HR: 0830h
AN: V51H-0375    [PDF]
TI: Groundwater Paleohydrology Using Microsample Sr Isotopic Data
AU: * Farmer, G
EM: farmer@cires.colorado.edu
AF: Dept. of Geological Sciences and CIRES, Campus Box 399, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309 United States
AU: Fritz, D E
EM: fritzd@cires.colorado.edu
AF: Dept. of Geological Sciences and CIRES, Campus Box 399, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309 United States
AB: Physical microsampling of silicate alteration phases produced during past episodes of groundwater flow, combined with Sr isotopic data, can be used to determine the age of the alteration phases and to define paleogroundwater flow paths. For example, we have obtained microsamples of secondary adularia present in the K-metasomatized, mid-Tertiary Lemitar Tuff in southern New Mexico. The microsamples (~25 micrograms) yield a Rb-Sr "errochron" (MSWD~29) of 6.3 Ma, and an 87Sr/86Sr (6 Ma)=0.7206. The adularia isotopic compositions are considerably higher than those determined for igneous plagioclase and sanidine phenocrysts in the same tuff (0.710), or for the tuff matrix, and indicate that the radiogenic Sr incorporated into the adularia was introduced to the tuff during alteration. Na-Ca sulfates present in playa deposits in the Tertiary Popotosa Formation have Sr isotopic compositions similar to the unaltered tuffs, and not the adularia, and suggest that the fluids responsible for the K-metasomatism of the Lemitar Tuff were not down-flowing saline fluids originating from playa lakes in the Popotosa Basin. Instead, we argue that the fluids were generated during topographically driven flow of meteoric waters through high 87Sr/86Sr Precambrian basement-cored horsts generated during early Basin and Range extension in this area. These data illustrate the utility of such Sr isotopic information in investigations of paleogroundwater flow and we are currently extending the technique to study the origin of the multiple low-T groundwater flow events recorded in the various secondary silicate, sulfate, and carbonate phases present in the Late Paleozoic Fountain Formation in northern Colorado.
DE: 1035 Geochronology
DE: 1040 Isotopic composition/chemistry
DE: 1045 Low-temperature geochemistry
SC: Volcanology, Geochemistry, Petrology [V]
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting