The effect of thermal history on the development of mineral assemblages during infiltration-driven contact metamorphism

Abstract

A one-dimensional model for coupled heat flow, fluid flow, and mineral reaction predicts the identity and spatial and temporal distributions of mineral assemblages produced during contact metamorphism of siliceous dolomite. Results are compared to mineral distributions predicted by transport models for fluid flow along steady-state temperature profiles and to mineral distributions observed in contact aureoles to assess whether a detailed analysis of heat flow is required to extract meaningful information of fluid flow history from field data. Results identify several mineral assemblages whose interpretation in terms of fluid flow is dependent on an understanding of their thermal history. Certain key mineral assemblages, however, are sensitive records of the geometry and amount of fluid flow but are insensitive to thermal history. The presence or absence of these mineral assemblages constrains the history of fluid flow during contact metamorphism of siliceous dolomite regardless of the details of heat flow. Occurrences of the key assemblages record both magmatic fluid flow in the direction of decreasing temperature (Alta, Elkhorn aureoles) and metamorphic fluid flow in the direction of increasing temperature (Beinn an Dubhaich, Kasuga-mura aureoles) during contact metamorphism. Time-integrated input fluid flux averages on the order of 100 mol/cm2 with a range of ±1 order of magnitude.