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Interpretation of Pb isotope compositions of galenas from the Midland Valley of Scotland and adjacent regions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 November 2011

John Parnell  and
Ian Swainbank
John Parnell
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Queen's University, Belfast BT7 INN, Northern Ireland.
Ian Swainbank
Affiliation:
Isotope Geology Unit, British Geological Survey, 64–78 Grays Inn Road, London WC1 8NG, England.
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Abstract

The lead isotope compositions of 61 galenas from central and southern Scotland vary markedly between different regions. Most galenas from the southern Grampian Highlands yield isotope ratios (206Pb/204Pb 17·77 ± 0·25, 207Pb/204Pb 15·47 ± 0·05, 208Pb/204Pb 37·63 ± 0·26) less radiogenic than those from Midland Valley galenas (18·22 ± 0·12, 15·55 ± 0·05, 38·13 ± 0·14) whilst galena lead from the Southern Uplands (18·28 ± 0·12, 15·56 ± 0·03, 38·21 ± 0·18) is more radiogenic than that from the southern Midland Valley (18·12 ± 0·06, 15·52 ± 0·02, 38·06 ±0·10). The change in isotopie composition across the Highland Boundary fault reflects the presence or absence of Dalradian rocks which included a magmatic component of lead. Galenas from the Dalradian sequence in Islay, where igneous rocks are lacking, have a composition (18·14±0·04, 15·51±0·01, 37·90±0·02) more like Midland Valley galenas. In the Southern Uplands, galenas yield lead isotope ratios similar to those of feldspars from Caledonian granite (18·30 ± 0·14, 15·57 ± 0·04, 37·96 ± 0·15) analysed by Blaxland et al. (1979). The similar ratios reflect the incorporation of Lower Palaeozoic sedimentary rocks into the granite magma, rather than a granitic source for the mineralisation. The granites were then thermal-structural foci for later mineralising fluids which leached metals from the surrounding rocks. Within the Midland Valley, galenas hosted in Lower Devonian-Lower Carboniferous lavas are notably more radiogenic (18·31 ±0·12, 15·58 ± 0·06, 38·20 ± 0·16) than sediment-hosted galenas (18·14 ± 0·07, 15·52 ± 0·02, 38·08 ± 0·10). The Devonian lavas at least may have inherited lead from subducted (? Lower Palaeozoic) rock incorporated in the primary magma.

Keywords

Dalradian Supergroupgranitemagmamineralisationplumbotectonicssubduction
Type
Regional framework
Information
Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of The Royal Society of Edinburgh , Volume 75 , Issue 2: Deep Geology of the Midland Valley of Scotland and Adjacent Regions. Bicentenary Symposium , 1984 , pp. 85 - 96
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Society of Edinburgh 1984

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