Multidisciplinary characterization of fluid sources in ductile shear zones (Armorican Massif, Variscan belt, France)
Résumé
Ductile shear zones are sites of significant fluid circulation and hydrothermal alteration where
metamorphic, magmatic and surface-derived fluids meet. Characterization of the meteoric
source of crustal fluids can be used to better understand ore deposition and mineralization at
the orogen scale or for stable isotope paleoaltimetry reconstructions. Microstructural,
thermometry, geochronological and hydrogen (δD) and oxygen (δ18O) isotope data from
syntectonic peraluminous granites from ductile shear zones in the Armorican Massif permit to
determine the source of fluids present during deformation. Furthermore, they allow to study the
spatial and temporal evolution of localized deformation and fluid-rock interaction across these
Variscan fossil hydrothermal systems, including the timing and duration of fluid flow and watermineral
isotope exchange.
At the regional scale, a 41‰ difference in δDwater values amongst mylonitic leucogranite
emplaced along strike-slip and detachment zones highlights a mixing relationship between
metamorphic/magmatic fluids (δDwater ~ -33‰) and meteoric fluids with δDwater values as
low as -74‰. The mixing between surface-derived and deep fluids is further supported by fluid
inclusions aligned along synkinematic structural planes in quartz grains from detachment
footwalls. They contain very low to medium salinity water (0 to 7 wt% eq. NaCl) and have
intermediate δD and δ18O values.
We focus on the Quiberon detachment zone (QDZ) where synkinematic muscovite and
tourmaline crystallized and equilibrated with deuterium-depleted surface-derived fluids during
high-temperature deformation supported by titanium-in-muscovite thermometry and
microstructures. 40Ar/39Ar data on muscovite and U(-Th)/Pb geochronology on zircon,
monazite and apatite from syntectonic leucogranites, together with microstructural data,
suggest that meteoric fluid-rock-deformation interactions started at ~320 Ma and played a
major role in leaching uranium at ~305 Ma. U-Th/Pb data from migmatites located below
the QDZ strengthen the idea that meteoric fluids infiltration, detachment activity, syntectonic
leucogranite emplacement and migmatization were coeval and allowed the development of a
sustained hydrothermal system.