Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Stable and Sr-isotope evidence for fluid advection during thrusting of the glarus nappe (swiss alps)

  • Published:
Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

At the Glarus thrust in the Swiss Helvetic Alps, Permian Verrucano siltstones are allochthonously superimposed over Tertiary Flysch with an intermediate, about 1 metre thin layer of intensively deformed calcmylonite of probable Mesozoic provenance. The H−O−C- and Sr-isotope compositions of minerals from the calc-mylonite and strongly mylonitized Verrucano siltstones were determined in order to assess: (1) equilibrium-disequilibrium relationships; (2) isotopic composition of the fluid phase, its provenance and water/rock ratios; (3) sources of Sr in the calc-mylonite; (4) deformation temperatures. The isotopic composition of cale-mylonite micro-samples from five sites along the thrust varies from 22 to 12‰ and 2 to-10‰ for δ18O and δ13C respectively. All samples are 18O depleted by up to 14‰ relative to the presumed marine Helvetic carbonate protoliths (δ18O=25.4‰±2). A pronounced geographic trend of 18O depletion from 22‰ in the north to 12‰ in the south is observed. In calc-mylonites, 87Sr/86Sr ratios range from typical Mesozoic marine carbonate protolith signatures (0.708±0.005) to more radiogenic values as high as 0.722. A variable contribution of radiogenic 87Sr to the calc-mylonite is though to reflect interaction with fluids that aquired their Sr from the Hercynian granitic basement. Chlorites and muscovites from the calc-mylonite and Verrucano have uniform δ18O values but display δD values from-40 to-147%: the D-enriched values correspond to the primary metamorphic or formational fluids expelled during thrusting, whereas the D-depleted samples reflect selective H-isotope exchange with meteoric fluids during uplift of the Alpine belt. The isotopic composition of the calc-mylonites requires exchange with 18O—depleted, 87Sr—enriched fluids at very high water/rock ratios. Possible sources for these are dewatering of the underlying Flysch and/or metamorphic fluids, or formation brines expelled along the thrust from greater depth. These could be derived from compaction and dewatering of the Flysch in the northern part of the thrust; in the south, however, where Verrucano is thrust over 18O-rich Mesozoic carbonates, the extreme 18O depletion of the calc-mylonite has to be explained either by fluid advection within the Verrucano hanging wall and thrust zone or alternatively by exchange with metamorphic fluids from greater depth, expelled along the thrust. Microstructural evidence (abundant veins, stylolites, breccias) suggests that fluids played an important role in deformation and strain localization. Excepting albite all major components (quartz, chlorite, muscovite, calcite) are both dynamically recrystallized and crystallized as secondary minerals in pressure shadows and syn-mylonitic veins, indicating that these minerals were potentially open to oxygen isotopic exchange during alpine metamorphism and thrust deformation. Within the mylonitized Verrucano silstones, isolated quartz-chlorite and quartz-calcite fractionations yield temperatures of around 320°C close to values obtained from calcite-dolomite thermometry (355°C±30) and in agreement with the regional lower greenschist facies metamorphism. Quartz-calcite and quartz-albite fractionations indicate slightly lower temperatures around 250°C, owing to selective lower temperature re-equilibration of the calcite and albite during post peak metamorphism.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Ayalon A, Longstaffe FJ (1988) Oxygen isotope studies of diagenesis and pore-water evolution in the western Canada sedimentary basin: evidence from the upper Cretaceous basal Belly river sandstone, Alberta. J Sediment Petrol 58/3:489–505

    Google Scholar 

  • Baertschi P (1957) Messung und Deutung relativer Häufigkeitsvariationen von 18O und 13C in Karbonatgesteinen und Mineralien. Schweiz Mineral Petrogr Mitt. 37:73–152

    Google Scholar 

  • Baker AJ (1988) Stable isotope evidence for limited fluid infiltration of deep crustal rocks from the Ivrea Zone, Italy. Geology 16:492–495

    Google Scholar 

  • Baumgartner LP, Rumble D (1988) Transport of stable isotopes: I: development of a kinetic continuum theory for stable isotope transport. Contrib Mineral Petrol 98:417–430

    Google Scholar 

  • Bickle MJ, Baker AJ (1990) Advective-diffusive transport of isotopic fronts: an example from Naxos, Greece. Earth and Planet Sci Lett 97:78–93

    Google Scholar 

  • Bickle MJ, Chapman HJ (1990) Strontium and oxygen isotope decoupling in the Hercynian Trois Seigneurs Massif, Pyrénées: evidence for fluid circulation in a brittle regime. Contrib Mineral petrol 104:332–347

    Google Scholar 

  • Bottinga Y, Javoy M (1975) Oxygen isotope partitioning among the minerals in igneous and metamorphic rocks. Rev Geophys Space Phys 13:401–418

    Google Scholar 

  • Bradbury HJ, Woodwell GR (1987) Ancient fluid flow within foreland terrains. In: Goff JC, Williams BPJ (eds) Fluid flow in sedimentary basins and aquifers. Geol Soc Spec Publ 34: pp 87–102

  • Briegel U, Goetze C (1978) Estimates of differential stress recorded in the dislocation structure of Lochseiten limestone (Switzerland). Tectonophysics 48:61–76

    Google Scholar 

  • Brindley GW (1980) Quantitative X-ray mineral analyses of clays. In: Brindley GW, Brown G (eds), Crystal structures of clay minerals and their X-ray identification. Mineral Soc London, pp 411–438

  • Burke WH, Denison RE, Hetherington EA, Koepnick RB, Nelson HF, Otto JB (1982) Variation of seawater 87Sr/86Sr throughout Phanerozoic time. Geology 10:516–519

    Google Scholar 

  • Burkhard M, Kerrich R (1988) Fluid regimes in the deformation of the Helvetic nappes, Switzerland as inferred from stable isotope data. Contrib Minteral Petrol 99:416–429

    Google Scholar 

  • Burkhard M, Kerrich R (1990) Fluid-rock interactions during thrusting of the Glarus nappe — evidence from geochemical and stable isotope data. Schweiz Mincral Petrogr Mitt 70:77–82

    Google Scholar 

  • Cathles LM (1990) Scales and effects of fluid flow in the upper crust. Science 248:323–329

    Google Scholar 

  • Clauer N (1976) Géochimie isotopique du strontium des milieux sédimentaires. Université Louis Pasteur de Strasbourg, Mem 45

  • Clayton RN, Mayeda TK (1963) The use of bromine pentafluoride in the extraction of oxygen from oxides and silicates for isotopic analysis. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 27:43–52

    Google Scholar 

  • Clayton RN, O'Neil JR, Mayeda TK (1972) Oxygen isotope exchange between quartz and water. J Geophys Res 77:3057–3067

    Google Scholar 

  • Clayton RN, Goldsmith JR, Mayeda TK (1989) Oxygen isotope fractionation in quartz, albite, anorthite and calcite. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 53:725–733

    Google Scholar 

  • Connolly JA, Thompson AB (1989) Fluid and enthalpy production during regional metamorphism. Contrib Mineral Petrol 102:347–366

    Google Scholar 

  • DePaolo DJ (1986) Detailed record of the Neogene Sr isotopic evolution of seawater from DSDP Site 590b. Geology 14:103–106

    Google Scholar 

  • Desmons J, O'Neil JR (1978) Oxygen and hydrogen isotope compositions of eclogites and associated rocks from the E Sesia Zone (W Alps, Italy). Contrib Mineral Petrol 67:79–85

    Google Scholar 

  • Eslinger EV, Yeh HW (1986) Oxygen and hydrogen isotope geochemistry of Cretaceous bentonites and shales from the Disturbed Belt, Montana. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 50:59–68

    Google Scholar 

  • Ferry JM, Dipple GM (1991) Fluid flow, mineral reactions and metasomatism. Geology 19:211–214

    Google Scholar 

  • Fourcade S, Marquer D, Javoy M (1989) 18O/16O variations and fluid circulation in a deep shear zone: the case of the Alpine ultramylonites from the Aar massif (Central Alps, Switzerland). Chem Geol 77:119–131

    Google Scholar 

  • Frey M (1988) Discontinuous inverse metamorphic zonation, Glarus Alps, Switzerland: evidence from illite “crystallinity” data. Schweiz Mineral Petrogr Mitt 68:171–184

    Google Scholar 

  • Frey M, Hoefs J (1976) The isotopic composition of carbonaceous matter in a metamorphic profile from the Swiss Alps. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 40:945–951

    Google Scholar 

  • Frey M, Hunziker JC, O'Neil JR, Schwander HW (1976) Equilibrium-disequilibrium relations in the Monte Rosa granite, Western Alps: petrological, Rb-Sr and stable isotope data. Contrib Mineral Petrol 55:147–179

    Google Scholar 

  • Friedrichsen H, Morteani G (1979) Oxygen and hydrogen isotope studies on minerals from alpine fissures and their geneissic host rocks, W Tauern Window (Austria). Contrib Mineral Petrol 70:149–152

    Google Scholar 

  • Frueh-Green GL, Olgaard DL, Coli M (1991) Controls on fluid flow in metacarbonates during metamorphism and deformation: examples from the Carrara marbles, Apuane Alps, N Italy. Terra Abstracts 3:436

    Google Scholar 

  • Funk HP, Labhart T, Milnes AG, Pfiffner OA, Schaltegger U, Schindler C, Schmid SM, Trümpy R (1983) Bericht über die Jubiläumsexkursion “Mechanismus der Gebirgsbildung” der Schweiz Geol Ges. in das ost-und zentralschweizerische Helveukum und in das nördliche Aarmassiv vom 12–17 Sept. 1982. Eclogae Geol Helv 76:91–123

    Google Scholar 

  • Fyfe WS, Kerrich R (1985) Fluids and thrusting. Chem Geol 49:353–362

    Google Scholar 

  • Fyfe WS, Price NJ Thompson AB (1978) Fluids in the Earth's crust. Elsevier, Amsterdam

    Google Scholar 

  • Groshong RH, Pfiffner OA, Pringle LR (1984) Strain partitioning in the Helvetic thrust belt of eastern Switzerland from the leading edge to the internal zone. J Struct Geol 6:5–18

    Google Scholar 

  • Heim A (1921) Geologie der Schweiz Bd II. Tauchniz, Leizpig

    Google Scholar 

  • Hoefs J (1987) Stable isotope geochemistry. Springer, Berlin

    Google Scholar 

  • Hoefs J, Stalder HA (1977) The carbon sotope composition of CO2 bearing fluid inclusions in fissure quartz from the Central Alps. Schweiz Mineral Petrogr Mitt 57:329–347

    Google Scholar 

  • Hoernes S, Friedrichsen H (1978) Oxygen and hydrogen isotope study of the polymetamorphic area of the Northern Ötztal Stubai Alps. Contrib Mineral Petrol 67:305–315

    Google Scholar 

  • Hoernes S, Friedrichsen H (1980) Oxygen and hydrogen isotopic composition of Alpine and Pre-Alpine minerals in the Swiss Central Alps. Contrib Mineral Petrol 72:19–32

    Google Scholar 

  • Hsü KJ (1969) A preliminary analysis of the statics and kinetics of the Glarus overthrust. Eclogae Geol Helv 62:143–154

    Google Scholar 

  • Hubbert MK, Rubey WW (1959) Role of fluid pressure in mechanics of overthrust faulting. Geol Soc Am Bull 70:115–166

    Google Scholar 

  • Hunziker JC (1987) Radiogenic isotopes in very low grade metamorphism. In: Frey M (ed) Low temperature metamorphism. Blackie, Glasgow, pp 200–226

    Google Scholar 

  • Hunziker JC, Frey M, Clauer N, Dallmeyer RD, Friedrichsen H, Flehmig W, Hochstrasser K, Roggwiler P, Schwander H (1986) The evolution of illite to muscovite: mineralogical and isotopic data from the Glarus Alps Switzerland. Contrib Mineral Petrol 92:157–180

    Google Scholar 

  • Kerrich R (1986) Fluid transport in lineaments. Philos Trans R Soc London A 317:219–251

    Google Scholar 

  • Kerrich R, Allison I, Barnett RL, Moss S, Starkey J (1980) Microstructural and chemical transformations accompanying deformation of granite in a shear zone at Miéville, Switzerland; with implications for stress corrosion cracking and superplastic flow. Contrib Mineral Petrol 73:221–242

    Google Scholar 

  • Kerrich R, Latour TE, Willmore L (1984) Fluid participation in deep fault zones: evidence from geological, geochemical and 18O/16O relations. J Geophys Res 89:4331–4343

    Google Scholar 

  • Kullin M, Schmassmann H (1991) Isotopic composition of modern recharge. In: Pearson et al. (eds) Applied isotope hydrogeology. (Studies in evironmental science, vol 43) Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp 65–89

    Google Scholar 

  • Kyser TK (1987) Equilibrium fractionation factors for stable isotopes. In: Kyser TK (ed) Short course in stable isotope geochemistry of low temperature fluids. Mineral Assoc Can 13: pp 1–84

  • Longstaffe FJ (1987) Stable isotope studies in diagenetic processes. In: Kyser TK (ed) Short course in stable isotope geochemistry of low temperature fluids. Mineral Assoc Can 13:pp 187–257

    Google Scholar 

  • Marquer D, Burkhard M (in press) Fluid circulation, geochemical mass transfer and progressive deformation in the upper crust: examples of basement-cover relationships in the external crystalline massifs (central Alps Switzerland). J. Struct Geol Spec Vol (Montepellier conference)

  • Matsuhisa Y, Goldsmith JR, Clayton RN (1979) Oxygen isotopic fractionation in the system quartz-albite-anorthite-water. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 43:1131–1140

    Google Scholar 

  • McCaig AM (1989) Fluid flow through fault zones. Nature 340:600

    Google Scholar 

  • McCaig AM, Knipe RJ (1990) Mass-transport mechanisms in deforming rocks: recognition using microstructural and microchemical criteria. Geology 18:824–827

    Google Scholar 

  • McCaig AM, Wickham SM, Taylor HP (1990) Deep fluid circulation in Alpine shear zones, Pyrenees, France: field and oxygen isotope studies. Contrib Mineral Petrol 106:41–60

    Google Scholar 

  • McCrea JM (1950) The isotope chemistry of carbonates and a paleotemperature scale. J Chem Phys 18:849–857

    Google Scholar 

  • Milnes AG, Pfiffner OA (1980) Tectonic evolution of the Central Alps in the cross section St. Gallen-Como. Eclogae Geol Helv 73:619–633

    Google Scholar 

  • Oberholzer J (1933) Geologie der Glarner Alpen. Beitr Geol Karte Schweiz, NF 28, Schweiz Geol Komm

  • Ohmoto H (1986) Stable isotope geochemistry of ore deposits. In: Valley et al. (eds) Stable isotopes in high temperature geological processes. (Reviews in Mineralogy, vol 16) Mineral Soc Am Washington D.C., 491–560

    Google Scholar 

  • Oliver J (1986) Fluids expelled tectonically from orogenic belts: their role in hydrocarbon migration and other geologic phenomena. Geology 14:99–102

    Google Scholar 

  • Oliver J (1991) The spots and stains of plate tectonics. Earth Sci Rev 32:77–106

    Google Scholar 

  • O'Neil JR, Taylor HP Jr (1969) Oxygen isotope equilibrium between muscovite and water. J Geophys Res 74:6012–6022

    Google Scholar 

  • O'Neil JR, Clayton RN, Mayeda TK (1969) Oxygen isotope fractionation in divalent metal carbonates. J Chem Phys 51:5547–5558

    Google Scholar 

  • Pfiffner OA (1985) Displacements along thrust faults. Eclogae Geol Helv 78:313–333

    Google Scholar 

  • Pfiffner OA (1986) Evolution of the north Alpine foreland basin in the Central Alps. In: Allen PA, Homewood P (eds) Foreland basins. Spec Publ Int Assoc Sedimentol 8:219–228

  • Price RA (1988) The mechanical paradox of large overthrusts. Geol Soc Am Bull 100:1898–1908

    Google Scholar 

  • Richter R, Hoernes S (1988) The application of the increment method in comparison with experimentally derived and calculated O-isotope fractionations. Chem Erde 48:1–18

    Google Scholar 

  • Rye DM, Bradbury HJ (1988) Fluid flow in the crust: an example from a Pyrenean thrust ramp. Am J Sci 288:197–235

    Google Scholar 

  • Schmid SM (1975) The Glarus overthrust: field evidence and mechanical model. Eclogae Geol Helv 68:247–280

    Google Scholar 

  • Sheppard SMF (1986) Characterization and isotopic variations in natural waters. In: Valley JW et al. (eds) Stable isotopes in high temperature geological processes. (Reviews in Mineralogy, vol 16) Mineral Soc Am, Washington D.C, pp 165–183

    Google Scholar 

  • Sibson RH, Robert F, Poulson H (1988) High angle reverse faults, fluid pressure cycling and mesothermal gold-quartz deposits. Geology 16:551–555

    Google Scholar 

  • Siddans A (1979) Deformation, metamorphism and texture development in Permian mudstones of the Glarus Alps. Eclogae Geol Helv 72:601–621

    Google Scholar 

  • Suzouki T, Epstein S (1976) Hydrogen isotope fractionation between OH-bearing minerals and water. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 40:1229–1240

    Google Scholar 

  • Syers JK, Chapman SL, Jackson ML, Rex RW, Clayton RN (1968) Quartz isolation from rocks, sediments and soils for determination of oxygen isotope composition. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 32:1022–1025

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor HP Jr (1977) Water/rock interactions and the origin of H2O in granitic batholiths. J Geol Soc London 133:509–558

    Google Scholar 

  • Wedepohl KH (1978) Handbook of geochemistry, 5th edn. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Wenner DB, Taylor HP (1971) Temperatures of serpentinization of ultramafic rocks based on 18O/16O fractionation between coexisting serpentine and magnetite. Contrib Mineral Petrol 32:165–185

    Google Scholar 

  • Wickham SM, Taylor HP (1987) Stable isotope constraints on the origin and depth of penetration of hydrothermal fluids associated with Hercynian regional metamorphism and crustal anatexis in the Pyrenees. Contrib Mineral Petrol 95:255–268

    Google Scholar 

  • Zheng YF (1991) Cafculation of oxygen isotope fractionation in metal oxides. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 55:2299–2307

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut de Géologie, rue E. Argand 11, CH-2000, Neuchâtel, Switzerland

    M. Burkhard

  2. Department of Geological Sciences, University of Saskatchewan, S7N 0W0, Saskatoon, Sask, Canada

    R. Kerrich

  3. Department of Applied Physics, Curtin University of Technology, Perth, W. Australia

    R. Maas

  4. Department of Geology, University of Western Ontario, N6A 5B7, London, Ont., Canada

    W. S. Fyfe

Authors
  1. M. Burkhard
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. R. Kerrich
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. R. Maas
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. W. S. Fyfe
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Burkhard, M., Kerrich, R., Maas, R. et al. Stable and Sr-isotope evidence for fluid advection during thrusting of the glarus nappe (swiss alps). Contr. Mineral. and Petrol. 112, 293–311 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00310462

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00310462

Keywords

Search

Navigation