ALBERT

Notes: Abstract Late Carboniferous (Hercynian) tectonism in the Pyrenees generated extremely steep thermal gradients at 8–14 km depth in the continental crust, producing andalusite- and sillimanite-grade metamorphism and partial melting of Lower Paleozoic metasediments under water-rich conditions. At the same time, amphibolite- and granulitefacies “basal gneisses” were equilibrated under dryer conditions at pressures of 4 to 7 kbar (14–25 km depth), beneath these higher-level rocks. We present 95 new oxygen isotopic analyses of samples from the Agly, St. Barthelemy, Castillon and Trois Seigneurs Massifs, highlighting contrasting 18O/16O systematics at different structural levels in the Hercynian crust, here termed Zones 1, 2, and 3. The unmetamorphosed, fossiliferous, Paleozoic shales and carbonates of Zone 1 have typical sedimentary δ 18O values, mostly in the range +14 to +16 for the pelitic rocks and +20 to +25 for the carbonates. The metamorphosed equivalents of these rocks in Zone 2 all have strikingly uniform and much lower δ 18O values; the metapelites mostly have δ 18O=+10 to +12, and interlayered metacarbonates from the Trois Seigneurs Massif have δ 18O of about +12 to +14. Typically, the Zone 3 “basal gneisses” are isotopically heterogeneous with variable δ 18O values ranging from +6 in mafic lithologies to +22 in carbonate-rich lithologies. Steep gradients in δ 18O (as much as 10 per mil over a few cm) are preserved at the margins of some metacarbonate layers. These data indicate that the Zone 3 gneisses were infiltrated by much smaller volumes of metamorphic pore fluids than were the overlying Zone 2 rocks, and that circulation of surface-derived H2O (either seawater or formation waters, as evidenced by high δD values) was mainly confined to the Paleozoic supracrustal sedimentary pile. This is compatible with an overall reduction of interconnected porosity with increasing depth, but perhaps even more important, the extensive partial melting at the base of Zone 2 may have produced a ductile, impermeable barrier to downward fluid penetration.

Notes: Abstract Oxygen isotopic analyses of 95 metamorphic and igneous rocks and minerals from a Hercynian metamorphic sequence in the Trois Seigneurs Massif, Pyrenees, France, indicate that all lithologies at higher metamorphic grades than the “andalusite in” isograd have relatively homogeneous δ 18O values. The extent of homogenization is shown by the similarity of δ 18O values in metacarbonates, metapelites and granitic rocks (+11 to +13), and by the narrow range of oxygen isotopic composition shown by quartz from these lithologies. These values contrast with the δ 18O values of metapelites of lower metamorphic grade (δ 18O about +15). Homogenization was caused by a pervasive influx of hydrous fluid. Mass-balance calculations imply that the fluid influx was so large that its source was probably high-level groundwaters or connate formation water. Hydrogen isotopic analyses of muscovite from various lithologies are uniform and exceptionally heavy at δD=−25 to −30, suggesting a seawater origin. Many lines of petrological evidence from the area independently suggest that metamorphism and anatexis of pelitic metasediment occurred at depths of 6–12 km in the presence of this water-rich fluid, the composition of which was externally buffered. Deep penetration of surface waters in such environments has been hitherto unrecognized, and may be a key factor in promoting major anatexis of the continental crust at shallow depth. Three types of granitoid are exposed in the area. The leucogranites and the biotite granite-quartz diorite are both mainly derived from fusion of local Paleozoic pelitic metasediment, because all these rocks have similar whole-rock δ 18O values (+11 to +13). The post-metamorphic biotite granodiorite has a distinctly different δ 18O (+9.5 to +10.0) and was probably derived from a deeper level in the crust. Rare mafic xenoliths within the deeper parts of the biotite granite-quartz diorite also have different δ 18O (+8.0 to +8.5) and possibly represent input of mantle derived magma, which may have provided a heat source for the metamorphism.

Notes: [Auszug] GRANULITES, high-grade metamorphic rocks that are deficient in hydrous minerals, are significant constituents of the middle and lower continental crust, and are of great petrological interest1^4. Elucidating the conditions in which they formed will reveal much about the genesis of the early crust ...

Notes: [Auszug] During very high-temperature/low-pressure Hercynian metamorphism in the Pyrenees the crust began to melt at ∼12 km and stable isotopes show that it was flushed by circulating seawater to that depth. There is no evidence for crustal collision and the tectonic setting for this, and maybe all ...

Notes: [Auszug] Matte and Mattauer raise two objections to our interpretation of the Hercynian orogeny in the Pyrenees as a rifting event1'2'3, the first relating to the Hercynian deformation style, the second to the regional tectonic interpretation of the entire Hercynian belt of Western Europe. In the ...

Notes: Abstract Previous stable isotope studies at Lizzies Basin revealed that metasedimentary rocks are 18O-depleted relative to protolith values, particularly in the lower parts of the section (Lower Zone) where the rocks are also isotopically homogeneous on a scale of hundreds of meters (quartz δ18O=+9.0 to +9.6 per mil). In contrast, metasedimentary rocks at higher levels at Lizzies Basin (Upper Zone) are less 18O-depleted and more heterogeneous in δ18O. In order to understand more fully the isotopic evolution of this terrane, a series of detailed, meter-scale traverses across various metamorphic and igneous lithologies were completed at Lizzies Basin, and at the structurally higher Angel Lake locality. Traverses in the Lizzies Basin Lower Zone and in the lower parts of Angel Lake (Angel Lake Lower Sequence) across various silicate lithologies, including abundant granitoids, reveal similar degrees of homogeneity, although the average δ18O values are higher at Angel Lake. In contrast, traverses which include substantial thicknesses of marble and calc-silicate gneiss and very little granitoid have more heterogeneous quartz δ18O values (+11.9 to +13.4 per mil), and also have a higher average δ18O (+12.9 per mil), than observed elsewhere. The scale of 18O/16O homogeneity in quartz observed at Lizzies Basin and Angel Lake (meters to hundreds of meters) requires fluid-mediated isotope exchange, which accompanied Tertiary metamorphism. There is a correlation between the degree of 18O-depletion in metasedimentary rocks, 18O/16O homogenization between lithologies, and the proportion of granitoids (leucogranites in particular) within any part of the section, and a corresponding anticor-relation with the proportion of marble. This points to a causal relationship, whereby the leucogranites (as well as the Tertiary hornblende diorite and biotite monzogranite) acted as both a relatively low-18O reservoir and a source of fluids to enhance exchange, while the marbles hindered isotope deplction and homogenization by acting as relatively high-18O reservoirs and impermeable layers. Material balance calculations help delineate the plausible mechanisms of exchange between granitoids and metasediments. Single-pass infiltration of magmatic fluids from the granitoids is not capable of reproducing all of the observations. Fluidmediated exchange by convective recirculation of magmatic fluids on a scale of meters is the mechanism which explains all of the observations. The generalized model for the isotopic evolution of the East Humboldt Range core complex provides and excellent opportunity to establish the main causes and controlling factors of 18O-depletion and 18O/16O homogenization during regional metamorphism.

Notes: Abstract  Previous stable isotope studies at Lizzies Basin revealed that metasedimentary rocks are 18O-depleted relative to protolith values, particularly in the lower parts of the section (Lower Zone) where the rocks are also isotopically homogeneous on a scale of hundreds of meters (quartz δ18O=+9.0 to +9.6 per mil). In contrast, metasedimentary rocks at higher levels at Lizzies Basin (Upper Zone) are less 18O-depleted and more heterogeneous in δ18O. In order to understand more fully the isotopic evolution of this terrane, a series of detailed, meter-scale traverses across various metamorphic and igneous lithologies were completed at Lizzies Basin, and at the structurally higher Angel Lake locality. Traverses in the Lizzies Basin Lower Zone and in the lower parts of Angel Lake (Angel Lake Lower Sequence) across various silicate lithologies, including abundant granitoids, reveal similar degrees of homogeneity, although the average δ18O values are higher at Angel Lake. In contrast, traverses which include substantial thicknesses of marble and calc-silicate gneiss and very little granitoid have more heterogeneous quartz δ18O values (+11.9 to +13.4 per mil), and also have a higher average δ18O (+12.9 per mil), than observed elsewhere. The scale of 18O/16O homogeneity in quartz observed at Lizzies Basin and Angel Lake (meters to hundreds of meters) requires fluid-mediated isotope exchange, which accompanied Tertiary metamorphism. There is a correlation between the degree of 18O-depletion in metasedimentary rocks, 18O/16O homogenization between lithologies, and the proportion of granitoids (leucogranites in particular) within any part of the section, and a corresponding anticorrelation with the proportion of marble. This points to a causal relationship, whereby the leucogranites (as well as the Tertiary hornblende diorite and biotite monzogranite) acted as both a relatively low-18O reservoir and a source of fluids to enhance exchange, while the marbles hindered isotope depletion and homogenization by acting as relatively high-18O reservoirs and impermeable layers. Material balance calculations help delineate the plausible mechanisms of exchange between granitoids and metasediments. Single-pass infiltration of magmatic fluids from the granitoids is not capable of reproducing all of the observations. Fluid-mediated exchange by convective recirculation of magmatic fluids on a scale of meters is the mechanism which explains all of the observations. The generalized model for the isotopic evolution of the East Humboldt Range core complex provides an excellent opportunity to establish the main causes and controlling factors of 18O-depletion and 18O/16O homogenization during regional metamorphism.

Notes: Abstract A combined field, stable isotope, and whole-rock chemical study was made on late Cretaceous to Tertiary metasomatic shear zones cutting Hercynian gneisses in the Aston Massif, Pyrenees, France. Mylonitisation occurred during the early stages of Alpine compression under retrograde conditions at 400–450°C and about 10 km depth. Whole-rock δ18O values of (+11 to +12‰ in the gneisses) was lowered to +5 to +9‰ in the shear zones, with the quartz-muscovite 18O/16O fractionations of about 2 to 4‰ essentially unchanged. These 18O/16O systematics, together with δD muscovite=-40 to-50‰ indicate that large volumes of formation waters or D-rich meteoric waters passed through the shear zones during deformation. The same fluids also redistributed major elements, as shown by the correlation of δ18O shift with muscovitisation and albitisation reactions in granitic wall rocks. However, even though δ18O was universally lowered within the shear zones, the 18O/16O ratios were not homogenised, nor do they correlate in detail with the presence or absence of muscovitisation, suggesting that fluid flow was probably fracture-controlled and episodic. Field mapping shows that, along the length of a particular shear zone, muscovitisation of granite gneiss dies out 150m above the contact with underlying sillimanite gneiss. Thus, muscovitisation and albitisation of granite gneiss in shear zones and their wall rocks probably occurred during re-equilibration of acidic, chloride-rich, aqueous fluids that had previously moved upward within the shear zones through underlying sillimanite gneiss. Extremely high material-balance fluid-rock ratios (∼103) are required to explain the extent of muscovitisation along this shear zone, implying integrated fluid mass fluxes of about 108 kg/m2; this is probably close to the maximum value for other shear zones in the network. Similar volumes of a more chemically evolved fluid must have passed through the unmuscovitised mylonites, showing that the absence of alteration cannot necessarily be used to infer low values of fluid flux. For reasonable pressure gradients and time scales of fluid movement, effective permeabilities of 10-15 to 10-17 m2 are required. Such values can be accounted for by short-lived, widely-spaced cracks produced during seismic activity. A model is presented in which formation waters were seismically pumped down an underlying, shallow, southward-dipping decollement and then upward through the steeply-dipping shear zone network.

Notes: Abstract Stable isotope analyses of rocks and minerals associated with the detachment fault and underlying mylonite zone exposed at Secret Creek gorge and other localities in the Ruby-East Humboldt Range metamorphic core complex in northeastern Nevada provide convincing evidence for meteoric water infiltration during mylonitization. Whole-rock δ18O values of the lower plate quartzite mylonites (≥95% modal quartz) have been lowered by up to 10 per mil compared with structurally lower, compositionally similar, unmylonitized material. Biotite from these rocks has δD values ranging from -125 to -175, compared to values of -55 to-70 in biotite from unmylonitized rocks. Mylonitized leucogranites have large disequilibrium oxygen isotope fractionations (Δ quartz-feldspar up to ∼8 per mil) relative to magmatic values (Δ quartz-feldspar∼1 to 2 per mil)). Meteoric water is the only major oxygen and hydrogen reservoir with an isotopic composition capable of generating the observed values. Fluid inclusion water from unstrained quartz in silicified breccia has a δD value of-119 which provides a plausible estimate of the δD of the infiltrating fluid, and is similar to the isotopic composition of present-day and Tertiary local meteoric water. The quartzite mylonite biotites would have been in equilibrium with such a fluid at temperatures of 480–620° C, similar to independent estimates of the temperature of mylonitization. The relatively high temperatures required for isotopic exchange between quartz and water, the occurrence of fluid inclusion trails and deformed veins in quartzite mylonites, and the spatial association of the low-18O, low-D rocks with the shear zone all constrain isotopic exchange to the mylonitic (plastic) deformation event. These observations suggest thata significant amount of meteoric water infiltrated the shear zone during mylonitization to depths of at least 5 to 10 km below the surface. The depth of penetration of meteoric fluids into the lower plate mylonites was at least 70 meters below the detachment fault. In contrast, the upper-plate unmylonitized fault slices are dominated by brittle fracture and are often intensely veined (carbonates) or silicified (volcanic rocks and breccias). The fluids associated with the veining and silicification were also meteoric as evidenced by low δ18O values of the veins, which are often 10 per mil lower than the adjacent carbonate matrix, and the exceptionally low δ18O values (down to-4.4) of the breccias. Several previous studies have documented the infiltration of meteoric fluids into the brittley deformed upper plate rocks of core complexes, but this study provides convincing evidence that surface fluids have penetrated lower plate rocks undergoing plastic deformation. It is proposed that infiltration took place as the shear zone began the transition from plastic flow to brittle fracture while the lower plate rocks were being uplifted. During this period, plastic flow and brittle fracture were operating simultaneously, perhaps allowing upper plate meteoric fluids to be seismically pumped down into the lower plate mylonites.