The subsolidus segregation of layer‐parallel quartz‐feldspar veins in greenschist to upper amphibolite facies metasediments

Abstract

Abstract Layer‐parallel (i.e. parallel to foliation or bedding) vein formation in the graywackes and pelites of the Quetico Metasedimentary Belt occurred during synchronous prograde metamorphism and regional (D2) compression. In a traverse across metasediments which change in metamorphic grade from greenschist to upper amphibolite (migmatite) facies, layer‐parallel veins show the following trends: (1) an increase in thickness and internal complexity, the latter due to successive boudinage; (2) low‐grade veins are parallel to planes of anisotropy due to the original sedimentary fabric of the host rocks, but at higher grades other sites are also used and (3) a systematic increase in plagioclase/quartz ratio in the veins towards higher grade, adjacent mafic selvedges first exhibit quartz depletion then, in the amphibolite facies, plagioclase depletion. Mineralogical zoning is often preserved in a single vein, older parts are more quartz‐rich than younger.Mass balance calculations and whole‐rock geochemistry based on veins, mafic selvedges and country rock are consistent with a closedsystem subsolidus segregation origin. The layerparallel veins are syntectonic, and migration of the mobile components required to form their mineralogy is a stress‐induced mass transfer. The source of these components appears to be dominantly pressure solution of the same minerals in the host rocks, although metamorphic reactions may also have contributed. Veins nucleated first at those sites where initial sedimentary heterogeneites, such as fine‐scale graded bedding, provided gradients of normal stress across grain boundaries, and hence of chemical potential, necessary to drive the subsolidus segregation process. The earliest veins are thus parallel to bedding. Later, nucleation of the veins could also occur along more randomly distributed sites within the metasediments, and these veins grew parallel to the schistosity rather than bedding, if the two were distinct. Once formed, the veins themselves, which are more competent than the surrounding rock, provide the stress heterogeneity required for their further growth. The increasing plagioclase/quartz ratio in the veins may be due to a temperature dependent increase in plagioclase component mobility relative to quartz. Alternatively, the increasing transfer distances for silica, resulting from prior quartz depletion in the inner parts of the mafic selvedge, may increase the relative mobility of plagioclase component.