DIVERSE ORIGINS OF FLUID IN MAGMATIC INCLUSIONS AT BINGHAM (UTAH, USA), BUTTE (MONTANA, USA), ST-AUSTELL (CORNWALL, UK), AND ASCENSION-ISLAND (MID-ATLANTIC, UK), INDICATED BY LASER MICROPROBE ANALYSIS OF CL, K, BR, I, BA PLUS TE, U, AR, KR, AND XE

Citation
Jj. Irwin et E. Roedder, DIVERSE ORIGINS OF FLUID IN MAGMATIC INCLUSIONS AT BINGHAM (UTAH, USA), BUTTE (MONTANA, USA), ST-AUSTELL (CORNWALL, UK), AND ASCENSION-ISLAND (MID-ATLANTIC, UK), INDICATED BY LASER MICROPROBE ANALYSIS OF CL, K, BR, I, BA PLUS TE, U, AR, KR, AND XE, Geochimica et cosmochimica acta, 59(2), 1995, pp. 295-312
Citations number
115
Categorie Soggetti
Geosciences, Interdisciplinary
ISSN journal
00167037
Volume
59
Issue
2
Year of publication
1995
Pages
295 - 312
Database
ISI
SICI code
0016-7037(1995)59:2<295:DOOFIM>2.0.ZU;2-T
Abstract
Saline fluid inclusions (FI) trapped at close to the temperature of fi nal solidification of a granitic melt occur in rocks from Bingham, Uta h, Ascension Island, mid-Atlantic Ocean, and St. Austell, Cornwall. Sl ightly lower temperature FI occur at Butte, Montana. Argon, Kr, and Xe were extracted from FI by laser microprobe decrepitation of minute po rtions of the samples after neutron irradiation (along with synthetic FI of known composition), and measured in a low blank, high sensitivit y, pulse-counting mass spectrometer. Results enable measurement of Cl, K, Br, and I simultaneously with Ar-36, Ar-40, Kr-84, and Xe-129, in approximately 10(-7) cc of fluid, the contents of a single spherical i nclusion approximately 57 mum in diameter. Average K/Cl in Bingham and St. Austell FI are approximately 0.25 and approximately 0.15, respect ively, broadly consistent with the composition of fluids equilibrated with rocks at temperatures close to the eutectic in the granite system (400-600-degrees-C and 0.5-2 Kb). Within-sample variations in K/Cl ar e significant and may be a result of exsolution of fluids from magmas over a range of temperatures and/or pressures. Halogen ratios are conf ined to a narrow range, with I/Cl and Br/Cl in Bingham, Ascension, and some Butte FI approximately 1 - 8 x 10(-5) and 1 - 3 x 10(-3), respec tively, probably evidence of a common source of salinity, presumably p art of the Earth's mantle. A component of salinity derived from contin ental crust may be indicated by higher I/Cl and lower Br/Cl in St. Aus tell FI. Radiogenic Ar-40 produced in situ from K in FI after trapping is usually insignificant. Ar-40e is defined as Ar-40 in excess of the amounts attributable to atmospheric gases and that produced by decay of K in FI. Variations in Ar-40e/Cl in Bingham, Ascension, and St. Aus tell FI are greater than can be explained by just different Cl concent rations in FI, (typically between approximately 5 x 10(-7) and 8 x 10( -6)), probably because Ar and Cl have been fractionated within these s ystems by outgassing of a magma in the interval between exsolution of different FI generations. Concentrations of Ar and Kr-84 in most Bingh am, Ascension, and St. Austell FI are approximately 2 orders of magnit ude greater than in most lavas and granites, with Kr-84/Ar-36 ranging between approximately 0.015 and approximately 0.08, grossly consistent with the composition of fluids exsolved from magmas. Several distinct fluid types are present at Butte: (1) rare ''magmatic'' FI having hal ogen and noble gas abundances similar to Bingham and Ascension and (2) abundant FI having Ar-36 and Kr-84 concentrations similar to air-satu rated fresh waters, with slightly lower Br/Cl than FI at Bingham and A scension (approximately 5 - 10 x 10(-4)) and relatively high Ar-40e/Cl (approximately 1 x 10(-5) and 2.8 x 10(-5). Mixing prior to trapping between fluid derived from magmas and meteoric water that acquired Ar- 40e plus some halogens by interaction with country rocks is the most l ikely origin of most Butte FI.