Incursion of meteoric waters into the ductile regime in an active orogen

Catriona D. Menzies; Damon A. H. Teagle; Dave Craw; Simon C. Cox; Adrian J. Boyce; Craig D. Barrie; Stephen  Roberts

doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2014.04.046

Incursion of meteoric waters into the ductile regime in an active orogen

Catriona D. Menzies^* (Corresponding Author), Damon A. H. Teagle, Dave Craw, Simon C. Cox, Adrian J. Boyce, Craig D. Barrie, Stephen Roberts

^*Corresponding author for this work

Geology and Geophysics

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

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Abstract

Rapid tectonic uplift on the Alpine Fault, New Zealand, elevates topography, regional geothermal gradients, and the depth to the brittle ductile transition, and drives fluid flow that influences deformation and mineralisation within the orogen. Oxygen and hydrogen stable isotopes, fluid inclusion and Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) analyses of quartz from veins which formed at a wide range of depths, temperatures and deformation regimes identify fluid sources and the depth of penetration of meteoric waters. Most veins formed under brittle conditions and with isotope signatures (δ18OH2O = −9.0 to +8.7 per cent VSMOW and δD = −73 to −45 per cent VSMOW) indicative of progressively rock-equilibrated meteoric waters. Two generations of quartz veins that post-date mylonitic foliation but endured further ductile deformation, and hence formation below the brittle to ductile transition zone (>6–8 km depth), preserve included hydrothermal fluids with δD values between −84 and −52 per cent, indicating formation from meteoric waters. FT-IR analyses of these veins show no evidence of structural hydrogen release, precluding this as a source of low δD values. In contrast, the oxygen isotopic signal of these fluids has almost completely equilibrated with host rocks (δ18OH2O = +2.3 to +8.7 per cent). These data show that meteoric waters dominate the fluid phase in the rocks, and there is no stable isotopic requirement for the presence of metamorphic fluids during the precipitation of ductilely deformed quartz veins. This requires the penetration during orogenesis of meteoric waters into and possibly below the brittle to ductile transition zone.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1-13
Number of pages	13
Journal	Earth and Planetary Science Letters
Volume	399
Early online date	20 May 2014
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2014.04.046
Publication status	Published - 1 Aug 2014

Bibliographical note

We gratefully acknowledge Virginia Toy for provision of samples and advice on microstructural analysis, Nick Goodwin for provision of samples, and James Nowecki and Ross Williams for training and advice on fluid inclusion and FT-IR analyses, Bob Jones and John Ford for preparing thin sections and fluid inclusion wafers, and Alison MacDonald for help with stable isotope analyses. C.D.M. acknowledges Natural Environment Research Council – CASE PhD studentship award NE/G524160/1 (GNS Science CASE partner). D.A.H.T. acknowledges NERC grants NE/H012842/1 and NE/J024449/1, and a Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award (WM130051) that have supported this research. A.J.B. is funded by NERC Isotope Community Support Facility at the Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre and stable isotope analyses and training for this project were funded through the award of a NERC Facilities grant to D.A.H.T. and C.D.M. (IP/1187/0510). We gratefully acknowledge comments from Alex Webber, editorial advice and comments from Tim Elliott, and reviews from Tom Raimondo and an anonymous reviewer that improved this manuscript.

Keywords

fluid flow
stable isotopes
Alpine Fault
meteoric water
fluid inclusions
Southern Alps

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10.1016/j.epsl.2014.04.046Licence: CC BY

Incursion of meteoric waters into the ductile regime in an active orogen
© 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).
Final published version, 3.33 MBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

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title = "Incursion of meteoric waters into the ductile regime in an active orogen",

abstract = "Rapid tectonic uplift on the Alpine Fault, New Zealand, elevates topography, regional geothermal gradients, and the depth to the brittle ductile transition, and drives fluid flow that influences deformation and mineralisation within the orogen. Oxygen and hydrogen stable isotopes, fluid inclusion and Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) analyses of quartz from veins which formed at a wide range of depths, temperatures and deformation regimes identify fluid sources and the depth of penetration of meteoric waters. Most veins formed under brittle conditions and with isotope signatures (δ18OH2O = −9.0 to +8.7 per cent VSMOW and δD = −73 to −45 per cent VSMOW) indicative of progressively rock-equilibrated meteoric waters. Two generations of quartz veins that post-date mylonitic foliation but endured further ductile deformation, and hence formation below the brittle to ductile transition zone (>6–8 km depth), preserve included hydrothermal fluids with δD values between −84 and −52 per cent, indicating formation from meteoric waters. FT-IR analyses of these veins show no evidence of structural hydrogen release, precluding this as a source of low δD values. In contrast, the oxygen isotopic signal of these fluids has almost completely equilibrated with host rocks (δ18OH2O = +2.3 to +8.7 per cent). These data show that meteoric waters dominate the fluid phase in the rocks, and there is no stable isotopic requirement for the presence of metamorphic fluids during the precipitation of ductilely deformed quartz veins. This requires the penetration during orogenesis of meteoric waters into and possibly below the brittle to ductile transition zone.",

keywords = "fluid flow, stable isotopes, Alpine Fault, meteoric water, fluid inclusions, Southern Alps",

author = "Menzies, {Catriona D.} and Teagle, {Damon A. H.} and Dave Craw and Cox, {Simon C.} and Boyce, {Adrian J.} and Barrie, {Craig D.} and Stephen Roberts",

note = "We gratefully acknowledge Virginia Toy for provision of samples and advice on microstructural analysis, Nick Goodwin for provision of samples, and James Nowecki and Ross Williams for training and advice on fluid inclusion and FT-IR analyses, Bob Jones and John Ford for preparing thin sections and fluid inclusion wafers, and Alison MacDonald for help with stable isotope analyses. C.D.M. acknowledges Natural Environment Research Council – CASE PhD studentship award NE/G524160/1 (GNS Science CASE partner). D.A.H.T. acknowledges NERC grants NE/H012842/1 and NE/J024449/1, and a Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award (WM130051) that have supported this research. A.J.B. is funded by NERC Isotope Community Support Facility at the Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre and stable isotope analyses and training for this project were funded through the award of a NERC Facilities grant to D.A.H.T. and C.D.M. (IP/1187/0510). We gratefully acknowledge comments from Alex Webber, editorial advice and comments from Tim Elliott, and reviews from Tom Raimondo and an anonymous reviewer that improved this manuscript.",

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AU - Menzies, Catriona D.

AU - Teagle, Damon A. H.

AU - Craw, Dave

AU - Cox, Simon C.

AU - Boyce, Adrian J.

AU - Barrie, Craig D.

AU - Roberts, Stephen

N1 - We gratefully acknowledge Virginia Toy for provision of samples and advice on microstructural analysis, Nick Goodwin for provision of samples, and James Nowecki and Ross Williams for training and advice on fluid inclusion and FT-IR analyses, Bob Jones and John Ford for preparing thin sections and fluid inclusion wafers, and Alison MacDonald for help with stable isotope analyses. C.D.M. acknowledges Natural Environment Research Council – CASE PhD studentship award NE/G524160/1 (GNS Science CASE partner). D.A.H.T. acknowledges NERC grants NE/H012842/1 and NE/J024449/1, and a Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award (WM130051) that have supported this research. A.J.B. is funded by NERC Isotope Community Support Facility at the Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre and stable isotope analyses and training for this project were funded through the award of a NERC Facilities grant to D.A.H.T. and C.D.M. (IP/1187/0510). We gratefully acknowledge comments from Alex Webber, editorial advice and comments from Tim Elliott, and reviews from Tom Raimondo and an anonymous reviewer that improved this manuscript.

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N2 - Rapid tectonic uplift on the Alpine Fault, New Zealand, elevates topography, regional geothermal gradients, and the depth to the brittle ductile transition, and drives fluid flow that influences deformation and mineralisation within the orogen. Oxygen and hydrogen stable isotopes, fluid inclusion and Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) analyses of quartz from veins which formed at a wide range of depths, temperatures and deformation regimes identify fluid sources and the depth of penetration of meteoric waters. Most veins formed under brittle conditions and with isotope signatures (δ18OH2O = −9.0 to +8.7 per cent VSMOW and δD = −73 to −45 per cent VSMOW) indicative of progressively rock-equilibrated meteoric waters. Two generations of quartz veins that post-date mylonitic foliation but endured further ductile deformation, and hence formation below the brittle to ductile transition zone (>6–8 km depth), preserve included hydrothermal fluids with δD values between −84 and −52 per cent, indicating formation from meteoric waters. FT-IR analyses of these veins show no evidence of structural hydrogen release, precluding this as a source of low δD values. In contrast, the oxygen isotopic signal of these fluids has almost completely equilibrated with host rocks (δ18OH2O = +2.3 to +8.7 per cent). These data show that meteoric waters dominate the fluid phase in the rocks, and there is no stable isotopic requirement for the presence of metamorphic fluids during the precipitation of ductilely deformed quartz veins. This requires the penetration during orogenesis of meteoric waters into and possibly below the brittle to ductile transition zone.

AB - Rapid tectonic uplift on the Alpine Fault, New Zealand, elevates topography, regional geothermal gradients, and the depth to the brittle ductile transition, and drives fluid flow that influences deformation and mineralisation within the orogen. Oxygen and hydrogen stable isotopes, fluid inclusion and Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) analyses of quartz from veins which formed at a wide range of depths, temperatures and deformation regimes identify fluid sources and the depth of penetration of meteoric waters. Most veins formed under brittle conditions and with isotope signatures (δ18OH2O = −9.0 to +8.7 per cent VSMOW and δD = −73 to −45 per cent VSMOW) indicative of progressively rock-equilibrated meteoric waters. Two generations of quartz veins that post-date mylonitic foliation but endured further ductile deformation, and hence formation below the brittle to ductile transition zone (>6–8 km depth), preserve included hydrothermal fluids with δD values between −84 and −52 per cent, indicating formation from meteoric waters. FT-IR analyses of these veins show no evidence of structural hydrogen release, precluding this as a source of low δD values. In contrast, the oxygen isotopic signal of these fluids has almost completely equilibrated with host rocks (δ18OH2O = +2.3 to +8.7 per cent). These data show that meteoric waters dominate the fluid phase in the rocks, and there is no stable isotopic requirement for the presence of metamorphic fluids during the precipitation of ductilely deformed quartz veins. This requires the penetration during orogenesis of meteoric waters into and possibly below the brittle to ductile transition zone.

KW - fluid flow

KW - stable isotopes

KW - Alpine Fault

KW - meteoric water

KW - fluid inclusions

KW - Southern Alps

U2 - 10.1016/j.epsl.2014.04.046

DO - 10.1016/j.epsl.2014.04.046

M3 - Article

SN - 0012-821X

VL - 399

SP - 1

EP - 13

JO - Earth and Planetary Science Letters

JF - Earth and Planetary Science Letters

ER -

Incursion of meteoric waters into the ductile regime in an active orogen

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

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