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Fluid flow paths and mechanisms of fluid infiltration in carbonates during contact metamorphism: the Beinn an Dubhaich aureole, Skye
Author(s) -
HOLNESS M. B.
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
journal of metamorphic geology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.639
H-Index - 114
eISSN - 1525-1314
pISSN - 0263-4929
DOI - 10.1111/j.1525-1314.1997.00005.x
Subject(s) - geology , infiltration (hvac) , metasomatism , metamorphic rock , metamorphism , geochemistry , calcite , fluid dynamics , mineralogy , petrology , composite material , mantle (geology) , materials science , physics , mechanics
A textural study of marbles from the Beinn an Dubhaich granite contact aureole, Skye, has shown that mass transport by diffusion was probably negligible during the metamorphic event, and that the bulk of the carbonates reacted as a consequence of silica metasomatism, permitting the use of calcsilicates as a tracer for fluid infiltration pathways. Fracture‐controlled infiltration was predominant in undeformed marbles, whereas pervasive infiltration occurred during synmetamorphic ductile deformation. Some calcite marbles contain disseminated unoriented calcsilicate minerals that are associated with neither fractures nor a ductile deformation fabric, consistent with an origin via infiltration of fluid along an interconnected grain‐edge porosity. The inference of limited pervasive infiltration of undeformed carbonates is consistent with predictions based on experimentally determined fluid–solid dihedral angles.