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Contenuto archiviato il 2022-12-23

An oxygen isotope investigation of accessory phases as a key for reconstruction of rock-forming processes

Obiettivo

The oxygen isotopic composition of minerals is sensitive indicators for conditions of their formation. Until now, stable isotope studies largely have been focused on rock-forming minerals. Far less attention has been paid to accessory phases which are difficult to obtain in analytical amounts and which in many cases are difficult to decompose for isotopic analysis.

Many rock - forming minerals can hardly preserve oxygen isotope ratios acquired during their formation due to later exchange processes. Preliminary results on some accessory phases (e.g. zircon) show very low mobility of oxygen and hence the potential of accessory phases to "look through" secondary processes in order to evaluate the conditions of primary processes, especially in high-grade terrains. Moreover, rock-forming minerals usually give little temporal constraints. Accessory minerals, however, frequently are the carriers of radiogenic isotopes and thus can be used to obtain age information. Therefore, an attempt to utilize different (radiogenic and stable) isotopic systems in one and the same accessory mineral could serve as a most promising tool to relate geochronological "events" with geological and petrological data.

The aim of this project is to work out the base for use of accessory phases in stable isotope geochemistry. The main objectives of the planned study include
(i) obtaining new data on oxygen isotopic fractionations between accessory phases and rock-forming minerals in rocks of different origin;
(ii) development of new calibrations of oxygen isotopic geothermometers including accessory phases;
(iii) determinations of oxygen mobility in accessory phases in relation to geological processes in comparison with mobility of elements used for dating (U-Pb, Sm-Nd, Rb-Sr).

An attempt will be also made to reconstruct thermal and fluid evolution of high-grade metamorphic and ultrametamorphic Precambrian rocks (case studies from the Svecofennian Shield, South-West Greenland, East Antarctica, and the Ukrainian Shield) using oxygen isotopic distribution between accessory phases and other minerals in combination with petrological, geochronological and geochemical data. The planned studies should thus provide new insight into the origin and the time - temperature - fluid history of rocks in high-grade terrains, which in turn represent the key for the understanding of the geodynamic processes in the Earth crust.

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Meccanismo di finanziamento

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Coordinatore

Universitat Bonn
Contributo UE
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Indirizzo
Poppelsdorfer Schloss
53115 Bonn
Germania

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Partecipanti (4)