite, calcite, barite, galena, chalcopyrite sphalerite and pyrite (V3). Correlations of salinity, temperature, δD and δ18O are interpreted as the result of mixing of two fluid end-members, one a high-δD (−17 to −8‰), moderate-δ18O (1.2–2.5‰), high-δ13CCO2 (〉 −4‰), low-δ34Ssulphate (13‰), high-temperature (205–230 °C), moderate-salinity (8–12 wt% NaCl eq.) fluid, the other a low-δD (−61 to −45‰), low-δ18O (−5.4 to −3‰), low-δ13C (〈−10‰), high-δ34Ssulphate (20–23‰) low-temperature (80–125 °C), high-salinity (21–28 wt% NaCl eq.) fluid. Geochronological evidence suggests V3 veins are late Triassic; the high-δD end-member is interpreted as a contemporaneous surface fluid, probably mixed meteoric water and evaporated seawater and/or dissolved evaporites, whereas the low-δD end-member is interpreted as a basinal brine derived from the adjacent Carboniferous sequence. This study demonstrates that the Galway Granite was a locus for repeated fluid events for a variety of reasons; from expulsion of magmatic fluids during the final stages of crystallisation, through a meteoric convection system, probably driven by waning magmatic heat, to much later mineralisation, concentrated in its vicinity due to thermal, tectonic and compositional properties of granite batholiths which encourage mineralisation long after magmatic heat has abated.

Notes: Abstract Prograde metamorphic reactions involving the growth of phyllosilicates and accompanying cleavage development have been investigated in Dalradian metasediments from the biotite zone of eastern Scotland. Crystallization of muscovite within the psammites of the Southern Highland Group is linked to the replacement of plagioclase porphyroclasts. This reaction is triggered by significant alkali metasomatism during active deformation and plays an important role in the formation of a prominent spaced cleavage within the psammites. The Si content of most of these early-formed muscovites is partially buffered by the quartz content of the rock, although close to the Highland Boundary Fault, evidence of greater influence from externally derived fluids on muscovite compositions is preserved. Locally higher fluid fluxes adjacent to the fault are also indicated by a relatively high δ 18O(SMOW) signature in the rocks. The biotite-producing reaction in these greenschist-facies rocks is linked to the later production of a celadonite-poor muscovite which formed as overgrowths around pre-existing white micas. This reaction is sensitive to the initial composition of muscovite and preferentially occurs in quartz-rich metasediments containing a celadonite-rich muscovite. A systematic increase in the progress of the biotite-producing reaction northwards across the biotite zone confirms the presence of high geothermal gradients along the southern margin of the Dalradian block, adjacent to the Highland Boundary Fault.

Notes: Abstract The Tallberg deposit is situated in the Skellefte District in northern Sweden. It is a Palaeoproterozoic equivalent of Phanerozoic poryphyry-type deposits. The mineralization is situated within the Jörn granitoid complex and is associated with intrusive quartz-feldspar porphyries. The granitoids are coeval with mainly felsic volcanic rocks hosting several massive sulphide deposits. The alteration is generally of a mixed phyllic-propylitic type, but areas or zones associated with high gold grades exhibit phyllic alteration. Ore minerals are pyrite, chalcopyrite, sphalerite, magnetite, and trace amounts of molybdenite. In this stable isotope study, quartz, sericite, and chlorite from the alteration zones were sampled. The magmatic quartz has a ∂18O composition of + 6.2 to +6.7‰ whereas the quartz in the hydrothermal alteration zones have values ranging from +7.5 to +10.6‰. The calculated temperatures for this fractionation range from 430° to 520°C. The sericites have ∂18O ranging from +4.6 to +8.2‰ (average +6.6‰) and ∂D -31 to -54‰ (average -41‰). Chlorites range from ∂18O +4.2 to +7.7‰ and ∂D from −34 to −44‰. The range of ∂34S of 11 pyrite samples is +3.8 to +5.5‰ with an average of +4.6 ± 0.5‰, suggesting a relatively homogeneous sulphur source, probably of magmatic origin. Modelling waters in equilibrium with the minerals indicates early magmatic fluids with ∂18O of ≈ 6.5‰. This fluid mixed with a low ∂18O and high ∂D fluid, which is tentatively identified as seawater. The ∂18O signature of sericite and chlorite also indicates significant water-rock exchange, explaining the positive ∂18O values for the waters in equilibrium with the hydrated minerals.

Notes: Abstract The Rosita Hills volcanic centre is an alkalicalcic, mid-Tertiary complex overlying orthoand paragneissic basement, on the eastern margin of the Rio Grande Rift in south central Colorado, USA. The centre contains vein-hosted, adularia-sericite type, epithermal Ag and base-metal mineralisation with minor Au. Stable isotope studies (O and H) of whole rock and mineral separate (quartz and sericite) samples from veins and hydrothermal eruption breccias show that the hydrothermal fluid had both magmatic and meteoric components. The δD and δ18O values of the hydrothermal fluid, calculated from mineral values, range from -22‰ to -103‰ and 0.5‰ to 5.9‰ respectively. Fluid inclusion data from vein minerals (quartz, baryte and sphalerite) and from an advanced argillic lithocap overlying the veins again show that the hydrothermal system had more than one component fluid. Fluid inclusions have salinities which range from 1.7 to 25.1 wt% NaCl equivalent and show evidence of boiling in the advanced argillic lithocap. Homogenisation temperatures range from 135°C to 298°C. Liquid CO2 is present in some inclusions. These data indicate that a saline, isotopically heavy fluid mixed with a dilute, isotopically light fluid to precipitate the ore. We argue that the saline, isotopically heavy fluid is magmatic and derived from a resurgent rhyolitic magma below the mineralisation.

Notes: Abstract Emerald deposits in Swat, northwestern Pakistan, occurring in talc-magnesite and quartz-magnesite assemblages, have been investigated through stable isotope studies. Isotopic analyses were performed on a total of seven emeralds, associated quartz (seven samples), fuchsite (three samples) and tourmaline (two samples) from the Mingora emerald mines. The oxygen isotopic composition (δ 18O SMOW) of emeralds shows a strong enrichment in18O and is remarkably uniform at + 15.6 ± 0.4‰ (1σ,n = 7). Each of the two components of water in emerald (channel and inclusion) has a different range of hydrogen isotopic composition: the channel waters being distinctly isotopically heavier (δD = −51 to −32‰ SMOW) than the other inclusion waters (δD = −96 to −70‰ SMOW). Similarly the oxygen isotopic compositions of tourmaline and fuchsite are relatively constant (δ 18O = + 13 to + 14‰ SMOW) and show enrichment in18O. Theδ 18O values of quartz, ranging from + 15.1 to + 19.1‰ SMOW, are also high (+ 16.9 ± 1.4‰ 1σ, n = 7). The meanδD of channel waters measured from emerald (−42 ± 6.6‰ SMOW) and that of fluid calculated from hydrous mineralsδDcalculated (−47 ± 7.1‰ SMOW) are consistent with both metamorphic and magmatic origin. However, the close similarity between the measuredδD values of the hydroxyl hydrogen in fuchsite (−74 to −6‰ SMOW) and tourmaline (−84 and −69‰ SMOW) with pegmatitic muscovite and tourmaline suggests that the mineralization was probably caused by modified (18O-enriched) hydrothermal solutions derived from an S-type granitic magma. The variation in the carbon and oxygen isotopic composition of magnesite, locally associated with emerald mineralization, is also very restricted (δ 13 ∼ −3.2 ± 0.7%, PDB;δ 18O ∼ + 17.9 ± 1.27‰ SMOW). On the basis of the isotopic composition of fluid (δ 13C ≈ −1.8 ± 0.7‰ PDB;δ 18O ≈ + 13.6 ± 1.2‰ SMOW calculated for the 250-550 °C temperature), it is proposed that the Swat magnesites formed due to the carbonation of previously serpentinized ultramafic rocks by a CO2-bearing fluid of metamorphic origin.