Origin of the Skagit migmatites,North Cascades Range,Washington State |
| |
| Authors: | R S Babcock Peter Misch |
| |
| Institution: | (1) Department of Geology, Western Washington University, 98225 Bellingham, WA, USA;(2) Department of Geological Sciences, University of Washington, 98109 Seattle, WA, USA |
| |
| Abstract: | Stromatic and schlieren-type migmatites are a major lithology in the type section of the Skagit Gneiss complex in the North Cascades Range of Washington State, USA. Migmatite mesosomes are chiefly biotite schist, amphibolite, and orthogneiss, in decreasing order of abundance. Leucosomes are predominantly leucotrondhjemites with a very limited range of composition that is nearly independent of associated mesosome type. Melanosomes, consisting mainly of biotite and/or hornblende±garnet, are inconsistently developed and absent in places. The age of migmatization is not well established, but appears to be Late Cretaceous or early Tertiary. This is also the age of syntectonic tonalite to trondhjemite intrusives that are predominant in most parts of the Skagit complex. Although temperatures in excess of 700° C and pressures as high as 10 kb occurred, there is no evidence for widespread partial melting of the mesosomes with which the migmatites are closely associated. Mass balance calculations preclude an origin by injection of a silicate melt or hydrothermal fluid unless accompanied by metasomatic replacement reactions. Mass balance relationships also show that the Skagit migmatites could not have formed solely by closed system processes such as partial melting or metamorphic segregation, unless the mesosomes present were not the protolith from which the migmatites formed. Field, petrographic and geochemical data indicate that an origin by migmatization of a  missing mesosome is quite unlikely. The most feasible process of migmatization appears to be infiltration of an aqueous fluid into a metamorphic protolith along fracture or foliation planes. This triggers a variable degree of metamorphic segregation or possibly minor partial melting. Unmixing of leucosomes and melanosomes from the mesosome protolith must be accompanied by metasomatic replacement, but the total mass transfer required is only a few wt%. |
| |
| Keywords: | |
| 本文献已被 SpringerLink 等数据库收录！ |
|
