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Time calibration of a PT-path from the Western Tauern Window, Eastern Alps: the problem of closure temperatures

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Abstract

New Hornblende K-Ar and 39Ar-40Ar and mica Rb-Sr and K-Ar ages are used to place specific timemarks on a well-constrained pressure-temperature path for the late Alpine metamorphism in the Western Tauern Window. After identification of excess 40Ar, the closure behavior of Ar in hornblende is compared with that of Sr and Ar in phengite and biotite. Samples were collected in three locations, whose maximum temperatures were 570° C (Zemmgrund), 550° C (Pfitscher Joch), and 500–540° C (Landshuter Hütte).

The average undisturbed age sequence found is: Phengite Rb-Sr (20 Ma)>hornblende K-Ar (18 Ma)>phengite K-Ar (15 Ma)>biotite Rb-Sr, K-Ar (13.3 Ma)>apatite FT (7 Ma). Except for the phengite Rb-Sr age, the significance of which is debatable, all ages are cooling ages. No compositional effects are seen for closure in biotite. Additionally, Rb-Sr phengite ages from shearzones possibly indicate continuous shearing from 20 to 15 Ma, with reservations regarding the validity of the initial Sr correction and possible variations of the closure temperatures. The obviously lower closure temperature (T c) for Ar in these hornblendes than for Sr in the unsheared phengites indicates that the T c sequence in the Western Tauern Window is different from those observed in other terrains. In spite of this discrepancy, valuable geological conclusions can be drawn if the application of closure temperatures is limited to this restricted area with similar T, P and \(P_{H_2 O}\): (1) All ages of samples located on equal metamorphic isotherms decrease from east to west by about 1 Ma which is the result of a westward tilting of the Tauern Window during uplift. (2) In a PT-path, the undisturbed cooling ages yield constantly decreasing uplift rates from 3.6 mm/a to 0.1 mm/a. (3) Use of recently published diffusion data for Ar in hornblende (T c=520° C) and biotite (T c=320° C) suggests an extrapolated phengite closure temperature for Sr at 550° C. This suggests that the prograde thermal metamorphism at this tectonic level of the Tauern Window lasted until some 20 Ma ago.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Kristallographie und Petrographie, ETH-Zentrum, CH-8092, Zürich, Switzerland

    F. v. Blanckenburg, H. Baur & R. H. Steiger

  2. Istituto di geocronologia e geochimica isotopica, CNR, Via Cardinale Maffi 36, I-56100, Pisa, Italy

    I. M. Villa

  3. Lehrstuhl für angewandte Mineralogie und Geochemie, TU München, Lichtenbergstrasse 4, D-8046, Garching, Federal Republic of Germany

    G. Morteani

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  1. F. v. Blanckenburg
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v. Blanckenburg, F., Villa, I.M., Baur, H. et al. Time calibration of a PT-path from the Western Tauern Window, Eastern Alps: the problem of closure temperatures. Contr. Mineral. and Petrol. 101, 1–11 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00387196

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