Mineral distribution within polymineralic veins in the Sanbagawa belt, Japan: implications for mass transfer during vein formation

Pelitic schists of the Sanbagawa metamorphic belt contain several types of polymineralic veins that formed during the late stages of exhumation. The vein mineral assemblages are quartz + albite + K-feldspar + chlorite ± calcite (Type I, II) and quartz + albite + calcite (Type III). Type I and II veins contain quartz and albite with stretched-crystal and elongate-blocky textures, respectively. The mineral species within Type I veins vary with compositional bands within the host rocks. Type III veins are characterized by euhedral to subhedral quartz grains with concentric zoning and a homogeneous distribution along the vein length. The vein textures vary depending on the crack aperture during multiple crack-seal events: <0.08 mm for Type I, and 0.5-10 mm for Type III. Type II veins show intermediate features between Type I and III veins in terms of mineral distribution (weak dependence on the host rock composition) and apparent crack aperture (less than 1-15 mm). These observations suggest a transition in the dominant transport mechanism of vein components with increasing crack aperture, from diffusion from host rocks to fluid advection along cracks.