Andalusite-bearing veins at Vedrette di Ries (eastern Alps, Italy): fluid phase composition based on fluid inclusions |
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| Authors: | B CESARE L S HOLLISTER |
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| Institution: | Dipartimento di Mineralogia e Petrologia, Universitàdi Padova, 1-35137 Padova, Italy;Department of Geological and Geophysical Sciences, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA |
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| Abstract: | Abstract Andalusite-bearing veins formed during contact metamorphism in the aureole of the Vedrette di Ries tonalite. In the veins, quartz crystals that are completely armoured by andalusite or that occur in strain shadow areas contain three generations of fluid inclusions: low-salinity H2O-CO2-CH4 mixtures with CH4/(CO2+ CH4) ± 0.35 (type A); low-salinity aqueous fluids (type B); H2O-free, CO2-CH4 fluids with the same carbonic speciation as A (type C). Carbonic types A and C typically have a dark appearance, which is attributed to graphite coatings on inclusion walls. Microstructural analysis of the host quartz and calculated densities indicate that type A inclusions were likely trapped during vein formation. These inclusions underwent strain-assisted re-equilibration during cooling that resulted in density increases without change of composition. After the rocks had cooled below about 350 ° C, type C inclusions appear to have formed from one of the immiscible fractions after unmixing of the H2O-CO2-CH4 fluid mixtures. Aqueous type B inclusions, apparently trapped between 225 and 350 ° C, could represent an independent fluid, or could be the H2O-rich fraction of unmixed type A fluids. Taking account of the uncertainties, the composition and density of the complex type A inclusion fluids are in good agreement with the properties of primary fluids calculated from the petrological data. The fluid inclusion data support the model of vein formation by hydrofracturing as a result of dehydration of graphitic metapelites. These new results also demonstrate the importance of considering strain in the interpretation of metamorphic fluid inclusions. |
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| Keywords: | andalusite veins C-O-H system fluid inclusions Italian eastern Alps re-equilibration |
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