Clumped-isotope palaeothermometry and LA-ICP-MS U-Pb dating of lava-pile hydrothermal calcite veins
File(s)MacDonald2019_Article_Clumped-isotopePalaeothermomet.pdf (1.95 MB)
Published version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Calcite veins are a common product of hydrothermal fluid circulation. Clumped-isotope palaeothermometry is a promising technique for fingerprinting the temperature of hydrothermal fluids, but clumped-isotope systematics can be reset at temperatures of > ca. 100 °C. To model whether the reconstructed temperatures represent calcite precipitation or closed-system resetting, the precipitation age must be known. LA-ICP-MS U–Pb dating of calcite is a recently developed approach to direct dating of calcite and can provide precipitation ages for modelling clumped-isotope systematics in calcite veins. In this study, clumped-isotope and LA-ICP-MS U–Pb calcite analyses were combined in basalt-hosted calcite veins from three settings in Scotland. Samples from all three localities yielded precipitation temperatures of ca. 75–115 °C from clumped-isotope analysis, but veins from only two of the sites were dateable, yielding precipitation ages of 224 ± 8 Ma and 291 ± 33 Ma (2σ). Modelling from the dated samples enabled confident interpretation that no closed-system resetting had occurred in these samples. However, the lack of a precipitation age from the third location meant that a range of possible thermal histories had to be modelled meaning that confidence that resetting had not occurred was lower. This highlights the importance of coupling clumped-isotope thermometry and LA-ICP-MS U–Pb calcite dating in determining the temperature of hydrothermal fluids recorded in calcite veins. This paired approach is shown to be robust in constraining the timing and precipitation temperature of calcite formation, and thus for tracking hydrothermal processes.
Date Issued
2019-07
Date Acceptance
2019-07-01
Citation
Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology, 2019, 174 (7)
ISSN
0010-7999
Publisher
Springer Verlag
Journal / Book Title
Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology
Volume
174
Issue
7
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2019. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.
License URL
Identifier
http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000475582800001&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=1ba7043ffcc86c417c072aa74d649202
Subjects
Science & Technology
Physical Sciences
Geochemistry & Geophysics
Mineralogy
Clumped isotopes
Calcite veins
LA-ICP-MS calcite U-Pb dating
Hydrothermal
Geothermal
MIDLAND VALLEY
FLUID-FLOW
GEOCHRONOLOGY
TEMPERATURE
SCOTLAND
GEOCHEMISTRY
DURATION
EVENTS
SYSTEM
AGE
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
ARTN 63
Date Publish Online
2019-07-11