Behavior of zircon during high-pressure, low-temperature metamorphism: Case study from the Internal Unit of the Sesia Zone (Western Italian Alps) (original) (raw)
Related papers
Mineralogy and Petrology, 2006
A garnet peridotite lens from Monte Duria (Adula nappe, Central Alps, Northern Italy) contains porphyroblastic garnet and pargasitic amphibole and reached peak metamorphic conditions of 830C,830 C, 830C,2.8 GPa. A first stage of near isothermal decompression to pressures <2.0 GPa is characterised by domains where fine grained spinel, clinopyroxene, orthopyroxene and amphibole form. The newly formed amphibole contains elevated levels of fluid mobile elements such as Rb, Ba and Pb indicating that recrystallization was assisted by infiltration of a crustal-derived fluid. Further decompression and cooling to $720 C, 0.7-1.0 GPa associated with limited fluid influx is documented by the formation of orthopyroxene-spinel-amphibole symplectites around garnet.
Oxygen isotopes, REE and U–Pb behaviour during metamorphic zircon formation
Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 2006
Growth of zircon with respect to that of garnet has been studied using a combination of petrography, U-Pb dating and oxygen isotope analysis. The aim is to document the mechanism and pressure-temperature conditions of zircon growth during metamorphism in order to better constrain the Tertiary metamorphic history of Naxos, Greece. Two metamorphisms are recognised: (1) an Eocene Franciscan metamorphism (M1) and (2) a widespread Miocene Barrovian metamorphism (M2) that increases from greenschist facies up to partial melting. An amphibolite sample contains zircon crystals characterised by a magmatic core and two metamorphic rims, denoted as A and B, dated at 200-270, 42-69, and 14-19 Ma, respectively. The first metamorphic rim A (d 18 O = 7 F 1x) preserves the d 18 O value of the magmatic core (6.2 F 0.8x), whereas rim B is characterised by higher d 18 O values (7.8 F 1.8x). These observations indicate the formation of A rims by solid-state recrystallisation in a closed system with regard to oxygen and those of B in an open system. Compositional zoning in garnet is interpreted as the result of decompressional heating. Zircon B rims and garnet rims display similar d 18 O values which indicates a contemporaneous growth of garnet and zircon rims during the Miocene Barrovian event (M2). Calcic gneiss and metapelite samples contain zircon crystals with single metamorphic overgrowths aged 41-57 Ma. d 18 O values measured in zircon overgrowths (11.8 F 1.4x) from the calcic gneiss are similar to those measured in garnet rims (11.4 F 1.1x) from the same rock. This suggests that garnet rims and zircon overgrowths grew during the high pressure-low temperature event in equilibrium with prograde fluids. In the metapelite sample, d 18 O values are similar in garnet cores (14.8 F 0.2x) and in zircon metamorphic overgrowths (14.2 F 0.5x). As zircon overgrowths have been dated at ca. 50 Ma by U-Pb, garnet cores and zircon overgrowths are interpreted to have grown during the high pressure event.
Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 2008
This study addresses the mobility of the rare earth elements (REE), O, U and Pb during the formation of metamorphic zircon by overgrowth and coupled dissolution-reprecipitation. For this purpose, the texture and REE, δ 18 O and U-Pb compositions of zircon crystals from a metabasite, an anatectic granite and a metapelite sampled on Naxos Island (Greece) have been characterised. The behaviour of O and REE during the formation of the zircon metamorphic domains shows that two end-members can be distinguished:
The Canadian Mineralogist, 2006
The results of ~4000 LA-ICP-MS analyses in 152 thin sections from common crustal rocks reveal that several rock-forming minerals contain tens to a few thousand ppm of Zr. The highest concentrations of Zr are found in xenotime, followed by titanite, ilmenite, rutile, allanite, amphibole, clinopyroxene, garnet, magnetite and, less commonly, plagioclase, K-feldspar and orthopyroxene. Olivine, cordierite, biotite, muscovite, apatite, epidote and monazite have low levels of Zr (<5 ppm, generally <1 ppm). The minerals with the highest K D Hf /K D Zr are titanite (2.5), orthopyroxene (2.0), amphibole and clinopyroxene (1.8), and epidote and rutile (1.6-1.7). Ilmenite, magnetite, the feldspars and apatite have K D Hf /K D Zr ≈ 1, and values less than one were found in xenotime and zircon (0.8), garnet (0.7), and allanite (0.6). The most important implications of these results follow. First, the growth of a Zr-bearing phase during partial melting does not influence the Zr concentration of the melt, but increases the fraction of zircon that can be dissolved at a given temperature. This accelerates the disappearance of zircon from the protolith or, in melts already segregated, the dissolution of inherited zircon. The effect will be more marked in metaluminous magmas precipitating amphibole and titanite than in any other type of magma. Second, the presence of Zr-bearing phases has little influence of the zircon-saturation "geothermometer". It may cause somewhat higher (20-30°C) results in metaluminous rocks, but has no effect on peraluminous rocks. Third, the uptake of Zr by major minerals in crystallizing magmas may reduce both the concentration of Zr in the melt available to form zircon and the temperature at which zircon begins to precipitate. Mineral-melt reactions involving Zr-bearing phases may lead to zircon grains with complicated patterns of zoning and texturally discordant zones, apparently diachronous. Fourth, higher-than-chondrite Zr/Hf fractionates may arise from titanite, amphibole or clinopyroxene fractionation, but this requires very little or no crystallization of zircon. Significantly lower-than-chondrite Zr/Hf magmas only result from zircon fractionation. Lastly, two new examples of mineral reactions that involve the formation of a mass-balancing accessory phase, useful for high-resolution geochronology, are described: the formation of xenotime as a product of the breakdown of garnet in amphibolite-grade metapelites, and the subsolidus growth of a new rim on zircon included in Zr-bearing feldspars.
Several small chromium (Cr) ore bodies are hosted within a unit of tectonically thinned dunite in the retired Ayios Stefanos mine of the western Othris ophiolite complex in Greece. Chromium ores consist of tectonically imprinted bodies of semi-massive to massive, podiform and lenticular chromitites composed of chromian spinel [Cr-spinel] with high Cr# [Cr/(Cr + Al) = 0.51–0.66] and Mg# [Mg/(Mg + Fe 2+) = 0.58–0.76], low Fe 3+ # [Fe 3+ /(Fe 3+ + Fe 2+) ≤ 0.43] and low TiO 2 (≤0.21 wt %) content. This composition is characteristic of Cr-spinels in equilibrium with melts of intermediate affinity between island-arc tholeiites (IATs) and mid-ocean ridge basalts (MORBs). Several Cr-spinel crystals in these ores exhibit imperfect zones made up of spinel hosting oriented lamellae of Mg-silicates (mostly chlorite) locally overgrown by porous domains along grain boundaries and fractures. From the Cr-spinel core to the lamellae-rich rim Cr#, Mg# and Fe 3+ # generally increase (0.68–0.87, 0.78–0.88 and 0.55–0.80, respectively), whereas from the core or the spinel zones with oriented lamellae to the porous domains Mg# and Fe 3+ # generally decrease (0.45–0.74 and ≤0.51, correspondingly). The lamellae-rich rims formed at oxidizing conditions, whereas the porous rims resulted from a later reducing event. Several tiny (≤30 µm), subhedral to anhedral and elongated Zr-bearing silicate mineral grains were discovered mainly along open and healed fractures cutting Cr-spinel. Most of the Zr-bearing silicate minerals (30 out of 35 grains) were found in a chromitite boulder vastly intruded by a complex network of gabbroic dykes. The dominant Zr-bearing silicate phase is by far zircon displaying a homogeneous internal texture in cathodoluminescence (CL) images. Raman spectroscopy data indicate that zircons have experienced structural damage due to self-irradiation. Their trace-element contents suggest derivation from a plagioclase-bearing, low-SiO 2 intermediate to mafic source. Combined micro-textural and minerochemical data repeat the possibility of zircon derivation from limited volumes of high-T fluids emanating from the gabbroic intrusions. Once zircon is precipitated in cracks, it may be altered to Ca-rich Zr-bearing silicate phases (i.e., armstrongite, calciocatapleiite). Almost all zircons in these samples show evidence of gains in solvent compounds (CaO, Al 2 O 3 and FeO) possibly due to re-equilibration with late deuteric fluids.
Contributions To Mineralogy and Petrology, 2009
We characterize the textural and geochemical features of ocean crustal zircon recovered from plagiogranite, evolved gabbro, and metamorphosed ultramafic hostrocks collected along present-day slow and ultraslow spreading mid-ocean ridges (MORs). The geochemistry of 267 zircon grains was measured by sensitive high-resolution ion microprobe-reverse geometry at the USGS-Stanford Ion Microprobe facility. Three types of zircon are recognized based on texture and geochemistry. Most ocean crustal zircons resemble young magmatic zircon from other crustal settings, occurring as pristine, colorless euhedral (Type 1) or subhedral to anhedral (Type 2) grains. In these grains, Hf and most trace elements vary systematically with Ti, typically becoming enriched with falling Ti-in-zircon temperature. Ti-in-zircon temperatures range from 1,040 to 660°C (corrected for a TiO2 & 0.7, a SiO2 & 1.0, pressure & 2 kbar); intra-sample variation is typically *60-150°C. Decreasing Ti correlates with enrichment in Hf to *2 wt%, while additional Hf-enrichment occurs at relatively constant temperature. Trends between Ti and U, Y, REE, and Eu/Eu* exhibit a similar inflection, which may denote the onset of eutectic crystallization; the inflection is well-defined by zircons from plagiogranite and implies solidus temperatures of *680-740°C. A third type of zircon is defined as being porous and colored with chaotic CL zoning, and occurs in *25% of rock samples studied. These features, along with high measured La, Cl, S, Ca, and Fe, and low (Sm/La) N ratios are suggestive of interaction with aqueous fluids. Non-porous, luminescent CL overgrowth rims on porous grains record uniform temperatures averaging 615 ± 26°C (2SD, n = 7), implying zircon formation below the wet-granite solidus and under water-saturated conditions. Zircon geochemistry reflects, in part, source region; elevated HREE coupled with low U concentrations allow effective discrimination of *80% of zircon formed at modern MORs from zircon in continental crust. The geochemistry and textural observations reported here serve as an important database for comparison with detrital, xenocrystic, and metamorphosed mafic rock-hosted zircon populations to evaluate provenance.
Chemical characteristics of zircon from A-type granites and comparison to zircon of S-type granites
Lithos, 2014
The trace element content in zircons from A-type granites and rhyolites was investigated by using back-scattered electron images and electron microprobe analyses. The studied Proterozoic (Wiborg batholith, Finland and Pará, Amazonas and Goiás states, Brazil) and Variscan (Krušné Hory/Erzgebirge, Czech Republic and Germany) plutons cover a wide range of rocks, from large rapakivi-textured geochemically primitive plutons to small intrusions of F-, Li-, Sn-, Nb-, Ta-, and U-enriched rare-metal granites. While zircon is one of the first crystallized minerals in less fractionated metaluminous and peraluminous granites, it is a late-crystallized phase in peralkaline granites and in evolved granites that may crystallize during the whole process of magma solidification. The early crystals are included in mica, quartz, and feldspar; the late grains are included in fluorite or cryolite or are interstitial. The zircon in hornblende-biotite and biotite granites from the non-mineralized plutons is poor in minor and trace elements; the zircon in moderately fractionated granite varieties is slightly enriched in Hf, Th, U, Y, and HREEs; whereas the zircon in highly fractionated ore-bearing granites may be strongly enriched in Hf (up to 10 wt.% HfO 2 ), Th (up to 10 wt.% ThO 2 ), U (up to 10 wt.% UO 2 ), Y (up to 12 wt.% Y 2 O 3 ), Sc (up to 3 wt.% Sc 2 O 3 ), Nb (up to 5 wt.% Nb 2 O 5 ), Ta (up to 1 wt.% Ta 2 O 5 ), W (up to 3 wt.% WO 3 ), F (up to 2.5 wt.% F), P (up to 11 wt.% P 2 O 5 ), and As (up to 1 wt.% As 2 O 5 ). Metamictized zircons may also be enriched in Bi, Ca, Fe, and Al. The increase in the Hf content coupled with the decrease in the Zr/Hf value in zircon is one of the most reliable indicators of granitic magma evolution. In the zircon of A-type granites, the Zr/Hf value decreases from 41-67 (porphyritic granite) to 16-19 (equigranular granite) in the Kymi stock, Finland, and from 49-52 (biotite granite) to 18-36 (leucogranite) in the Pedra Branca pluton, Brazil. In the in situ strongly fractionated Cínovec cupola (Erzgebirge), the Zr/Hf value decreases from 33-51 in the protolithionite granite at a depth of 1255 m to 7.5-25 in the zinnwaldite granite at a depth of 40 m. At the scale of individual crystals, the Zr/Hf value decreases from 86 to 68 from the cores to the rims of the zircons from the Teplice rhyolite and from 64 to 33 in the zircons from the biotite granite at Krupka, Erzgebirge. The contents of Hf and U in zircon are dependent mainly on the degree of granite fractionation and the nature and volume of the volatile phases and are independent of the A-or S-character of the parental melt. The zircon Zr/Hf ratios 55 and 25 are proposed to approximately distinguish common, moderately evolved and highly evolved granites. Zircons from the moderately and highly evolved granites of A-and S-type can be discriminated on the basis of their HREE content and the U/Th ratios. Nb, Ta, and W are present in zircon from the highly evolved granites from all studied areas, while high As, Bi, and Sc contents are typical only for the Erzgebirge.
Minerals, 2016
Several small chromium (Cr) ore bodies are hosted within a unit of tectonically thinned dunite in the retired Ayios Stefanos mine of the western Othris ophiolite complex in Greece. Chromium ores consist of tectonically imprinted bodies of semi-massive to massive, podiform and lenticular chromitites composed of chromian spinel [Cr-spinel] with high Cr# [Cr/(Cr + Al) = 0.51-0.66] and Mg# [Mg/(Mg + Fe 2+) = 0.58-0.76], low Fe 3+ # [Fe 3+ /(Fe 3+ + Fe 2+) ≤ 0.43] and low TiO 2 (≤0.21 wt %) content. This composition is characteristic of Cr-spinels in equilibrium with melts of intermediate affinity between island-arc tholeiites (IATs) and mid-ocean ridge basalts (MORBs). Several Cr-spinel crystals in these ores exhibit imperfect zones made up of spinel hosting oriented lamellae of Mg-silicates (mostly chlorite) locally overgrown by porous domains along grain boundaries and fractures. From the Cr-spinel core to the lamellae-rich rim Cr#, Mg# and Fe 3+ # generally increase (0.68-0.87, 0.78-0.88 and 0.55-0.80, respectively), whereas from the core or the spinel zones with oriented lamellae to the porous domains Mg# and Fe 3+ # generally decrease (0.45-0.74 and ≤0.51, correspondingly). The lamellae-rich rims formed at oxidizing conditions, whereas the porous rims resulted from a later reducing event. Several tiny (≤30 µm), subhedral to anhedral and elongated Zr-bearing silicate mineral grains were discovered mainly along open and healed fractures cutting Cr-spinel. Most of the Zr-bearing silicate minerals (30 out of 35 grains) were found in a chromitite boulder vastly intruded by a complex network of gabbroic dykes. The dominant Zr-bearing silicate phase is by far zircon displaying a homogeneous internal texture in cathodoluminescence (CL) images. Raman spectroscopy data indicate that zircons have experienced structural damage due to self-irradiation. Their trace-element contents suggest derivation from a plagioclase-bearing, low-SiO 2 intermediate to mafic source. Combined micro-textural and minerochemical data repeat the possibility of zircon derivation from limited volumes of high-T fluids emanating from the gabbroic intrusions. Once zircon is precipitated in cracks, it may be altered to Ca-rich Zr-bearing silicate phases (i.e., armstrongite, calciocatapleiite). Almost all zircons in these samples show evidence of gains in solvent compounds (CaO, Al 2 O 3 and FeO) possibly due to re-equilibration with late deuteric fluids.
Zircon ages in granulite facies rocks: decoupling from geochemistry above 850 °C?
Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology
Granulite facies rocks frequently show a large spread in their zircon ages, the interpretation of which raises questions: Has the isotopic system been disturbed? By what process(es) and conditions did the alteration occur? Can the dates be regarded as real ages, reflecting several growth episodes? Furthermore, under some circumstances of (ultra-)high-temperature metamorphism, decoupling of zircon U-Pb dates from their trace element geochemistry has been reported. Understanding these processes is crucial to help interpret such dates in the context of the P-T history. Our study presents evidence for decoupling in zircon from the highest grade metapelites (> 850 °C) taken along a continuous high-temperature metamorphic field gradient in the Ivrea Zone (NW Italy). These rocks represent a well-characterised segment of Permian lower continental crust with a protracted high-temperature history. Cathodoluminescence images reveal that zircons in the mid-amphibolite facies preserve mainly detrital cores with narrow overgrowths. In the upper amphibolite and granulite facies, preserved detrital cores decrease and metamorphic zircon increases in quantity. Across all samples we document a sequence of four rim generations based on textures. U-Pb dates, Th/U ratios and Ti-in-zircon concentrations show an essentially continuous evolution with increasing metamorphic grade, except in the samples from the granulite facies, which display significant scatter in age and chemistry. We associate the observed decoupling of zircon systematics in high-grade non-metamict zircon with disturbance processes related to differences in behaviour of non-formula elements (i.e. Pb, Th, U, Ti) at high-temperature conditions, notably differences in compatibility within the crystal structure. Keywords Zircon • High-temperature metamorphism • Decoupling zircon characteristics • U-Pb dating • Th/U ratios • Ti-in-zircon thermometry Communicated by Timothy L. Grove.