Association of hydrothermal plagioclase alteration with micropores in a granite; Petrographic indicators to evaluate the extent of hydrothermal alteration

Yuguchi, Takashi*; Izumino, Yuya*; Sasao, Eiji   

This study presents the use of petrographic plagioclase alteration indicators as a new method for quantitatively evaluating the extent of plagioclase alteration within granites, using the Toki granite, central Japan. Alteration indicators and areal fractions of microvoids in the plagioclases were obtained via BSE image analysis. The volume of the micropores in the altered plagioclase was characterized by the areal fraction of microvoids in the grains. The plagioclase alteration indicators were obtained as the ratio between the alteration product area and the original plagioclase area. In our previous study, we focused on biotite chloritization indicators. We found positive correlations between the plagioclase alteration and biotite chloritization indicators in the same sample, indicating that each alteration indicator can be used independently as a representative value for the sample. In the Toki granite, the plagioclase alteration was related to the biotite chloritization.