Fluid evolution during metamorphism and uplift of the massive sulfide deposits at Ducktown, Tennessee, U.S.A.

• Main Author: Hall, Donald Lewis
• Other Authors: Geology
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University 2015
• Subjects: LD5655.V856 1989.H343; Sulfide minerals > Tennessee > Ducktown; Sulfides > Tennessee > Ducktown
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10919/54186

The Ducktown mining district, located in the southeastern corner of Tennessee within the Blue Ridge Province of the southern Appalachians, contains some of the largest metamorphosed pyrrhotite-pyrite-rich massive sultide deposits in the Appalachian-Caledonian orogen. Oxygen isotope temperatures of 530±20°C are consistent with previous estimates based on mineral thermobarometers (540±40°C; 6-7 kb) suggesting that minerals attained oxygen isotopic equilibrium during peak metamorphism and underwent little retrograde exchange. Fluid inclusion and petrologic data do not support the previous interpretation that low δ¹⁸O zones near orebodies are synmetamorphic, rather, a premetamorphic origin is indicated. Integrated fluid/rock ratios were low enough during and after metamorphism that premetamorphic spatial variations in δ¹⁸O were retained. However, hydrogen and carbon isotopes were homogenized throughout the area during or before metamorphism. The low δ¹⁸O zones surrounding the orebodies appear to have formed during sea—fIoor hydrothermal activity associated with ore deposition. The δ¹⁸O value of the fluid responsible for ore deposition, assuming a temperature of 300°C, is calculated to be -1 to +2 per mil, consistent with the interpretation that the ore fluid was modified seawater. Calculation of theoretical C-O-H-S fluid speciation suggests that the fluid in equilibrium with clinopyroxene-bearing rocks was essentially H₂O+CO₂with XCO₂ = 0.10. However, primary fluid inclusions located in clinopyroxene contain signifticant quantities of CH₄. This discrepancy is explained by hydrogen diffusion into primary fluid inclusions and subsequent conversion of CO₂ to CH₄ during uplift in response to an fH₂ gradient between inclusion and matrix fluids. Low δD values of primary fluid inclusions are consistent with diffusive addition of isotopically light hydrogen after trapping. Secondary inclusions in metamorphic quartz record a complex uplift history involving a variety of fluids in the C-O-H-N-salt system. lsochores calculated for these inclusions constrain the uplift path to have been initially concave toward the temperature axis. Over the pressure range 2.3 to 1.0 kb the uplift path became nearly isothermal at 215±20°C. lmmiscible H₂O-CH₄-N₂-NaCl fluids present during the isothermal stage of the uplift history were derived during Alleghanian thrusting by expulsion of pore fluids and maturation of organic matter in lower plate sedimentary rocks proposed to underlie the deposits. Average uplift rates of 0.1 mm/yr are suggested by the uplift path and available geochronologic data. === Ph. D.