ALBERT

Description: This chapter documents the fracture process associated with the early cooling stage of felsic magma. Characteristics of pre-exhumation joints include their spatial distribution in granite bodies, their fracture surface morphology, and geological and petrological evidence for the depth of fracture initiation. These characteristics allow inferences about the depth and the time of joint origin in the South Bohemian Pluton. The intrusion levels of currently exposed granites of the pluton were 7.4 km in the northern part and 14.3 km in the southern part. Within the northern Mrakotin Granite (Bor[s]ov) early NNE joints propagated while the granite was at a temperature near the solidus, and, in part, magma was still being injected, post-dated by thin granite dykes along NNE joints. Evidence for the pre-exhumation initiation of these joints comes from the geochronological dating of these late-granite dykes (1-2 cm thick) at 324.9 Ma in age, which were creating their own rupture in the rock. The timing of the pluton emplacement at 330-324 Ma and the cooling ages of 328-320 Ma have been given by previous studies. From fluid inclusions within the late-granite dykes that occupy joint surfaces, the trapping depth of the analysed inclusions was calculated to be 7.4 km. Near the solidus H2O separates during the crystallization of anhydrous phases. The associated increasing H2O pressure can initiate the first cracks and can generate a small portion of new granitic melt, which forces the cyclic fracture propagation together with mobile, low-viscosity residual melt' input into the fracture. The determination of the intrusion level and time at which the dykes began cooling provide evidence for the joint initiation at a depth of 7.4 km, which was connected with the level and process of final emplacement and early cooling of the Mrakotin Granite long before the main exhumation. At the earliest, the erosion of the upper rock pile, 7.4 km in thickness, started significantly after generation of the early joint sets. The NNE-trending joints are persistent in orientation throughout the South Bohemian Pluton, but the joint-surface morphology varies in all subplutons and occupies all sections of the stress intensity v. crack-propagation velocity curve (Wiederhorn-Bahat curve).

Description: Joint fractography in European plutons frequently shows large fringe-tilt angles connected to small fringe-crack twist angles (type A). In contrast to this first type, fringes of joints that tilt at small angles out of the parent joint plane are often associated with high twist angles of en echelon fringe cracks (type B). The interaction of tilt and twist angles gives evidence for the mode (I, II and III) acting at the advancing crack front during fracture propagation and the formation of fringes. The different fringe types depend on the varying influence of mode II or mode III, which establishes the degree of tilt or twist, in addition to opening-mode I that governs the crack propagation. Fringe types A and B are not randomly distributed. Within several plutons the first joints are characterized by a frequency of type A, and in other plutons by the dominance of type B. A third group of plutons is characterized by low tilt and low angle of twist for early joint fringes. The range of tilt/twist ratios of the earliest joints decreases with increasing depth of pluton emplacement and joint formation. The trend of the ratio approaches a value of between 0.5 and 1.0 at greater depth (c. 15 km). The ratio seems to be suitable for a prognosis of the possible depth of first joint formation.