Thorium distribution in the crust: outcrop and grain-scale perspectives

Abstract

The spatial distribution of heat producing elements (K, U, and Th) in the continental crust has long-term implications for the thermal and physical evolution of orogens. Heat producing elements, in particular Th, are most abundant in metasedimentary rock types. As such, these rock types have a significant control on the spatial distribution of heat production in the crust. The major host of the heat producing element thorium in pelitic metasedimentary rocks is the REE–Th phosphate monazite. We present in-field gamma ray spectrometry (in-field GRS) data integrated with grain-scale electron probe microanalysis data to reveal grain to terrane scale links in thorium distribution. In-field GRS data shows that thorium is not depleted in granulite facies residual rocks that have lost melt with respect to their subsolidus counterparts. Concurrently, the bulk thorium budget of monazite is approximately uniform within samples and if anything increases with increasing metamorphic grade. Monazite average grain size increases with metamorphic grade and prograde cores are largely preserved in granulite facies samples. Thorium is preserved in residual metasediments after melting and melt loss implying that even when melting and melt extraction is efficient it does not strip Th from granulite facies rocks.