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Long-term fluid circulation in extensional faults in the central Catalan Coastal Ranges: P–T constraints from neoformed chlorite and K-white mica

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Abstract

The neoformation of chlorite and K-white mica in fault rocks from two main faults of the central Catalan Coastal Ranges, the Vallès and the Hospital faults, has allowed us to constrain the P–T conditions during fault evolution using thermodynamic modeling. Crystallization of M1 and M2 muscovite and microcline occured as result of deuteric alteration during the exhumation of the pluton (290 °C > T > 370 °C) in the Permian. After that, three tectonic events have been distinguished. The first tectonic event, attributed to the Mesozoic rifting, is characterized by precipitation of M3 and M4 phengite together with chlorite and calcite C1 at temperatures between 190 and 310 °C. The second tectonic event attributed to the Paleogene compression has only been identified in the Hospital fault with precipitation of low-temperature calcite C2. The shortcut produced during inversion of the Vallès fault was probably the responsible for the lack of neoformed minerals within this fault. Finally, the third tectonic event, which is related to the Neogene extension, is characterized in the Vallès fault by a new generation of chlorite, associated with calcite C4 and laumontite, formed at temperatures between 125 and 190 °C in the absence of K-white mica. Differently, the Hospital fault is characterized by the precipitation of calcite C3 during the syn-rift stage at temperatures around 150 °C and by low-temperature fluids precipitating calcites C5, C6 and PC1 during the post-rift stage. During the two extensional events (Mesozoic and Neogene), faults acted as conduits for hot fluids producing anomalous high geothermal gradients (50 °C/km minimum).

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Acknowledgments

We thank Anne-Marie Boullier for discussion and useful comments during thin section description. We are grateful with Jordi Illa for sample preparations and with the Thin Section Service of the Universitat de Barcelona. The stable isotopy, the electron microprobe, and the SEM analyses were carried out at “Serveis Científico-Tècnics” of the Universitat de Barcelona. The authors also want to thank Delphine Charpentier and an anonymous referee for their constructive reviews, which helped to improve the quality of the manuscript. This research was performed within the framework of DGICYT Spanish Project CGL2010-18260, Grup Consolidat de Recerca “Geologia Sedimentària” (2009SGR-1451) and the grants 2010BE1 00708 and 2010FI_B2 00179 supported by the Comissionat per a Universitats i Recerca del Departament d’Innovació, Universitats i Empresa de la Generalitat de Catalunya i el Fons Social Europeu.

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  1. Departament de Geoquímica, Petrologia i Prospecció Geològica, Facultat de Geologia, Universitat de Barcelona (UB), Martí i Franqués s/n, 08028, Barcelona, Spain

    Irene Cantarero, Gemma Alías, Anna Travé & Vinyet Baqués

  2. Institute of Geology, University of Bern, Baltzestrasse 1 + 3, Bern, CH-3012, Switzerland

    Pierre Lanari

  3. ISTerre, Université de Grenoble I, CNRS, 1381 Rue de la Piscine, 38041, Grenoble, France

    Olivier Vidal

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  1. Irene Cantarero
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Cantarero, I., Lanari, P., Vidal, O. et al. Long-term fluid circulation in extensional faults in the central Catalan Coastal Ranges: P–T constraints from neoformed chlorite and K-white mica. Int J Earth Sci (Geol Rundsch) 103, 165–188 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-013-0963-8

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