Abstract
Research over the last four decades on carbonate rocks of the Waterville limestone, Maine, U.S.A., has contributed to the development of both concepts and methodologies for understanding fuid-rock interaction during regional metamorphism, including: (1) buffering of fluid composition by mineral reactions, (2) infiltration of carbonate rocks by aqueous fluids, (3) petrologic fluid-rock ratios, (4) infiltration-driven metamorphism, (5) one- and two-dimensional continuum models for coupled fluid flow and mineral reaction, (6) time-integrated fluid fluxes, and (7) channelized, horizontal fluid flow in the direction of increasing temperature within chemically isolated layers. Disagreement between the last concept and both hydrodynamic models for metamorphic fluid flow and empirical evidence for homogenization of fluid composition at a scale much larger than layer thickness motivated development of the latest models for coupled fluid flow and mineral reaction in the Waterville limestone. The new models consider a flow medium composed of layers that differ in the initial amounts and compositions of minerals, both horizontal flow in the direction of increasing temperature and vertical flow in the direction of decreasing pressure and temperature, significant but imperfect homogenization of fluid composition across layering by CO2-H2O interdiffusion, and infiltration by fluids that are spatially variable in composition on the kilometer scale with CO2 content increasing with increasing grade of metamorphism. The new models reproduce measured progress of the biotite-forming reaction in the Waterville limestone over a range of spatial scales spanning six orders of magnitude, from differences in reaction progress of up to a factor of ~100 between adjacent centimeter-thick layers to the coexistence of mineral reactants and products over a distance of ~13 km parallel to the metamorphic field gradient. Results imply that the present spatial distributions of reaction progress represent a steady state achieved when rocks closely approached equilibrium with the infiltrating fluid during metamorphism. The new models resolve what for many years appeared to be fundamental discrepancies among petrologic data for regionally metamorphosed carbonate rocks, hydrodynamic models of regional metamorphism, and the length scales of mass transport of volatiles across layering by diffusion.
Acknowledgments
This research was supported by the National Science Foundation (grant number EAR-1118713). I warmly thank Jay Ague, Lukas Baumgartner, Mike Bickle, Katy Evans, Brooks Hanson, Peter Nabelek, Doug Rumble, and Danny Rye, all of my Ph.D. students, and many others for contributing over the last 40 yr to my better understanding of metamorphism. The paper was improved by the thoughtful, constructive reviews of Jay Ague, Katy Evans, and Sarah Penniston-Dorland.
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Manuscript handled by Sarah Penniston-Dorland.
© 2016 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Editorial
- The most-cited journal in mineralogy and petrology (and what scientists can learn from baseball)
- Fluids in the Crust
- Fluids in the crust during regional metamorphism: Forty years in the Waterville limestone
- Research Article
- Remanent magnetization, magnetic coupling, and interface ionic configurations of intergrown rhombohedral and cubic Fe-Ti oxides: A short survey
- Research Article
- Are covalent bonds really directed?
- Dana Medal Paper
- Constraints on the early delivery and fractionation of Earth’s major volatiles from C/H, C/N, and C/S ratios
- Crossroads in Earth and Planetary Materials
- Octahedral chemistry of 2:1 clay minerals and hydroxyl band position in the near-infrared: Application to Mars
- Special Collection: Advances in Ultrahigh-Pressure Metamorphism
- Multi-stage barite crystallization in partially melted UHP eclogite from the Sulu belt, China
- Spinels Renaissance: The Past, Present, and Future of those Ubiquitous Minerals and Materials
- Crystal chemistry of spinels in the system MgAl2O4-MgV2O4-Mg2VO4
- Spinels Renaissance: The Past, Present, and Future of those Ubiquitous Minerals and Materials
- Magnetite spherules in pyroclastic iron ore at El Laco, Chile
- Special Collection: Apatite: A Common Mineral, Uncommonly Versatile
- Evidence for dissolution-reprecipitation of apatite and preferential LREE mobility in carbonatite-derived late-stage hydrothermal processes
- Special Collection: Apatite: A Common Mineral, Uncommonly Versatile
- Compositional variation of apatite from rift-related alkaline igneous rocks of the Gardar Province, South Greenland
- Special Collection: Perspectives on Origins and Evolution of Crustal Magmas
- Dynamics and thermodynamics of magma mixing: Insights from a simple exploratory model
- Special Collection: From Magmas to Ore Deposits
- Geochemistry, petrologic evolution, and ore deposits of the Miocene Bodie Hills Volcanic Field, California and Nevada
- Research Article
- Recognizing sulfate and phosphate complexes chemisorbed onto nanophase weathering products on Mars using in-situ and remote observations
- Research Article
- Crystallographic orientation relationships in host–inclusion systems: New insights from large EBSD data sets
- Research Article
- In-situ infrared spectroscopic studies of hydroxyl in amphiboles at high pressure
- Research Article
- Confined water in tunnel nanopores of sepiolite: Insights from molecular simulations
- Research Article
- Equation of state of the high-pressure Fe3O4 phase and a new structural transition at 70 GPa
- Research Article
- Reflectance spectroscopy of chromium-bearing spinel with application to recent orbital data from the Moon
- Research Article
- Temperature dependences of the hyperfine parameters of Fe2+ in FeTiO3 as determined by 57Fe-Mössbauer spectroscopy
- Letter
- Accurate predictions of iron redox state in silicate glasses: A multivariate approach using X-ray absorption spectroscopy
- Research Article
- New Mineral Names
Articles in the same Issue
- Editorial
- The most-cited journal in mineralogy and petrology (and what scientists can learn from baseball)
- Fluids in the Crust
- Fluids in the crust during regional metamorphism: Forty years in the Waterville limestone
- Research Article
- Remanent magnetization, magnetic coupling, and interface ionic configurations of intergrown rhombohedral and cubic Fe-Ti oxides: A short survey
- Research Article
- Are covalent bonds really directed?
- Dana Medal Paper
- Constraints on the early delivery and fractionation of Earth’s major volatiles from C/H, C/N, and C/S ratios
- Crossroads in Earth and Planetary Materials
- Octahedral chemistry of 2:1 clay minerals and hydroxyl band position in the near-infrared: Application to Mars
- Special Collection: Advances in Ultrahigh-Pressure Metamorphism
- Multi-stage barite crystallization in partially melted UHP eclogite from the Sulu belt, China
- Spinels Renaissance: The Past, Present, and Future of those Ubiquitous Minerals and Materials
- Crystal chemistry of spinels in the system MgAl2O4-MgV2O4-Mg2VO4
- Spinels Renaissance: The Past, Present, and Future of those Ubiquitous Minerals and Materials
- Magnetite spherules in pyroclastic iron ore at El Laco, Chile
- Special Collection: Apatite: A Common Mineral, Uncommonly Versatile
- Evidence for dissolution-reprecipitation of apatite and preferential LREE mobility in carbonatite-derived late-stage hydrothermal processes
- Special Collection: Apatite: A Common Mineral, Uncommonly Versatile
- Compositional variation of apatite from rift-related alkaline igneous rocks of the Gardar Province, South Greenland
- Special Collection: Perspectives on Origins and Evolution of Crustal Magmas
- Dynamics and thermodynamics of magma mixing: Insights from a simple exploratory model
- Special Collection: From Magmas to Ore Deposits
- Geochemistry, petrologic evolution, and ore deposits of the Miocene Bodie Hills Volcanic Field, California and Nevada
- Research Article
- Recognizing sulfate and phosphate complexes chemisorbed onto nanophase weathering products on Mars using in-situ and remote observations
- Research Article
- Crystallographic orientation relationships in host–inclusion systems: New insights from large EBSD data sets
- Research Article
- In-situ infrared spectroscopic studies of hydroxyl in amphiboles at high pressure
- Research Article
- Confined water in tunnel nanopores of sepiolite: Insights from molecular simulations
- Research Article
- Equation of state of the high-pressure Fe3O4 phase and a new structural transition at 70 GPa
- Research Article
- Reflectance spectroscopy of chromium-bearing spinel with application to recent orbital data from the Moon
- Research Article
- Temperature dependences of the hyperfine parameters of Fe2+ in FeTiO3 as determined by 57Fe-Mössbauer spectroscopy
- Letter
- Accurate predictions of iron redox state in silicate glasses: A multivariate approach using X-ray absorption spectroscopy
- Research Article
- New Mineral Names