Silica mobility and fluid movement during metamorphism of the Connemara schists, Ireland

Abstract

Quartz veins are developed in a wide range of metasediment types in the upper amphibolite facies rocks of Connemara, and attest to considerable migration of silica. Contrary to common assumptions, there is clear evidence that these veins do not primarily result from movement of fluid to regions of lower P–T down the regional geothermal gradient. Under amphibolite facies conditions, a dilute chloride fluid moving down temperature has the potential to alter 60g of plagioclase to muscovite for each gram of vein quartz precipitated, while cooling over the temperature interval from 650 to 500° C. The absence of significant metasomatic effects in the vein walls effectively precludes a simple origin from such through‐flowing, externally derived fluids. The oxygen isotopic composition of matrix quartz shows considerable differences between different rock types (quartzite, pelite and marble), with a range of δ18OSMOW from c.+ 11.5% (quartzite) to + 18.5% (marble). In each rock type, vein quartz compositions closely match those of the matrix quartz. These results demonstrate the importance of local segregation processes in the formation of veins, and suggest that fluid convection cells were not developed during metamorphism on a scale larger than the individual sedimentary formations, if at all.Both oxygen isotope data and the absence of metasomatism indicate that veins form primarily by segregation of quartz from the host lithologies, with only a relatively minor component of through flow of externally derived fluid. Veins are clearly not the major pathways of metamorphic dewatering.It is proposed that abundant veins in the predominantly pelitic Ballynakill Formation formed during peak metamorphic D3 folding because the formation was embrittled by high fluid pressures but was capped by impermeable marble. Hence the pelitic formation fractured repeatedly and the pore fluid drained through the fractures to form veins, while irreversible loss through the rest of the succession was a much less important process.In the central mountains of Connemara, rather pure, unreactive quartzites are cut by widely spaced, laterally extensive quartz veins that are axial planar to D3 folds. These veins may mark pathways whereby metamorphic fluid made its way through the massive impermeable quartzite from lower parts of the nappe pile, but here too, oxygen isotope data indicate considerable segregation of locally derived quartz, reflecting the importance of pumping of fluid between wail rocks and fractures relative to the component of through flow.