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Low-Temperature Hydrothermal Metamorphic Mineralization of Island-Arc Volcanics, South Apuseni Mountains, Romania

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2024

George Dan Miron ,
Philip S. Neuhoff  and
Georg Amthauer
George Dan Miron*
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, ETH Zürich, Sonneggstrasse 5, 8092 Zürich, Switzerland Department of Geology, Babeş Bolyai University, Kogălniceanu 1, 400084 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Philip S. Neuhoff
Affiliation:
Department of Geological Sciences, University of Florida, 241 Williamson Hall, Gainesville, Florida 32611-2120, USA
Georg Amthauer
Affiliation:
Department of Material Sciences, University of Salzburg, Hellbrunnerstrasse 34, 5020 Salzburg, Austria
*
*E-mail address of corresponding author: [email protected]
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Abstract

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The island-arc volcanics situated in the eastern part of the Căpîlnaş-Techereu nappe (South Apuseni Mountains, Romania) were studied to evaluate the temperature, fluid properties, and mineral chemistry during low-temperature metamorphism. Detailed observations of metamorphic mineral assemblages were conducted using powder X-ray diffraction and electron microprobe. The metamorphism involved albitization of plagioclase feldspar and the formation of mafic phyllosilicates, zeolites, and other hydrous Ca-Al-silicate minerals. Mafic phyllosilicates consisted of transitional dioctahedral-trioctahedral smectites, mixed-layer chlorite-smectite (C/S, 6–96% chlorite), and discrete chlorite. The zeolites were analcime, stilbite ± stellerite, heulandite, laumontite, epistilbite, and mordenite. Also present, as secondary minerals filling amygdales and veins, are prehnite, pumpellyite, and secondary amphibole. Two mineral assemblages were identified which provide important information about metamorphic conditions (temperature, reaction progress, and fluid properties): (1) heulandite + analcime + quartz; and (2) laumontite + albite + quartz + prehnite + pumpellyite ± amphibole. The types of and relations between minerals in the first assemblage suggest the occurrence of low-temperature hydrothermal metamorphism in the zeolite facies at ~125°C, whereas the second assemblage was metamorphosed at 200°C. The composition and variability of the mineral assemblages in the study area suggest that, due to slow reaction rates, the low-temperature transformations and mineral assemblages were influenced not only by temperature but also by local rock composition, fluid-rock ratio, and fluid chemistry.

Keywords

Chlorite/smectiteLow-temperature Hydrothermal MetamorphismPrehnitePumpellyiteRomaniaSouth Apuseni MountainsZeolites
Type
Article
Information
Clays and Clay Minerals , Volume 60 , Issue 1 , February 2012 , pp. 1 - 17
Copyright
Copyright © Clay Minerals Society 2012

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