Tourmaline as a petrogenetic indicator in the Pfitsch Formation, Western Tauern Window, Eastern Alps

Abstract Tourmaline is a common accessory mineral in the metasedimentary Pfitsch Formation located in the Pfitscher Joch (Passo de Vizze) area in the Tauern Window of the Eastern Alps. These post-Variscan metasedimentary units experienced peak metamorphic conditions of ~ 550 °C, 1.0 GPa during the Alpine orogeny. Tourmaline is most abundant in a ~ 25 m thick unit of feldspathic gneiss (~ 20–200 μg/g B), where it occurs as idiomorphic crystals typically 10 mm in length. The abundance and size of the tourmaline crystals increase near coarse-grained quartzofeldspathic segregations (~ 1200 μg/g B), reflecting the mobilization and concentration of B by metamorphic fluids. Near segregations, individual tourmaline crystals have up to three growth zones, recording pro- (~ 350–500 °C, 0.7–1.0 GPa) and retrograde (~ 400 °C, 0.2 GPa) growth as determined by combining textural information and sector-zoning thermometry. Retrograde tourmaline occurs as individual crystals as well as overgrowths on prograde tourmaline crystals, especially on the surface of extensional fractures formed by E–W extension during regional decompression. Tourmaline in the Pfitsch Formation is dravitic with a variable Fe content that correlates with the Fe content of its respective host unit. Charge balance calculations suggest that a significant proportion of Fe in tourmaline is ferric, supporting the interpretation of a subaerial continental sedimentary protolith. Tourmaline near segregations has the highest inferred ferric iron content, which decreases across growth zones, potentially reflecting a reduction of the fluid during metamorphism. The Mg/(Mg + Fe) ratio increases with prograde tourmaline growth and decreases in retrograde overgrowths. In contrast, the Ca/(Ca + Na) ratio increases gradually from 0.05 to 0.20 with prograde growth and continues to increase up to 0.25 in the retrograde overgrowths, recording the maximum Ca/(Ca + Na) ratio of the fluid during Alpine metamorphism. The metasediments of the Pfitsch Formation have very low and variable whole-rock δ 11 B values (− 14.1 to − 33.6‰), with the highest values (− 17.7 to − 14.1‰) found in B-rich samples (165–1200 μg/g B) containing abundant tourmaline, and the lowest values (− 24.2 to − 33.6‰) in B-depleted samples (21–40 μg/g), which lack tourmaline. This observation supports preferential loss of 11 B from the rocks during prograde metamorphism. Zoned tourmaline crystals in the Pfitsch formation show successively decreasing B isotope ratios from − 7.8 to − 11.2‰ in their cores and − 17.3 to − 20.3‰ in their rims. As supported by a Rayleigh fractionation model, the B-isotope values of the host rocks and the tourmaline crystals are most easily explained by the internal redistribution of B from a B-rich precursor mineral (e.g. mica) to the tourmaline during Alpine metamorphism.