Synopsis

Extensively fractured quartzite clasts in Lower Old Red Sandstone conglomerates adjacent to the Highland Boundary Fault Zone in central Scotland contain multiple populations of healed microfractures delimited by fluid inclusion planes. Microthermometric analysis indicates that the healing of microfractures oriented perpendicular to the trend of the Highland Boundary Fault Zone, which probably formed during Acadian overthrusting towards the SE along the fault zone in Middle Devonian times, involved moderate temperature (T_h 102 to 238°C), low to moderate salinity (3 to 17 wt% NaCl eq.) aqueous fluids. The clasts also contain a second set of fluid inclusion planes oriented parallel to the Highland Boundary Fault Zone, which formed during extension associated with the intrusion of late Carboniferous quartz dolerite dykes. The healing of this set of microfractures involved low temperature (T_h 58 to 155°C), low to moderate salinity (1 to 12 wt% NaCl eq.) aqueous fluids.