Showing papers in "Journal of Metamorphic Geology in 1989"

Evidence for deformation‐induced K‐feldspar replacement by myrmekite

Abstract: Several examples of deformation-induced myrmekite have been found in two amphibolite facies mylonites derived from granitic protoliths, namely a muscovite-poor S-C mylonite and a single foliation, muscovite-poor mylonitic gneiss. Back-scattered SEM and conventional optical microscopy show that in both rock types, syntectonic myrmekitic intergrowths of oligoclase and quartz formed on the two sides of K-feldspar grains that faced the local inferred incremental shortening direction for the mylonite. Myrmekite does not occur on the two ends of the grain that faced the incremental stretching direction. The replacement of K-feldspar by plagioclase and quartz results in a volume decrease and is favoured on high normal stress sites around the grains. We suggest that the ambient temperature, pressure and chemical activities were such that the replacement reaction was favoured, but the addition of extra strain energy along the high-pressure sides of the grains localized the reaction at these sites. This energy could arise from elastic strain, or strain associated with tangled dislocations or twin boundaries. The relative roles of stress and strain energy concentrations in driving the replacement reaction are not known, but both were probably important.

The metamorphism in the Central Himalaya

Abstract: All along the Himalayan chain an axis of crystalline rocks has been preserved, made of the Higher Himalaya crystalline and the crystalline nappes of the Lesser Himalaya. The salient points of the metamorphism, as deduced from data collected in central Himalaya (central Nepal and Kumaun), are: 1 The Higher Himalaya crystalline, also called the Tibetan Slab, displays a polymetamorphic history with a first stage of Barrovian type overprinted by a lower pressure and/or higher temperature type metamorphism. The metamorphism is due to quick and quasi-adiabatic uplift of the Tibetan Slab by transport along an MCT ramp, accompanied by thermal refraction effects in the contact zone between the gneisses and their sedimentary cover. The resulting metamorphic pattern is an apparent (diachronic) inverse zonation, with the sillimanite zone above the kyanite zone. 2 Conversely, the famous inverted zonation of the Lesser Himalaya is basically a primary pattern, acquired during a one-stage prograde metamorphism. Its origin must be related to the thrusting along the MCT, with heat supplied from the overlying hot Tibetan Slab, as shown by synmetamorphic microstructures and the close geometrical relationships between the metamorphic isograds and the thrust. 3 Thermal equilibrium is reached between units above and below the MCT. Far behind the thrust tip there is good agreement between the maximum temperature attained in the hanging wall and the temperature of the Tibetan Slab during the second metamorphic stage; but closer to the MCT front, the thermal accordance between both sides of the thrust is due to a retrogressive metamorphic episode in the basal part of the Tibetan Slab.

Synthetic fluid inclusions - VII. Re-equilibration of fluid inclusions in quartz during laboratory-simulated metamorphic burial and uplift

Abstract: P-T conditions inferred from fluid inclusions in metamorphic rocks often disagree with the values predicted from mineral equilibria calculations. These observations suggest that inclusions formed during early stages of regional metamorphism continue to re-equilibrate during burial and subsequent uplift in response to differential pressure. P-T conditions accompanying burial and uplift were experimentally simulated by initially forming pure H2O inclusions in quartz at elevated temperatures and pressures, and then re-equilibrating the inclusions in the presence of a 20 wt% NaCl solution such that final confining pressures ranged from 5 kbar above to 4 kbar below the initial internal pressure of the inclusions at the temperature of re-equilibration. In all samples re-equilibrated at confining pressures below the internal pressure, some inclusions were formed that had compositions of 20 wt% NaCl and densities in accord with the final P-T conditions. Additionally, some inclusions were observed to contain fluids of intermediate salinities (between 0 and 20 wt% NaCl). Densities of these inclusions were also consistent with formation at the re-equilibration P-T conditions. The remainder of the fluid inclusions observed in these samples contained pure H2O and their homogenization temperatures corresponded to densities intermediate between the initial and final P-T conditions. In short-term experiments (7 days) where the initial internal overpressure exceeded 1 kbar, no inclusions were found that contained the original density and none were found to have totally re-equilibrated. Instead, most H2O inclusions re-equilibrated until their internal pressures were between ∼750 and 1500 bars above the confining pressure, regardless of the initial pressure differential. In a long-term experiment (52 days), inclusions re-equilibrated at a lower confining pressure than the initial internal pressure displayed homogenization temperatures corresponding to a range in final internal pressures between 0 kbar (i.e. total re-equilibration) and 1.2 kbar above the confining pressure. In experiments where the confining pressure during re-equilibration exceeded the initial internal pressure, densities of pure H2O inclusions increased to values intermediate between the initial and final P-T conditions. Additionally, these inclusions were generally surrounded by a three-dimensional halo of smaller inclusions, also of intermediate density, resulting in a texture similar to that previously ascribed to decrepitation from internal overpressure. In extreme cases where confining pressures were 4–5 kbar above the initial pressure, the parent inclusion almost completely closed leaving only the three-dimensional array of small (5 μm) inclusions, the outline of which may be several times the volume of the original inclusion. Groups of such inclusions closely resemble textures commonly observed in medium- to high-grade metamorphic rocks. Inclusions containing 10 and 42 wt% NaCl solutions trapped at 600 °c and 3 kbar were re-equilibrated at 600 °c and 1 kbar for 5 days in dry argon to evaluate the importance of H2O diffusion as a mechanism of lowering the inclusion bulk density. Salinities of re-equilibrated inclusions obtained from freezing point depressions and halite dissolution temperatures indicate that original compositions were preserved. Density changes similar to those previously described were noted in these experiments, in inclusions showing no visible microfractures. Therefore, density variations observed in inclusions in this study, re-equilibrated under rapid deformation conditions, are considered to result from a change in the inclusion volume, without significant loss of contents by diffusion or leakage.

Synthetic fluid inclusions - VI. Quantitative evaluation of the decrepitation behaviour of fluid inclusions in quartz at one atmosphere confining pressure

Abstract: The decrepitation behaviour of fluid inclusions in quartz at one atmosphere confining pressure has been evaluated using pure H2O synthetic inclusions formed by healing fractures in natural quartz. Three different modes of non-elastic deformation, referred to as stretching, leakage or partial decrepitation, and total decrepitation have been observed. The internal pressure required to initiate non-elastic deformation is inversely related to inclusion size according to the equation: internal pressure (kbar) = 4.26 D-0.423 where D is the inclusion diameter in microns. Regularly shaped inclusions require a higher internal pressure to initiate non-elastic deformation than do irregularly shaped inclusions of similar size. Heating inclusions through the α/β quartz inversion results in mechanical instability in the quartz crystal and leads to mass decrepitation of inclusions owing to structural mismatches generated by pressure gradients in the quartz around each inclusion. Long-term heating experiments (∼2 years) suggest that the internal pressure required to initiate non-elastic deformation does not decrease significantly with time and indicates that short-lived thermal fluctuations in natural systems should not alter the inclusion density and homogenization temperature. Inclusions that do exhibit decreased density (higher homogenization temperature) are, however, always accompanied by a change in shape from irregular to that of a negative crystal. Observations of this study are consistent with elasticity theory related to fracture generation and propagation around inclusions in minerals. These results indicate that an inclusion will not be influenced by a neighbouring inclusion, or other defect in the host phase, as long as the distance between the two is >2–4 diameters of the larger of the two inclusions.

Thermal model for the Zanskar Himalaya

Abstract: Crustal thickening along the northern margin of the Indian plate, following the 50 Ma collision along the Indus Suture Zone in Ladakh, caused widespread high-temperature, medium-pressure Barrovian facies series metamorphism and anatexis. In the Zanskar Himalaya metamorphic isograds are inverted and structurally telescoped along the Main Central Thrust (MCT) Zone at the base of the High Himalayan slab. Along the Zanskar valley at the top of the slab, isograds are the right way-up and are also telescoped along northeast-dipping normal faults of the Zanskar Shear Zone (ZSZ), which are related to culmination collapse behind the Miocene Himalayan thrust front. Between the MCT and the ZSZ a metamorphic-anatectic core within sillimanite grade rocks contains abundant leucogranite-granite crustal melts of probable Himalayan age. A thermal model based on a crustal-scale cross-section across the Zanskar Himalaya suggests that M1 isograds, developed during early Himalayan Barrovian metamorphism, were overprinted during high-grade MCT-related anatexis and folded around a large-scale recumbent fold developed in the hanging wall of the MCT.

Porphyroblast inclusion trails: the key to orogenesis

Abstract: Detailed microstructural analysis of inclusion trails in hundreds of garnet porphyroblasts from rocks where spiral-shaped inclusion trails are common indicates that spiral-shaped trails did not form by rotation of the growing porphyroblasts relative to geographic coordinates. They formed instead by progressive growth by porphyroblasts over several sets of near-orthogonal foliations that successively overprint one another. The orientations of these near-orthogonal foliations are alternately near-vertical and near-horizontal in all porphyroblasts examined. This provides very strong evidence for lack of porphyroblast rotation. The deformation path recorded by these porphyroblasts indicates that the process of orogenesis involves a multiply repeated two-stage cycle of: (1) crustal shortening and thickening, with the development of a near-vertical foliation with a steep stretching lineation; followed by (2) gravitational instability and collapse of this uplifted pile with the development of a near-horizontal foliation, gravitational spreading, near-coaxial vertical shortening and consequent thrusting on the orogen margins. Correlation of inclusion trail overprinting relationships and asymmetry in porphyroblasts with foliation overprinting relationships observed in the field allows determination of where the rocks studied lie and have moved within an orogen. This information, combined with information about chemical zoning in porphyroblasts, provides details about the structural/metamorphic (P-T-t) paths the rocks have followed. The ductile deformation environment in which a porphyroblast can rotate relative to geographic coordinates during orogenesis is spatially restricted in continental crust to vertical, ductile tear/transcurrent faults across which there is no component of bulk shortening or transpression.

Thermobarometric constraints on the thermal history of the Main Central Thrust Zone and Tibetan Slab, eastern Nepal Himalaya

Abstract: The Main Central Thrust (MCT) south of Mt Everest in eastern Nepal is a 3 to 5km thick shear zone separating chlorite-bearing schist in the lower plate from sillimanite-bearing migmatitic gneiss in the overlying Tibetan Slab. The metamorphic grade increases through the MCT zone toward structurally higher levels. Previous workers have suggested that either post- or synmetamorphic thrust movement has caused this inversion of metamorphic isograds. In an effort to quantify the increase in grade and to constrain proposed structural relations between metamorphism and slip on the fault, four well-calibrated thermobarometers were applied to pelitic samples collected along two cross-strike transects through the MCT zone and Tibetan Slab. Results show an increase in apparent temperature up-section in the MCT zone from 778 K to 990 K and a decrease in temperature to ∼850 K in the lower Tibetan Slab, which is consistent with synmetamorphic thrust movement. A trend in calculated pressures across this section is less well-defined but, on average, decreases up-section with a gradient of ∼28MPa/km, resembling a lithostatic gradient. Pressure-temperature paths for zoned garnets from samples within the MCT zone, modelled using the Gibbs' Method, show a significant decrease in temperature and a slight decrease in pressure from core to rim, which might be expected for upper plate rocks during synmetamorphic thrust movement. Samples from the uppermost Tibetan Slab yield higher temperatures and pressures than those from the lower Tibetan Slab, which may be evidence for later‘resetting’ of thermobarometers by intrusion of the large amounts of leucogranite at that structural level.

The geodynamic evolution of the Internal Zone of the Betic Cordilleras (south-east Spain): a model based on structural analysis and geothermobarometry

Abstract: The Internal Zone of the Betic Cordilleras consists of several superimposed major thrust sheets with different P-T-t evolutions. On the basis of an integrated field, miCroscopic and laboratory study, the tectono-metamorphic history of the Mulhacen Complex and Almanzora Unit has been reconstructed in detail. The Mulhacen Complex has been af€ected by at least five phases of penetrative deformation, which have been labelled Dx-,, D., DX+,, D,,, and DX++ D,-, and D, are related to continent-continent collision, which is indicated by high pressure-low temperature (WILT) and subsequent intermediate PIT metamorphic conditions. D,,, is related to crustal thinning and heterogeneous extension. During this event the ALmanzora Unit was juxtaposed against the Mulhacen Complex. This phase was succeeded by the establishment of low pressure-high temperature (LPIHT) conditions and at least two phases of folding and overthrusting. The Almanzora Unit shows a comparable tectono-metamorphic evolution pt D,,,. However, the PIT conditions prior to D.,, indicate a higher crustal position with respect to the Mulhacen Complex during the collisional event. Key w& Alpine orogeny; Betic Cordilleras, Spain; continent-continent collision; crustal thickening; crustal thinning; deformation structures; geothermobarometry; P-T-t path.

Dissolution, solution transfer, diffusion versus fluid flow and volume loss during deformation/metamorphism

Abstract: Dissolution and solution transfer during deformation/metamorphism are controlled by the partitioning of deformation into progressive shearing and shortening components. Progressive shearing is readily accommodated by slip on the planar crystal structure of phyllosilicates and graphite without accumulating dislocation density gradients across grain boundaries. Progressive shortening is accommodated by the cores of most other minerals (including sulphides). These minerals develop strain, and hence dislocation density gradients, on their rims due to progressive shearing along grain boundaries. These gradients are particularly large when the mineral abuts phyllosilicate or graphite. The resulting chemical potential gradients between the core and rim drive dissolution, causing removal of the highly strained grain margins. Removal of dissolved material by solution transfer is aided by the geometry of shearing of phyllosilicates and graphite around other grains in an active anastomosing foliation. Interlayers and interfaces on boundaries lying at a low angle to the direction of shearing, and oriented relative to the sense of shear such that they can open, gape by small amounts. Water present in these interlayer spaces becomes destructured, considerably enhancing diffusion rates along the foliation. Penetrative volume loss, especially in deforming/metamorphosing pelitic rocks, is large at all metamorphic grades, increasing and becoming more penetrative with depth to at least the transition into granulite and eclogite facies. Transference of material by fluid flow from deep to high levels in the earth's crust is precluded because thousands to tens of thousands of rock volumes of fluid are required, necessitating continual recirculation of fluid from shallow to deep crustal levels in one large or several small sets of cells, unless some extremely large-scale form of fluid channelling is possible. Reassessment of diffusion mechanisms, and hence rates, during deformation and pervasive foliation generation in large volumes of rock where fluid channeling cannot provide enough fluid, indicates that diffusion can proceed with sufficient rapidity that massive recirculation of fluid is no longer required. The amount of fluid can be reduced sufficiently to allow large volume losses by a one-way flow of fluid to the earth's surface, in deforming/metamorphosing environments where the fluid pressure equals or exceeds the hydrostatic pressure. Deformation partitioning-controlled dissolution progressively changes the bulk chemistry of a rock containing phyllosilicates or graphite during deformation/metamorphism because matrix minerals, other than phyllosilicates and graphite, are preferentially removed. The large size of porphyroblasts, if present, tends to preserve them from dissolution. Hence, the bulk chemistry operative during subsequent porphyroblast growth can have changed considerably from that operative when the first porphyroblasts grew, in rocks in which bedding is still well preserved.

Reaction history of garnet‐sapphirine granulites and conditions of Archaean high‐pressure granulite‐facies metamorphism in the Central Limpopo Mobile Belt, Zimbabwe

Abstract: Sequential reaction textures in Archaean garnet-corundum-sapphirine granulites from the Central Zone of the Limpopo Belt document a progression from early, coarse-grained, high-pressure (P > 9.5 kbar) granulite-facies assemblages (M1) to late, low-pressure (P <6 kbar) granulite-facies sub-assemblages (M2). The stable M1 assemblage was garnet (57% pyrope; Mg/(Mg + Fe) = 62) + sapphirine + corundum + gedrite + phlogopite + rutile. Late-M1 boron-free kornerupine grew at the expense of garnet and corundum, and coexisted with garnet, sapphirine and gedrite. Partial or complete breakdown of coarse garnet and kornerupine during M2 resulted in the development of pseudomorphs and coronas consisting of fine-grained symplectic intergrowths of cordierite, gedrite and sapphirine (later, spinel). The majority of reaction textures can be explained in terms of a stable reaction sequence, and a model time-sequence of mineral facies can be constructed. When compared with a qualitative petrogenetic grid of (Fe, Mg)-discontinuous reactions in the FMASH multisystem sapphirine-garnet-corundum-spinel-cordierite-gedrite-kornerupine, the facies-sequence indicates decompression at essentially constant T assuming constant a(H2O). Exhumation of M1 corundum inclusions during M2 breakdown of kornerupine resulted in production of metastable spinel by a disequilibrium reaction with gedrite. A second disequilibrium reaction of the spinel with cordierite produced sapphirine. The operation of such reaction while pressure was decreasing (the opposite dP from that implied by the texture if assumed to be the product of an equilibrium reaction) has serious implications for the use of reaction textures in the construction of P-T vectors. Garnet-biotite thermometry on garnet interiors and phlogopite inclusions in corundum yields temperatures of ca. 850°C for the M1 stage. A minimum late-M1 pressure of ca. 7 kbar is indicated by the former association of kornerupine and corundum. Relict M1 kyanites reported by other workers indicate a minumum early-M1 pressure of 9.5 kbar, implying metamorphism at depths of at least 33 km (probably 38km). The high-pressure granulite-facies metamorphism was followed by an almost isothermal pressure decrease of > 5 kbar, indicative of rapid uplift. The P-T path is interpreted as the product of a single metamorphic cycle which probably took place in response to tectonic thickening of the crust. Such a process contrasts with the extensional origin recently proposed for isobarically cooled granulite-facies terranes.

Deformation, metamorphism and imbrication of the Indian plate, south of the Main Mantle Thrust, north Pakistan

Abstract: South of the Main Mantle Thrust in north Pakistan, rocks of the northern edge of the Indian plate were deformed and metamorphosed during the main southward thrusting phase of the Himalayan orogeny. In the Hazara region, between the Indus and Kaghan Valleys, metamorphic grade increases northwards from chlorite zone to sillimanite zone rocks in a typically Barrovian sequence. Metamorphism was largely synchronous with early phases of the deformation. The metamorphic rocks were subsequently imbricated by late north-dipping thrusts, each with higher grade rocks in the hanging wall than in the footwall, such that the metamorphic profile shows an overall tectonic inversion. The rocks of the Hazara region form one of a number of internally imbricated metamorphic blocks stacked, after the metamorphic peak, on top of each other during the late thrusting. This imbrication and stacking represents an early period of post-Himalayan uplift.

The blueschists along the Indus Suture Zone in Ladakh, NW Himalaya

Abstract: Blueschists occur along the Indus Suture Zone in Ladakh as tectonic thrust slices, as isolated blocks within melange units and as pebbles within continental detrital series. In the Shergol-Baltikar section high-pressure rocks within the Melange unit lie between the Dras-Naktul-Nindam nappes in the north and the Lamayuru units in the south. The blueschists are imbricated with melange formation of probably upper Cretaceous age. They are overlain discordantly by the Shergol conglomerate of post Eocene (Oligo-Miocene ?) age. Blueschist lithologies are dominated by volcanoclastic rock sequences of basic material with subordinate interbedding of cherts and minor carbonates. Mineral assemblages in metabasic rocks are characterized by lawsonite-glaucophane/crossite-Na-pyroxene-chlorite-phengite-titanite ± albite ± stilpnomelane. In the quartz bearing assemblages garnet is present but omphacite absent. P-T estimates indicate temperatures of 350 to 420°c and pressures around 9–11 kbar. Geochemical investigations show the primary alkaline character of the blueschist, which suggests an oceanic island or a transitional MORB type primary geotectonic setting. K/Ar isotopic investigations yield middle Cretaceous ages for both whole rocks and minerals. Subduction related HP-metamorphism affecting the Mesozoic Tethyan oceanic crust developed contemporaneously with magmatism in the Dras volcanic are and the Ladakh batholith. Subsequent collision of India with Asia obducted relics of subduction zone material which later became involved in nappe emplacement during the Himalayan mountain building.

Low-pressure granulite facies metapelitic assemblages and corona textures from MacRobertson Land, east Antarctica: the importance of Fe2O3and TiO2in accounting for spinel-bearing assemblages

Abstract: Low-pressure granulite facies metasedimentary gneisses exposed in MacRobertson Land, east Antarctica, include hercynitic spinel-bearing metapelitic gneisses. Peak metamorphic mineral assemblages include spinel + rutile + ilmenite + sillimanite + garnet, spinel + ilmenite + sillimanite + garnet + cordierite, ortho-pyroxene + magnetite + ilmenite + garnet, spinel + cordierite + biotite + ilmenite and orthopyroxene + cordierite + biotite, each with quartz, K-feldspar and melt. The presence of garnet + biotite- and cordierite + orthopyroxene-bearing assemblages implies crossing tie-lines in AFM projection for the K2O-FeO-MgO-Al2O3-SiO2-H2O (KFMASH) system. This apparent contradiction, and the presence of spinel, rutile and ilmenite in the assemblages, is acounted for by using the KFMASH-TiO2-O2 system, i.e. AFM + TiO2+ Fe2O3. We derive a petrogenetic grid for this system, applicable to low-pressure granulite facies metamorphic conditions. Retrograde assemblages are interpreted from corona textures on hercynitic spinel and Fe-Ti oxides. The relative positions of the peak and retrograde metamorphic assemblages on the petrogenetic grid suggest that corona development occurred during essentially isobaric cooling.

The Acadian thermal history of western Maine

Abstract: Following the Middle Devonian Acadian deformation an extensive belt of high grade metamorphism was formed in New England. In south-western Maine, at the northern end of this belt, there occurs a transition along the strike from regional low-pressure/high-temperature metamorphism to contact metamorphism in low-grade rocks. Petrological studies indicate that this transition occurs along a surface plunging to the north-east at about 3.5°, with respect to the Middle-to-Late Devonian erosion surface. In addition, detailed petrological mapping has defined a history of temporally separate, localized metamorphic events associated with plutonism and occurring at increasingly deeper levels to the south-west. Geochronological studies constrain ambient temperatures in the transition zone at the time of metamorphism to be less than 300° C in the north-east and between 350° C and 500° C in the south-west. They also establish a pattern of diachronous cooling due to differential uplift and erosion, with cooling occurring later and most rapidly to the south-west. Geophysical evidence suggests that along with this spatial variation in metamorphic style the shapes of the plutons in Maine undergo a transition from laterally extensive sheet-like bodies in the high grade terrane to more equant-shaped bodies in the low-grade terrane. Using the results of these petrological, geochronological and geophysical studies, as well as those of stratigraphical and structural studies we construct a thermal model for the transition zone. The model suggests that the Acadian metamorphism in south-western Maine is a result of deep-level contact metamorphism near laterally extensive granitic sills dipping to the north-east with respect to the present erosion surface. The plutons themselves are interpreted to be a result of lower crustal melting in response to crustal thickening in the presence of normal or slightly augmented mantle heat flux.

Low-pressure granulite facies metamorphism in the Larsemann Hills area, East Antarctica; petrology and tectonic implications for the evolution of the Prydz Bay area

Abstract: Thermobarometric studies on various granulite facies areas along the Prydz Bay coast, East Antarctica (73°-79°E, 68°-70°S), show that, at around 1100 Ma, during a late Proterozoic orogeny, the rocks of the Larsemann Hills suffered a lower pressure metamorphic peak than the surrounding areas. Along the Prydz Bay coast, the rocks affected by this event include parts of the Vestfold Hills block plus all of the Rauer Group, the Larsemann Hills and the Munro Kerr Mountains. The dykes in the south-west corner of the Vestfold Hills were recrystallized during this event with little deformation at temperatures not quite as high as in the areas further south-west (650°C, 6.5 kbar) (Collerson et al., 1983), the Rauer Group was metamorphosed at 800°C and 7.5 kbar (Harley, 1987a), the Larsemann Hills at 750°C and 4.5 kbar, and the Munro Kerr Mountains probably at around 850°C and 5 kbar. Retrograde equilibration in the different areas occurred during decompression to about 10 km depth in all areas, followed by isobaric cooling at this depth. This paper shows that the peak metamorphism in the Larsemann Hills occurred at a pressure which is too low to have been the consequence of thermal relaxation of overthickened crust with normal mantle heat flow. Although other areas in Prydz Bay were metamorphosed at sufficiently high pressures so that their decompression paths are not inconsistent with a continental collision model, the inferred pre-metamorphic peak histories and the requirement of consistency with the Larsemann Hills, make it unlikely that collision followed by erosion-driven decompression is an appropriate model. We suggest that the thermal regime of the crust in the Larsemann Hills region was controlled by a perturbation in the asthenosphere, with magma invasion of the crust. We suggest that the 500 Ma event, represented in Prydz Bay by granitic outcrops at Landing Bluff and by several K/Ar ages from the Larsemann Hills area, was responsible for the final excavation of the terrane.

Geothermobarometry and development of inverted metamorphism in the Darjeeling‐Sikkim region of the eastern Himalayan

Abstract: The Darjeeling-Sikkim region provides a classic example of inverted Himalayan metamorphism. The different parageneses of pelitic rocks containing chlorite, biotite, garnet, staurolite, kyanite, sillimanite, plagioclase and K-feldspar are documented by a variety of textures resulting from continuous and discontinuous reactions in the different zones. Microprobe data of coexisting minerals show that XMg varies in the order: garnet < staurolite < biotite < chlorite. White mica is a solid solution between muscovite and phengite. Garnet is mostly almandine-rich and shows normal growth zoning in the lower part of the Main Central Thrust (MCT) zone, and reverse zoning in the upper part of the zone. Chemographical relations and inferred reactions for different zones are portrayed in AFM space. In the low-grade zones oriented chlorites and micas and rolled garnets grew syntectonically, and were succeeded by cross-cutting chlorites and micas and garnet rims. In the upper zones sillimanite, kyanite and staurolite crystallized during a static inter-kinematic phase. P-T contitions of metamorphism, estimated through different models of geothermobarometry, are estimated to have been 580°c for the garnet zone to a maximum of 770°c for the sillimanite zone. The preferred values of pressure range from 5.0 kbar to 7.7 kbar. Models to explain the inverted metamorphism include overthrusting of a hot high Himalayan slab along a c. 5 km wide ductile MCT zone and the syn- or post-metamorphic folding of isograds.

Polyphase metamorphism and the development of the Main Central Thrust

Abstract: Along a cross-section through the Lesser and Higher Himalayan units at the Kishtwar window area (north-west India), a polyphase, Barrovian-type metamorphism has been delineated in relation to the development of the Main Central Thrust (MCT). In the metapelitic mineral assemblages, three metamorphic phases have been distinguished: (a) conditions up to amphibolite grade at moderate to high pressures (alm + rut + ilm + kya + qtz) characterize the M1 phase; (b) pressure release and/or temperature increase as a result of movement along the MCT and the formation of gneiss domes in the Higher Himalaya, as expressed by oriented (N70°-100° E) fibrolite, defines the M2 phase; and, (c) finally during uplift of the Kishtwar window area, a retrogressive M3 phase is characterized by the assemblage quartz-muscovite-chlorite. Both optically zoned and single-stage garnets have been examined with the electron microprobe to determine their element partitioning. Normal zoning has been found in samples below the MCT in the Lesser Himalaya, indicating prograde growth during the M2 phase, whereas tectonically above, in the Higher Himalaya unit, the garnets reveal double-stage growth with a complex zoning pattern due to reaction-partitioning during M1 and M2 and reverse-zoning at their rims during the retrogressive M3 phase. Geothermometry on metapelites along a cross-section through the MCT zone and the Higher Himalaya imply distinct readjustments of garnet-biotite exchange equilibria and indicate isothermal conditions (500-600° C) throughout the section during the M3 retrogression. Pressure calculations (gro-an-kya-qtz and alm-rut-ilm-kya-qtz) suggest a decrease in pressure towards the top of the section (6-7.5 to 4.5-5 kbar), as corroborated by fibrolite replacing kyanite. The spatially inverse metamorphism exposed within the Lesser Himalaya of the Kishtwar window is regarded as a product of polyphase metamorphism combined with ongoing thrusting and shearing and is reflected by condensed M2 isograds around the Kishtwar window.

Low‐grade regional metamorphism in the Mesozoic‐Cenozoic volcanic sequences of the Central Andes

Abstract: All the Mesozoic and Cenozoic volcanic rocks of the Central Andes (from southern Ecuador to central Chile), except Recent ones, have been affected by episodes of regional metamorphism, without change in texture and structure. The metamorphism, which ranges from low zeolite to greenschist facies, can be classified as burial metamorphism because there is an overall increase in metamorphic grade with stratigraphic depth in the individual volcanic sequences separated by regional unconformities. Some sequences display metamorphic patterns transitional to ocean-floor and to geothermal field types, reflecting variations along and across the Andes in tectonic setting and thermal gradients. Volcanism was closely followed by metamorphism during each cycle characterizing the geological history of the Central Andes. The episodic nature of the metamorphism has led to breaks in metamorphic grade at regional unconformities and repetition of facies series, where strata of higher grade may even overlie those of lower grade. The existence of permeability-controlled distribution patterns of secondary minerals within individual flows shows that gradients of chemical activity, rate of reaction and Pfluid were acting, in addition to temperature and P,tot overall gradients, during the regional metamorphism. The alteration is accompanied by chemical changes and disturbances of the K-Ar and Rb-Sr isotope systems. Similarities between Mesozoic facies series in the western and eastern flanks of the Andes are consistent with a mechanism of ensialic spreading-subsidence.

New evidence for polyphase metamorphism of glaucophane schist and eclogite exotic blocks in the Franciscan Complex, California and Oregon

Abstract: The early metamorphic history of high-grade exotic blocks in the Franciscan Complex may be more complicated than previously supposed. The different assemblages of high-grade glaucophane schist, eclogite, amphibolite and hornblende schist are commonly considered to have formed at the same time from essentially unmetamorphosed oceanic crust. However, new textural and mineralogical data presented here suggest that high-grade glaucophane schist and eclogite have replaced an earlier epidote-amphibolite facies assemblage that is identical to the primary assemblages in many of the hornblende-rich blocks. At least some of the hornblende-rich blocks may therefore be well-preserved remnants of the earlier metamorphism. Comparison of the mineral assemblages and element partitioning in the mixed-assemblage blocks suggests that the glaucophane schist and eclogite metamorphism took place at slightly lower temperatures but at the same or higher pressures than the earlier, hornblende-forming stage.

The role of deformation partitioning in the deformation and recrystallization of plagioclase and K‐feldspar in the Woodroffe Thrust mylonite zone, central Australia

Abstract: In the Woodroffe Thrust mylonite zone, central Australia, recrystallization in plagioclase and K-feldspar involved subgrain rotation, assisted by grain-boundary or kink band boundary bulging, without contribution from a change in the chemical composition from host grains to new grains. The size of subgrains and new grains changes across the mylonite zone, apparently as a function of the strain rate and the H2O content of the rock. The partitioning of deformation into zones of progressive shearing and progressive shortening controls the sites of recovery and recrystallization in feldspar during mylonitization. The size of feldspar porphyroclasts in well developed mylonites is governed by the scale of deformation partitioning reached in the earlier stages of mylonitization, before the formation of a large proportion of fine-grained matrix that can accommodate the progressive shearing component of the deformation. Recrystallization occurs in microcline, apparently without involving a translation to a monoclinic structure, as microcline-twinned new grains are common adjacent to microcline-twinned host grains. K-feldspar triclinicity values calculated from XRD traces increase from the margins to the interior of the mylonite zone, in conjunction with deformation intensity. K-feldspar host grains locally have cores of orthoclase or untwinned microcline, surrounded by mantles of twinned microcline, suggesting a relationship between the presence of microcline twinning and the degree of K-feldspar triclinicity.

Domal structures and high‐grade metamorphism in the Higher Himalayan Crystalline, Zanskar Region, north‐west Himalaya, India

Abstract: In the main Himalayan range in the Ladakh-Zanskar area, domal structures have been observed at structurally deeper levels in the tectonic unit of the Higher Himalayan Crystalline. Their formation occurred during a second, temperature-dominated phase (M2) of high-grade regional metamorphism, characterized by the semipelitic paragenesis of sillimanite-K-feldspar and incipient anatexis. The doming event reveals a local system of synmetamorphic uplift superimposed on a regional system of northeast-southwest trending compression. In the main Himalayan range the development of the dominant S2 foliation is related to deformation during the doming phase, which started early in the M2 event. The deformation propagated continuously north-east and south-west with time. In the north-east, on the northern slopes of the main Himalayan range, this deformation is expressed by extensional shear movements of the upper tectonic levels finally leading to the late- to postmetamorphic normal fault system of the Zanskar shear zone. Towards the south-west, deformation is expressed by compressional movements, e.g. at the Main Central Thrust (MCT) in the Kishtwar window area. The observed compression and extension is inferred to relate to an increased uplift of the domal bulges of the tectonic Kishtwar window and of the whole main Himalayan range.

Petrology and retrograde P‐T path in granulites of the Kanskaya formation, Yenisey range, Eastern Siberia

Abstract: The Kanskaya formation in the Yenisey range, Eastern Siberia is a newly studied example of retrogression of granulite facies rocks. The formation consists of two stratigraphical units: the lower Kuzeevskaya group and the upper Atamanovskaya group. Rocks from both of these units show rare reaction textures such as replacement of cordierite by garnet, sillimanite and quartz, silimanite coronas around spinel and corundum, and garnet rims around plagioclase in metabasites, while plagioclase rims around garnet can be seen in associated metapelites. The paragenesis quartz + orthopyroxene + sillimanite is a feature of the Kuzeevskaya group. In many samples, chemical zoning of garnet and cordierite shows an increase in Mg from core to rim as well as the reverse. Biotite-garnet-cordierite-sillimanite-quartz as well as spinel±biotite-garnet°Cordierite±sillimanite-quartz assemblages were studied using geothermometers and geobarometers based on both exchange and net-transfer reactions (Perchuk & Lavrent'eva, 1983; Aranovich & Podlesskii, 1983; Gerya & Perchuk, 1989). Detailed investigation of 10 samples including 1000 microprobe analyses revealed decompression (first stage) followed by the near isobaric cooling of the granulites. From geological studies, the 7 km total thickness of the sequence closely corresponds to the pressure difference (∼ 2.2kbar) measured by geobarometers in the samples taken from different levels in the sequence. Individual samples yield P-T paths ranging from 100°C/kbar to 140°C/kbar depending on their locations with respect to the large Tarakskiy granite pluton. In places the 100°C/kbar path changed to the 140°C/kbar due to the influence of the intrusion. In a P-T diagram these trajectories are subparallel lines, whose P-T maxima define the Archaean geotherm between 3.1 and 2.7 Ga, determined isotopically. A petrological model for P-T evolution of the Kanskaya formation is proposed.

Metamorphic evolution of the Bunger Hills, East Antarctica: evidence for substantial post‐metamorphic peak compression with minimal cooling in a Proterozoic orogenic event

Abstract: The Bunger Hills, East Antarctica, experienced a low-pressure granulite facies orogenic event during the Proterozoic. The stable coexistence of the S1 foliation-parallel M1 assemblages, garnet-cordierite-spinel-ilmenite and garnet-sillimanite-spinel-ilmenite-rutile, in quartz-bearing pelitic gneisses is evidence for metamorphic peak pressures of around 4 kbar during M1, at temperatures of about 800°C. The growth of massive reaction coronas of garnet and cordierite around hercynitic spinel and iron-titanium oxides during M2 is evidence for the destabilization of the M1 assemblages during compression. Thermodynamic calculations on the M2 assemblages indicate formation pressures of 6–7 kbar at temperatures of about 750°C. Thus, the gneisses from the Bunger Hills indicate about 2 kbar or more of compression during minimal cooling. Such a P-T path is different from that of many other Proterozoic terranes which are characterized by isobaric cooling or decompression. A large charnockite body, which is undeformed, was intruded at ∼950°C, towards the end of compression. The low pressures during M1 can be best explained by metamorphism at mid-crustal levels in thin continental crust in thin lithosphere above a thermal perturbation in the underlying asthenosphere. We suggest that the compression during cooling was a result of gravitational backflow in which the action of body forces between adjacent normal thickness crust and the thin crust of the Bunger Hills is 'switched on’by the thermal perturbation. Within such a model, the timing of intrusion of the charnockite exposed in the Bunger Hills is consistent with its generation by partial melting during the metamorphic maximum of the lowermost crust.

Metamorphic evolution of the High Himalayan Crystallines in SE Zanskar, India

Abstract: The High Himalayan Crystallines (HHC) of SE Zanskar consist of biotite paragneisses, of orthogneisses that derive from early-Palaeozoic granitoids, of minor metabasics and of post-metamorphic leucogranites of Miocene age. Two main metamorphic events have been documented in the HHC. The first event occurred at P= 12.0 ± 0.5 kbar and T= 750 ± 50° C in rare metabasics intruded by early-Palaeozoic granitoids. In the biotite paragneisses, thermobarometric estimates of the first event point to comparable T at P 4–5 kbar lower. The first event is followed by a pervasive syn-tectonic crystallization characterized by lower P and T. On the basis of the cooling ages of the metamorphic minerals and on the geological evidence, the second event is referred to the Tertiary Himalayan crystallization. Further petrological and geochronological studies are necessary to prove whether a few mineral relics ascribed to the first event define a polyphase Himalayan evolution or if they record the incomplete obliteration of an older history during the Himalayan event. The HHC of SE Zanskar show a decrease in metamorphic grade from the middle structural levels upward, close to the Kade unit, and downward, close to the Lesser Himalaya (from sillimanite-K-feldspar-biotite-bearing assemblages to kyanite-staurolite-muscovite-bearing assemblages). This metamorphic zonation is probably a consequence of the polyphase history of intracontinental thrusts and of the tectonic emplacement of hot crustal slabs within shallower and colder thrust sheets at relatively late stages of the continental collision between India and Eurasia.

The upper thermal stability of chlorite + quartz: an experimental study in the system MgO-Al2O3-SiO2-H2O

Abstract: Experiments up to water pressures of 21 kbar have been undertaken to bracket the reactions chlorite + quartz = talc + kyanite + H2O, chlorite + quartz = talc + cordierite + H2O, and talc + kyanite + quartz = cordierite ± H2O by reversed runs in the system MgO-Al2O3-SiO2-H2O (MASH). These reaction curves intersect at an invariant point (IP1) at PH2O = 6.4 ± 0.2 kbar and a temperature of 624 ± 4°C. The curve of the chlorite + quartz breakdown to talc + kyanite + H2O at water pressures above 6.4 kbar shows a negative dP/dT, with the slope decreasing with rising pressure, whereas the slope of the breakdown curve to talc + cordierite + H2O at water pressures is clearly positive. The composition of the chlorite solid solution reacting with quartz has been estimated to be approximately Mg4.85Al1.15[Al1.15Si2.85O10](OH)8 over the entire pressure range investigated. The composition of the talc solid solution forming by the breakdown of chlorite + quartz appears to be Mg2.94Al0.06[Al0.06Si3.94O10](OH)2 at PH2O = 2kbar. With increasing pressure, the Al content of talc decreases, reaching a value of about 0.06 atoms per formula unit at P,H2O = 21 kbar. As a consequence of the new experimental data, the existing phase topologies of the MASH-system and K2O-MASH-system have been revised. For example, the invariant point IP1 and the univariant reaction curve kyanite + talc + H2O = chlorite + cordierite are stable. For this reason, the development of medium- to high-temperature metamorphic rocks compositionally approximating the MASH-system must be reconsidered. The whiteschists from Sar e Sang, Afghanistan, are treated as an example. The application of the present experimental data to metamorphic rocks of more normal composition requires the examination of the influence of further components. This leads to the conclusion that the introduction of Fe2+ into magnesian chlorite extends its stability field in the presence of quartz by 10°-15°C in comparison with pure Mg-chlorite.

The effect of dislocations on bulk diffusion in feldspars during metamorphism

Abstract: There is no significant difference in the diffusion profiles across albite-adularia bicrystals that were simultaneously deformed at a strain rate of 10-6S-1 and those from hydrostatic experiments at the same conditions (1500 MPa and 1000°C for 156 h). This indicates that the bulk alkali diffusion rate, which is the sum of lattice diffusion (D, 1) and dislocation pipe diffusion (Dp), is not significantly enhanced by dislocations at these conditions, and that the maximum value for the ratio of Dp/D1 is about 105. This is equal to the value previously reported for‘oxygen’diffusion in albite. If this ratio is independent of temperature, the contribution of either static (pre-deformed) or moving (syn-deformed) dislocations to the bulk diffusion rate of alkalis is probably minor at all metamorphic conditions. For Al and Si diffusion the ratio of Dp/D1 may be larger if D1 is lower. Thus a significant contribution from dislocations to bulk diffusion cannot be ruled out, especially during simultaneous deformation.

The dynamics of the suture between the Kohistan island arc and the Indian plate in the Himalaya of Pakistan

Abstract: The pressure-temperature and temperature-time paths derived for rocks in the Kohistan arc and adjacent Nanga Parbat-Haramosh massif record the dynamics of the collision between the island arc and the Indian plate. Studies of P-T-t paths show that the Kohistan arc was thrust over the Nanga Parbat-Haramosh massif at least 25 Ma ago, but not more than 30–35 Ma ago. Rocks in the Kohistan arc followed decreasing pressure paths, with the early metamorphism beginning at high pressures (9.5 kbar) and later metamorphism occurring at 8.0 kbar. In contrast, rocks in the Nanga Parbat-Haramosh massif (Indian plate) experienced increasing pressure and temperature paths. Prior to thrusting, the massif was at low pressures (4.0 kbar) and low temperatures (450°c). Later, the pressure and temperature increased to 8 kbar and 580°c. The authors interpret the convergence (to approximately the same pressure and temperature) of the P-T paths in the two terranes as being the result of thrusting and thermal equilibration between the thrust sheets. 40Ar/39Ar cooling ages of hornblendes and other geochronological data suggest that the time of peak metamorphism and hence the completion of thickening was approximately 30–35 Ma ago. Temperature-time paths show that after thrusting, during the period 25–10 Ma, the Kohistan arc and Nanga Parbat-Haramosh massif were uplifted at similar rates (0.5 km Ma). However, in the past 10 Ma the Nanga Parbat-Haramosh massif has been uplifted more rapidly than the adjacent Kohistan arc. Rapid uplift has been accommodated by late faults along the edge of the massif.

Tectonic implications from sapphirine‐bearing lithologies, south‐west Grenville Province, Canada

Abstract: Sapphirine has been found in two types of magnesian, metabasic lenses from tectonite zones within the Central Gneiss Belt of the south-west Grenville Province, Canada. The first type (association I) comes from a lenticular mafic lens within highly tectonized anorthosite, the second type (association II) comes from meta-eclogitic pods with foliated amphibolite rims. In each case the sapphirine-bearing assemblages record a wealth of reaction textures. The primary mineralogy in association II is represented by high alumina clinopyroxene, garnet and kyanite ± plagioclase and records pressures of around 14-16 kbar; in association I the primary mineralogy is represented by plagioclase, two pyroxenes and possibly olivine but here the equilibrium pressure is unknown. The host gneisses equilibrated at approximately 8 to 10 kbar and 700-750°C by continuous cation exchange reactions during and after the culmination of the Grenvillian orogeny at 1.16-1.0 Ga. It is unlikely that the higher pressures recorded in the meta-eclogitic pods represent an earlier high-pressure metamorphism as the pods are restricted to shear zones. A tectonic mode of emplacement into a crust undergoing granulite facies metamorphism is more likely. Sapphirine formed by discontinuous decompression reactions; in association II this involved a reaction between garnet and kyanite and resulted in the formation of magnesian granulite facies assemblages. At the same time primary clinopyroxene became much less aluminous by evolving plagioclase. Pressures and temperatures from coexisting phases, that are believed to have equilibrated at the same time as sapphirine formation, are estimated as 11 to 12 kbar and 750°C. These probably represent the peak conditions for granulite facies metamorphism in the south-west Grenville Province.

Estimation of Fe3+ from electron microprobe analyses: observations on calcic amphibole and chlorite

Abstract: Metabasites and metagreywackes from the Pelona and Rand Schists of southern California were analysed using three different electron microprobes. For all three instruments, the estimated Fe3+ contents of calcic amphibole, chlorite and epidote are positively correlated. For some samples, there is an additional correlation between high estimated Fe3+ and the presence of magnetite. These results imply that microprobe analyses can be used to discern relative differences in Fe3+. However, microprobe data and calculations on the sensitivity of the correction procedures to systematic analytical errors indicate that estimated values of Fe3+ are not significant in an absolute sense. Thus, estimates of Fe3+ are meaningful when comparing samples analysed with a single microprobe, but must be used with caution when comparing analyses obtained on more than one probe.

Metamorphic evolution of the Central Metamorphic Belt, Klamath Province, California: an inverted metamorphic gradient beneath the Trinity peridotite

Abstract: Metabasalts and metasedimentary rocks of the Devonian Central Metamorphic Belt comprise the lower plate of the east-dipping Trinity thrust system in the Klamath province. An inverted metamorphic gradient is preserved in the Central Metamorphic Belt; metamorphic conditions decrease from amphibolite facies adjacent to the Trinity thrust, through albite-epidote amphibolite facies, to upper greenschist facies at the base of the Central Metamorphic Belt. Mineral chemistry, mineral assemblages and limited geothermometry suggest that peak metamorphic conditions decrease structurally downward from 650 ± 50° C at the Trinity thrust to 500 ± 50° C at the base of the Central Metamorphic Belt, under pressures of 5 ± 3 kbar. Synmetamorphic Ab + Qtz veins, up to 1 m thick, increase in abundance towards the Trinity thrust. Infiltration of H2O-CO2 fluids derived from prograde devolatilization reactions in the Central Metamorphic Belt caused extensive hydration and metasomatism of the Trinity peridotite; the hanging wall block of the Trinity thrust zone. Geological relationships and the preserved inverted metamorphic gradient suggest that the Central Metamorphic Belt formed in an east-dipping Devonian subduction zone in an oceanic environment. The Central Metamorphic Belt appears to represent a discrete slice of accreted oceanic crust several km thick, rather than progressively accreted material. Metamorphic pressures recorded by the Central Metamorphic Belt are intermediate between the ∼2 kbar pressures recorded in dynamothermal aureoles beneath obducted ophiolites and the 7–10 kbar preserved in subduction-related inverted metamorphic gradients. The lack of blueschist facies mineral assemblages in the Central Metamorphic Belt may possibly be explained by an anomalously warm geotherm prior to subduction or early shear heating prior to the arrival of wet rocks at depth.