O18/O16 ratios of coexisting minerals in glaucophane-bearing metamorphic rocks

Hugh P. Taylor; Robert G. Coleman

doi:10.1130/0016-7606(1968)79[1727:orocmi]2.0.co;2

Home/Archive/USGS

USGS · 70209118

O18/O16 ratios of coexisting minerals in glaucophane-bearing metamorphic rocks

Hugh P. Taylor·Robert G. Coleman

View original source ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

Oxygen isotope analyses have been obtained for coexisting minerals in several blue-schist-facies metamorphic rocks from California, Oregon, and New Caledonia. Detailed isotopic studies were made on a continuous exposure of schist in Ward Creek, California, previously described by Coleman and Lee (1962). The oxygen isotope fractionations among coexisting minerals in a variety of rock types, including metasediments and metabasalts, are systematic and larger than those measured in pelitic schists metamorphosed at the grade of biotite zone or higher. Therefore, these Ward Creek rocks (termed Type III) must have formed at lower temperatures than have such pelitic schists. Evidence for significant isotopic equilibration and homogenization is observed in the Ward Creek sequence. Six different metasediments and metavolcanics collected within 25 m of one another show almost identical mineral δ; -values: quartz (15.8 to 16.3), aragonite (13.1 to 13.3), glaucophane (9.8 to 10.0), muscovite (10.9 to 11.3), lawsonite (9.3 to 9.5), and garnet (8.0 to 8.4), given as per mil enrichment in O 18 relative to mean ocean water. These rocks seem to have reached equilibrium at about the same temperature in contact with abundant metamorphic pore fluids. Not all the Ward Creek rocks have completely equilibrated with the postulated metamorphic pore fluids. In particular, the metacherts seem to have been relatively impermeable to the aqueous fluids during metamorphism, as indicated by the large δ -values of quartz in such rocks (17 to 19.2) and by their appreciably higher Fe +3 /Fe +2 ratios. Gradients in O 18 /O 16 and Fe +3 /Fe +2 have been generally “smoothed out” in the rocks during metamorphism, but the process has gone to completion only locally. Cherts and limestones have apparently been lowered in O 18 content by 10 to 15 per mil, and the metabasalts are enriched by 3 to 4 per mil over their unmetamorphosed parent rocks. Using the calibrated quartz-muscovite and quartz—CaCO 3 geothermometers, the measured quartz-muscovite and quartz-aragonite fractionations indicate essentially “concordant” temperatures of formation for the Type III rocks of 270° to 315° C. Inasmuch as aragonite is part of the equilibrium assemblage, these rocks must therefore have been metamorphosed at pressures of at least 6.4 to 7.0 kb. Oxygen isotope fractionations for the mineral pairs aragonite-lawsonite, quartz-muscovite, and quartz-glaucophane progressively decrease from Type II (low-grade) through Type III to Type IV (high-grade tectonic blocks) metabasalts. The higher-grade blueschists from New Caledonia exhibit quartz-muscovite and quartz-glaucophane fractionations similar to the Type IV metabasalts at Ward Creek, indicating temperatures of formation of 400° to 550° C. Thus, glaucophane-bearing metamorphic rocks apparently form over a temperature range of 200° C to 550° C, encompassing the probable temperature range of the entire greenschist and epidote-amphibolite facies. This suggests that glaucophane schists should be separated into at least two metamorphic facies, a lower-grade, lawsonite-aragonite blueschist facies and a higher-grade, epidote-rutile blueschist facies, both representing higher pressures than are attained during ordinary low-rank and middle-rank regional metamorphism.

Explore related subjects

GSA Bulletin Article

Source-reported bounding extent: 32.534156° to 46.271004° latitude; -124.552441° to -114.134427° longitude. This indicates report coverage, not an exact sampling location. View area on OpenStreetMap.

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeX RIS

Hugh P. Taylor, Robert G. Coleman. 1968. O18/O16 ratios of coexisting minerals in glaucophane-bearing metamorphic rocks. https://doi.org/10.1130/0016-7606(1968)79%5B1727%3Aorocmi%5D2.0.co%3B2

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related USGS reports

USGS2026

Long-term intermittent connection between the western Snake River Plain and Columbia basin: A two-phased incision history of Hells Canyon

For more than a century, researchers have debated the route of the Snake River across the northern Cordillera and U.S. Pacific Northwest, including the associated incision history of Hells Canyon. Here, we use detrital zircon U-Pb provenance analysis of Miocene strata upstream and downstream of Hells Canyon to constrain the evolution in fluvial pathways over time. Downstream of Hells Canyon, we show that the ca. 10−6 Ma Clarkston Heights gravel was dominantly sourced from the nearby Salmon and Clearwater rivers but also with substantial input from drainages that now flow into the western Snake River Plain. These same western Snake River Plain drainages were contributing to time-equivalent Lake Idaho strata, upstream of Hells Canyon, indicating a Hells Canyon fluvial connection between the western Snake River Plain and Columbia basin before 6 Ma. Results from Lake Idaho strata suggest a two-phased lacustrine history in the western Snake River Plain: Before ca. 6.0 Ma, lake strata were derived from local tributaries, suggesting that the western Snake River Plain was isolated from the modern upper Snake River system. Between ca. 4.3 Ma and 2.2 Ma, the source area expanded to include eastern tributaries in conjunction with migration of high-standing topography of the Yellowstone hotspot. Our results challenge the long-held hypothesis of “capture” of the Snake River through Hells Canyon. Instead, we infer that Hells Canyon was a long-established route for outflow of lakes occupying the western Snake River Plain, possibly intermittently, during a ca. 10−2 Ma phase of slow regional incision, followed by rapid incision in Hells Canyon starting ca. 2 Ma in conjunction with erosion of the topographic barrier impounding Lake Idaho.

Idaho, Oregon↗

USGS2026

The Great Salt Lake (Utah, USA) acoustic and sedimentary archive of Wasatch Front earthquakes

As the largest low-relief basin in the western United States, the Great Salt Lake offers an opportunity to explore acoustic and sedimentary archives of earthquake ruptures in a shallow terminal basin. Here, we use subbottom compressed high intensity radiated pulse (Chirp) profiles and sedimentary cores to address questions related to how Great Salt Lake sediments respond to surface rupture and earthquake shaking and whether the lake is sensitive to both Great Salt Lake fault (GSLF) and Wasatch fault zone (WFZ) earthquakes. Chirp profiles reveal laterally continuous seismic stratigraphy with vertically displaced strata, onlap surfaces, and growth stratigraphy produced by GSLF surface ruptures. We identify and date two ruptures on the Fremont Island section and three on the Antelope Island section; temporal overlap of these ruptures supports synchronous rupture of both sections. Combined with previous data, our results yield a record of four Holocene surface-rupturing (M W 6.9−7.3) earthquakes on the GSLF with a mean recurrence of ∼3.2 k.y. Sediment cores include ≤41-cm-thick, massive, homogeneous to normally graded disturbance beds that interrupt laminated bioclastic sediment. Disturbance bed correlations yield four lacustrine earthquake deposits since ca. 1.7 ka; the youngest possibly records the most recent GSLF surface rupture whereas older deposits were likely produced by WFZ earthquakes. Modeled historical earthquakes yield a Great Salt Lake sediment disturbance shaking threshold of MMI ∼VI, controlled in part by the lake-bottom expression of the GSLF scarp. Our integration of primary (fault-related) and secondary (shaking-related) earthquake evidence improves our understanding of sediment disturbance processes and the archival potential of low-relief lake basins.

Utah↗

USGS2026

Unraveling protracted modification of Archean and Paleoproterozoic crust in central Laurentia, Penokean orogen, with garnet and accessory mineral geochronology and microstructural analysis

Proterozoic metamorphism and deformation of the southern margin of the Superior craton in the Lake Superior region is attributed to the Penokean orogeny (1890−1830 Ma). This model includes a period of crustal inversion in which Archean basement blocks were exhumed through overlying Paleoproterozoic strata, producing the corridor of gneiss domes that parallels the trend of the Penokean orogen across the northern Midcontinent, USA. However, recent geologic mapping and 40 Ar/ 39 Ar geochronology challenge this interpretation, suggesting instead that the gneiss dome structures reflect younger episodes of tectonic activity along the southern margin of Laurentia. In absence of integrated pressure-temperature-time-deformation constraints for these rocks, interpretations are largely limited to their final cooling history, making it difficult to both identify the tectonic forces that shaped the architecture of the Penokean orogenic belt and assess the extent to which later Proterozoic tectonism modified the southern Superior craton. We address this problem with an approach joining thermodynamic modeling, garnet and accessory mineral geochronology, and microstructural analysis for several metamorphic rocks across the gneiss dome corridor. The U-Pb ages of titanite reveal that the Proterozoic geometries of exhumed basement gneiss domes are governed by preexisting Archean structures. Garnet Lu-Hf geochronology constrains the timing of prograde-to-peak metamorphism in the Penokean orogenic belt. Granulite facies metamorphism is related to the final stages of the Penokean orogeny at 1837 Ma and localized in a belt of high-grade rocks near a major Penokean suture. Garnet Lu-Hf ages of samples adjacent to gneiss domes reflect regional metamorphism following the accretionary phase of the Penokean orogeny, between 1825 Ma and 1782 Ma, which we suggest reflects continued crustal thickening related to convergence farther south during this time interval. Combination of garnet microstructures and Sm-Nd ages reflects later exhumation of gneiss domes and buried metasedimentary rocks by ca. 1750 Ma, consistent with previously published 40 Ar/ 39 Ar cooling ages across the region. Reset Lu-Hf and Sm-Nd garnet ages and U-Pb ages of syn-kinematic titanite reflect reactivation of primary Penokean structures during this period of basement uplift. These data document significant modification of the Penokean orogen and the Archean crust of the southern Superior province between 1800 Ma and 1700 Ma. Tectonic activity during this interval coincides with collisional events recognized in western Laurentia, suggesting that the period immediately following the Penokean orogeny may be a broadly important time for crustal growth and modification in proto-North America.

Michigan, Wisconsin↗