Limited fluid-rock interaction at marble-gneiss contacts during Cretaceous granulite-facies metamorphism, Seward Peninsula, Alaska

Abstract

Stable-isotope profiles show that flat-lying marble units acted as impermeable barriers to upward fluid flow in transitional amphibolite-granulite grade rocks of the Kigluaik Mountains, Seward Peninsula, Alaska. The degree of permeability is related to the composition of the marble. The margin of a thick pure dolomite marble chemically reacted with underlying metasyenite (aH2O=0.2) to form a 2 cm boundary layer of calcite + forsterite by introduction of SiO2. No fluid penetrated past this reaction front, although the high temperature of metamorphism (∼800°C) allowed transport of carbon and oxygen isotopes for an additional 2 cm by diffusion through the solid dolomite. A second marble with a higher silica content underwent more decarbonation, which enhanced porosity and lead to a greater extent of isotope transport (2–3 m) in contact with quartzo-feld-spathic gneiss below. An estimate of total fluid flux across the bottom of this marble layer based on the shape of the isotope profile is 1 cm3/cm2 directed down, out of the marble. At two other marble-gneiss contacts steep isotopic gradients coincide with lithologic contacts, indicating very little cross-lithology fluid flow. The extent of diffusional transport of isotopes in the marbles is limited and interpreted as indicating the transient presence of a pore fluid, generated by thermally driven devolatilization reactions. No wholesale pervasive advection of C-O-H fluid occurred across the thick, continuous, marble units near the exposed base of the Kigluaik Group section during the entire regional metamorphic cycle. Activities of pore-fluid species were controlled by internal processes. Movement of volatiles and stable-isotopes between contrasting rock-types was dominantly diffusive. Channelized fluid pathways through the marble units developed during uplift and cooling but were not present during peak metamorphism. Heating of the section occurred by conduction, probably from an underlying magma source, and not by advection of a C-O-H fluid.