Research Article
Palaeoproterozoic, rift-related, 13C-rich, lacustrine carbonates, NW Russia. Part I: Sedimentology and major element geochemistry
- V. A. Melezhik, A. E. Fallick
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- 26 July 2007, pp. 393-421
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The 150-m-thick Kuetsjärvi Sedimentary Formation (KSF) from the Pechenga Greenstone Belt, NW Russia, is one of the key formations in the study of a positive δ13Ccarb excursion occurring globally in the Palaeoproterozoic. The KSF formed in an intracratonic rift setting and is sandwiched between two, 2-km-thick subaerially erupted volcanic units. The KSF was previously interpreted as shallow marine, but new data reported here indicate that it is a non-marine unit deposited on a deeply subaerially weathered surface mantling the underlying volcanic rocks. The lowermost part of the KSF represents an alluvial–fluvial plain, followed by a laterally and vertically variable succession of variegated to mottled fine-grained siliciclastic rocks and ‘red beds‘, dolostones containing stromatolite sheets, hydrothermal travertine deposits and abundant desiccation features (e.g.tepees, surfical silicified crusts and dissolution cavities), including probable pseudomorphed evaporites. Measured S and Corg concentrations for the carbonate and siliciclastic rocks are low. Combined, these features indicate that the carbonate rocks of the KSF accumulated in a shallow lacustrine setting. Major types of carbonate facies were formed by: (1) biologically-induced precipitation; (2) evaporitic removal of CO2 in a closed lake environment; and (3) chemical precipitation from thermal springs. Apparently, none of these carbonate facies was in full isotopic equilibrium with atmospheric CO2. This interpretation shows the importance of taking into account the interplay between global and local depositional factors when interpreting the isotopic signature of the KSF dolostones and its implication for the Palaeoproterozoic carbon isotope excursion
Preface
Preface
- W. E. Stephens, S. L. Harley
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- 26 July 2007, pp. v-vi
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On the Fifth Hutton Symposium
- Shunso Ishihara, Makoto Arima, Takashi Nakajima
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- 26 July 2007, pp. vii-ix
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Research Article
Palaeoproterozoic, rift-related, 13C-rich, lacustrine carbonates, NW Russia. Part II: Global isotope signal recorded in the lacustrine dolostones
- V. A. Melezhik, A. E. Fallick, A. B. Kuznetsov
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- 26 July 2007, pp. 423-444
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A comprehensive study of the ∼2200-Ma-old Kuetsjärvi Sedimentary Formation (KSF), NW Russia, was undertaken to contribute to our understanding of palaeoenvironments associated with the global perturbation of the carbon cycle between 2330 and 2060 Ma. Closely spaced drill core samples (n=95) were obtained from a 150-m-thick unit deposited in rift-bound fluvial-deltaic and shallow-water lacustrine settings with a short-term invasion of sea water. Apart from a very few de-dolomitised samples, all other carbonate lithologies are represented by Corg-free, S-poor, quartz-rich dolostones, stromatolites and travertines which have high Sr concentrations (51–1069 ppm) and low Mn/Sr ratios (2·9 ± 2·1). The carbonate succession, excluding travertines, shows high δ13C (+7·5 ± 0·6‰, n=95) with a limited variation (+5·8 to +8·9‰). Fluctuating δ18O values (10·8–20·4‰) were overprinted during diagenesis, regional greenschist-grade and later retrograde metamorphism. Several short-term stratigraphic excursions of δ13C were apparently governed by evaporation and CO2 degassing combined with pulses of12C-rich hydrothermal waters precipitating travertines. However, the 13C-rich nature of the dolostones reflects the global isotopic signal, which was modified in a shallow water lacustrine environment by evaporation, enhanced uptake of 12C by cyanobacteria, and pene-contemporaneous oxidation and loss of organic material. The best proxies to δ13C and 87Sr/86 Sr of coeval sea water recorded in the KSF dolostones are likely to be around +5–6‰ and 0·70406, respectively. The study of the KSF has shown that circumspection is necessary when attempting to model the behaviour and evolution of the global C-cycle in Deep Time. Models which purport to explain global oceanic–atmospheric evolution without first adequately accounting for the possibility that many Precambrian carbonate deposits might be non-marine, or at least influenced by non-marine fluids, should be viewed with caution
Revision of the scombroid fishes from the Cenozoic of England
- Kenneth A. Monsch
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- 26 July 2007, pp. 445-489
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Since 1966, when the last major work on fossil scombroid fishes (Scombroidei, Perciformes) from England appeared, our knowledge of the taxonomy and systematics of Recent scombroids has been thoroughly updated, improved and studied in the context of cladistic methods. In comparison, our knowledge of the fossil taxa has lagged much behind. As part of a revision of all fossil and Recent scombroid fishes, the present paper describes an updated systematic palaeontology of the English fossil taxa. These are a subset of taxa subject to a cladistic analysis of Recent and fossil genera combined, the results of which will appear in future papers. Three new genera are erected, two species transferred to other, already existing, ones and a new species is described (in a new genus). The author follows the opinion that Eothynnus Woodward, 1901 is a carangid. Several individual specimens are re-identified. The systematic affinities of Tamesichthys Casier, 1966, Eocoelopoma Woodward, 1901, Scombramphodon Woodward, 1901, Sphyraenodus Agassiz, 1844, Wetherellus Casier, 1966 and Woodwardella Casier, 1966, and a few new taxa, are here considered unknown. Aglyptorhynchus Casier, 1966 is probably a billfish, and Cylindracanthus Leidy, 1856, is possibly one as well, even though there are serious objections to this.
Towards a unified model for granite genesis
- B. W. Chappell
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- 26 July 2007, pp. 1-10
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Most granites result from partial melting within the crust. Granite melts produced at the lowest temperatures of partial melting mainly comprise close to equal amounts of the haplogranite components Qz, Ab and Or, with H2O. Many felsic granites were formed by partial melting under such conditions and are low-temperature types, with crystals of zircon and other restite minerals present in the initial magma. Such magmas evolve in composition, at least initially, through fractionation of that restite. If one of the four haplogranite components either becomes depleted or too low in amount to contribute further to the melt, then melting may proceed to higher temperatures without a contribution from that component. Melting will advance to significantly higher temperatures if there is a critical deficiency in one or more components and a high-temperature granite magma forms, in which zircon is completely soluble. Such magmas are extracted from the source in a completely molten state and may evolve by fractional crystallisation. They are monzonitic, tonalitic or A-type, depending on whether the critical deficiency occurred in the Qz, Or or H2O component. If the Ab component is critically deficient, as in pelitic rocks, the rocks may be infertile for granite production. The control that source rock compositions exert on both the physical and chemical properties of granite magmas provides a unifying element in granite gen
Archaean crust in the Rayner Complex of east Antarctica: Oygarden Group of islands, Kemp Land
- N. M. Kelly, G. L. Clarke, C. M. Fanning
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- 26 July 2007, pp. 491-510
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Archaean zircon grains from the Oygarden Group of islands in Kemp Land, east Antarctica, record evidence for multiple episodes of recrystallisation, dissolution and growth from the Early to Middle Archaean to the Neoproterozoic. Zircon grains in layered felsic orthogneiss have an age of ∼3650 Ma, a minimum protolith age for this rock. These zircon grains were subsequently affected by a ∼3470 Ma Pb-loss event. Homogeneous felsic orthogneiss that cuts S1, but contains an intense S2 foliation, has disturbed ∼2780 Ma metamorphic zircon cores and rims that suggest a minimum age of ∼2780 Ma for the protolith to the orthogneiss. All zircon U-Pb data display considerable disturbance with further Pb-loss at ∼2400 Ma and ∼1600 Ma, and a major episode of isotopic resetting at ∼930 Ma. The highly disturbed data are related to complexly zoned zircon grains that developed through growth and modification during successive metamorphic events. Zircon cores with relic growth zoning patterns are inferred to have resulted from partial annealing or recrystallisation of older magmatic zircon. Highly luminescent zircon rims that embay cores along curved boundaries are interpreted to have formed through recrystallisation of zircon cores, and not new growth. The ages reported here confirm that central Kemp Land is composed of Archaean crust reworked during the Neoproterozoic Rayner Structural Episode.
A new paradigm for granite generation
- Jean Louis Vigneresse
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- 26 July 2007, pp. 11-22
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Ideas about granite generation have evolved considerably during the past two decades. The present paper lists the ideas which were accepted and later modified concerning the processes acting during the four stages of granite generation: melting, melt segregation and ascent, and emplacement. The active role of the mantle constitutes a fifth stage.
Fluid-assisted melting, deduced from metamorphic observations, was used to explain granite and granulite formation. Water seepage into meta-sedimentary rocks can produce granitic melt by decreasing melting temperature. CO2 released by the mantle helps to transform rocks into granulites. However, dehydration melting is now considered to be the origin of most granitic melts, as confirmed by experimental melting. Hydrous minerals are involved, beginning with muscovites, followed by biotite at higher temperatures. At even deeper conditions, hornblende dehydration melting leads to calc-alkaline magmas.
Melt segregation was first attributed to compaction and gravity forces caused by the density contrast between melt and its matrix. This was found insufficient for magma segregation in the continental crust because magmas were transposed from mantle conditions (decompression melting) to crustal conditions (dehydration melting). Rheology of two-phase materials requires that melt segregation is discontinuous in time, occurring in successive bursts. Analogue and numerical models confirm the discontinuous melt segregation. Compaction and shear localisation interact non-linearly, so that melt segregates into tiny conduits. Melt segregation occurs at a low degree of melting.
Global diapiric ascent and fractional crystallisation in large convective batholiths have also been shown to be inadequate and at least partly erroneous. Diapiric ascent cannot overcome the crustal brittle-ductile transition. Fracture-induced ascent influences the neutral buoyancy level at which ascent should stop but does not. Non-random orientation of magma feeders within the ambient stress field indicates that deformation controls magma ascent.
Detailed gravity and structural analyses indicate that granite plutons are built from several magma injections, each of small size and with evolving chemical composition. Detailed mapping of the contact between successive magma batches documents either continuous feeding, leading to normal petrographic zoning, or over periods separated in time, commonly leading to reverse zoning. The local deformation field controls magma emplacement and influences the shape of plutons.
A typical source for granite magmas involves three components from the mantle, lower and intermediate crusts. The role of the mantle in driving and controlling essential crustal processes appears necessary in providing stress and heat, as well as specific episodes of time for granite generation. These mechanisms constitute a new paradigm for granite generation.
The redox state of granitoids relative to tectonic setting and earth history: The magnetite–ilmenite series 30 years later
- Shunso Ishihara
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- 26 July 2007, pp. 23-33
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The redox state variation of orogenic granitoids along convergent plate margins is examined in the Phanerozoic Circum-Pacific Belt and in some Cryptozoic terranes. The Phanerozoic granitoids of the NW and NE Pacific Rims can be divided into reduced ilmenite series occurring in the accretionary terranes with compressional tectonic setting, and oxidised magnetite series intruding crystalline basements under extensional to intermediate regional stress regime. The ilmenite-series granitoids have negative but the magnetite series have positive δ34S values, which show a positive correlation with magnetic susceptibility of the granitoids. The negative δ34S sulphur originated in biogenic sulphur from accreted pelitic sediments and positive δ34S values show that sulphate sulphur migrated from seawater through subduction processes. The whole rock δ18O values are higher than 8 permil in the ilmenite series, but lower than 8 permil in the magnetite series, and as a whole show negative correlation with the magnetic susceptibility of the granitoids. The higher δ18O values reflect those of accreted sediments, whilst the lower δ18O values represent magmatic values of an oxidised mafic protolith at depth.
The predominance of ilmenite-series granitoids of the NW Pacific rim can be explained by well-developed accretionary terranes in which mafic magmas from depth mingled with felsic magmas from the accretionary complex to form granodioritic magmas, whilst that of magnetite-series granitoids is postulated to be oxidised igneous sources for the magma generation and an extensional and/or intermediate tectonic setting for the magma ascent. The absence of the accretionary wedges by tectonic erosion and/or no fore-arc sedimentation also helped to form magnetite-series granitoids. Potassic granitoids are generally of oxidised type. A-type granites in late orogenic environments also belong to the magnetite series. Adakitic high-Sr/Y granitoids are oxidised in the Mesozoic–Cenozoic but are reduced in the Archaean TTG, reflecting the redox state of the then-current sea-floor environment. The oldest magnetite-series granite so far known is the 3105 Ma-old biotite granite of the Nelspruit batholith, South Africa.
On Cephalaspis magnifica Traquair, 1893, from the Middle Devonian of Scotland, and the relationships of the last osteostracans
- Philippe Janvier, Michael J. Newman
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- 26 July 2007, pp. 511-525
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The large Middle Devonian osteostracan Cephalaspis magnifica Traquair, 1893a, from the Late Eifelian Upper Caithness Flagstone Group of Caithness, Scotland, is redescribed on the basis of the holotype and a second, hitherto undescribed specimen. This species is assigned to a new genus, Trewinia gen. nov. and, on account of its probable lack of lateral cephalic fields, is regarded as a possible member of the Escuminaspididae, which are hitherto only known from the Late Devonian of Quebec, Canada. Other characters of the head shield of T. magnifica also accord with the structure of the largest known escuminaspidid Escuminaspis. The morphology, relationships and biogeography of the few other Middle and Late Devonian osteostracans are discussed. North American osteostracans are generally quite distinctive from European ones throughout the Devonian, and only few taxa seem common to the two areas. The Escuminaspididae could be one of these, and this would agree with similar distributions met with in other Middle and Late Devonian vertebrates from similar environments. The question of the possible causes of the decline and extinction of the various ‘ostracoderm’ groups after the end of the Early Devonian is briefly discussed, and environmental factors are favoured to account for their decline in abundance and diversity.
Agnostid trilobites from the Arenig–Llanvirn of South China
- Samuel T. Turvey
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- 26 July 2007, pp. 527-542
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Agnostid trilobites are relatively abundant and taxonomically diverse in outer shelf facies of the Yangtze Platform and Jiangnan Transitional Belt regions of the South China Plate. Nine Arenig and Llanvirn species, representing at least five genera or subgenera in the Agnostidae, Diplagnostidae and Metagnostidae, are treated in a taxonomic review of the South Chinese Agnostida, based on new material from the Dawan and Kuniutan formations of W Hubei and the Zitai and Jiuxi formations of N Hunan. The new genus Han is established to incorporate the globally youngest known diplagnostid species. The new species Han solo, Geragnostus (Geragnostus) balanolobus and G. (G.) waldorfstatleri are established. G. carinatus is recognised as being based on inaccurately interpreted material, and is only tentatively retained within Geragnostus. Three further taxa represented by poorly preserved material are left in open nomenclature. The geographic distributions of different agnostid species across the South China Plate, and the endemicity to the palaeoplate displayed by all Arenig–Llanvirn South Chinese species, suggest that these agnostids at least were either benthic or epibenthic.
The mechanism of melt extraction from lower continental crust of orogens
- Michael Brown
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- 26 July 2007, pp. 35-48
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Melt extraction is a process with a length scale that spans many orders of magnitude. Studies of residual migmatites and granulites suggest that melt has migrated from grain boundaries to networks of leucosome-filled structures to steeply inclined cylindrical or tabular granites inferred to have infilled ascent conduits. For example, in anatectic rocks from southern Brittany, France, during decompression-induced biotite-breakdown melting, melt is inferred to have been expressed from foliation-parallel structures analogous to compaction bands to dilation and shear bands, based on location of residual leucosome, and from this network of structures to ascent conduits, preserved as dykes of granite. The leucosome-filled deformation band network is elongated parallel to a sub-horizontal lineation, suggesting that mesoscale melt flow was focused primarily in the plane of the foliation along the lineation to developing dilatant transverse structures. The leucosome network connects with petrographic continuity to granite in dykes; however, the orientation of dykes discordant to fabric anisotropy suggests that their formation was controlled by stress, which indicates that the process is a fracture phenomenon. Blunt fracture tips and zigzag propagation paths indicate that the dykes represent ductile opening-mode fractures; these are postulated to have formed by coalescence of melt pockets. The structures record a transition from accumulation to draining; quantitative volume fluxes are calculated and presented for the generalised extraction process. The anatectic system may have converged to a critical state at some combination of melt fraction and melt distribution that enabled formation of ductile opening-mode fractures, but fractal distribution of inferred mesoscale melt-filled structures has not been demonstrated; this may reflect the inherent anisotropy and/or residual nature of the drained source. Melt extraction has been modelled as a self-organised critical phenomenon, but the mechanism of extraction is not described and the relationship between these models and the spatial and temporal granularity of lower continental crust is not addressed. Self-organised critical phenomena are driven systems involving ‘avalanches’ with a fractal frequency-size distribution; thus, the distribution of melt batch sizes might be expected to be fractal, but this has not yet been demonstrated in nature.
Controversies on the evolutionary history of pycnodont fishes – reply to Kriwet 2004
- Francisco José Poyato-Ariza
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- 26 July 2007, pp. 543-546
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Criticisms by Kriwet regarding recent work on pycnodont phylogeny are based on the use of additive characters. Therefore, applying transformation series in phylogenetic reconstruction is justified in theory and in practice, and an example of additional ontogenetic evidence supporting character ordering in pycnodonts is provided. Moreover, comments on some pycnodont genera are included, and the accurate taxonomic use of the genera Coelodus and Ocloedus is emphasised.
Modelling mid-crustal migmatite terrains as feeder zones for granite plutons: the competing dynamics of melt transfer by bulk versus porous flow
- Sakiko N. Olsen, Bruce D. Marsh, Lukas P. Baumgartner
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- 26 July 2007, pp. 49-58
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The common association of mid-crustal migmatites with an upper-level granite pluton could indicate that the migmatites are a feeder zone for the pluton. If magma from a deeper level pervasively intrudes a high temperature metamorphic complex, most of the intruded magma would not freeze because of the prevailing temperature. The interaction between the magma and country rocks, which could include partial melting and crystallisation of the magma passing through, would modify magma to a more granitic composition, as found in the higher-level pluton.
The physical aspect of the magma transport through such a hot feeder zone is modelled by introducing a dimensionless melt transport (MT) number, which is the ratio of the rate of melt movement caused by the bulk flow of the entire mass (melt+solid) to that of porous media flow of melt only through the solid framework. The MT number is strongly dependent on the melt content of the melt-rich zone (MRZ), the diameter of the MRZ and typical particle size in the MRZ.
The ∼300-Ma, diatexitic, Lauterbrunnen migmatites (LM) in the Aar massif, Swiss Alps, may be such a feeder zone for the nearby 303-Ma Gastern granite (GG). The chemical and field evidence indicates that the LM formed by an intrusion of intermediate composition magma, which interacted with country rocks to produce a magma of GG composi
Experimental temperature–X(H2O)–viscosity relationship for leucogranites and comparison with synthetic silicic liquids
- Alan Whittington, Pascal Richet, Harald Behrens, François Holtz, Bruno Scaillet
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- 26 July 2007, pp. 59-71
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Viscosities of liquid albite (NaAlSi3O8) and a Himalayan leucogranite were measured near the glass transition at a pressure of one atmosphere for water contents of 0, 2·8 and 3·4 wt.%. Measured viscosities range from 1013·8 Pa. s at 935 K to 109·0 Pa. s at 1119 K for anhydrous granite, and from 1010·2 Pa. s at 760 K to 1012·9 Pa. s at 658 K for granite containing 3·4 wt.% H2O. The leucogranite is the first naturally occurring liquid composition to be investigated over the wide range of T-X(H2O) conditions which may be encountered in both plutonic and volcanic settings. At typical magmatic temperatures of 750°C, the viscosity of the leucogranite is 1011·0 Pa. s for the anhydrous liquid, dropping to 106·5 Pa. s for a water content of 3 wt.% H2O. For the same temperature, the viscosity of liquid NaAlSi3O8 is reduced from 1012·2 to 106·3 Pa. s by the addition of 1·9 wt.% H2O. Combined with published high-temperature viscosity data, these results confirm that water reduces the viscosity of NaAlSi3O8 liquids to a much greater degree than that of natural leucogranitic liquids. Furthermore, the viscosity of NaAlSi3O8 liquid becomes substantially nonArrhenian at water contents as low as 1 wt.% H2O, while that of the leucogranite appears to remain close to Arrhenian to at least 3 wt.% H2O, and viscosity–temperature relationships for hydrous leucogranites must be nearly Arrhenian over a wide range of temperature and viscosity. Therefore, the viscosity of hydrous NaAlSi3O8 liquid does not provide a good model for natural granitic or rhyolitic liquids, especially at lower temperatures and water contents.
Qualitatively, the differences can be explained in terms of configurational entropy theory because the addition of water should lead to higher entropies of mixing in simple model compositions than in complex natural compositions. This hypothesis also explains why the water reduces magma viscosity to a larger degree at low temperatures, and is consistent with published viscosity data for hydrous liquid compositions ranging from NaAlSi3O8 and synthetic haplogranites to natural samples. Therefore, predictive models of magma viscosity need to account for compositional variations in more detail than via simple approximations of the degree of polymerisation of the melt structure.
Petrologic and thermal constraints on the origin of leucogranites in collisional orogens
- Peter I. Nabelek, Mian Liu
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- 26 July 2007, pp. 73-85
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Leucogranites are typical products of collisional orogenies. They are found in orogenic terranes of different ages, including the Proterozoic Trans-Hudson orogen, as exemplified in the Black Hills, South Dakota, and the Appalachian orogen in Maine, both in the USA, and the ongoing Himalayan orogen. Characteristics of these collisional leucogranites show that they were derived from predominantly pelitic sources at the veining stages of deformation and metamorphism in upper plates of thickened crusts. Once generated, the leucogranite magmas ascended as dykes and were emplaced within shallower parts of their source sequences. In these orogenic belts, there was a strong connection between deformation, metamorphism and granite generation. However, the heat sources needed for partial melting of the source rocks remain controversial. Lack of evidence for significant intrusion of mafic magmas necessary to cause melting of upper plate source rocks suggests that leucogranite generation in collisional orogens is mainly a crustal process.
The present authors evaluate five types of thermal models which have previously been proposed for generating leucogranites in collisional orogens. The first, a thickened crust with exponentially decaying distribution of heat-producing radioactive isotopes with depth, has been shown to be insufficient for heating the upper crust to melting conditions. Four other models capable of raising the crustal temperatures sufficiently to initiate partial melting of metapelites in thickened crust include: (1) thick sequences of sedimentary rocks with high amounts of internal radioactive heat production; (2) decompression melting; (3) thinning of mantle lithosphere; and (4) shear-heating. The authors show that, for reasonable boundary conditions, shear-heating along crustal-scale shear zones is the most viable process to induce melting in upper plates of collisional orogens where pelitic source lithologies are usually located. The shear-heating model directly links partial melting to the deformation and metamorphism that typically precede leucogranite genera
The influence of cordierite on melting and mineral-melt equilibria in ultra-high-temperature metamorphism
- Simon L. Harley, P. Thompson
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- 26 July 2007, pp. 87-98
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Experimentally constrained calibrations of the incorporation of H2 O and CO2 into cordierite as functions of P–T-aH2O-aCO2 are integrated with KFMASH grids which define mineral-melt equilibria in pelites. This is used to explore the impact of the volatile content and composition of cordierite on anatexis and melt-related processes in high-temperature (HT) and ultra-high-temperature (UHT) metamorphism. The strongly temperature-sensitive H2O content of cordierite coexisting with dehydration melts (0·4–1·6 wt.%) causes a 10–25% relative decrease in the amount of melt produced from pelites compared with models which treat cordierite as anhydrous.
KFMASH melting grids quantified for aH2O demonstrate consistency between the measured H2O contents in cordierite from granulite-migmatite terrains and mineral equilibria. These indicate anatexis with aH2O in the range 0·26–0·16 at 6–8 kbar and 870–930°C. The pressure-stability of cordierite+garnet with respect to orthopyroxene+sillimanite+quartz in KFMASH is strongly influenced by cordierite H2O content, which decreases from 1·1 to 0·5 wt.% along the melting reaction Grt+CrdH+Kfs=Opx+Sil+Qz+L. The lower-T invariant point involving biotite (8·8 kbar/900°C) that terminates this reaction has aH2O of 0·16±0·03, whereas the higher-T terminating invariant point involving osumilite (7·9 kbar/940°C) occurs at aH2O 0·08±0·02. Osumilite-bearing assemblages in UHT terrains imply aH2O of <0·08, and at 950–1000°C and 8–9 kbar calculated aH2O is only 0·04–0·02. Cordierites stable in osumilite-bearing assemblages or with sapphirine+quartz have maximum predicted H2O contents of ca. 0·2 wt.%, consistent with H2O measured in cordierites from two sapphirine-bearing UHT samples from the Napier Complex.
The addition of CO2to the H2O-undersaturated (dehydration-melting) system marginally decreases the temperature of melting because of the stabilisation of cordierite, the solid product of the peritectic melting reactions. The preferential incorporation of CO2 enhances the stability of cordierite, even at fixed aH2O, and causes the stability fields of Grt+Crd+Sil+Kfs+Qz+L and Grt+Opx+Crd+Kfs+Qz+L to expand to higher pressure, and to both higher and lower temperatures. The minimum solubility of H2O in granitic melt is independent of the CO2 content of cordierite, and the distribution of H2O between melt and cordierite is similar at a given melt H2O-content to the H2O-only system. This enhanced stability of CO2-bearing cordierite leads to a reduced stability range for osumilite-bearing assemblages to temperatures of ca. 950–975°C or greater. Cordierites in the Napier Complex UHT gneisses contain 0·5 and 1·05 wt.% CO2, consistent with a role for CO2 in stabilising cordierite with respect to osumilite in these unusual sapphirine-bearing granul
Origin of chemically zoned and unzoned cordierites from the South Mountain and Musquodoboit Batholiths, Nova Scotia
- Saskia Erdmann, D. Barrie Clarke, Michael A. MacDonald
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- 26 July 2007, pp. 99-110
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Textural relations and chemical zoning of cordierites in granites act as sensitive recorders of the conditions of their crystallisation history and underlying magma chamber processes. In this contribution, we present new data on texturally distinct and variably zoned cordierites from the late-Devonian, granitic South Mountain and Musquodoboit Batholiths, and infer the conditions of their formation. Using a combined textural (grain size, grain shape and inclusion relationships) and chemical (major element composition and compositional zoning) classification, we recognise the following six cordierite types: CG1/TT1, anhedral to subhedral macrocrysts with random inclusions and patchy normal zoning; CG2a/TT2, euhedral to subhedral macrocrysts with random inclusions and normal zoning; CG2b/TT2, euhedral to subhedral macrocrysts with random or oriented inclusions, and oscillatory zoning; CG3a/TT3, subhedral to euhedral microcrysts with no inclusions and reverse zoning; CG3b/TT4, euhedral macrocrysts with no inclusions and no zoning; and CG4/TT5, anhedral macrocrysts with random inclusions and normal zoning. The textural criteria suggest that these cordierites formed as a product of cotectic crystallisation from a melt, or as the result of a peritectic reaction involving country-rock material. The combined chemical and textural criteria suggest that: (1) normal zoning results from cotectic crystallisation during cooling, cotectic overgrowths on grains formed in a peritectic reaction with country-rock material, or cation exchange with a fluid; (2) oscillatory zoning results from cotectic crystallisation during variations in XMg of the silicate melt following magma replenishment; (3) reverse zoning results from crystallisation during pressure quenching; and (4) the unzoned cordierite results from cotectic crystallisation under fluid-rich conditions.
Tourmaline and boron as indicators of the presence, segregation and extraction of melt in pelitic migmatites: examples from the Ryoke metamorphic belt, SW Japan
- Tetsuo Kawakami
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- 26 July 2007, pp. 111-123
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The mode of occurrence of borosilicates and the breakdown fronts of prograde tourmaline (tourmaline-out isograd) in three anatectic migmatite regions of the Ryoke metamorphic belt, SW Japan, are reported. The breakdown of tourmaline in the migmatite zones and release of boron into the melts, followed by the extraction of the boron-bearing melts from the migmatite zones occurred throughout the Ryoke metamorphic belt. Retrograde, magmatic tourmaline in interboudin partitions filled with leucosome is useful for calculating the degree of partial melting in the migmatites. Using boron contents in the leucosomes and pelitic schists, the degree of partial melting at the migmatite front of the Aoyama area is estimated to be 12 wt.%. Extraction of the boron-bearing melt is suggested by the boron-depleted nature of the migmatites. Connection of boudinage structures probably supplied the vertical pathways of the segregated melts, and major transport of the melts was accomplished by dyking. Irregularly shaped, amoeboid tourmaline locally occurs on the high-temperature side of the tourmaline-out isograds in the Yanai and Komagane areas, implying incomplete extraction of boron-bearing melts from those areas. Discriminating retrograde from prograde tourmaline enables correct recognition of the tourmaline-out isograd. The amount of retrograde tourmaline in migmatites can potentially be used as an indicator of the degree of melt extraction from them.
Low- and high-temperature granites
- B. W. Chappell, A. J. R. White, I. S. Williams, D. Wyborn
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- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 26 July 2007, pp. 125-140
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I-type granites can be assigned to low- and high-temperature groups. The distinction between those groups is formally based on the presence or absence of inherited zircon in relatively mafic rocks of a suite containing less than about 68% SiO2, and shown in many cases by distinctive patterns of compositional variation. Granites of the low-temperature group formed at relatively low magmatic temperatures by the partial melting dominantly of the haplogranite components Qz, Ab and Or in H2O-bearing crustal source rocks. More mafic granites of this type have that character because they contain restite minerals, often including inherited zircon, which were entrained in a more felsic melt. In common with other elements, Zr contents correlate linearly with SiO2, except sometimes in very felsic rocks, and Zr generally decreases as the rocks become more felsic. All S-type granites are apparently low-temperature in origin. After most or all of the restite has been removed from the magma, these granites may evolve further by fractional crystallisation. High-temperature granites formed from a magma that was completely or largely molten, in which zircon crystals were not initially present because the melt was not saturated in that mineral. High-temperature suites commonly evolved compositionally through fractional crystallisation and they may extend to much more mafic compositions through the production of cumulate rocks. However, it is probable that, in some cases, the compositional differences within high-temperature suites arose from varying degrees of partial melting of similar source rocks. Volcanic equivalents of both groups exist and show analogous differences. There are petrographic differences between the two groups and significant mineralisation is much more likely to be associated with the high-temperature granites. The different features of the two groups relate to distinctive source rock compositions. Low-temperature granites were derived from source rocks in which the haplogranite components were present throughout partial melting, whereas the source materials of the high-temperature granites were deficient in one of those components, which therefore, became depleted during the melting, causing the temperatures of melting to rise.