Trace-element compositions and Br/Cl ratios of fluid inclusions in the Tsushima granite, Japan: Significance for formation of granite-derived fluids

Abstract

Fluid inclusions in quartz samples from a miarolitic cavity, two quartz veins, and a hydrothermal ore vein in the Tsushima granite, Japan, were analyzed by particle-induced X-ray emission to examine the chemistry and process of formation of hydrothermal fluids in an island-arc granite. Most of the inclusions were polyphase or vapor, and there were smaller numbers of two-phase aqueous inclusions. The inclusions contained Cl, K, Ca, Ti, Mn, Fe, Cu, Zn, Ge, Br, Rb, Sr, Ba, and Pb. For each inclusion, there was a strong positive correlation between Cl content and contents of other elements identified. Concentration ranges for most elements (other than Rb and Ge) in polyphase inclusions from the miarolitic cavity were comparable to those from cavities in alkaline granites; those from the ore vein were comparable to large-scale continental hydrothermal ore deposits. The lower Rb and higher Ge contents in the polyphase inclusions of the Tsushima granite may be characteristic of hydrothermal fluids from calc-alkaline granites in an island-arc setting. Br/Cl ratios (by weight) for the vapor and two-phase inclusions were 0.0013–0.0030 and differed among the three geological settings. Br/Cl ratios of polyphase inclusions increased with increasing Cl content in single-crystal and polycrystalline quartz, and high values of more than 0.0100 were found. The high Br/Cl ratios and the differences among the geological settings sampled may be due to pressure dependences of partitioning of Cl and Br between fluid and magma during fluid segregation and between liquid and vapor during boiling. Using a simple model based on these dependences, we calculated Br/Cl ratios greater than 0.01 in brine generated at pressures <0.89kbar. Differences in Br/Cl ratios in polyphase and vapor inclusions from each geological setting were attributed to mixing between two end-member fluids: a high Br/Cl fluid generated at low pressure and a low Br/Cl fluid generated at high pressure. Br/Cl ratios of polyphase inclusions in quartz may be a key for understanding the conditions under which boiling fluids are generated in simple granite systems.