Episodic shear zone associated fluid flow in the Curnamona Province, South Australia

Abstract

Two distinct generations of fluid flow associated with shear zone activity have been identified in Willyama Supergroup rocks of the southern Curnamona Province in northeastern South Australia. Fluids in the first event are inferred to have been sourced from the devolatilisation of Willyama Supergroup metasedimentary rocks during prograde metamorphism associated with the (1.61-1.58 Ga) Mesoproterozoic Olarian Orogeny. The second episode of fluid flow occurred during the (c. 500 Ma) Cambrian Delamerian Orogeny and resulted in localised rehydration of the Willyama Supergroup. Fluids were isotopically light and most likely sourced from prograde Delamerian metamorphism and dehydration of fault rocks and entrained meteoric waters that originally were involved in (c. 700 Ma) Neoproterozoic Adelaidean rifting. A key outcome of this study is the identification of this previously unrecognised fluid flow system that was active during the Delamerian Orogeny. © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.