Immiscible sulfide droplets in pseudotachylyte: Evidence for high temperature (>1200 °C) melts

Abstract: In the North Cascade Mountains, Washington, rocks that underwent friction melting commonly contained sulfide minerals, mostly pyrrhotite and pyrite. During pseudotachylyte melt formation, sulfides melted to form immiscible sulfide droplets present in five distinct textural settings. The largest droplets formed through melting of lithic clasts, whereas micron-scale sulfide droplets are common in many of the pseudotachylytes veins. Microprobe analysis indicates that nearly all droplets are pyrrhotite. The disappearance of pyrite indicates that melt temperatures must have exceeded 750 °C, but other indications suggest that the melt temperature must have been much higher. The extremely common presence of pyrrhotite droplets suggests that pyrrhotite from the protolith melted, requiring a minimum melt temperature of ∼1200 °C. In some samples, evidence for fluid-rich bubbles, and possible silicate spherules indicates three coexisting immiscible phases within the silicate melt. The presence of sulfide droplets appears to be common, especially in relatively low oxygen-fugacity melts that formed at shallow crustal levels. This can provide a good textural marker of melting and therefore of pseudotachylyte formation, especially where other indications of melting (i.e., high temperature microlites, vesicles, etc.) are lacking, and illustrates the extreme temperatures possible along frictionally sliding surfaces during seismic events. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]