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Published December 1988 | public
Journal Article

A strontium, neodymium and oxygen isotope study of hydrothermal metamorphism and crustal anatexis in the Trois Seigneurs Massif, Pyrenees, France

Abstract

Nd, Sr, and O isotope analyses have been made on metamorphic and igneous rocks and minerals from a 310–340 Ma Hercynian-age metamorphic terrane in the Pyrenees, France. Lower Paleozoic shales and phyllites have ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr values of 0.707–0.717 at 310 Ma, but model values at 310 Ma of 0.709–0.736 (based on assumed depositional age of 450 Ma and an initial ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr=0.707). On a regional scale, ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr was homogenized to about 0.713 to 0.717 in the higher-grade pelitic schists during metamorphism. Much of this ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr exchange occurred at very low grades (below the biotite isograd), but significant changes also accompanied the δ¹⁸O lowering of the phyllites (+13 to +16) during their transformation to andalusite- and sillimanite-grade schists (δ¹⁸O=+11 to +12); all of these effects are attributed to pervasive interactions with hydrothermal fluids (Wickham and Taylor 1985). The data also show that a syn-metamorphic plutonic complex, dominated by a biotite granite body, was derived by mixing of a relatively mafic magmatic end-member (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr∼ 0.7025–0.7050 and δ¹⁸O∼ +7.5 to +8.0) with two metasedimentary sources, both having ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr∼0.715 and δ¹⁸O∼ +10.0 to +12.0, but with one being more homogeneous than the other. The more homogeneous component and the (mantle-derived?) magmatic end-member dominate at low structural levels within the complex. The less homogeneous end-member that dominates at high levels is clearly derived from the local Paleozoic pelitic schists. A Rb-Sr age of 330±20 Ma was obtained on hornblende from a deep level within the complex, which fixes this age for the regional metamorphism, as well. Although a post-metamorphic granodiorite magma body at Trois Seigneurs also displays heterogeneities in δ¹⁸O and ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr (and thus does not give a clear-cut Rb-Sr isochron), the data are consistent with an emplacement age between 260 and 310 Ma, similar to ages of other late granodiorites in the Pyrenees. ¹⁴³Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd is very uniform within the Hercynian crust, both at Trois Seigneurs (ɛ_(Nd) = −3 to −7) and elsewhere in the Pyrenees; almost all igneous lithologies have depleted-mantle, mid-Proterozoic model ages, consistent with efficient recycling of crustal material following original crustal accretion in this area at about 1600 Ma or earlier. Rb-Sr mineral ages exhibit a complex cooling history reflecting late Hercynian and Mesozoic thermal events. Our results show that profound homogenization of the ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr and ¹⁸O/¹⁶O ratios of large volumes of the crust can occur during regional metamorphism and crustal anatexis, particularly in regions undergoing extensional tectonics. Such processes can significantly modify the isotopic compositions of the protoliths of granitic magmas; this may explain why many peraluminous Hercynian granitoids of Western Europe have anomalously low (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr) initial values compared to their probable sedimentary parent rocks.

Additional Information

© 1988 Springer-Verlag. Received 11 November 1987; Accepted 01 August 1988; Issue Date December 1988. Contribution No. 4544, Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology. Financial support for this work was provided by NERC grant no. GR3/6457 and NSF grant no. EAR-8313106. SMW acknowledges a research fellowship at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, a NERC postdoctoral fellowship, and a Visiting Research Associateship at the California Institute of Technology. The XRF Rb-Sr determinations were carried out at the University of Nottingham under the direction of Peter Harvey and Brian Atkin. We are grateful to Samuel Epstein, Jack Coulson, Joop Goris, Joe Ruth, and Maurice Haslop for laboratory assistance, and also to Linda Marnoch for her patience with the preparation of the manuscript. Discussions with Ron Oxburgh and Steve Sparks have been very helpful, and we thank Christian France-Lanord and Simon Sheppard for their reviews of the manuscript.

Additional details

Created:
August 22, 2023
Modified:
October 24, 2023