Oxygen and hydrogen isotope studies of plutonic granitic rocks

The primary deltaD values of the biotites and hornblendes in granitic batholiths are remarkably constant at about -50 to -85, identical to the values in regional metamorphic rocks, marine sediments and greenstones, and most weathering products in temperate climates. Therefore the primary water in these igneous rocks is probably not 'juvenile', but is ultimately derived by dehydration and/or partial melting of the lower crust or subducted lithosphere. Most granitic rocks have delta 18O = +7.0 to +10.0, probably indicating significant involvment of high-18O metasedimentary or altered volcanic rocks in the melting process; such an origin is demanded for many other granodiorites and tonalites that have delta 18O = +10 to +13. Gigantic meteoric-hydrothermal convective circulation systems were established in the epizonal portions of all batholiths, locally producing very low delta 18O values (particularly in feldspars) during subsolidus exchange. Some granitic plutons in such environments also were emplaced as low-18O magmas probably formed by melting or assimilation of hydrothermally altered roof rocks. However, the water/rock ratios were typically low enough that over wide areas the only evidence for meteoric water exchange in the batholiths is given by low D/H ratios (deltaK as low as -180); for example, because of latitudinal isotopic variations in meteoric waters, as one moves north through the Cordilleran batholiths of western North America an increasingly higher proportion of the granitic rocks have deltaD values lower than -120. The lowering of deltaD values commonly corelates with re-setting of K-Ar ages. (Auth.)