Showing papers in "Journal of Metamorphic Geology in 1985"

Regression diagnostics and robust regression in geothermometer/geobarometer calibration: the garnet-clinopyroxene geothermometer revisited

Abstract: The calibration of geothermometers and geobarometers should involve not only the determination of the parameters in the equation used, but also the uncertainties on, and the correlations between, these parameters. This necessitates the use of a technique such as least squares. Given the poor performance of least squares in the presence of outliers in the data, techniques for identifying outliers for exclusion—regression diagnostics, and techniques for handling data which include outliers—robust regression and jackknifing, are essential. These techniques are summarized and their importance is emphasized, and they are applied to the calibration of the garnet-clinopyroxene Fe-Mg exchange geothermometer. The experimental data of Raheim & Green (1974) and Ellis & Green (1979) are explored using regression diagnostics to discover outliers in the data. After exclusion of the two influential outliers found, a new geothermometer equation for garnet-clinopyroxene Fe-Mg exchange is derived using robust regression and based on all the data: thus, T(K) = 2790 + 10P+ 3140xca,g/1.735 + In KD where T is in Kelvin and P is in kbar. This equation, as might be hoped, is essentially identical to that of Ellis & Green (1979). Equations for calculating the uncertainty in a calculated temperature, contributed by uncertainties in the calibration, are also derived.

Precambrian granulites of the Aldan shield, eastern Siberia, USSR

Abstract: Precambrian granulites of the Aldan shield in southern Yakutia, USSR, form a massif of 200,000 km2 bounded by younger fold-belts to the south, west and east. The massif consists of several blocks that reflect a primary heterogeneity of composition and differences in structural and thermodynamic evolution of different parts of the area. According to structural and petrological data the massif can be divided into two megablocks: eastern Aldan and western Aldan. They are separated by a narrow meridional fold-belt. Structural evolution of this central zone was determined by the geodynamics of the mega-blocks and was completed in the late Archaean. Towards the south, this central zone is ‘transformed’into the relatively small Sutam block adjoining the Stanovoy fold-belt that bounds the Aldan shield on the south. The Sutam block is separated from the other structural units of the Aldan shield by a system of north trending grabens filled by post-Archaean sediments. The Aldan shield is composed of Archaean high-grade granulites, while the Stanovoy fold-belt, to the south, consists of highly foliated Proterozoic rocks metamorphosed under relatively lower-grade conditions. However, relics of the granulites are mapped within the fold-belt. They contain high-grade assemblages (e.g. Opx + Sil + Qz, Sap + Qz, Opx + Gr + Sil, etc.). One of the relics, the Tokskii block, which is only slightly touched by diaphthoresis, is located in the southeastern part of the Stanovoy fold-belt. Metamorphic conditions of the Tokskii block are compared with those of the Sutam block and a similar evolution of the units is revealed. Mineral assemblages and mineral compositions do not vary within each unit, but they change in a north-south direction. The Opx + Sil + Qz assemblage has been found only in Sutam and Tok, but not in eastern Aldan and western Aldan. The Sap + Qz assemblage has been found in the Tokskii block but has not yet been found in the Sutam block. The pyrope content in garnets, from metapelites of both blocks, is significantly higher than that from the Aldan (eastern and western blocks) rocks to the north. The most important assemblages from different units of the Aldan shield have been studied using the electron microprobe in order to unravel the metamorphic evolution of the granulites and thus to deduce the thermodynamic regime of this evolution. A geodynamic model for the Aldan shield is discussed in terms of Archaean island arc development.

An internally consistent thermodynamic dataset with uncertainties and correlations: 1. Methods and a worked example

Abstract: This, the first two papers, sets out the philosophy and methods of determining an internally consistent thermodynamic dataset for minerals using the least squares method. The applicability of the least squares method is discussed, and it is applied to a small set of experimental equilibria in the system Na2O–Al2O3–SiO2–H2O. The importance is stressed of defining not only the enthalpies of formation of minerals, but also the uncertainties and the correlations among them. The system which has been used as an illustration for this paper serves as a visual guide to the method, as it is small enough to represent graphically in two dimensions. In the paper which follows, we extend the method to a system of 60 equations (experimentally determined equilibria) involving 34 unknowns (enthalpies of formation of mineral end-members).

Deformation partitioning and porphyroblast rotation in meta‐morphic rocks: a radical reinterpretation

Abstract: . Most porphyroblasts never rotate during ductile deformation, provided they do not intern- ally deform during subsequent events, with the exception of relatively uncommon but spectacular examples of spiralling garnets. Instead, the sur- rounding foliation rotates and reactivates due to partitioning of the deformation around the porphyroblast. Consequently, porphyroblasts commonly preserve the orientation of early foliations and stretching lineations within strain shadows or inclusion trails, even where these structures have been rotated or obliterated'in the matrix due to subsequent deformation. These relationships can be readily used to help develop an understanding of the processes of foliation development and they demonstrate the prominent role of reactivation of old foliations during subse- quent deformation. They can also be used to determine the deformation history, as porphyro- blasts only rotate when the deformation cannot partition and involves progressive shearing with no combined bulk shortening component.

An internally consistent thermodynamic dataset with uncertainties and correlations: 2. Data and results

Abstract: This, the second of two papers, represents the application of a least squares approach, discussed in the previous paper, to the generation of an internally consistent thermodynamic dataset involving 60 reactions among 43 phases, in the system K2O–Na2O–CaO–MgO–Al2O3–SiO2–H2O–CO2. We make the assumption that all the thermodynamic data, with the exception of enthalpies of formation of the phases, are well known, and solve for an internally consistent set of enthalpies which reproduces the 60, experimentally determined, phase equilibrium reactions. An important difference between our dataset and that of previous alternatives in the literature is that we are able to determine the uncertainties on, and correlations between, the enthalpies of formation for all phases in the set, and hence are able to apply simple error propagation techniques to determine the uncertainties in any phase equilibrium calculations performed using this dataset. Selection of reactions, for geothermometry and geobarometry, may be more readily made by choosing equilibria with small uncertainties in their thermodynamics. Our data are in reasonably close agreement with the high temperature molten oxide calorimetry results on silicate minerals where available, a fact which lends a degree of confidence to the results.

Alpine metamorphism in the south‐east Tauern Window, Austria: 2. Rates of heating, cooling and uplift

Abstract: Existing geochronological data are reviewed and new Rb-Sr, K-Ar and 39Ar–40Ar ages are presented, including a suite of 33 mica ages from a 20 km north–south tunnel section. These data are discussed in relation to the thermal history from the overthrusting of the Autroalpine nappes c. 65 Myr ago to the present. The earliest phase of metamorphism, involving lawsonite crystallization, is associated with emplacement of these nappes. Subsequently, temperatures in the rocks beneath rose, at a mean rate of 3–6°C/Myr, until the climax of metamorphism. At high structural levels, published data indicate an age > 35 Myr for the metamorphic climax. In contrast, a new 39Ar–40Ar step-heating age of 23.8 ± 0.8 Myr on amphibole, from near the base of Peripheral Schieferhulle, closely approximates the age of metamorphism and provides the first clear indication that the climax of metamorphism occurred later at deeper structure levels. Following the climax, near-isothermal uplift and erosion reduced pressure to c. 1 kbar before white mica closure at 19 Myr; this implies uplift at >3 mm/yr. Along the tunnel section, white mica K-Ar ages vary systematically from 24 Myr to 16.5 Myr with position relative to a late 4 km amplitude dome whereas biotite Rb-Sr ages are uniform at 16.5 Myr across the whole profile; doming is thus dated at 16.5 Myr with transient uplift rates >5 mm/yr. At other times uplift rates were <1 mm/yr.

Alpine metamorphism in the south‐east Tauern Window, Austria: 1. P–T variations in space and time

Abstract: The Pennine rocks exposed in the south-east Tauern Window, Austria, contain mineral assemblages which crystallized in the mid-Tertiary ‘late Alpine’regional metamorphism. The pressure and temperature conditions at the thermal peak of this event have been estimated for rocks at four different structural levels using a variety of published and thermochemically derived geobarometers and geothermometers. The results are: (a) In the garnet+chlorite zone, 2–5 km structurally above the staurolite+biotite isograd: T= 490.50°C, P= 7° 1 kbar; (b) Within 0.5 km of the staurolite+biotite isograd: T= 560±300C, P=7.1 kbar; (c) In the staurolite+biotite zone, c. 2.5 km structurally below the staurolite+biotite isograd: T= 610±30°C, P=7.6±1.2 kbar; (d) In the staurolite+biotite zone, 3–4 km structurally below the staurolite+biotite isograd: T= 630±40°C, P= 6.6±1.2 kbar. The pressure estimates imply that the total thickness of overburden above the basement-cover interface in the mid-Tertiary was c. 26.4 km. This overburden can only be accounted for by the Austro-Alpine units currently exposed in the vicinity of the Tauern Window, if the Altkristallin (the ‘Middle Austro-Alpine’nappe) was itself buried beneath an ‘Upper Austro-Alpine’nappe or nappe-pile which was 7.4 km thick at that time. The occurrence of epidote + margarite + quartz pseudomorphs after lawsonite in garnet, indicates that part of the Mesozoic Pennine cover sequence in the south-east Tauern experienced blueschist-facies conditions (T<450°C, P<12 kbar) in early Alpine times. Evidence from the central Tauern is used to argue that the blueschist-facies imprint post-dated the main phase of tectonic thickening (D1A) and was thus a direct consequence of continental collision. Combined oxygen-isotope and fluid-inclusion studies on late-stage veins, thought to have been at lithostatic pressure and in thermal equilibrium with their host rocks during formation, suggest that they crystallized from aqueous fluids at 1.1±0.4 kbar and 420.20°C. Early Alpine, late Alpine and vein-formation P–T constraints have been used to construct a P–T path for the base of the Mesozoic cover sequence in the south-east Tauern Window. The prograde part of the P–T path, between early and late Alpine metamorphic imprints, is unlikely to have been a smooth curve and may well have had a low dP/dT overall; the decompression (presumably due to erosion) which occurred immediately before the thermal peak and possibly also earlier in the Tertiary, was probably partly or completely cancelled by the effects of early- to mid-Tertiary (D2A) tectonic thickening. The thermal peak of metamorphism was followed by a phase of almost isothermal decompression, which implies a period of rapid uplift in the middle Tertiary. The peak metamorphic P–T estimates are compared with the solutions of England's (1978) one-dimensional conductive thermal model of the Eastern Alps, and are shown to be consistent with the idea that the late Alpine metamorphism was caused by tectonic burial of the Pennine Zone beneath the Austro-Alpine nappes in the absence of extraneous heat sources, such as large intrusions, at depth.

Metamorphic P?T Paths from pelitic schists and greenstones from the south-west Tauern Window, Eastern Alps

Abstract: Petrological data from intercalated pelitic schists and greenstones are used to construct a pressure–temperature path followed by the Upper Schieferhulle (USH) series during progressive metamorphism and uplift in the south-west Tauern Window, Italy. Pseudomorphs of Al–epidote + Fe-epidote + albite + oligoclase + chlorite after lawsonite and data on amphibole crystal chemistry indicate early metamorphism in the lawsonite-albite-chlorite subfacies of the blueschist facies at P± 7–8 kbar. Geothermometry and geobarometry yield conditions of final equilibration of the matrix assemblage of 475±25°C, 5–6 kbar; calculations with plagioclase and phengite inclusions in garnet indicate early garnet growth at pressures of ∼ 7.5 kbar. Garnet zoning patterns are complex and reversals in zoning can be correlated between samples. Thermodynamic modelling of these zoning profiles implies garnet growth in response to four distinct phases of tectonic activity. Fluid inclusion data from coexisting immiscible H2O–CO2–NaCl fluids constrain the uplift path to have passed through temperatures of 380 + 30°C at 1.3 + 0.2 kbar. There is no evidence for metamorphism of USH at pressures greater than ∼ 7.5 kbar in this area of the Tauern Window. This is in contrast to pressures of ± 10 kbar recorded in the Lower Schieferhulle only 2–3 km across strike. A history of differential uplift and thinning of the intervening section during metamorphism is necessary to reconcile the P–T data obtained from these adjacent tectonic units.

The metamorphic evolution of granulites at Fyfe Hills : implications for Archaean crustal thickness in Enderby Land, Antarctica

Abstract: Granulites at Fyfe Hills in Enderby Land, Antarctica, crystallized at temperatures in excess of 850°C, and possibly as high as 1000°C, and at pressures of 8-10kbar during the mid to late Archaean. A number of features, including repeated retrograde metamorphism at 5.5-8kbar, retrograde reaction textures, and rimward zoning in pressure sensitive systems, suggest that following peak metamorphism the granulites stabilized at a depth of 18-26 km. After stabilization, the granulites cooled near-isobarically to temperatures of 600-700°C. Assuming a total crustal thickness of 35-40 km during this late Archaean interval of isobaric cooling, the peak metamorphic crustal thickness is estimated at 35-56 km. This estimate is significantly less than the 60-70 km obtained by summing the depths of the present levels of exposure (26-34 km) and the thickness of the crust presently beneath Fyfe Hills (approxi-mately 35km) and is, therefore, consistent with independent evidence for extensive post-Archaean thickening of the Enderby Land crust.

Crystal chemistry of a Mg‐vesuvianite and implications of phase equilibria in the system CaO‐MgO‐Al2O3‐SiO2‐H2O‐CO2

Abstract: Chemical analysis (including H,, F,, FeO, Fe,O,) of a Mg-vesuvianite from George- town, Calif., USA, yields a formula, R.9?Mgl.BBFe~.~0 A'10.~7Si1~.81- 06,.,,(OH)8.*4~0.,4~ in good agreement on a cation basis with the analysis reported by Pabst (1936). X-ray and electron diffraction reveal sharp reflections violat- ing the space group P4/nnc as consistent with domains having space groups P4/n and P4nc. Refinement of the average crystal structure in space group P4/nnc is consistent with occupancy of the A site with AI, of the half-occupied B site by 0.8 Mg and 0.2 Fe, of the half-occupied C site by Ca, of the Ca (I, 2,3) sites by Ca, and the OH and O( 10) sites by OH and 0. We infer an idealized formula for Mg-vesuvianite to be CaI9Mg(MgA1,)AI4Si, 8069(OH)9, which is related to Fe3 ' -vesuvianite by the substi- tutions Mg + OH = Fe3+ + 0 in the B and O(10) sites and Fe'+ = A1 in the AlFe site. Thermodynamic calculations using this formula for Mg-vesuvianite are consistent with the phase equilibria of Hochella, Liou, Keskinen & Kim (1982) but inconsistent with those of Olesch (1978). Further work is needed in determining the composition and entropy of synthetic us natural vesuvianite before quantitative phase equilibria can be dependably generated. A qualitative analysis of reactions in the system CaO-MgO-

Paragenetic and mineral chemical relationships in orthoamphibole-bearing gneisses from enderby land, east antarctica - a record of proterozoic uplift

Abstract: Polymetamorphic orthoamphibole-bearing gneisses from the vicinity of shear zones in Casey Bay, Enderby Land, Antarctica, record both the overprinting of Archaean granulite lithologies by Proterozoic metamorphism and the subsequent evolution of the latter episode during localized deformation. Mineral chemistry and zoning relationships in orthoamphibole-garnet-kyanite-quartz and later orthoamphibole-garnet-cordierite-quartz assemblages are used together with interpretation of reaction and corona textures to constrain the Proterozoic pressure-temperature path experienced by the rocks. Consideration of reaction topologies, P-T-X(Fe-Mg-A1) relationships in orthoamphibole-bearing assemblages, and standard geothermobarometry indicate that the gneisses underwent a near-isothermal decompression P-T history (steep positive dP/dT) from ± 8 kbar and 700°C to <5.5kbar and 650°C. This uplift path is correlated with the general effects of Rayner Complex metamorphism and deformation which occurred after 1100 Ma in a major erogenic belt south of Casey Bay.

Development of P‐T prograde and P‐retrograde, T‐prograde isogradic surfaces during blueschist to eclogite regional deformation/metamorphism in New Caledonia, as indicated by progressively developed porphyroblast microstructures

Abstract: The mid-Tertiary blueschists, eclogites and eclogitic gneisses of northern New Caledonia are the products of four phases of regional meta- morphism and deformation (D,--D4). Omphacite, lawsonite and Mn-rich garnet isogradic surfaces were developed during the second deformation (D2) under prograde pressure and temperature conditions. Subsequent deformations (D3-D,) folded these D, isogradic surfaces. However, within the P-retrograde, T-prograde metamor- phic environment of the D, phase, omphacite altered to albite and chlorite; as a result, a late- stage sub-horizontal isogradic surface developed for omphacite-out where this mineral is preserved as relics within syn-D, albite porphyroblasts. Other minerals that crystallized for the first time (epidote) or had rim additions (almandine, phengite) during D,, also form nearly horizontal isogradic surfaces. Porphyroblastic garnet and albite contain inclusion trails, which allow their microstructural development and crystallization of the matrix to be traced from D, to D,. Late syn-D, the temperature increased mark- edly in association with an extensive exothermic decarbonation, even though the rocks were in a state of pressure retrogression. This caused considerable neocrystallization, recrystallization and growth of matrix and porphyroblasts such that, although S, foliation crenulated by D, and D, is readily observable, almost all signs of stored strain due to D, and D, have been removed, and the deeper schists and eclogitic gneisses superficially appear to have undergone a drastic annealing recrystallization, post-dating deformation.

Plagioclase relations in pelites, central Menderes Massif, Turkey. II. Perturbation of garnet-plagioclase geobarometers

Abstract: Activity-composition relations in oligoclase near the peristerite gap are investigated in pelites from the Central Menderes Massif. The pressure of metamorphism is estimated independently, from garnet-rutile-ilmenite-kyanite-quartz, as being in the range 4–7 kbar. In the temperature range, 450–600°C approximately, both the Newton-Haselton calibration of the garnet-plagioclase-kyanite-quartz geobarometer and a related simple treatment of garnet-plagioclase-muscovite-biotite give a wide range of apparent pressures, correlated with plagioclase composition and ranging up to 11–12 kbar where the plagioclase is most sodic. This effect is attributed to failure of the activity model for plagioclase used in the Newton-Haselton treatment. It is inferred that, in the present area, γplagAn decreases with increasing XplagAn in the range An15-An25. The data can be interpreted in terms of high γplagAn in the high-albite structure at these temperatures, modified to lower values by ‘e’ordering in the more calcic oligoclases. The ordering appears to be independent of the peristerite gap, and the data do not support the interpretation of the gap as a solvus. Garnet-plagioclase assemblages are unreliable as geobarometers where the plagioclase is more sodic than approximately An20 and T < 700°C, and should instead be used to investigate the γ-X behaviour of the plagioclase where independent geobarometry can be used as a constraint.

Glaucophane and pyroxene breakdown reactions in the Pennine units of the Eastern Alps

Abstract: New occurrences of crossite and jadeitic pyroxene are described from a thick metabasite unit within the upper levels of the Peripheral Schieferhulle in the Tauern Window, Austria. Unusual textures are preserved which provide evidence for the reactions and mechanisms involved in the breakdown of crossite and jadeitic pyroxene. Zones of albite and chlorite, produced by reaction between crossite and paragonite, have been preserved due to sluggish reaction kinetics during decompression from the blueschist to the greenschist facies. The zonal sequence is interpreted in terms of chemical potential gradients in Na, Mg and Al, which have been established by overstepping the equilibrium boundary. Breakdown textures of jadeite-acmite pyroxene to a symplectite of albite + hematite + actinolite, and of crossite to talc and actinolite are also described. The occurrence of crossite and jadeitic pyroxene at high levels within the Peripheral Schieferhulle implies that even upper levels of the structural sequence have undergone blueschist facies metamorphism with pressures in excess of 8 kbar during the Alpine collisional event.

Continuous reactions between biotite, garnet, staurolite, kyanite‐sillimanite‐andalusite and P‐T‐time‐deformation path in micaschists from the estuary of the river Vilaine, South Brittany, France

Abstract: Microprobe analysis of the continuous chemical evolution of coexisting biotite-garnet and biotite-garnet-staurolite has been undertaken from interbedded micaschists of the volcanodetrital group of the Vilaine. A thermobarometric study using pertinent mineralogical equilibria reveals a complex P-T evolution, continuous throughout time, from high pressure, medium temperature (kyanite zone) to medium pressure, high temperature (sillimanite zone), then low pressure, medium temperature (andalusite zone). The T, P, fH2o and XH2o variations have been calculated from coexisting biotite-garnet pairs, and from the equilibria: paragonite (in white mica) + quartz ± albite (in plagioclase) + Al silicate + H2O; and, 3 anorthite ± grossular + 2 Alsilicate + quartz. The P-T evolution is correlated with the continuous change in composition of minerals (using P–XMg and T–XMg diagrams) and with the evolution of assemblages. This continuous P-T-time evolution, correlated with the successive formation of S1-S2 foliations, allows us to propose a P-T-time-deformation path for the micaschists and to relate the growth of its mineral components to tectonic processes.

Plagioclase relations in pelites, central Menderes Massif, Turkey. I. The peristerite gap with coexisting kyanite

Abstract: In pelites of the central Menderes Massif, albite and oligoclase with only slight chemical zoning coexist in apparent textural equilibrium in the garnet zone, staurolite zone, and staurolite + kyanite transition zone. The metamorphic temperature range is estimated as approximately 440–550°C (from the Hodges-Spear calibration of the garnet-biotite geo-thermometer), or 440–500°C (Ganguly-Saxena calibration). While oligoclase composition at the peristerite gap changes from An22 to An14, albite also becomes more sodic (An1,5–An0.6). The slope of the albite limb is thus the reverse of that reported in other areas, and may not be a true equilibrium feature. Occurrence of kyanite, at temperatures below the crest of the gap, is due to low water activity in the presence of graphite: aH2o is estimated at approximately 0.1–0.2 from the Na content of muscovite coexisting with albite + kyanite + quartz.

Incomplete high P?T metamorphic transitions within the Kvamsy pyroxenite complex, west Norway: a case study of disequilibrium

Abstract: The Kvamsoy pyroxenite complex consists of olivine websterite, olivine gabbro and leucogabbro-norite which have been subjected to regional high P-T (HPT) metamorphism. The metamorphism has resulted in a range of disequilibrium textures with the development of coronas and pseudomorphism of the igneous phases. Reactions between felsic and mafic mineral domains have been controlled by variable and selective diffusion of elements, resulting in a variety of local plagioclase-breakdown reactions and in significant compositional variations for the product garnet. Restricted diffusion favours transient reaction stages with garnet ± spinel ± corundum ± zoisite after calcic plagioclase in olivine gabbro and olivine websterite and garnet ± spinel ± kyanite ± quartz + sodic plagioclase in leucogabbro-norite. Complete HPT reaction has produced garnet pyroxenite which consists of garnet + diopside + hornblende + zoisite in gabbroic rocks, while amphibolitization continued during the cooling and uplift history. Grt + Ky + Pl + Qtz geobarometry suggests pressures in the range 13-16 kbar for T= 750°C, comparable with the regional eclogite-forming metamorphism.

Migmatite formation at subsolidus conditions?an alternative to anatexis

Abstract: This contribution discusses the formation of stromatic high-grade migmatites. Volume considerations require that most of the leucosome material is not added from outside the system. A segregation mechanism is necessary except in those cases where the protolith of the migmatite already had a banded structure. Although partial melting is most often advocated to provide the segregation mechanism, several arguments can be raised against high degrees of melting: mineral compositions and even zoning patterns are similar in both mesosomes and leucosomes; sufficient degrees of melting at reasonable temperatures require more than the available amounts of water; the leucosomes do not always approximate to a minimum melt composition; high degrees of melting cannot occur without an appreciable volume increase; etc. Diffusion works as a segregation mechanism at low temperatures. As diffusion rates increase exponentially with temperature diffusion must become still more important as a segregation mechanism at high temperatures. A model is suggested based on the diffusion of components in response to the gradient δσ/δx, where σ= 1/3∑3i=1 σi is the mean pressure. In homogeneously strained rocks, σ3 is larger in rock parts rich in incompetent phases than in rock parts depleted in incompetent phases. Accordingly, mechanically competent but chemically incompetent high-volume phases like quartz and feldspars stressed in micadominated parts of a rock (high σσ) migrate to parts of the rock that are depleted in mica (low σ¯). It is suggested that hornblende occurring in many leucosomes may be premigmatitic or early syn-migmatitic and due to its mechanical competency it initiates the segregation. Diffusion occurs along grain boundaries and is enhanced by small amounts of ‘intergranular fluid’;. At the best, semiquantitative estimates of diffusion rates and distances indicate that the process should work over geological times.

Volcanogenic Cu–Pb–Zn bodies in granulites of the central Arunta Block, central Australia

Abstract: Small unexploited copper-lead-zinc deposits, characterized by a distinctive wall-rock association of cordierite quartzite, silica-undersaturated rocks, calc-silicate rocks and impure marbles, occur in quartzofeldspathic gneisses and mafic granulites of the Strangways Metamorphic Complex, central Arunta Block, central Australia. Available data support the hypothesis that these are metamorphosed volcanogenic ore bodies. The chemical compositions of the quartzofeldspathic gneisses are comparable with those of less metamorphosed felsic igneous rocks, particularly the felsic igneous rocks emplaced in the North Australian Orogenic Province in the interval 1880–1800 Ma; and the mafic granulites are chemically similar to basalts (olivine-normative tholeiites). The wall-rock suite can be correlated from chemistry and lithological association with the suites of wall rocks found in unmetamorphosed volcanogenic ore deposits. That the protolith of the cordierite quartzites may well have been leached tuff, similar to the illite-chlorite-quartz tuff found in volcanogenic ore deposits, is also shown by retrogression of the granulitefacies assemblage: cordierite-garnet-ortho-pyroxene-biotite-quartz in the cordierite quartzites to cordierite-anthophyllite-bearing assemblages and thence to chlorite-muscovite-quartz assemblages. Lenses of silica-undersaturated rocks with spinel and, less commonly, sapphirine are interpreted as the metamorphosed equivalents of chlorite-rich pods found within leached tuffs in volcanogenic ore deposits. The wall rocks form sheet-like bodies; this suggests that they were deposited in relatively shallow water, thus precluding the formation of massive sulphides.

Petrogenesis of metamorphic rocks within a subduction‐accretion terrane, Signy Island, South Orkney Islands

Abstract: Whole-rock and mineral analyses of polydeformed mica-schist, quartzite, marble and amphibolite are presented from Signy Island, South Orkney Islands, part of the Scotia metamorphic complex. Whole-rock chemistry suggests that the amphibolites are the metamorphosed equivalent of enriched tholeiitic and alkali basalts of an oceanic intraplate basalt series. These, together with limestones and Mn-rich cherts of an oceanic island assemblage were tectonically mixed with trench or trench inner slope basin sediments in a subduction zone environment. Variation in mineral chemistry indicates an increase in temperature and decrease in pressure during metamorphism; pressures of 8 kbar and temperatures of approximately 545°C were reached during amphibolite facies metamorphism in the latter stages of deformation. These new data provide good evidence to support the previous interpretation of the Scotia metamorphic complex as a subduction complex.

Symplectitic augite: evidence for discontinuous precipitation as an exsolution mechanism in Ca-rich clinopyroxene

Abstract: Part of the augite in the Artfjallet gabbro consists of symplectitic intergrowths between augite and blebs or lamellae of orthopyroxene. Mineral compositions are consistent with formation of these symplectites by exsolution of orthopyroxene from magmatic augite at a temperature of ca. 900–1000°C. The microstructures indicate that the exsolution mechanism is discontinuous precipitation, whereby the boundary of an augite grain sweeps through a neighbouring augite, leaving the symplectite in its wake. The formation of this symplectitic augite is catalysed by the presence of an intergranular water-rich fluid phase, which promotes grain boundary mobility.

The greenschist metamorphism of Archaean synvolcanic stocks near Wawa, Ontario, Canada

Abstract: Two Archaean synvolcanic stocks with contact aureoles occur in the Wawa greenstone belt near Wawa, Ontario, Canada. The Gutcher Lake and Jubilee stocks consist mainly of granitoid trondhjemite with feldspar laths mottled by white mica + calcite + epidote and rimmed by clear albite. Biotite is partly or wholly pseudomorphosed by chlorite + sphene; some epidote is partly altered to calcite + chlorite. The granitoid phase grades into a foliated phase of quartz + albite + white mica + calcite + chlorite near fracture zones traversing the stocks. The alteration of the Gutcher Lake stock along its foliated margin involved addition of K2O, H2O + CO2, MnO, plus Rb; loss of CaO plus Sr; and a shift in Fe+2/Fet from 0.66 to 0.81. The alteration of the Jubilee stock along the Darwin Shear involved addition of H2O + CO2; loss of Sr; and no significant shift in Fe+2/Fet. The greenschist alteration also modified the contact aureoles bordering both stocks. One interpretation is that regional metamorphism in the Archaean overprinted a greenschist assemblage on both stocks. The alteration was intense near fracture zones and sporadic remote from fractures. Lower integrated water to rock ratios along the Darwin Shear compared to the margin of the Gutcher Lake stock may explain the comparatively lower perturbation of the element abundances and redox state of iron.

Garnet evolution in pre‐Variscan pelitic rocks from the Lake Emosson area, Aiguilles Rouges Massif, Western Alps

Abstract: The chemical evolution of garnets from pelitic rocks of probable Palaeozoic age corresponds to a complex metamorphic evolution of the host rocks. Among the almandine-rich garnets (Alm60–80), two main types of evolution can be distinguished. Early Mn-rich garnets coexisting with kyanite may be replaced by plagioclase and then, during a late stage, by biotite and/or sillimanite. The second type of evolution corresponds to an overgrowth of Mn-poor late-stage garnet on older Mn-rich garnets which corresponds to a thermal peak with sillimanite-type of metamorphism. This new garnet may appear either as an overgrowth with a strong discontinuity, or as small, new euhedral garnet or as skeletal garnet. This chemical evolution of garnet corresponds to an early collisional stage of metamorphism (of high pressure type with high Mn values) of probable Ordovician age followed by uplift and a thermal peak (low Mn values) in Devonian times.

Effect of metamorphism and partial melting of host rocks on zircons

Abstract: Zircons have been studied from different layers of migmatites (from Arvika, western Sweden and Nelaug, southern Norway) and from a paragneiss (from Arvika) associated with one of the migmatites. The main purpose of the investigation is to establish whether or not information about zircons can help in the elucidation of the parentage and rock-forming processes of migmatites. The elongation ratio of zircons from all layers is small and characteristic of sedimentary zircons. Further, the absence of characteristic colours and the growth trends of the zircons (indicated by the reduced major axes) observed in the various samples both support a sedimentary parentage for these rocks. The zircons of all layers exhibit secondary growth (overgrowth, outgrowth and multiple growth) due to metamorphism. Compared with the zircons from the paragneiss, those of the migmatite layers are more clouded and less rounded, some of them becoming opaque or even skeletal; this is especially true of the zircons from the leucosomes. These observations indicate an alteration of the original sedimentary zircons in the migmatite, especially in the leucosomes, in response to the migmatization process, previously interpreted as partial melting.

The trace element geochemistry of some high‐grade Bergen‐Jotun kindred gneisses from the Jotun Nappe around Gjendebu, central southern Norway

Abstract: The high-grade meta-plutonic rocks of this study lie entirely within the Jotun Nappe of the southern Norwegian Caledonides. They are divisible on the basis of metamorphic grade and petrographic character into three units, the Storadalen Complex (SCX), the Svartdalen Gneiss (SG), and the Mjolkedola Purple Gabbro (MPG). The SCX is a differentiated series of ultrabasic to intermediate rocks now showing only tectonite fabrics. It has been metamorphosed to spinel-Iherzolite granulite facies grade. The broadly monzonitic SG is weakly tectonized and internally differentiated. Its metamorphic grade does not exceed plagioclase-lherzolite granulite facies grade. The mis-named MPG is also broadly of monzonitic composition but it retains a coarse ophitic texture, and is of amphibolite facies grade. A gradational boundary exists between the MPG and SG, but the contact between these two units and the SCX is the steeply dipping Tyin-Gjende Fault. The three units represent a comagmatic body of mid-Proterozoic age, metamorphosed during a Sveconorwegian event and finally dismembered and upthrust during the Caledonian Orogeny. The new trace element analyses reported here show that the three rock units have remarkably similar trace element abundances and trends. K-Rb covariation shows increasing K/Rb ratios with increasing K. These patterns were produced by magmatic fractionation processes acting at deep crustal levels, possibly in the presence of a non-aqueous fluid phase. With the exception of K and Sr, close similarities exist between the rocks of this study and present-day calc-alkaline basalts and andesites from island arcs. The high K content is regarded as a primary magmatic feature, but the available data are insufficient to indicate its origin. The Sr contents are abnormally high and are ascribed to metasomatism which occurred during either high-grade metamorphism or post-climactic cooling. There are no systematic geochemical variations with metamorphic grade or degree of deformation.

Petrology and geothermometry of retrograded Hercynian charnockites and host gneisses, Agly Massif, French Pyrenees

Abstract: A Hercynian charnockite occurs within high-grade gneisses in the Agly Massif, French Pyrenees. Its thermal history has been evaluated using the Fe-Mg distribution coefticient (KD) between garnet and biotite. These minerals have different origins but similar compositions in the charnockites and host gneisses. In the charnockite, the Bi–Ga pairs are the retrograde products of Opx alteration. This Opx reaction with feldspar can be written. Opx + PI + Fluid 1(H2O + Al + K + Fe + Ti) = Bi + Ga + Q + Fluid 2(H2O + Na). The garnets are relatively Ca poor (4–2.5% grossular); they are automorphic and zoned in the gneisses and poikiloblastic in the charnockites. Both types show a retrograde rim (of few hundred microns’width) across which Fe and Mn increase as Mg decreases. The biotites show a good correlation between the octahedral cations (Ti4++ Fe2+) and (Mg2++ Al3+VI); Ti and Fe both increase, whereas Mg and AlVI decrease. There is an inverse linear correlation between Fe2+ and Mg2+ and the Fe/Mg ratio increases as Ti increases. The relation between Ti and KGa-BiDFe-Mg is less clear: it seems that KD slightly decreases as Ti increases. The equilibration temperatures of Ga–Bi pairs are discussed: the charnockite Ga-Bi pairs have equilibrated between 550°C and 600°C; whereas those of the gneisses have equilibrated between 550°C and 650°C. Two main thermal steps appear: one in the gneisses between 600-650°C and a second one in both the gneisses and the charnockites between 550°C and 600°C.