Paper No. 4
Presentation Time: 9:45 AM

ISOTOPIC DISEQUILIBRIUM AND A GARNET RECORD OF SUBDUCTION METASOMATISM IN METACHERT FROM CATALINA ISLAND, CALIFORNIA


DOBBINS, J.W.1, CAMERON, E.D.2, PAGE, F. Zeb3, SPICUZZA, M.J.4 and VALLEY, J.W.4, (1)Earth & Environmental Science, New Mexico Tech, 801 Leroy St, Socorro, NM 87801, (2)Geology, Oberlin College, 52 West Lorain Street, Oberlin, OH 44074, (3)Department of Geology, Oberlin College, 52 West Lorain Street, Oberlin, OH 44074, (4)Geoscience, University of Wisconsin, 1215 West Dayton Street, Madison, WI 53706, ecameron@oberlin.edu

Sedimentary veneers on subducting plates are important contributors to mélange zones in subduction systems, but detailed work on fluid flow through these lithologies is lacking. Metacherts from the Catalina Schist subduction complex (CA) provide opportunities to study these interactions.

Garnet quartzite on Catalina Island is found as blocks in mélange or more rarely in coherent units, and is predominantly quartz (55-80%) layered with garnet, chlorite, mica (ms ± bt ± stp), and rutile. Some samples have minor (<5%) apatite, amphibole, pyrite, and zircon. Garnet and quartz were analyzed for δ18O by laser fluorination from 11 blocks in mélange and 2 coherent outcrops from the Catalina amphibolite unit.

Quartz from mélange blocks is relatively homogeneous in δ18O (13.2‰-14.7‰ VSMOW), consistent with previous work demonstrating wide-scale isotopic homogenization by fluids. δ18O values of garnet (homogeneous in cations, Alm50Pyp29Sps10Grs11) are more varied (10.5‰-16.0‰). Most garnet-quartz fractionations are reversed, and all represent disequilibrium except one sample that yields 685˚C, which is consistent with existing temperature estimates, but may be fortuitous. The samples from coherent layers have higher δ18O quartz (16.4,16.9‰) disequilibrium garnet-quartz fractionations (δ18O grt = 15.1,17.7‰), the garnets are Mn rich & Mg poor relative to mélange samples and show strong cation zoning (Alm41-44Pyp12-13Sps30-34Grs16-9).

The likely cause for the observed disequilibrium is variable isotopic exchange with fluids migrating up the subduction channel. Quartz recrystallizing in high fluid/rock ratios would homogenize to δ18O values in equilibrium with the fluid. Garnet, which is refractory to recrystallization and has slow oxygen diffusion rates, preserves earlier, higher δ18O signatures in their cores while rims record later growth with δ18O in equilibrium with the fluid. Preliminary ion microprobe work on one sample records δ18O = 25‰ cores, 18‰ mantles and 10‰ rims, suggesting that variable bulk δ18O of garnet represents variable zoning histories. Lower permeability of coherent layers may have resulted in lower fluid/rock ratios explaining differing fluid histories. A detailed study of isotopic zoning in metasedimentary garnets will provide a fuller picture of fluid flow in subduction zones.