Synkinematic growth of tourmaline on brittle-ductile normal faults, despotiko island, aegean sea, greece

Author(s)
Andreas Ertl, Erich Draganits, Bernhard Grasemann, Theodoros Ntaflos, Gerald Giester, Ekkehart Tillmanns
Abstract

Synkinematic tourmaline and quartz growth on slickensides of brittle-ductile normal fault planes was studied by electron-microprobe analysis and X-ray crystallographic methods. The faults show top-to-the-southwest sense of shear and cross-cut mylonitic gneisses of the Cycladic Blueschist Unit on Despotiko Island, located southwest of Antiparos, in the Cyclades, Greece. The black tourmaline crystals, up to 180 mm in length and 50 mm in diameter, form slickenside fibers on these fault planes and therefore have grown during fault slip. They record a chemical variation from (X)(Na0.6Ca0.20 square(0.14)) Y(Fe2+ Mg-1.17(0.92) Al0.78Ti4+ Mn-0.12(2+) (0.01)) (Z)(Al5.00Mg1.00) (BO3)(3) (T)(Si5.95Al0.05)O-18 (V)(OH)(3) W[(OH)(0.88)F-0.12] to (X)(square 0.50Na0.48Ca0.02) (Y)(Fe2+ Al-1.75(1.31) Mn-2i Ti-0.02(4+) (0.01)) (Z)(Al5.49Mg0.51) (BO3)(3) (T)(Si5.98Al0.02)O-18 (V)(OH)(3) (W)(OH). The tourmaline compositions belong to the foitite schorl - dravite series. On the basis of (X)square-X-Mg, (X)square-Ca, Ca-X-Mg relationships and significant chemical differences between analogous and antilogous poles, these tourmalines most likely grew at low- to medium-grade metamorphic conditions, corresponding to crystallization temperatures between 300 and 400 +/- 50 degrees C. This is consistent with the low amounts of ([4]) Al and F in these tourmalines, the observation of almost completely chloritized biotite near the slickensides, and the deformation microstructures of quartz in the fault. Together with structural measurements in the field, these data suggest that the tourmaline slickenside fibers crystallized during a late stage of overall NE-SW-oriented extensional exhumation, bringing the rocks from lower-greenschist facies conditions to the brittle-ductile transition zone.

Organisation(s)
Department of Mineralogy and Crystallography, Department of Geology, Department of Lithospheric Research
External organisation(s)
Technische Universität Wien
Journal
The Canadian Mineralogist
Volume
49
Pages
105-116
No. of pages
12
ISSN
0008-4476
Publication date
2011
Peer reviewed
Yes
Austrian Fields of Science 2012
105116 Mineralogy
Portal url
https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/7495e684-6ff6-42c4-a9df-fa858ce741a7