Carbon isotopic thermometry calibrated by dolomite-calcite solvus temperatures

The temperature dependence of carbon isotopic fractionations between calcite and graphite, and between dolomite and graphite are calibrated by the calcite-dolomite solvus geothermometry using marbles collected from the contact metamorphic aureole in the Kasuga area, central Japan. The carbon isotopic fractionations systematically decrease with increasing metamorphic temperature. The concordant relationships between the fractionations and solvus temperatures which are presented, are approximately linear with T-2 over the temperature range, 400 deg to 680 deg C. They suggest that carbon isotopic equilibria between carbonates and graphite were attained in many cases. The equation for the calcite-graphite system has a slope steeper than Bottinga's (1969) results. It is, however, in good agreement with that of Valley and O'Neil (1981) in the temperature range from 600 deg to 800 deg C. Because of the relatively high sensitivity to temperature, these isotopic geothermometers are useful for determining the temperatures in moderate- to high-grade metamorphosed carbonate rocks. (author)