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Muscovite K-Ar ages of the Sanbagawa schists, Japan and argon depletion during cooling and deformation

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Abstract

Seventy muscovites from schists in the Sanbagawa terrain in central Shikoku were dated by the K-Ar method. The muscovite ages are consistently older with increasing metamorphic grade. Within the same zone the ages are significantly younger in schists which have been more severely deformed. These K-Ar age variations could be due to systematic argon depletion during deformation i.e., to the dynamic recrystallization of muscovites during ductile deformation that formed a large-scale recumbent fold during the uplift and cooling. Argon loss was greater in schists that were more extensively deformed and in the lower grade zone that experienced a longer period of low-temperature deformation than the higher grade zone. The relationships between age and grain size in a pelitic schist suggest that coarse-grained muscovites lost more argon than the finegrained ones. There was no significant resetting of ages in the vicinity of major strike-slip faults, such as the Median Tecotonic Line or near thrust faults. The combination of geochronological and geological data constrains the cooling rate of the Sanbagawa schists to 9–12° C/Ma in the oligoclase-biotite zone in central Shikoku, Japan.

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  1. Hiruzen Research Institute, Okayama University of Science, 1-1 Ridai-cho, 700, Okayama, Japan

    Tetsumaru Itaya & Hideo Takasugi

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  1. Tetsumaru Itaya
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  2. Hideo Takasugi
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Itaya, T., Takasugi, H. Muscovite K-Ar ages of the Sanbagawa schists, Japan and argon depletion during cooling and deformation. Contr. Mineral. and Petrol. 100, 281–290 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00379739

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