A combination of in situ laser ablation inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry (LA ICP–MS) analyses guided by Scanning Electron Microscope–Back-Scattered Electron imaging (SEM–BSE) was applied to hydrothermal monazite from greisen veins of the Late Devonian, highly evolved, uraniferous Mount Douglas Granite, New Brunswick, Canada. Understanding the uraniferous nature of the suite and characterizing the hydrothermal system that produced the associated mineralized greisen veins were the main goals of this study. The uraniferous nature of the Mount Douglas Granite is evident from previous airborne radiometric surveys, whole-rock geochemical data indicating high U and Th (2–22 ppm U; 19–71 ppm Th), the presence of monazite, zircon, xenotime, thorite, bastnaesite, and uraninite within the pluton and the associated hydrothermal greisen veins, as well as anomalous levels of U and Th in wolframite, hematite, and martite within greisen veins. New U–Pb geochronology of hydrothermal monazite coexisting with sulfide and oxide minerals yielded mineralization ages ranging from 344 to 368 Ma, with most of them (90%) younger than the crystallization age of the pluton (368 ± 3 Ma). The younger mineralization age indicates post-magmatic hydrothermal activities within the Mount Douglas system that was responsible for the mineralization. The production of uraniferous greisen veins by this process is probably associated with the High Heat Production (HHP) nature of this pluton, resulting from the radioactive decay of U, Th, and K. This heat prolongs post-crystallization hydrothermal fluid circulation and promotes the generation of hydrothermal ore deposits that are younger than the pluton. Assuming a density of 2.61 g/cm³, the average weighted mean radiogenic heat production of the Mount Douglas granites is 5.9 µW/m³ (14.1 HGU; Heat Generation Unit), in which it ranges from 2.2 µW/m³ in the least evolved unit, Dmd1, up to 10.1 µW/m³ in the most fractionated unit, Dmd3. They are all significantly higher than the average upper continental crust (1.65 µW/m³). The high radiogenic heat production of the Mount Douglas Granite, accompanied by a high estimated heat flow of 70 mW/m², supports the assignment of the granite to a ‘hot crust’ (>7 HGU) HHP granite and highlights its potential for geothermal energy exploration.

U–Pb geochronology was applied to a combination of magmatic and hydrothermal minerals to help constrain the timing of emplacement of three units in the Mount Douglas Granite (MDG) and reveal their association with a complex mineralized hydrothermal system containing endogranitic Sn–W–Mo–Zn–Bi–U-bearing greisen/sheeted veins within the pluton. Magmatic monazite and zircon U–Pb ages obtained by LA–ICP–MS overlap at 368 Ma, recording a Late Devonian crystallization age for the MDG. Although discrimination, outside analytical error, of sequential pulses of magmatism is beyond the resolution of LA–ICP–MS U–Pb geochronology, geochemical variations of monazite accompanied by previous whole-rock geochemical analyses support a progressive fractional crystallization process starting from a parental magma (Dmd1), leading to the generation of Dmd2, and finally Dmd3 as the most fractionated unit. Hydrothermal uraninite, cassiterite, and monazite, collected from endogranitic greisen/sheeted veins, reveal evidence for syn-magmatic-related mineralization and a longer-lived post-magmatic hydrothermal system. The first stage is recorded by concordant uraninite dates at 367 ± 3 Ma and by an inverse isochron lower intercept of 362 ± 8 Ma for cassiterite. In contrast, hydrothermal monazite crystallized over a wider range of ages from 368 to 344 Ma, demonstrating post-magmatic hydrothermal activity within the MDG. These magmatic and hydrothermal ages combined with the geochemical signature of the MDG are similar to those documented for the nearby Mount Pleasant Sn–W–Mo–Bi–In granite-related deposit, which suggests that the two mineralizing systems occur at different levels of the same magmatic system.

The Chohar Gonbad-Gugher-Baft ophiolite mélange, located along the major Baft and Shahr-e-Babak fault zones, southeast Iran, represents remnants of Neo-Tethyan oceanic lithosphere. This mélange contains blocks of harzburgite, dunite, lherzolite, basalt, and other ophiolite-related lithologies tectonically mixed with and embedded in a serpentinite matrix. Field, petrographic, and geochemical data show that peridotites in this mélange belong to the upper mantle. They seem to have undergone up to ~20 % partial melting in a supra-subduction zone setting, based on their spinel Cr# values (0.21–0.53). Chemical compositions and textures in the serpentinites indicate that they were partially hydrated during emplacement and further mobilized diapirically to the surface. The different deformation stages occurred in an accretionary wedge environment. Petrographic evidence shows that the first serpentinization event produced mesh-textured serpentinites formed under static conditions in an ocean floor environment (Nain-Baft ocean crust), where the initial lizardite, bastite, and chrysotile veins formed. Plastic deformation occurred due to the subduction of Nain-Baft oceanic lithospheric beneath the central Iranian microcontinent, with antigorite-bearing flare-textured serpentinites produced. During progressive exhumation of the Nain-Baft ophiolite mélange, the serpentinites were affected by ductile, ductile–brittle, and brittle deformation, respectively. Accretion and resultant diapirism are the most important processes in the emplacement of serpentinite, which is a consequence of hydration of the ocean crust. In this example, late-stage emplacement via thrusting occurred along the northern extent of the southern Sanandaj–Sirjan zone (S–SZ).