Articles | Volume 36, issue 5
https://doi.org/10.5194/ejm-36-879-2024
© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/ejm-36-879-2024
© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
24 Sep 2024
Research article |
| 24 Sep 2024
| 24 Sep 2024
Multifaceted orogenic fluid dynamics unraveled by hydrothermal epidote
Veronica Peverelli
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Department of Geological Sciences, University of Bern, 3012 Bern, Switzerland
Alfons Berger
Department of Geological Sciences, University of Bern, 3012 Bern, Switzerland
Martin Wille
Department of Geological Sciences, University of Bern, 3012 Bern, Switzerland
Thomas Pettke
Department of Geological Sciences, University of Bern, 3012 Bern, Switzerland
Benita Putlitz
Institute of Earth Sciences, University of Lausanne, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
Andreas Mulch
Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (SBiK-F), 60325 Frankfurt, Germany
Institute of Geosciences, Goethe University Frankfurt, 60438 Frankfurt, Germany
Edwin Gnos
Muséum d'histoire naturelle de Genève, 1208 Geneva, Switzerland
Marco Herwegh
Department of Geological Sciences, University of Bern, 3012 Bern, Switzerland
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Veronica Peverelli, Alfons Berger, Martin Wille, Thomas Pettke, Pierre Lanari, Igor Maria Villa, and Marco Herwegh
Solid Earth, 13, 1803–1821, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-13-1803-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-13-1803-2022, 2022
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This work studies the interplay of epidote dissolution–precipitation and quartz dynamic recrystallization during viscous granular flow in a deforming epidote–quartz vein. Pb and Sr isotope data indicate that epidote dissolution–precipitation is mediated by internal/recycled fluids with an additional external fluid component. Microstructures and geochemical data show that the epidote material is redistributed and chemically homogenized within the deforming vein via a dynamic granular fluid pump.
Veronica Peverelli, Tanya Ewing, Daniela Rubatto, Martin Wille, Alfons Berger, Igor Maria Villa, Pierre Lanari, Thomas Pettke, and Marco Herwegh
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This work presents LA-ICP-MS U–Pb geochronology of epidote in hydrothermal veins. The challenges of epidote dating are addressed, and a protocol is proposed allowing us to obtain epidote U–Pb ages with a precision as good as 5 % in addition to the initial Pb isotopic composition of the epidote-forming fluid. Epidote demonstrates its potential to be used as a U–Pb geochronometer and as a fluid tracer, allowing us to reconstruct the timing of hydrothermal activity and the origin of the fluid(s).
Christoph Schmidt, Théo Halter, Paul R. Hanson, Alexey Ulianov, Benita Putlitz, Georgina E. King, and Sebastian Kreutzer
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We study the use of zircons as dosimeters using modern techniques, highlighting their advantages such as time-invariant dose rates. We explore the correlation between zircon geochemistry and luminescence properties, observe fast zircon optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) bleaching rates, and assess the potential of auto-regeneration. Low OSL sensitivities require combining natural OSL and auto-regenerated thermoluminescence (TL), with the potential to enhance age accuracy and precision.
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Konstantina Agiadi, Iuliana Vasiliev, Geanina Butiseacă, George Kontakiotis, Danae Thivaiou, Evangelia Besiou, Stergios Zarkogiannis, Efterpi Koskeridou, Assimina Antonarakou, and Andreas Mulch
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Daniel Boateng, Sebastian G. Mutz, Armelle Ballian, Maud J. M. Meijers, Katharina Methner, Svetlana Botsyun, Andreas Mulch, and Todd A. Ehlers
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We present model-based topographic sensitivity experiments that provide valuable constraints for interpreting past proxies and records of climate and tectonic processes. The study uses a climate model to quantify the response of regional climate and oxygen isotopic composition of precipitation to diachronous surface uplift scenarios across the European Alps. The results suggest that isotopic signal changes can be measured in geologic archives using stable isotope paleoaltimetry.
Veronica Peverelli, Alfons Berger, Martin Wille, Thomas Pettke, Pierre Lanari, Igor Maria Villa, and Marco Herwegh
Solid Earth, 13, 1803–1821, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-13-1803-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-13-1803-2022, 2022
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This work studies the interplay of epidote dissolution–precipitation and quartz dynamic recrystallization during viscous granular flow in a deforming epidote–quartz vein. Pb and Sr isotope data indicate that epidote dissolution–precipitation is mediated by internal/recycled fluids with an additional external fluid component. Microstructures and geochemical data show that the epidote material is redistributed and chemically homogenized within the deforming vein via a dynamic granular fluid pump.
Olaf Klaus Lenz, Mara Montag, Volker Wilde, Katharina Methner, Walter Riegel, and Andreas Mulch
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We describe different carbon isotope excursions (CIEs) in an upper Paleocene to lower Eocene lignite succession (Schöningen, DE). The combination with a new stratigraphic framework allows for a correlation of distinct CIEs with long- and short-term thermal events of the last natural greenhouse period on Earth. Furthermore, changes in the peat-forming wetland vegetation are correlated with a CIE that can be can be related to the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM).
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Here we present new surface elevation constraints for the middle Miocene Central Alps based on stable and clumped isotope geochemical analyses. Our reconstructed paleoelevation estimate is supported by isotope-enabled paleoclimate simulations and indicates that the Miocene Central Alps were characterized by a heterogeneous and spatially transient topography with high elevations locally exceeding 4000 m.
Veronica Peverelli, Tanya Ewing, Daniela Rubatto, Martin Wille, Alfons Berger, Igor Maria Villa, Pierre Lanari, Thomas Pettke, and Marco Herwegh
Geochronology, 3, 123–147, https://doi.org/10.5194/gchron-3-123-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/gchron-3-123-2021, 2021
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This work presents LA-ICP-MS U–Pb geochronology of epidote in hydrothermal veins. The challenges of epidote dating are addressed, and a protocol is proposed allowing us to obtain epidote U–Pb ages with a precision as good as 5 % in addition to the initial Pb isotopic composition of the epidote-forming fluid. Epidote demonstrates its potential to be used as a U–Pb geochronometer and as a fluid tracer, allowing us to reconstruct the timing of hydrothermal activity and the origin of the fluid(s).
James Gilgannon, Marius Waldvogel, Thomas Poulet, Florian Fusseis, Alfons Berger, Auke Barnhoorn, and Marco Herwegh
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Based on thermochronological data, we infer thrusting along-strike the northern rim of the Central Alps between 12–4 Ma. While the lithology influences the pattern of thrusting at the local scale, we observe that thrusting in the foreland is a long-wavelength feature occurring between Lake Geneva and Salzburg. This coincides with the geometry and dynamics of the attached lithospheric slab at depth. Thus, thrusting in the foreland is at least partly linked to changes in slab dynamics.
Emmanuelle Ricchi, Christian A. Bergemann, Edwin Gnos, Alfons Berger, Daniela Rubatto, Martin J. Whitehouse, and Franz Walter
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This study investigates Cenozoic deformation during cooling and exhumation of the Tauern metamorphic and structural dome, Eastern Alps, through Th–Pb dating of fissure monazite-(Ce). Fissure (or hydrothermal) monazite-(Ce) typically crystallizes in a temperature range of 400–200 °C. Three major episodes of monazite growth occurred at approximately 21, 17, and 12 Ma, corroborating previous crystallization and cooling ages.
Christian A. Bergemann, Edwin Gnos, Alfons Berger, Emilie Janots, and Martin J. Whitehouse
Solid Earth, 11, 199–222, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-11-199-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-11-199-2020, 2020
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Metamorphic domes are areas in a mountain chain that were unburied and where deeper parts of the crust rose to the surface. The Lepontine Dome in the Swiss and Italian Alps is such a place, and it is additionally bordered on two sides by shear zones where crustal blocks moved past each other. To determine when these tectonic movements happened, we measured the ages of monazite crystals that form in fluid-filled pockets inside the rocks during these movements of exhumation and deformation.
Katharina Methner, Olaf Lenz, Walter Riegel, Volker Wilde, and Andreas Mulch
Clim. Past, 15, 1741–1755, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-15-1741-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-15-1741-2019, 2019
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We describe the presence of a carbon isotope excursion (CIE) in Paleogene lignites (Schöningen, DE) and assess paleoenvironmental changes in midlatitudinal late Paleocene–early Eocene peat mire records along the paleo-North Sea coast (Schöningen, Cobham, Vasterival). These records share major characteristics of a reduced CIE (~ -1.3 ‰) in terms of bulk organic matter, increased fire activity (pre-CIE), minor plant species changes, and drowning of near-coastal mires during the CIE.
Samuel Mock, Christoph von Hagke, Fritz Schlunegger, István Dunkl, and Marco Herwegh
Solid Earth Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/se-2019-56, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-2019-56, 2019
Revised manuscript not accepted
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Based on own and published age data, we can infer tectonic pulses along-strike the entire northern rim of the Central Alps between 12–4 million years. Although lithologic variations largely influence the local deformation pattern, the tectonic signal is remarkably consistent all the way from Lake Geneva to Salzburg. This might result from a deep-seated tectonic force and marks a change from dominantly vertical to large-scale horizontal tectonics in the late stage of Alpine orogeny.
Emilie Janots, Alexis Grand'Homme, Matthias Bernet, Damien Guillaume, Edwin Gnos, Marie-Christine Boiron, Magali Rossi, Anne-Magali Seydoux-Guillaume, and Roger De Ascenção Guedes
Solid Earth, 10, 211–223, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-10-211-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-10-211-2019, 2019
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This geochronological and thermometric study reveals unusually hot fluids in an Alpine-type fissure of granite from the external crystalline massif (Western Alps). The fluid is estimated to be 150-250 °C hotter than the host rock and requires a dynamic fluid pathway at mid-crustal conditions in the ductile regime. This fluid circulation resets the zircon fission track thermochronometer, but only at the fissure contact. Thermal disturbances due to advective heating appear to be localized.
Ismay Vénice Akker, Josef Kaufmann, Guillaume Desbois, Jop Klaver, Janos L. Urai, Alfons Berger, and Marco Herwegh
Solid Earth, 9, 1141–1156, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-9-1141-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-9-1141-2018, 2018
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We studied porosity changes of slates from eastern Switzerland, which were deposited in an ocean in front of the emerging Alps during the Cenozoic. The Alpine collision between the European and African plates brought the rocks from this basin to today’s position in the Alps. From the basin to the surface, the porosity first decreased down to a small number of round cavities (<1 vol%) to microfractures, and once at the surface, the porosity increased again due to the formation of macro-fractures.
Raphael Schneeberger, Miguel de La Varga, Daniel Egli, Alfons Berger, Florian Kober, Florian Wellmann, and Marco Herwegh
Solid Earth, 8, 987–1002, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-8-987-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-8-987-2017, 2017
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Structural 3-D modelling has become a widely used technique within applied projects. We performed a typical modelling workflow for a study site with the occurrence of an underground facility. This exceptional setting enabled us to test the surface-based extrapolation of faults with the mapped faults underground. We estimated the extrapolation-related uncertainty with probabilistic 2-D interpolation. This research was conducted to improve structural 3-D modelling in less-constrained areas.
Related subject area
Geochronology
Provenance, protolith and metamorphic ages of jadeite-bearing orthogneiss and host paragneiss at Tavagnasco, the Sesia Zone, Lower Aosta Valley, Italy
Supergene phases from ferruginous duricrusts: non-destructive microsampling and mineralogy prior to (U–Th) ∕ He geochronological analysis
Jane A. Gilotti, William C. McClelland, Simon Schorn, Roberto Compagnoni, and Matthew A. Coble
Eur. J. Mineral., 35, 645–658, https://doi.org/10.5194/ejm-35-645-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/ejm-35-645-2023, 2023
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We show that metamorphosed sedimentary rocks in the Western Alps have a detrital zircon signature that connects them to the Adrian plate along the Gondwana margin. We used zircon to learn that a jadeite-bearing orthogneiss intruded into these strata in the Ordovician (at ~460 Ma) and was metamorphosed at high pressure during early Alpine subduction of Adria beneath Europe at ~78 Ma. Our results are consistent with the complex subduction of Adria before full-on collision with the European plate.
Karina P. P. Marques, Thierry Allard, Cécile Gautheron, Benoît Baptiste, Rosella Pinna-Jamme, Guillaume Morin, Ludovic Delbes, and Pablo Vidal-Torrado
Eur. J. Mineral., 35, 383–395, https://doi.org/10.5194/ejm-35-383-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/ejm-35-383-2023, 2023
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We proposed a new non-destructive mineralogical methodology on sub-millimeter grains that allows us to quantify the hematite and goethite content and hematite / goethite ratio of grains prior to (U–Th) / He geochronological analysis. (U–Th) / He data performed on different aliquots with different acquisition times show no remarkable differences in age, opening a new way to investigate the (U–Th) / He data evolution in supergene lateritic duricrusts.
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Short summary
We used U–Pb dating and Pb–Sr–O–H isotopes of hydrothermal epidote to characterize fluid circulation in the Aar Massif (central Swiss Alps). Our data support the hypothesis that Permian fluids exploited syn-rift extensional faults. In the Miocene during the Alpine orogeny, fluid sources were meteoric, sedimentary, and/or metamorphic water. Likely, Miocene shear zones were exploited for fluid circulation, with implications for the Sr isotope budget of the granitoids.
We used U–Pb dating and Pb–Sr–O–H isotopes of hydrothermal epidote to characterize fluid...
