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Isotope Geochemistry (isotope + geochemistry)
Selected AbstractsSulfur Isotope Geochemistry of the Supergiant Xikuangshan Sb Deposit, Central Hunan, China: Constraints on Sources of Ore ConstituentsRESOURCE GEOLOGY, Issue 4 2006Dong-sheng Yang Abstract. The supergiant Xikuangshan Sb deposit is located in the Middle to Upper Devonian limestone of central Hunan, China. Primary ores are composed of early-stage stibnite and calcite with rare pyrite, early main-stage stibnite and quartz, and late main-stage stibnite and calcite. New sulfur isotope data reveal the clustering of ,34S values (+5 , +8 %) for both early and late main-stage stibnite; a single early-stage stibnite exhibits ,34S value (+7.5 %) identical to its main ore-stage counterparts and the coexisting calcite has almost unmodified carbon isotope composition (-4.4 %). The data suggest a probable common source of sulfur for stibnite that was deposited at different paragenetic stages. A much wider variation in ,34S values for early main-stage stibnite (+3.5 to +16.3 %, av. +7.5 %) compared to that for late main-stage stibnite (+5.3 to +8.1 %, av. +6.2 %) can be interpreted to be due to local interaction of earlier ore fluid with Devonian host rocks. The previous studies show that the Precambrian basement contains elevated Sb concentrations, and two distinctive sulfur reservoirs with ,34Spyrite values at ca. +11 , +24 % and -7.0 ,-11 %. The homogenizing effect for sulfur hydrothermally leached from the two reservoirs might have provided ore constituents for the Xikuangshan fluids. [source] Helium Isotope Geochemistry of Ore-forming Fluids from Furong Tin Orefield in Hunan Province, ChinaRESOURCE GEOLOGY, Issue 1 2006Zhao-li Li Abstract. The Furong tin orefield, located in southern Hunan, China, is a newly-discovered super-large tin orefield. In contrast to most other tin deposits associated with S-type granites, the Furong tin deposit is closely associated with the Qitianling A-type granite. The 3He/4He ratios of fluid inclusions in pyrite and arsenopyrite from this orefield range from 0.13 to 2.95 Ra. The influence of various post-mineralization processes on the helium isotopic composition of ore-forming fluid inclusions are estimated negligible. Thus, the analytical values of helium isotopic composition basically represent the original values of ore-forming fluids at the time they were trapped. The 3He/4He ratios of ore-forming fluids from the Furong orefield indicate the existence of mantle-source components. It supports the idea that both the Furong tin orefield and Qitianling granite formed under the geodynamic background of mantle upwelling and crustal extension. [source] Helium Isotope Geochemistry of Ultrahigh-Pressure Metamorphic Eclogites From the Dabie-Sulu Terrane in East ChinaACTA GEOLOGICA SINICA (ENGLISH EDITION), Issue 1 2000LI Yanhe Abstract: The 3He/4He ratios of most eclogites from the Dabie-Sulu terrane range from 0.056 to 0.67 Ra; the data points fall into the mixing part of the crust and the mantle in the 3He- 4He diagram. The 3He/4He ratios of eclogites are obviously correlated with the types of their surrounding rocks. The helium isotope composition of the eclogites from the Bixiling complex possesses characters of mantle-derived rocks with the 3He/4He ratio being 5.6 Ra. The 4He concentration of the eclogites exhibits visible inverse correlation with the ,18O value of the quartz in the eclogites from the Sulu area. The ,18O values of the eclogites change synchronously with those of the country rocks. Those results suggest that protoliths of the eclogites were basic-ultrabasic rock bodies or veins intruding into the continental crust in the early stage; strong exchange and hybridization between the basic-ultrabasic rocks and continental rocks and the atmospheric water during the intrusion led to abrupt increase of the 3He/4He ratios, ,18O values and Nd(0) values of the intrusive bodies or veins, which show characters of continental rocks. This indicates that the eclogites are autochthonous. [source] Speleothem preservation and diagenesis in South African hominin sites implications for paleoenvironments and geochronologyGEOARCHAEOLOGY: AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL, Issue 5 2009Philip J. Hopley Plio-Pleistocene speleothems from australopithecine-bearing caves of South Africa have the potential to yield paleoenvironmental and geochronological information using isotope geochemistry. Prior to such studies it is important to assess the preservation of geochemical signals within the calcitic and aragonitic speleothems, given the tendency of aragonitic speleothems to recrystallize to calcite. This study documents the geochemical suitability of speleothems from the principal hominin-bearing deposits of South Africa. We use petrography, together with stable isotope and trace element analysis, to identify the occurrence of primary aragonite, primary calcite, and secondary calcite. This study highlights the presence of diagenetic alteration at many of the sites, often observed as interbedded primary and secondary fabrics. Trace element and stable isotopic values distinguish primary calcite from secondary calcite and offer insights into geochemical aspects of the past cave environment. ,13C values of the primary and secondary calcites range from +6 to ,9, and ,18O values range from ,4 to ,6,. The data are thus typical of meteoric calcites with highly variable ,13C and relatively invariant ,18O. High carbon isotope values in these deposits are associated with the effects of recrystallization and rapid outgassing of CO2 during precipitation. Mg/Ca and Sr/Ca ratios differ between primary and secondary calcite speleothems, aiding their identification. Carbon and oxygen isotope values in primary calcite reflect the proportion of C3 and C4 vegetation in the local environment and the oxygen isotope composition of rainfall. Primary calcite speleothems preserve the pristine geochemical signals vital for ongoing paleoenvironmental and geochronological research. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source] K-Ar age determination, whole-rock and oxygen isotope geochemistry of the post-collisional Bizmi,en and Çalt, plutons, SW Erzincan, eastern Central Anatolia, TurkeyGEOLOGICAL JOURNAL, Issue 4 2005Ayten Önal Abstract Post-collisional granitoid plutons intrude obducted Neo-Tethyan ophiolitic rocks in central and eastern Central Anatolia. The Bizmi,en and Çalt, plutons and the ophiolitic rocks that they intrude are overlain by fossiliferous and flyschoidal sedimentary rocks of the early Miocene Kemah Formation. These sedimentary rocks were deposited in basins that developed at the same time as tectonic unroofing of the plutons along E,W and NW,SE trending faults in Oligo-Miocene time. Mineral separates from the Bizmi,en and Çalt, plutons yield K-Ar ages ranging from 42 to 46,Ma, and from 40 to 49,Ma, respectively. Major, trace, and rare-earth element geochemistry as well as mineralogical and textural evidence reveals that the Bizmi,en pluton crystallized first, followed at shallower depth by the Çalt, pluton from a medium-K calcalkaline, I-type hybrid magma which was generated by magma mixing of coeval mafic and felsic magmas. Delta 18O values of both plutons fall in the field of I-type granitoids, although those of the Çalt, pluton are consistently higher than those of the Bizmi,en pluton. This is in agreement with field observations, petrographic and whole-rock geochemical data, which indicate that the Bizmi,en pluton represents relatively uncontaminated mantle material, whereas the Çalt, pluton has a significant crustal component. Structural data indicating the middle Eocene emplacement age and intrusion into already obducted ophiolitic rocks, suggest a post-collisional extensional origin. However, the pure geochemical discrimination diagrams indicate an arc origin which can be inherited either from the source material or from an upper mantle material modified by an early subduction process during the evolution of the Neo-Tethyan ocean. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Distinguishing between seafloor alteration and fluid flow during subduction using stable isotope geochemistry: examples from Tethyan ophiolites in the Western AlpsJOURNAL OF METAMORPHIC GEOLOGY, Issue 5 2000Miller Large amounts of fluid, bound up in the hydrated upper layers of the ocean crust, are consumed at convergent margins and released in subduction zones through devolatilization. The liberated fluids may play an integral role in subduction zone processes, including the generation of arc-magmas. However, exhumed subduction zone rocks often record little evidence of large-scale fluid flow, especially at deeper levels within the subduction zone. Basaltic pillows from the high-pressure Corsican and Zermatt-Saas ophiolites show a range of ,18O values that overall reflect seafloor alteration prior to subduction. However, comparison between the ,18O values of the cores and rims of the pillows suggests that the ,18O values of the pillow rims at least have been modified during subduction and high-pressure metamorphism. Pillows that have not undergone high-pressure metamorphism generally have rims with higher ,18O values than their cores, whereas the converse is the case in pillows that have undergone high-pressure metamorphism. This reversal in the core to rim oxygen isotope relationship between unmetamorphosed and metamorphosed pillows is strong evidence for fluid,rock interaction occurring during subduction and high-pressure metamorphism. However, the preservation of different ,18O values in the cores and rims of individual pillows and within and between different pillows suggests that fluid flow within the subduction zone was strongly channelled. Resetting of the ,18O values in the pillow rims was probably due to fluid-hosted diffusion that occurred over relatively short time-scales (<1 Myr). [source] Neoproterozoic Mafic Dykes and Basalts in the Southern Margin of Tarim, Northwest China: Age, Geochemistry and Geodynamic ImplicationsACTA GEOLOGICA SINICA (ENGLISH EDITION), Issue 3 2010Chuanlin ZHANG Abstract: Neoproterozoic rifting-related mafic igneous rocks are widely distributed both in the northern and southern margins of the Tarim Block, NW China. Here we report the geochronology and systematic whole-rock geochemistry of the Neoproterozoic mafic dykes and basalts along the southern margin of Tarim. Our zircon U-Pb age, in combination with stratigraphic constraint on their emplacement ages, indicates that the mafic dykes were crystallized at ca. 802 Ma, and the basalt, possibly coeval with the ca. 740 Ma volcanic rocks in Quruqtagh in the northern margin of Tarim. Elemental and Nd isotope geochemistry of the mafic dykes and basalts suggest that their primitive magma was derived from asthenospheric mantle (OIB-like) and lithospheric mantle respectively, with variable assimilation of crustal materials. Integrating the data supplied in the present study and that reported previously in the northern margin of Tarim, we recognize two types of mantle sources of the Neoproterozoic mafic igneous rocks in Tarim, namely the matasomatized subcontinental lithospheric mantle (SCLM) in the northern margin and the long-term enriched lithospheric mantle and asthenospheric mantle in the southern margin. A comprehensive synthesis of the Neoproterozoic igneous rocks throughout the Tarim Block led to the recognition of two major episodes of Neoproterozoic igneous activities at ca. 820,800 Ma and ca. 780,740 Ma, respectively. These two episodes of igneous activities were concurrent with those in many other Rodinian continents and were most likely related to mantle plume activities during the break-up of the Rodinia. [source] |