Thermal Aureole Research Articles

Formation of a Large Cold Groundwater Mantle Helium Anomaly and High Temperature Geothermal Resources in Response to Bimodal Magmatism Near Roosevelt Hot Springs and Utah FORGE, Milford Valley, Southwest Utah

AbstractA large mantle helium anomaly and separate domains of high heat flow are the predominant manifestations of bimodal magmatic activity in the Milford valley. The mantle helium anomaly (1.9–2.6 R/Ra) covers 270 km2 and is subdivided into two separated domains: a cold shallow groundwater regime and high temperature hydrothermal activity. The zone of anomalous heat flow covers >100 km2 and is also subdivided into two adjacent domains, comprising hydrothermal activity at Roosevelt Hot Springs (RHS) (3–7 W/m2) and conductive heat flow (100–180 mW/m2). While the transfer of heat and mantle helium at RHS are coupled, heat and helium transfer are decoupled in the adjacent cold groundwater regime to the west. Both the mantle helium and geothermal anomalies are attributed to recent mafic‐felsic magmatic intrusions of >400 km3, however, the absence of volcanic eruptions <500,000 years indicates magmas stall before rising to shallow crustal level <10 km depth. Deep level magmatism produces a felsic composition melt, which is inferred to be responsible for the widespread and near uniform range of diluted mantle helium values. A thick and impermeable mass of crystalline granitic basement rock at the mid‐crustal level divides the ascent of mantle helium into separate flow paths. It may also impede the rise of buoyant magma trapping thermal energy that facilitates partial melting, slow cooling, and development of a thick thermal aureole. Partitioning of convective and conductive thermal regimes and independent flow paths supplying deeply derived helium characterize the development of a large long‐lived magma‐related geothermal system.

New metamorphic constraints on the Nova-Bollinger Ni–Cu deposit, Fraser Zone, Western Australia

Metamorphic investigations were conducted using mineral chemistry, phase equilibria modelling and conventional thermobarometry on four metamorphic country rock samples from the Nova-Bollinger Ni–Cu deposit, Western Australia. New P–T constraints obtained from phase equilibria modelling of garnet-bearing granulites and cordierite–sillimanite-bearing metasedimentary rocks indicate that the Nova-Bollinger deposit formed at mid-crustal depths (0.75–0.76 GPa and 880–920 °C), along high thermal gradients around 1200 °C/GPa. Peak metamorphic conditions are consistent with those obtained from the Nova-Bollinger intrusive rocks, and with metagabbros from the southern Fraser Zone, but are slightly elevated relative to metapelites examined in the southern Fraser Zone. The peak metamorphic conditions at Nova-Bollinger reflect the combined effects of regional-scale high-T conditions during orogenesis superimposed by contact metamorphism in a thermal aureole adjacent to the Nova-Bollinger mafic–ultramafic magmas. Thermal metamorphism may have been further enhanced by local heat transfer from intruding sulfide liquid, which pervasively infiltrated country rocks on scales of tens to hundreds of metres beneath the orebodies. This additional heat source may be locally significant, despite being volumetrically limited. Retrograde P–T conditions were determined by garnet–biotite conventional thermobarometry of garnet-core–matrix biotite pairs (0.29–0.45 GPa and 550–640 °C). These P–T conditions suggest that the Nova-Bollinger country rocks cooled along a near-isobaric cooling path and reflect the effects of thermal decay following emplacement of voluminous magmas into the Fraser Zone during Stage I Albany–Fraser Orogeny.

A hot, hydrothermally influenced microbial-tidal flat setting in the Palaeoarchaean Moodies Group, Barberton Greenstone Belt, South Africa

Abstract Sandy, microbial-mat-laminated sediments are common in estuarine and tidal environments of the Palaeoarchean Moodies Group (ca. 3.22 Ga); they are interspersed with numerous expressions of mafic to intermediate (sub-) volcanism, including sills, stockwork dykes, lavas, and air-fall tuffs. We describe abundant fluid-escape structures up to 6 m in height associated with this facies in the Saddleback Syncline of the central Barberton Greenstone Belt. The fluid-escape conduits fed small sand volcanoes during prolonged and/or recurring discharge of gases, liquids, and solids. They are filled by sand, sericitic clay, and fine-grained organic matter of former microbial mats. In comparison to the mean composition of adjacent beds of identical composition, the conduits are enriched in Fe, Cr, Ti, and Mg. This suggests that fluid-escape was not only a consequence of overpressure buildup from decaying microbial mats in the shallow subsurface or of water-level fluctuations but also due to periodic or continuous release of hydrothermal fluids circulating in the thermal aureole above the cooling Lomati River Sill of Moodies age. Such an inference is also supported by textures characteristic of in-place argillaceous and sericitic alteration and by Raman spectroscopy of carbonaceous matter (RSCM) indicating temperatures ca. 50 to 100°C above the regional maximum metamorphic temperature of 320 to 380°C. Pre-compaction carbonate and/or silica cementation also preserved the abundant carbonaceous laminae interpreted as benthic microbial mats. Analogue recent hot spring deposits suggest that surficial hydrothermal activity in the medium-energy siliciclastic tidal zone would have significantly boosted microbial growth.

Tectono-Metamorphic Evolution of the Cretaceous Kluane Schist, Southwest Yukon

Abstract A wealth of information regarding the Mesozoic evolution of the Northern Canadian and Alaskan Cordillera is held within a series of variably metamorphosed and deformed rocks that formed in Jura-Cretaceous basins. Located at the interface between the pericratonic Intermontane and exotic Insular terranes, these basinal rocks are key to understanding the timing and tectonic style of Insular terrane accretion, a topic of longstanding debate. This study unravels the structural and metamorphic evolution of one of these basins, the Kluane Basin, within southwest Yukon Territory. The Kluane Schist is the primary assemblage of the Kluane Basin. It consists of metamorphosed and deformed low-Al pelites that were intruded by granodioritic plutons of the Paleocene Ruby Range batholith. Previous workers have suggested the variable metamorphic character of the Kluane Schist represents an extensive and static thermal aureole related to Ruby Range batholith emplacement. Our work, however, indicates that the Kluane Schist experienced Buchan-style metamorphism coeval with protracted deformation and can be divided into seven distinct petrologic zones, which, based on their unique combination of mineral assemblage and structure, are incompatible with static thermal metamorphism. Instead, we propose the Kluane Schist experienced two distinct metamorphic phases: (1) an early greenschist-facies phase that resulted in the development of a bedding-parallel chlorite-muscovite-titanite fabric, preserved by its lowest-grade units, and (2) a later amphibolite-facies phase that manifests as the progressive transposition of the earlier chlorite-muscovite-titanite fabric into a penetrative biotite-rich schistosity that transitions upgrade into a segregated gneissic fabric comprised of biotite-cordierite and plagioclase-quartz (± sillimanite-K-feldspar-melt). By integrating the results of detailed petrography and petrological modeling, we demonstrate that the second main metamorphic phase experienced by the Kluane Schist preserves a record of pressures and temperatures that align with other Buchan-style terranes worldwide. Our data defines a field gradient across the Kluane Schist ranging from 3.0–3.5 kbar at 375–400 °C to 4–4.5 kbar at 700–750 °C. This record of a coupled Buchan-style metamorphic-deformational evolution and tops-to-the SW non-coaxial shear structures is consistent with the override of the thermally mature Yukon-Tanana terrane as the principal driver of Kluane Schist metamorphism, with some limited heat likely contributed by the late-syn- to post-tectonic intrusion of the Ruby Range batholith.

Magnetic fabric data on partially molten granitic rocks from the Florianópolis Batholith, Southern Brazil

Contact thermal aureoles around mafic intrusions provide information about the emplacement and segregation of melts. The Garopaba-Silveira region is characterised by intrusions with large heat input responsible for the formation of a thermal aureole in the granitoids of the Paulo Lopes Suite (PLS), which extends along the coast to more distant locations in this region. Such melting processes are observed from meso-to microscale, along the granitoid-mafic dike interface and in areas as distant as 500 m from the mafic dikes. It is suggested that these melting processes have been aided by the breakdown of hydrated minerals, such as biotite, through dehydration-melting processes, as commonly found in migmatites and partially molten rocks. On the other hand, the contacts between the granitoids and the mafic dikes are predominantly sharp and straight, as well as, in some dikes, they are sinuous, diffuse, and present back veining, attesting to mutual intrusion. Given the complexity of these melting processes along the granitoid-mafic dike interface, this study applies magnetic susceptibility anisotropy (AMS), anisotropy of anhysteretic remanent magnetisation (AARM) and rock magnetism techniques to melting processes in a thermal aureole context. The magnetic mineralogy of the mafic dikes comprises ferrimagnetic minerals, magnetite, and Ti-poor titanomagnetite. In the granitoids, the ferrimagnetic contribution is dominant, although there are paramagnetic contributions, allowing for direct lateral variations of size of the magnetic grains at different distances (profiles), which may indicate crystallisation time as well as thermal effects in these rocks due to the mafic dike intrusions.

Petrogenesis of the Marginal Sill Phase and Lower Zone in the Eastern Limb of the Bushveld Complex: Incremental development of igneous layering and syn-magmatic emplacement of peridotite intrusions and sills

Abstract The petrogenesis of the mafic-ultramafic layered rocks of the Bushveld Complex, i.e., the Rustenburg Layered Suite (RLS) remains uncertain despite more than a century of intensive research. An investigation of a 100 km strike section in the Eastern Limb has led us to propose that igneous layering in the lowermost part of the RLS developed from a succession of intrusive events. Zonal boundaries and geochemical discontinuities are explained by radical switches in the composition of parental magmas. Magmas were sourced from deep staging chambers, and we find no evidence for the existence of a large magma reservoir in the shallow crust. At the base of the RLS is the Marginal Sill Phase (MSP), a stacked sequence of noritic-gabbronoritic and pyroxenitic sills that form a continuum with the syn-Bushveld sills in the floor rocks. The MSP does not constitute the chilled carapace of a magma chamber and the postulated so-called “B1” (tholeiitic) parental magmas have little direct bearing on the overlying components of the RLS. The Lower Zone (LZ) reflects a switch to ultramafic parental magmas. Magmas were fed into isolated subchambers, each of which has a unique igneous stratigraphy. The primary component of the LZ is an adcumulate comprised of >98.5 modal % orthopyroxene (En87-83) and from which Cr-spinel is conspicuously absent. Chemical equilibrium was maintained as the orthopyroxene-saturated magmas were intruded, not as sills, but as thin magma laminae. The increments of magma laminae matched the rate of batch crystallisation, and there is no evidence of a fractionated residue having been ejected. In a later phase of magmatism, peridotite magmas were injected into the floor rocks, where they formed complexly layered peridotite intrusions with their anastomosing groups of sills. Formation of peridotite bodies such as the Aapiesdoorndraai Intrusion with distinct layers of dunite, harzburgite and olivine orthopyroxenite (Fo92-83) (+Cr-spinel) result from near-equilibrium crystallisation of the olivine- and Cr-spinel-saturated magmas. Some peridotite sills stepped up through the thermal aureole and intruded the earlier-formed MSP and LZ, crystallising as syn-magmatic sills with broadly similar compositions. Development of the trough-like subchambers with thick sequences of the MSP and LZ triggered extensive deformation and thermal metamorphism of the floor rocks. Sinking of subchambers was compensated by intervening domes and upwarps, the crests of which reveal tectonically thinned sequences of the MSP and from which the LZ is absent. This early phase of syn-Bushveld tectonism has resulted in the Lower Critical Zone (LCZ) discordantly overlying either the MSP (on the crests of domes and upwarps) or the LZ (in subchambers). Field relationships thus demonstrate that the LCZ developed entirely independently of the MSP and LZ, from a new series of intrusive events and a new lineage of parental magma.

The effects of Jurassic igneous intrusions on the generation and retention of gas shale in the Lower Permian source-reservoir shales of Karoo Basin, South Africa

Shale gas potential of the Whitehill Formation (Permian), Karoo Basin, South Africa is strongly influenced by widespread Jurassic igneous intrusions. A high-resolution organic petrographic and geochemical study is reported here on two stratigraphic sections, the objective being to gain insights into the chemical structure and alteration of oil-prone sedimentary organic matter during contact metamorphism. One section unaffected by intrusion served as background, while the other section was intruded by two laterally continuous dolerite sills with an average thickness of 10.7 and 9.3 m, preferentially emplaced at the upper and lower contacts of the formation, respectively. Heat flow from the sills caused TOC and S2 values from programmed pyrolysis to decline over a distance of 8.7 m from 3.2 to 0.15% and 4.65 to 0.11 mg HC/g TOC, respectively, and cause the reflectance of vitrinite and solid bitumen to increase from 2.03 to 5.82% and 1.58 to 7.87%.Organic matter in the background samples is dominated by solid bitumen, a secondary thermal conversion product of oil-generative Type II kerogen. In the sill-hosting section, the thermal aureoles can be recognized by systematic changes to the optical texture and chemical structure and composition of solid bitumen. Solid bitumen particles develop anisotropy approaching the sills and become transformed into coke and pyrolytic carbon. δ13Corg values become less negative by up to 3.13‰ VPDB. These data suggest significant devolatilization of organic matter to methane and destruction of petroleum generation and retention potential in the contact aureole of the sills. The trend of these datasets, coupled with the presence of several sills and their laterally extensive nature throughout much of the study area suggests that the intrusions have been significant in increasing methane generation on a basinal scale. Together, this study indicates that the complementary application of combined light and electron microscopy (CLEM), programmed pyrolysis, and isotope ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS) is suitable for a comprehensive characterization of organic matter alteration through the maturation continuum. Results also show that contact metamorphic alteration of organic matter by intrusions produced structural and compositional changes that are distinctive from those expected from geological burial maturation where graphite is the end-product.

Role of aqueous fluids during low pressure partial melting of pelites in the Adamello pluton contact aureole (Italy)

The contact aureole of the Adamello pluton (Italy) exhibits a rare combination of pelitic rocks anatexis around a shallow metaluminous pluton and formation of interconnected leucosomes, aplites and small lithium and cesium-enriched pegmatitic bodies. Contact metamorphic mineral assemblages are described in the non-graphitic pelites and psammites hosting the pluton in the central sector of the Adamello Massif. Three metamorphic zones are identified on the field: I – Muscovite-Biotite, II – Andalusite-Sillimanite-K feldspar, III – Melt zone. In the melt zone, the presence or absence of high temperature Crd defines two types of migmatites, a Crd-bearing metatexite characterized by orbicular textures and a Crd-absent stromatic metatexite. Peak P-T metamorphic conditions in the Adamello pluton thermal aureole were calculated at 690–700 °C and 3 kbar on the basis of phase equilibria and geothermobarometry. Phase equilibria modelling reveals that Crd-bearing migmatites, which produced around 20 vol% melt fraction, were generated through internal fluids-buffered partial melting conditions while Crd-absent stromatic metatexites, which produced ca. 35 vol% melt fraction, originated through local fluid present partial melting. Different types of leucosomes were produced by these two partial melting conditions. In-situ leucosomes linked to Crd-bearing migmatites are compositionally similar to primary liquid predicted by phase equilibria modelling (calculated at peak P-T conditions). Leucosomes within the Crd-absent stromatic metatexites show residual mineral compositions extremely enriched in Kfs and Bt and are connected to extraction structures. Their whole rock composition does not represent a primary melt while being compatible with Kfs cumulate textures. The extracted melt from the stromatic metatexites was calculated to be compatible with the spatially related Li-rich pegmatites mean composition, which are hosted by the same geological formation. The studied area shows the small-scale variability in intraformational fluids participation during metamorphic reactions while demonstrating the hybrid nature of partial melting in anatectic terranes. • Differential fluids influx created different migmatites from one protolith. • Extracted anatectic melt closely fits the self-hosted LCT pegmatites composition. • Fluid circulation in metamorphism causes hybrid fluid absent - present anatexis.

A Novel, Laser‐Based Microsampling Technique for Texturally Controlled, Combined and Complementary Sr and Nd Isotope Measurements in Silicate Minerals

The limitations of many in situ microsampling techniques, especially when applied to isotopic analyses, may result in lower measurement precision and limit the ability to compare different isotope systems within the same phase or the same isotope system between phases. High‐precision, combined and complementary isotopic measurements are typically limited to whole‐rock samples or mineral separates at the expense of textural context. We demonstrate that laser ablation instruments could offer an effective, non‐mechanical alternative to micro‐milling for delineating and extracting single crystals, interstitial phases, and sub‐crystal scale features from soluble‐resin thick sections for column chromatography and high precision ID‐TIMS measurement. Systematic testing demonstrated that both modern and legacy laser instruments are capable of ablating through plagioclase, pyroxene and fused glass to depths of 200 μm. Modern instruments offer software benefits to identifying optically‐indistinct petrographic features, chemical zoning and avoiding alteration phases by using overlain high‐resolution datasets. Extracting delineated targets of varying geometry was achieved under binocular microscope using common mineral‐separation tools. Analysis of RM glass used as mineral proxies indicate (a) no significant thermal aureole on ablated margins that could affect measured parent‐daughter ratios, (b) no elevated risk of contamination compared with traditional mineral separation techniques, (c) excellent blanks for low‐yield analyses and (d) high‐precision ID‐TIMS results (87Sr/86Sr and 143Nd/144Nd) for sub‐100 ng Sr loads and sub‐10 ng Nd loads.

Sinistral shear during Middle Jurassic emplacement of the Matancilla Plutonic Complex in northern Chile (25.4° S) as evidence of oblique plate convergence during the early Andean orogeny

Arc magmatism in a continental subduction zone facilitates rheological weakening of the rigid upper plate, and can accommodate the partitioned trench-parallel component of oblique subduction into an intra-arc shear zone. We document a shear zone at latitude 25.4° S near Taltal, Chile that was associated with intrusion of the Matancilla Plutonic Complex at ∼169 Ma to evaluate intra-arc deformation and possible tectonic plate configurations during this time period. Polyphase folding of Paleozoic metasedimentary rocks is overprinted by mylonitic fabrics that are most extensive in a zone up to 1.4 km wide in the thermal aureole of the granodioritic Matancilla pluton, where contact metamorphic andalusite porphyroblasts are synkinematic with fabric development. Mylonite in metasedimentary rocks is overprinted by a ∼130 Ma granodiorite (zircon U–Pb) and by ∼133 Ma postkinematic monazite (U–Pb). Within the Jurassic Matancilla granodiorite, pervasive ductile shear occurs along the intrusive contact while centimeter-scale discrete high-strain zones throughout the pluton are associated with focused hydrothermal alteration and reaction weakening. Mylonitic foliation in the metasedimentary rocks and within the pluton strikes N- to NE and dips steeply, while stretching lineations are subhorizontal on average. Kinematic indicators record dominantly sinistral shear, though some dextral or symmetric indicators and S > L fabrics suggest a component of coaxial strain and flattening. Sinistral strike-slip kinematics in the Matancilla shear zone may indicate that Middle Jurassic convergence had sinistral obliquity that was locally partitioned into the contemporaneous magmatic arc. Sinistral-oblique convergence would require the Phoenix-Farallon spreading center to be north of ∼25° S in the Middle Jurassic, providing a constraint to plate reconstructions during the early Andean orogeny.

The Mushiston Sn deposit in Tajik Tien Shan as the type locality for stannite-cassiterite-hydrostannate mineralization: New mineral chemistry data and genetic constraints

The Mushiston Sn deposit is located in Hercynian South Tien Shan fold and thrust belt on the territory of Tajikistan. Unique features of the deposit include sulphide-dominated composition of the primary ore with stannite being the main ore mineral, and a thick oxidation zone where stannite is replaced by various hydrostannate minerals. Therefore, the Mushiston deposit is a rare example of stannite-cassiterite-hydrostannate mineralization and the type locality where several new hydrostannate minerals such as mushistonite, natanite and vismirnovite were first described. The structure of the deposit is characterized by a series of subvertical, generally NE-trending mineralized veins crosscutting the limbs of the large submeridional anticline composed of Paleozoic sedimentary strata. The primary ore mainly consists of a quartz-stannite group minerals – cassiterite mineral assemblage with other subordinate sulfides and minor sulfosalts. A 200–400 m thick zone of supergene oxidation is developed in the upper part of the deposit. New mineral chemistry data reveal compositional variations of the stannite group minerals, sphalerite and sulfosalts. The chemical compositions of co-existing stannite group minerals and sphalerite indicate extensive mutual substitution between Fe and Zn. The use of stannite-sphalerite geothermometry constrains the temperature for the main stage of the primary ore formation in the range of 257–308 °C. The tetrahedrite geothermometry yields temperatures in the range of 170–200 °C, which is in agreement with geological evidence for the late crystallization of sulfosalts at lower temperatures. The geological and mineralogical features of the Mushiston Sn deposit correspond to the mesothermal hydrothermal vein system mainly developed under intermediate sulfidation conditions. The proposed genetic model for the Mushiston deposit suggests formation of brittle fractures in the thermal aureole above the concealed causative granitoid intrusion, by regional analogue of Permo-Carboniferous age, where magmatic fluids mixed with meteoric water to form the hydrothermal system responsible for deposition of cassiterite-sulfide ore.

Basement domes in a greenschist facies context: Tectono-metamorphic evolution of the southern Quadrilátero Ferrífero, southeast Brazil

New petrostructural data are presented from the southeastern Quadrilátero Ferrífero, a distinct polyorogenic domain of the São Francisco Craton characterized by granite-gneiss domes and keel structures. The Minas Supergroup of Siderian age that hosts a huge volume of ferriferous sediments was deposited on the flat and eroded surface of the Archean basement. The domes of Archean gneisses and granites represent semi-rigid extrusions around which the Minas Supergroup accumulated in deep synclines with common triple junctions. This study focuses first on the petro-structural context of low-pressure thermal aureoles observed towards the dome margins. Pressure-temperature estimates on these mineral assemblages indicate nearly static burial to ≥ 10 km depths of the Minas Supergroup cover, followed by decompression and heating during the intrusion of pegmatites and granitoids of late Rhyacian age in basement and cover. The Archean basement and the thermal aureoles were severely overprinted by synkinematic greenschist facies metamorphism portrayed by chloritoid, chlorite, pyrophyllite, kyanite, phengitic mica and secondary biotite. This deep greenschist facies metamorphism (T ca. 420°C and P = 0.4 to 0.45 GPa) is regionally observed in all units from the domes and the keels ranging in age from Archean to Ediacaran. It is concluded that this major tectono-metamorphic event relates to tectonic burial of the southern Quadrilatero Ferrifero below the west-verging nappes of the Araçuaí belt during the Early Paleozoic, as documented by 40Ar/39Ar ages of 490-485 Ma obtained on syn-kinematic metamorphic micas [Chauvet et al., 2001]. It is proposed that building up of the dome and keel tectonic style is first a consequence of the high-density contrast estimated around 0.5 g/cm3 between the crystalline basement and the Minas Supergroup, the final architecture being achieved during the Cambro-Ordovician stage of the E-W Late Neoproterozoic collision.

Thermal impact of dykes on ignimbrite and implications for fluid flow channelisation in a caldera

Ignimbrites within calderas host intrusions with hazardous and/or economically significant hydrothermal systems. The Hvítserkur ignimbrite at Breiðuvík caldera, north-eastern Iceland, is intruded by basaltic dykes. Our data show that the ignimbrite immediately adjacent to the dyke is hard, dark-coloured, recrystallised quartz, plagioclase, and alkali feldspar with a low permeability and porosity and frequent macrofractures. At 1-2 m from the dyke, the ignimbrite is hard, dominantly glassy with pervasive perlitic microfractures, has high permeability, but low porosity and frequent macrofractures. A narrow zone of pervasive unlithified clay exists 2 m from the dyke. Beyond this, the ignimbrite is soft and zeolite-rich, has low permeability, high porosity and fewer macrofractures. The dyke intrusion promoted a narrow zone of welding, fracturing and perlitisation in the ignimbrite resulting in high permeability and focussed alteration. Our study shows how intrusions and their thermal aureoles create vertical pathways for, and horizontal barriers to, geothermal fluid flow.

Thermal impact of dykes on ignimbrite and implications for fluid flow compartmentalisation in calderas

Ignimbrites within calderas host intrusions with hazardous and/or economically significant hydrothermal systems. The Hvítserkur ignimbrite at Breiðuvík caldera, north-eastern Iceland, is intruded by basaltic dykes. Our data show that the ignimbrite immediately adjacent to the dyke is hard, dark-coloured, recrystallised quartz, plagioclase, and alkali feldspar with a low permeability and porosity and frequent macrofractures. At 1-2 m from the dyke, the ignimbrite is hard, dominantly glassy with pervasive perlitic microfractures, has high permeability, but low porosity and frequent macrofractures. A narrow zone of pervasive unlithified clay exists 2 m from the dyke. Beyond this, the ignimbrite is soft and zeolite-rich, has low permeability, high porosity and fewer macrofractures. The dyke intrusion promoted a narrow zone of welding, fracturing and perlitisation in the ignimbrite resulting in high permeability and focussed alteration. Our study shows how intrusions and their thermal aureoles create vertical pathways for, and horizontal barriers to, geothermal fluid flow.

Age of the El Hornito pluton and thermobarometry of its thermal aureole: Insights into achalian (Devonian) magmatism in the Sierras Pampeanas of Argentina

A comprehensive study of the El Hornito Pluton, located in the Sierra Grande de San Luis (Argentina) is presented in this work. The intrusive body is a composite pluton constituted by four main units: 1) Granitic Porphyritic Unit, 2) Granitic Red Unit, 3) Granitic External Unit and 4) Mafic-Hybrid Unit. The main intrusive (granitic) units are crosscut by syn-magmatic felsic dikes. A Devonian age of 385 ± 2 Ma was obtained by U–Pb SHRIMP analyses on zircons belonging to the Granitic Porphyritic Unit. This age is considered representative of the El Hornito Pluton crystallization since the Granitic Porphyritic Unit is the most voluminous one. The Granitic Red Unit crops out in the central zone of the El Hornito Pluton and hosts the largest proportion of the rocks that comprise the Mafic-Hybrid Unit, where mingling/mixing processes are evident. The host rocks located in the western sector of the El Hornito Pluton present an intense contact metamorphism. Electron microprobe analyses of plagioclase, garnet, biotite, and muscovite in a garnet-sillimanite hornfels were performed to calculate thermobarometry from multireaction procedures in these hornfels, yielding P-T values of 3.7 ± 1.1 kbar and 626 ± 32 °C. These conditions are considered representative of the emplacement level of the El Hornito Pluton. The results of this study show that the El Hornito Pluton was emplaced at a depth of 14.1 ± 4.2 km, evidencing deeper crustal levels of emplacement than the Achalian granites of the Sierra de Córdoba. The age obtained in this work, along with others reported for the Sierras de San Luis and Córdoba, indicate that the intrusions occurred first in the west and later in the east. Moreover, according to the emplacement levels at which intrusions took place, different exhumation rates are proposed to have occurred across the orogen (in an NE-SW direction) after the Devonian magmatism, being greater in the Sierra de San Luis (southwest) than in the Sierras de Córdoba (northeast).

Fluid evolution from quartz veins in micaschists from the thermal aureole around the Acari batholith, Northeast Brazil

Micaschists that host the Acari batholith (Ediacaran age, 572 to 577 My) are characterized by a large number of quartz veins. The veins are more abundant in higher-temperature metamorphic zones and, together with lower metamorphic zones, form an aureole centered in the batholith. Most of the fluid inclusions are two-phase (H2O-CO2 and liquid/vapor), but three-phase varieties (liquid/vapor/salt cubes; liquid/liquid/vapor) occur locally. The analyzed veins come from the biotite + chlorite + muscovite, biotite + garnet, cordierite + andalusite, and cordierite + sillimanite metamorphic zones. CO2 melting temperatures (TmCO2) vary from -62.6 to -56.7°C, suggesting CH4 and/or N2. Eutectic temperatures (Te) in quartz veins show average values of -30.8°C in the biotite + chlorite + muscovite and biotite + garnet zones, and -38.6°C in the cordierite + andalusite and cordierite + sillimanite zones. Ice-melting temperatures (Tmice) are lower in the higher-temperature metamorphic zones. The mode values are -3.8, -5.5, -5.6, and -7.3°C, corresponding respectively to the biotite + chlorite + muscovite, biotite + garnet, cordierite + andalusite, and cordierite + sillimanite zones. A fluid characterized by the H2O-Na-Cl (KCl)-MgCl2-FeCl2-CaCl2 system is defined by: Tmice from near -1.9 to -32°C, the presence of salt cubes mainly in the cordierite + andalusite and cordierite + sillimanite zones, and recorded eutectic temperatures (Te) from -16.5 to -59.1°C. In addition, total homogenization temperatures (Tht) ranging from 117 to 388°C were obtained for primary aqueous fluid inclusions. This indicates a long period of fluid circulation under conditions of falling temperatures. Our results are consistent with an increase in the salinity of the aqueous fluid across the thermal aureole toward the granitic batholith.

A High-Pressure Thermal Aureole of the Bayan-Kol Gabbro–Monzodiorite Intrusion (Western Sangilen, Southeastern Tuva): Evidence for Lower-Crust Mafic Magma Chambers

Abstract —Thermal metamorphism produced an aureole near the early Paleozoic Bayan-Kol gabbro–monzodiorite intrusion in the Erzin shear zone of western Sangilen (Tuva–Mongolia microcontinent, Central Asian Orogenic Belt). Field observation of intrusive contact, structure–textural and mineral transformations of metamorphic rocks, regular changes in the chemical composition of minerals with approaching the intrusive contact, and high temperature gradient from intrusive to wallrocks verified the occurrence of a contact aureole near the Bayan-Kol intrusion. The high-gradient thermal metamorphism (M2) affected garnet–staurolite–kyanite schists that formed during earlier regional metamorphism (M1) at 6.2–7.9 kbar and 600–670 ºC. The 0.5 km wide M2 metamorphic aureole mapped along the northwestern intrusion margin consists of a muscovite–sillimanite zone adjacent to the sedimentary country rocks and a cordierite–K-feldspar zone on the side of the intrusion. The M2 metamorphic reactions occurred within the granulite facies temperature range 880–910 ºC along the contact with monzodiorites and at ~950 ºC along the boundary with gabbronorites; the temperature on the aureole periphery was about 640 ºC. Pressure estimates indicate deep-seated high-grade metamorphism at 6.9–7.8 kbar, while the intrusion itself crystallized at 7.7–7.8 kbar. The suggested numerical model implying the formation of a thermal aureole at a depth of 26 km (7 kbar) in the lower crust is consistent with the temperature pattern determined by geothermobarometry for several key points of the metamorphic zoning and confirms its deep-level origin. Thus, the aureole near the Bayan-Kol intrusion represents a rare case of contact metamorphism in the lower continental crust. The obtained results, along with published petrological and geochronological evidence, reveal two depth levels of the early Paleozoic M2 metamorphism in the Sangilen area: upper (7–15 km, 2–4 kbar) and lower (26–30 km, 7–8 kbar) crust. The Bayan-Kol gabbro–monzodiorite intrusion is likely a small apophysis or a fragment of a deep-crust intermediate magma chamber, while the moderate-pressure (7–8 kbar) M2 granulites in the Erzin shear zone are products of high-gradient metamorphism related to the Cambrian–Ordovician collisional mafic magmatism in the Sangilen area.

Early Ordovician conodonts from the Ullum Volcanic Center, Argentine Precordillera: Biostratigraphy, geothermometry and preservation

The present contribution deals with biostratigraphy, geothermometry and preservation of conodont elements recovered from blocks of the San Juan Formation at the core of the Ullum Volcanic Center, Argentine Precordillera. A collection of 1405 conodont elements corresponding to 22 genera and 34 species was recovered from five limestone samples. The biostratigraphic analysis allows us to document the Juanognathus variabilis Subzone of the Oepikodus evae Zone, updating previous interpretations. This is verified by the record of O. evae (Lindström), J. variabilis (Serpagli), O. communis (Ethington and Clark), and species that are typically abundant in the lower part of the identified zone. Thus, the oldest deposits that appear in the area correspond to the Floian Stage (Lower Ordovician). Moreover, regional and intercontinental correlations are carried out, showing strong links with the Oepikodus evae Zone from Baltoscandia, Newfoundland, and China, and the Reutterodus andinus Zone from the North America Midcontinent biostratigraphic schemes. Conodonts show a gradual CAI decrease away from the dacitic body contact, ranging from CAI 7 to CAI 6 across 40 m of stratigraphic thickness. The preservation of the conodont elements is directly related to the distance to the volcanic rocks, presenting abundant fractures and a stronger sugary bright with frosted surfaces in their adjacency. Mineral overgrowths are in general uniformly scarce in all studied samples, and siliceous and limonitic in composition. The degree of preservation of the conodont elements from Ullum is consistent with the hydrothermal-metasomatic processes that characterize the area. Moreover, when compared with paleotemperatures reached in the modelled thermal aureole, the predicted CAI temperatures, despite showing a gradual decrease, appear anomalously high. A feasible explanation to this fact would be high heat transfer by hydrothermalism; however, the conodonts from Ullum do not show most typical characteristics of this phenomenon.

Timescales of magmatism and metamorphism in the Connemara Caledonides: insights from the thermal aureole of the Dawros–Currywongaun–Doughruagh Complex, western Ireland

AbstractZircon separates from the contact aureole of the syn-tectonic Dawros–Currywongaun–Doughruagh Complex, western Ireland, are studied to constrain the nature and timing of magmatism associated with the early stages of the Grampian Orogeny. The samples analysed come from the uppermost part of the Dalradian Supergroup in northern Connemara (the Ben Levy Grit Formation), where a laterally extensive (>10 km) package of metamorphosed siliciclastic sedimentary rocks containing heavy mineral seams crops out. The seams mainly comprise magnetite, but zircon is also present in greater than accessory quantities. The seams have been locally reworked at granulite-facies metamorphic conditions during intrusion of the Dawros–Currywongaun–Doughruagh Complex magmas. Here we combine in situ mineral chemical and U–Pb geochronological analyses of zircons from samples of these heavy mineral seams collected at different locations in the Dawros–Currywongaun–Doughruagh Complex thermal aureole. An important finding is that the zircons studied have magmatic trace-element compositions, interpreted here as a function of their growth during contact metamorphic-induced partial melting. The zircons yield a range of U–Pb spot ages whose uncertainties suggest a maximum duration of zircon growth of ˜11 Ma, between 477.1 and 466.1 Ma, though it is likely that zircon growth occurred much more quickly than this. The age constraints revealed here match well with the range of 475 to 463 Ma previously proposed for the Grampian Orogeny overall in Connemara and lend useful support to models that argue for high-intensity, relatively short-lived Grampian orogenesis in the Connemara Caledonides.

Observations of reservoir quality alteration in proximity to igneous intrusions for two distinct sandstones in Scotland

Igneous intrusions are common features within rifted sedimentary basins. With advances in technology, exploration has progressed into more complicated petroleum systems where sediments are segmented and altered by networks of dykes and sills. Magmatism increases temperatures and fluid pressures within adjacent sedimentary host rocks. This can lead to mobilisation of mineral-rich hot fluids through pores and fractures, which alters the host rock microstructure via both mineralisation and dissolution. However, few studies have quantified the impact of intrusions on reservoir quality, specifically on host rock pore networks and their ability to conduct fluid. This study uses a combination of plug porosity and permeability, optical, SEM and cathodoluminescence microscopy and XRD to investigate the mineralogical and reservoir quality changes to sandstones within thermal aureoles. In contrast to published models, associating igneous bodies with reduction of reservoir quality in the host rock, our analyses of two intruded sandstones show that alteration and mobilisation of pore filling minerals and clays can also result in enhancement of porosity and permeability at the intrusion-host rock contact. This study identifies the microstructural and chemical changes which produce these reservoir characteristics and discusses the implications of these processes on reservoir quality and fluid migration in intrusion-rich sedimentary basins.