Dedolomitization in Tectonic Veins and Stylolites: Evidence for Rapid Fluid Migration During Deformation: ABSTRACT

Abstract

Jurassic through Tertiary thrust-belt deformation of the Mississippian Madison Group has introduced complex fracturing, stylolitization, and carbonate vein mineralization. Host rocks are dominantly dolostone and dolomitic limestone. Tectonic veins are mineralized first by dolomite and then by multiple calcite phases. Dolomite and some generations of calcite which line veins are highly luminescent, while host-rock dolomite is non-luminescent. Both vein-lining dolomite and host-rock dolomite have been corroded and replaced by subsequent generations of calcite mineralization. These textural relationships suggest that fluids associated with thrust-belt deformation were in part extraformational and had not equilibrated with host-rock dolomite. Because thrust-belt deformation moved from west to east with time, the isotopic composition (18O, 13C) of vein and stylolite mineralization can be used to evaluate fluid migration during deformation. In three sections located along an east-west transect in the southern overthrust belt, calcite vein mineralization displays a wide range of isotopic compositions that are distinctly depleted relative to the host-rock composition. These End_Page 458------------------------------ vein-lining calcites exhibit systematic compositional changes with both time of deformation and with geographic position relative to major thrust faults. These isotopic changes in vein mineralization and pressure-solution products, together with the textural evidence for calcitization of host-rock and vein dolomite, suggest that these rocks were open to allochthonous fluid migration during deformation. End_of_Article - Last_Page 459------------