Fluid-Rock Interaction in the Granulites of Madagascar and Lithospheric-Scale Transfer of Fluids

Abstract

The nature of synmetamorphic fluids and their flow is examined in the granulitic lower crust of Madagascar, part of a Precambrian crustal-scale network of vertical ductile shear zones. Based on three independent data sets - field and satellite mapping, C-, O- and H-isotope geochemistry and gravimetry - this crust is divided into three zones: outside of shear zones, minor shear zones (<140 km long and 7 km wide), and major shear zones (>350 km long and 20–35 km wide). The major shear zones are rooted in and are controlled by the mantle. They tapped mantle-derived CO 2 with carbon fluxes of the same order of magnitude as oceanic ridge degassing. One major shear zone shows abundant phlogopite-diopside-apatite-calcite mineralizations (a well known paragenesis in mantle metasomatism) due to mantle-fluid infiltration and their interaction with the crust. Carbonatitic magmas possibly collected in the major shear zones at the base of the crust and may be the source for CO 2 upwellings as well as other metasomatic agents. Small-scale minor shear zones were controlled by crustal deformation processes and focused crustally-derived H 2O-rich fluids. Pervasive fluid circulation was restricted to the vicinity (< 100 m) of synmetamorphic plutons. Fluid absent conditions dominate everywhere else. Mantle-CO 2 flushing is not required for granulite genesis but is a consequence of the high associated heat flux. Fluid transfer at the mantle/crust interface is controlled by the tectonic setting and the associated geothermal gradient. The C- and O- isotope systematics of metamorphosed carbonates sampled on a regional scale within a known petrological and structural framework are shown to be of great help to identify the distribution of major fluid-rock interaction processes associated with plate tectonics.