Showing papers in "Journal of Metamorphic Geology in 1993"

Age of younger tonalitic magmatism and granulitic metamorphism in the South Indian transition zone (Krishnagiri area); comparison with older Peninsular gneisses from the Gorur–Hassan area

Abstract: A major episode of continental crust formation, associated with granulite facies metamorphism, occurred at 2.55–2.51 Ga and was related to accretional processes of juvenile crust. Dating of tonalitic–trondhjemitic, granitic gneisses and charnockites from the Krishnagiri area of South India indicates that magmatic protoliths are 2550–2530 ± 5 Ma, as shown by both U–Pb and 207Pb/206Pb single zircon methods. Monazite ages indicate high temperatures of cooling corresponding to conditions close to granulite facies metamorphism at 2510 ± 10 Ma. These data provide precise time constraints and Sr–Nd isotopes confirm the existence of late tonalitic–granodioritic juvenile gneisses at 2550 Ma. Pb single zircon ages from the older Peninsular gneisses (Gorur–Hassan area) are in agreement with some previous Sr ages and range between 3200 ± 20 and 3328 ± 10 Ma. These gneisses were derived from a 3.3–3.5-Ga mantle source as indicated from Nd isotopes. They did not participate significantly in the genesis of the 2.55-Ga juvenile magmas. All these data, together with previous work, suggest that the 2.51-Ga granulite facies metamorphism occurred near the contact of the ancient Peninsular gneisses and the 2.55–2.52-Ga ‘juvenile’tonalitic–trondhjemitic terranes during synaccretional processes (subduction, mantle plume?). Rb–Sr biotite ages between 2060 and 2340 Ma indicate late cooling probably related to the dextral major east–west shearing which displaced the 2.5-Ga juvenile terranes toward the west.

C‐O‐H‐S fluid composition and oxygen fugacity in graphitic metapelites

Abstract: C-0-H fluid produced by the equilibration of HzO and excess graphite must maintain the atomic H/O ratio of water, 2: 1. This constraint implies that all thermodynamic properties of the fluid are uniquely determined at isobaric-isothermal conditions. The O,, H20 and CO, fugacities (J& fHto and fC%) of such fluids have been estimated from equations of state and fit as a function of pressure and temperature. These fugacities can be taken as characteristic for graphitic metamorphic systems in which the dominant fluid source is dehydration, e.g. pelitic lithologies. Because there are no compositional degrees of freedom for graphite-saturated fluids produced entirely by dehydration, the variance of the dehydration process is not increased in comparison with that in non-graphitic systems. Thus, compositional 'buffering' of C-0-H fluids by dehydration equilibria, a common petrological model, requires that redox reactions, decarbonation reactions or external, H/O#2, fluid sources perturb the evolution of the metamorphic system. Such perturbations are not likely to be significant in metapelitic environments, but their tendency will be to increase the fo, of the fluid phase. At high metamorphic grades, pyrite desulphidation reactions may cause a substantial reduction of fHz0 and slight increases info, and fcs relative to sulphur-free fluid. At low metamorphic grade, sulphur solubility in H/O =s 2 fluids is so low that pyrite decomposition must occur by sulphurconserving reactions that cause iron depletion in silicates, a common feature of sulphidic pelites. With increasing temperature and sulphur solubility, pyrite desulphidation may be driven by dehydration reactions or infiltration of H,O-rich fluids. The absence of magnetite and the assemblages carbonate + aluminosilicate or pyrite + pyrrhotite + ilmenite from most graphitic metapelites is consistent with an H/O = 2 model for GCOH(S) fluid. For graphitic rocks in which such a model is inapplicable, a phase diagram variable that defines the H/O ratio of GCOH(S) fluid is more useful than the conventional

40Ar/39Ar and oxygen isotope studies of polymetamorphism from Tinos Island, Cycladic blueschist belt, Greece

Abstract: Petrological, oxygen isotope and 40Ar/39Ar studies were used to constrain the Tertiary metamorphic evolution of the lower tectonic unit of the Cyclades on Tinos. Polyphase high-pressure metamorphism reached pressures in excess of 15 kbar, based on measurements of the Si content in potassic white mica. Temperatures of 450–500° C at the thermal peak of high-pressure metamorphism were estimated from critical metamorphic assemblages, the validity of which is confirmed by a quartz–magnetite oxygen isotope temperature of 470° C. Some 40Ar/39Ar spectra of white mica give plateau ages of 44–40 Ma that are considered to represent dynamic recrystallization under peak or slightly post-peak high-pressure metamorphic conditions. Early stages in the prograde high-pressure evolution may be documented by older apparent ages in the high-temperature steps of some spectra. Eclogite to epidote blueschist facies mineralogies were partially or totally replaced by retrograde greenschist facies assemblages during exhumation. Oxygen isotope thermometry of four quartz–magnetite pairs from greenschist samples gives temperatures of 440–470° C which cannot be distinguished from those deduced for the high-pressure event. The exhumation and overprint is documented by decreasing ages of 32–28 Ma in some greenschists and late-stage blueschist rocks, and ages of 30–20 Ma in the lower temperature steps of the Ar release patterns of blueschist micas. Almost flat parts of Ar–Ar release spectra of some greenschist micas gave ages of 23–21 Ma which are assumed to represent incomplete resetting caused by a renewed prograde phase of greenschist metamorphism. Oxygen isotope compositions of blueschist and greenschist facies minerals show no evidence for the infiltration of a δ18O-enriched fluid. Rather, the compositions indicate that fluid to rock ratios were very low, the isotopic compositions being primarily controlled by those of the protolith rocks. We assume that the fundamental control catalysing the transformation of blueschists into greenschists and the associated resetting of their isotopic systems was the selective infiltration of metamorphic fluid. A quartz–magnetite sample from a contact metamorphic skarn, taken near the Miocene monzogranite of Tinos, gave an oxygen isotope temperature of 555° C and calculated water composition of 9.1%. The value of δ18O obtained from this water is consistent with a primary magmatic fluid, but is lower than that of fluids associated with the greenschist overprint, which indicates that the latter event cannot be directly related to the monozogranite intrusion.

The metamorphic signature of contemporaneous extension and shortening in the central Himalayan orogen: data from the Nyalam transect, southern Tibet

Abstract: Geological relationships and geochronological data suggest that in Miocene time the metamorphic core of the central Himalayan orogen was a wedge-shaped body bounded below by the N-dipping Main Central thrust system and above the N-dipping South Tibetan detachment system. We infer that synchronous movement on these fault systems expelled the metamorphic core southward toward the Indian foreland, thereby moderating the extreme topographic gradient at the southern margin of the Tibetan Plateau. Reaction textures, thermobarometric data and thermodynamic modelling of pelitic schists and gneisses from the Nyalam transect in southern Tibet (28°N, 86°E) imply that gravitational collapse of the orogen produced a complex thermal structure in the metamorphic core. Amphibolite facies metamorphism and anatexis at temperatures of 950 K and depths of at least 30 km accompanied the early stages of displacement on the Main Central thrust system. Our findings suggest that the late metamorphic history of these rocks was characterized by high-T decompression associated with roughly 15 km of unroofing by movement on the South Tibetan detachment system. In the middle of the metamorphic core, roughly 7–8 km below the basal detachment of the South Tibetan system, the decompression was essentially isothermal. Near the base of the metamorphic core, roughly 4–6 km above the Main Central thrust, the decompression was accompanied by about 150 K of cooling. We attribute the disparity between the P–T paths of these two structural levels to cooling of the lower part of the metamorphic core as a consequence of continued (and probably accelerated) underthrusting of cooler rocks in the footwall of the Main Central thrust at the same time as movement on the South Tibetan detachment system.

Metamorphism and deformation of blueschist belts and their tectonic implications, North Qilian Mountains, China

Abstract: Two blueschist belts in the North Qilian Mountains occur in Middle Cambrian and Lower Ordovician strata and strike N30–35°W for about 500 km along the Caledonian fold belt on the south-west margin of the Sino-Korean plate. The styles of metamorphism and deformation are quite different in the two belts. The Middle Cambrian to Ordovician rocks in the high-grade belt are mainly blueschists and C-type eclogites in which six phases of lower and upper crustal deformation have been recognized. The rocks contain glaucophane, phengite, epidote, clinozoisite, chlorite, garnet, stilpnomelane, piedmontite, albite, titanite and quartz. The estimated P–T conditions of eclogites are 340 ± 10°C, 8 ± 1 kbar and, of blueschist, >380°C, 6–7 kbar. The Ordovician rocks in the low-grade belt are characterized by ductile to brittle deformation in the middle to upper crust. The low-grade blueschists contain glaucophane, lawsonite, pumpellyite, aragonite, albite and chlorite. The estimated P–T conditions are 150–250°C and 4–7 kbar. K–Ar and 39Ar/40Ar geochronology on glaucophane and phengite from the high-grade blueschist belt suggest two stages of metamorphism at 460–440 and 400–380 Ma, which may represent the times of subduction and orogeny. The subduction metamorphism of the northern low-grade blueschist belt took place approximately at the end of the Ordovician.

High‐pressure eclogites in northern Jiangsu – southern Shandong province, eastern China

Abstract: Eclogites are distributed for more than 500 km along a major tectonic boundary between the Sino-Korean and Yangtze cratons in central and eastern China. These eclogites usually have high-P assemblages including omphacite + kyanite and/or coesite (or its pseudomorph), and form a high-P eclogite terrane. They occur as isolated lenses or blocks 10 cm to 300 m long in gneisses (Type I), serpentinized garnet peridotites (Type II) and marbles (Type III). Type I eclogites were formed by prograde metamorphism, and their primary metamorphic mineral assemblage consists mainly of garnet [pyrope (Prp) = 15–40 mol%], omphacite [jadeite (Jd) = 34–64 mol%], pargasitic amphibole, kyanite, phengitic muscovite, zoisite, an SiO2 phase, apatite, rutile and zircon. Type II eclogites characteristically contain no SiO2 phase, and are divided into prograde eclogites and mantle-derived eclogites. The prograde eclogites of Type II are petrographically similar to Type I eclogites. The mantle-derived eclogites have high MgO/(FeO + Fe2O3) and Cr2O3 compositions in bulk rock and minerals, and consist mainly of pyrope-rich garnet (Prp = 48–60 mol%), sodic augite (Jd = 10–27 mol%) and rutile. Type III eclogites have an unusual mineral assemblage of grossular-rich (Grs = 57 mol%) garnet + omphacite (Jd = 30–34 mol%) + pargasite + rutile. Pargasitic and taramitic amphiboles, calcic plagioclase (An68), epidote, zoisite, K-feldspar and paragonite occur as inclusions in garnet and omphacite in the prograde eclogites. This suggests that the prograde eclogites were formed by recrystallization of epidote amphibolite and/or amphibolite facies rocks with near-isothermal compression reflecting crustal thickening during continent–continent collision of late Proterozoic age. Equilibrium conditions of the prograde eclogites range from P > 26 kbar and T= 500–750°C in the western part to P > 28 kbar and T= 810–880°C in the eastern part of the high-P eclogite terrane. The prograde eclogites in the eastern part are considered to have been derived from a deeper position than those in the western part. Subsequent reactions, manifested by (1) narrow rims of sodic plagioclase or paragonite on kyanite and (2) symplectites between omphacite and quartz are interpreted as an effect of near-isothermal decompression during the retrograde stage. The conditions at which symplectites re-equilibrated tend to increase from west (P 9 kbar and T > 680°C). Equilibrium temperatures of Type II mantle-derived eclogites and Type III eclogite are 730–750°C and 680°C, respectively.

P–T–t paths and tectonic history of an early Precambrian granulite facies terrane, Jining district, south‐east Inner Mongolia, China

Abstract: The widespread khondalite series of south-east Inner Mongolia consists largely of biotite–sillimanite–garnet gneiss and quartzo-feldspathic gneiss with some marble and mafic granulite layers. It has experienced two metamorphic events at c. 2500 and 1900–2000 Ma. A pre-peak stage of the first metamorphism at T= 600–700°C and P > 6–7 kbar is recognized by the relict amphibolite facies assemblage Ky–Grt–Bt–Pl–Qtz and ‘protected’inclusions of biotite, hornblende, sodic plagioclase and quartz in garnet or orthopyroxene. The peak stage, with T=c. 800 ± 50°C and P 8–10 kbar, is characterized by the widespread granulite facies assemblages Sil–Grt–Bt–Kfs–Pl–Qtz in gneiss and Opx–Cpx–Pl ± Hbl ± Grt in granulite. The P–T–t path suggests that the supracrustal sequence was buried in the lower crust by tectonic thickening during D1–D2. The beginning of the second metamorphism is characterized by further temperature rise to 700°C or more at lower pressure. This stage is manifested by the appearance of cordierite after garnet, fibrolite (Sil2) after biotite in gneiss and transformation of Hbl1 into Opx2 and Cpx2 in granulite. Coronas of symplectitic Opx2 + Pl2 surrounding Grt1 and Cpx1 in mafic granulite are interpreted as products of near-isothermal decompression. The P–T–t path may be related tectonically to waning extension of the crust by the end of the early Proterozoic.

Regional metamorphism and tectonic evolution of the Inner Mongolian suture zone

Abstract: Regional metamorphism in central Inner Mongolia has occurred during four different periods: the middle Proterozoic, the early Palaeozoic, the middle Palaeozoic and the late Palaeozoic tectonic cycles. The middle Proterozoic and late Palaeozoic metamorphic events are associated with rifting and are characterized by low-pressure facies series. The early Palaeozoic metamorphism occurred in two stages: (1) subduction zone metamorphism resulted in paired metamorphic belts in the Ondor Sum ophiolite and Bainaimiao island arc complex; and (2) orogenic metamorphism occurred during the collision of an island arc with the continent. Two types of middle Palaeozoic metamorphism are represented: (1) subduction zone metamorphism, which affected the melange; and (2) orogenic metamorphism that resulted from continent–continent collision.

Internally consistent recalibrations of mineral equilibria for geothermobarometry involving garnet–orthopyroxene–plagioclase–quartz assemblages and their application to the South Indian granulites

Abstract: Three reactions are calibrated as geothermobarometers for garnet–orthopyroxene–plagioclase–quartz assemblages, namely: 1/2 ferrosilite + 1/3 pyrope ± 1/2 enstatite + 1/3 almandine (A): ferrosilite + anorthite ± 2/3 almandine + 1/3 grossularite + quartz (B); and enstatite + anorthite ± 2/3 pyrope + 1/3 grossularite + quartz (C). The internally consistent geothermobarometers based on reactions (A), (B) and (C) are calibrated from experimental data only. The thermodynamic parameters of reaction (A) are derived from published experimental data in the FMAS system (n= 104) in the range 700–1400°C and 5–50 kbar, while those for reaction (B) are derived by summation of the existing reversed experimental data of the mineral equilibria: ferrosilite ± fayalite + quartz (D) and anorthite + fayalite ± 2/3 almandine + 1/3 grossularite (E). The retrieved thermodynamic parameters for reactions (A), (B) and (C) are, respectively: (ΔH0, cal) -3367 ± 209, -2749 ± 350 and +3985 ± 545; (ΔS0, cal K−1) -1.634 ± 0.163, -8.644 ± 0.298 and -5.376 ± 0.391; and (ΔV01,298, cal bar−1) -0.024, -0.60946 and -0.5614. On a one-cation basis, the derived Margules parameters of the ternary Ca–Fe–Mg in garnet are: WFe–Mg= -1256 + 1.0 (∼0.23) T(K), WMg–Fe= 2880 -1.7 (∼0.13) T(K), WCa–Mg= 4047 (∼77) -1.5 T(K), WMg–Ca= 1000 (∼77) -1.5 T(K), WCa–Fe= -723 + 0.332 (∼0.02) T(K), WFe–Ca= 1090, (cal) and the ternary constant C123= -4498 + 1.516 (∼0.265) T(K) cal (subregular solution model of non-ideal mixing); and Fe–Mg–Al in orthopyroxene: WFe–Mg= 948 (∼200) -0.34 (∼0.10) T(K), WFe–Al= -1950 (∼500) and WMg–Al= 0 (cal) (regular solution model of non-ideal mixing). The anorthite activity in plagioclase is calculated by the ‘Al-avoidance’model of subregular Ca–Na mixing commonly used for geobarometry based on reactions (B) and (C). When the geothermobarometers are applied to garnet–orthopyroxene–plagioclase–quartz assemblages (n= 45) of wide compositional range from the Precambrian South Indian granulites, temperature ranges of 690–860°C (X= 760 ± 45°C) and pressure ranges of 5–10 kbar were obtained. The P–T values were estimated simultaneously and there is no difference in the pressure calculated from PMg (reaction C) and PFe (reaction B). In the existing calibrations this difference is 1 kbar or more. Furthermore, there is no compositional dependence of the ln K of the experimental data in the FMAS (n= 104) and the CFMAS (n= 78) systems at different temperatures and the estimated temperatures of the South Indian granulites.

Exhumation of high‐pressure metamorphic rocks during crustal extension in the D'Entrecasteaux region, Papua New Guinea

Abstract: The D'Entrecasteaux Islands of eastern Papua New Guinea consist of a number of active metamorphic core complexes formed under an extensional tectonic setting related to sea-floor spreading in the west Woodlark Basin. The complexes are defined by mountainous domes (>2500 m high) of fault-bounded, high-grade metamorphic rocks (including eclogite facies) intruded by 2–4-Ma granodiorite plutons. Garnet–clinopyroxene exchange thermometers indicate that the temperature of equilibration of the eclogites was 730–900° C. The jadeite component of omphacite indicates minimum pressure of 21 kbar, suggesting depths of >70 km. The metamorphic rocks have undergone widespread retrogression to amphibolite facies. Retrogression of the metamorphic basement is associated with shearing and formation of the metamorphic core complexes. P–T conditions in the early stages of shear zone activity, determined using the garnet–biotite exchange thermometer and the GASP and GRIPS barometers, were 570–730° C and 7–11 kbar. A second phase of re-equilibration at much lower pressures appears to be related to the widespread intrusion of granodiorite plutons. One re-equilibrated gneiss indicated maximum temperature of 730° C at estimated pressures of approximately 4 kbar. This late, high-temperature metamorphism is also indicated by reactions involving the production of hercynite and corundum in aluminous gneisses and formation of sillimanite at the expense of kyanite. Two major episodes of granodiorite intrusion occurred during uplift and exhumation of the core complexes. Both closely coincide spatially with high-temperature metamorphic rocks, the onset of deformation in extensional shear zones and subsequent uplift of the metamorphic basement. These observations indicate a fundamental link between uplift and granodiorite intrusion during continental extension and the formation of the D'Entrecasteaux Islands metamorphic core complexes.

Crustal trajectory of sapphirine-bearing granulites from Ganguvarpatti, South India: evidence for an isothermal decompression path

Abstract: Ganguvarpatti is part of a Precambrian terrane characterized by granulite facies rocks, including charnockites, mafic granulites, sapphirine-bearing granulites, leptynites and gneisses. A sequence of reactions deduced from the multiphase reaction textures provide information on the metamorphic history of this area, as they formed in response to decompression during uplift. Geothermobarometry and constraints from reaction textures define a segment of a P–T path traversed by the granulites of Ganguvarpatti. Near-peak metamorphic conditions of c. 800°C and 8 kbar were succeeded by a symplectitic stage at a significantly lower pressure (c. 700°C and 4.5 kbar), documenting a nearly isothermal decompression P–T path and rapid uplift (c. 12 km) followed by cooling. The presence of many fluid inclusions of extremely low density in the charnockites is consistent with a nearly isothermal uplift path. Attainment of a maximum pressure of c. 8 kbar indicates c. 27 km depth of burial during metamorphism. This would imply a total crustal thickness of c. 65–70 km at 2.6–2.5 Ga. Such a profound crustal thickness and a clockwise decompressive P–T path is interpreted as a consequence of tectonic thickening of crust, accomplished by collision tectonics of the southern granulite terrane against the Dharwar craton along the Palghat–Cauvery shear zone via northward subduction.

Arrested charnockite formation at Kottavattam, southern India

Abstract: At Kottavattam, southern Kerala (India), late Proterozoic homogeneous leptynitic garnet-biotite gneisses of granitic composition have been transformed on a decimetric scale into coarse-grained massive charnockite sensu stricto along a set of conjugate fractures transecting the gneissic foliation. Charnockitization post-dates the polyphase deformation, regional high-grade metamorphism and anatexis, and evidently occurred at a late stage of the Pan-African tectonothermal history. Geothermobarometric and fluid inclusion data document textural and chemical equilibration of the gneiss and charnockite assemblages at similar P-lith-T conditions (650-700 degrees C, 5-6kbar) in the presence of carbonic fluids internally buffered by reaction with graphite and opaque mineral phases (X(CO2)=0.7-0.6;X(H2O)=0.2-0.3;X(N2)=0.1;logf(O2)=-l7.5). Mineralogical zonation indicates that charnockitization of the leptynitic gneiss involved first the breakdown of biotite and oxidation of graphite in narrow, outward-migrating transition zones adjacent to the gneiss, followed by the breakdown of garnet and the neoblastesis of hypersthene in the central charnockite zone. Compared to the host gneiss, the charnockite shows higher concentrations of K, Na, Sr, Ba and Zn and lower concentrations of Mg, Fe, Ti, V, Y, Zr and the HREE, with a complementary pattern in the narrow transition zones of biotite breakdown. The P-lith-T-X(H2O) data and chemical zonation patterns indicate charnockitization through subsolidus-dehydration reaction in an open system. Subsequent residence of the carbonic fluids in the charnockite resulted in low-grade alteration causing modification of the syn-charnockitic elemental distribution patterns and the properties of entrapped fluids. We favour an internally controlled process of arrested charnockitization in which, during near-isothermal uplift, the release of carbonic fluids from decrepitating inclusions in the host gneiss into simultaneously developing fracture zones led to a change in the fluid regime from `fluid-absent' in the gneiss to `fluid-present' in the fracture zones and to the development of an initial fluid-pressure gradient, triggering the dehydration reaction.

Ultra-high-pressure metamorphism of carbonate rocks in the Dabie Mountains, central China

Abstract: Widespread ultra-high-P assemblages including coesite, quartz pseudomorphs after coesite, aragonite, and calcite pseudomorphs after aragonite in marble, gneiss and phengite schist are present in the Dabie Mountains eclogite terrane. These assemblages indicate that the ultra-high-P metamorphic event occurred on a regional scale during Triassic collision between the Sino-Korean and Yangtze cratons. Marble in the Dabie Mountains is interlayered with coesite-bearing eclogite and gneiss and as blocks of various size within gneiss. Discontinuous boudins of eclogite occur within marble layers. Marble contains an ultra-high-P assemblage of calcite/aragonite, dolomite, clinopyroxene, garnet, phengite, epidote, rutile and quartz/coesite. Coesite, quartz pseudomorphs after coesite, aragonite and calcite pseudomorphs after aragonite occur as fine-grained inclusions in garnet and omphacite. Phengites contain about 3.6 Si atoms per formula unit (based on 11 oxygens). Similar to the coesite-bearing eclogite, marble exhibits retrograde recrystallization under amphibolite–greenschist facies conditions generated during uplift of the ultra-high-P metamorphic terrane. Retrograde minerals are fine grained and replace coarse-grained peak metamorphic phases. The most typical replacements are: symplectic pargasitic hornblende + epidote after garnet, diopside + plagioclase (An18) after omphacite, and fibrous phlogopite after phengite. Ferroan pargasite + plagioclase, and actinolite formed along grain boundaries between garnet and calcite, and calcite and quartz, respectively. The estimated peak P–T conditions for marble are comparable to those for eclogite: garnet–clinopyroxene geothermometry yields temperatures of 630–760°C; the garnet–phengite thermometer gives somewhat lower temperatures. The minimum pressure of peak metamorphism is 27 kbar based on the occurrence of coesite. Such estimates of ultra-high-P conditions are consistent with the coexistence of grossular-rich garnet + rutile, and the high jadeite content of omphacite in marble. The fluid for the peak metamorphism was calculated to have a very low XCO2 (<0.03). The P–T conditions for retrograde metamorphism were estimated to be 475–550°C at <7 kbar.

Tectonic overpressure in competent mafic layers and the development of isolated eclogites

Abstract: Variation in the state of stress during heterogeneous deformation should be reflected in variation in the effective pressure of metamorphic reactions, whether this is mean stress or the normal stress acting across the reacting interface. The magnitude of this pressure variation will determine whether it is discernible in the preserved metamorphic mineral assemblages of heterogeneously deformed rocks. The magnitude of the mean stress difference across a non-slipping interface between two materials with viscosity ratio >c. 20:1 is effectively equal to the maximum shear stress for flow in the more viscous material. Progressive shortening of the interface results in a higher mean stress in the more competent material, whereas extension results in a lower mean stress. For high-P/low-T eclogite facies conditions, current experimental data indicate that clinopyroxene- and garnet-rich layers of eclogite should be very strong and that pressure differences of up to 800 MPa (8 kbar) between competent layer and weaker matrix may be possible. Such high values can be obtained in widely separated competent layers for values of bulk stress in the overall multilayer that are much lower (by a factor approaching the viscosity ratio). Extrusion of material between more rigid plates, which has been proposed as a regional mechanism of lateral ‘continental escape’for both the Alps and the Himalayas, should also be accompanied by a lateral gradient in effective pressure; otherwise extrusion could not occur. Maximum mean stresses with magnitudes that are many times the maximum shear stress required for plastic flow should develop for deformation zones that are long relative to their width (e.g. around 20 times for a width-to-thickness ratio of 10). Tectonic overpressure in progressively shortened competent layers, particularly in regions of extrusion between more rigid plates, might help explain the occurrence of isolated layers and pods of low-T eclogite ( c. 550°C, the dramatic weakening of clinopyroxene in the power-law creep field precludes the development of significant overpressures in eclogite layers.

Two types of Precambrian high‐grade metamorphism, Inner Mongolia, China

Abstract: Archaean and Proterozoic granulite facies complexes of Inner Mongolia differ in lithological association, tectonic style, mineral assemblage and metamorphic P–T path. A nearly isobaric cooling path for Archaean high-grade metamorphic rocks is suggested by reaction textures and geothermobarometry. Early Proterozoic metamorphic rocks show nearly isothermal decompression. Archaean metamorphism may have been caused by magmatic accretion, whereas early Proterozoic metamorphism suggests a major continental thickening event followed by exhumation.

The stable isotope signature of kilometre‐scale fracturedominated metamorphic fluid pathways, Mary Kathleen, Australia

Abstract: Large calcite veins and pods in the Proterozoic Corella Formation of the Mount Isa Inlier provide evidence for kilometre-scale fluid transport during amphibolite facies metamorphism. These 10- to 100-m-scale podiform veins and their surrounding alteration zones have similar oxygen and carbon isotopic ratios throughout the 200 × 10-km Mary Kathleen Fold Belt, despite the isotopic heterogeneity of the surrounding wallrocks. The fluids that formed the pods and veins were not in isotopic equilibrium with the immediately adjacent rocks. The pods have δ13Ccalcite values of –2 to –7% and δ18Ocalcite values of 10.5 to 12.5%. Away from the pods, metadolerite wallrocks have δ18Owhole-rock values of 3.5 to 7%. and unaltered banded calc-silicate and marble wallrocks have δ13Ccalcite of –1.6 to –0.6%, and δ18Ocalcite of 18 to 21%. In the alteration zones adjacent to the pods, the δ18O values of both metadolerite and calc-silicate rocks approach those of the pods. Large calcite pods hosted entirely in calc-silicates show little difference in isotopic composition from pods hosted entirely in metadolerite. Thus, 100- to 500-m-scale isotopic exchange with the surrounding metadolerites and calc-silicates does not explain the observation that the δ18O values of the pods are intermediate between these two rock types. Pods hosted in felsic metavolcanics and metasiltstones are also isotopically indistinguishable from those hosted in the dominant metadolerites and calc-silicates. These data suggest the veins are the product of infiltration of isotopically homogeneous fluids that were not derived from within the Corella Formation at the presently exposed crustal level, although some of the spread in the data may be due to a relatively small contribution from devolatilization reactions in the calc-silicates, or thermal fluctuations attending deformation and metamorphism. The overall L-shaped trend of the data on plots of δ13C vs. δ18O is most consistent with mixing of large volumes of externally derived fluids with small volumes of locally derived fluid produced by devolatilization of calc-silicate rocks. Localization of the vein systems in dilatant sites around metadolerite/calc-silicate boundaries indicates a strong structural control on fluid flow, and the stable isotope data suggest fluid migration must have occurred at scales greater than at least 1 km. The ultimate source for the external fluid is uncertain, but is probably fluid released from crystallizing melts derived from the lower crust or upper mantle. Intrusion of magmas below the exposed crustal level would also explain the high geothermal gradient calculated for the regional metamorphism.

Partially retrograded eclogites of the Münchberg Massif, Germany: records of a multi-stage Variscan uplift history in the Bohemian Massif

Abstract: Eclogites with a wide range in bulk composition are present in the Munchberg Massif, part of the Variscan basement of the Bohemian Massif in north-east Bavaria. New analyses of the primary phases garnet, omphacite, phengite and amphibole, as well as the secondary phases clinopyroxene II, various amphiboles, biotite/phlogopite, plagioclase, margarite, paragonite, prehnite and pumpellyite, reveal a complex uplift history. New discoveries were made of samples with very jadeite-rich primary omphacite as well as a secondary omphacite in a symplectite with albite. Various geothermobarometric techniques, together with thermodynamic databases (incorporating separately determined activity–composition values) and experimental data have clustered the minimum conditions for the primary assemblages to the P–T range 650 ± 60° C, 14.3 ± 1 kbar. However, jadeite (in omphacite)–kyanite–paragonite (in phengite) and zoisite–grossular (in garnet)–kyanite–quartz relationships suggests pressures of 25–28 kbar at the same temperatures. The fact that the secondary omphacite–plagioclase assemblage yields pressures within a few hundred bars of the minimum pressures for the plagioclase-free assemblages strongly suggests that the minimum values are serious underestimates. Zoning, inclusion suites and breakdown reactions of primary phases, in addition to new minerals formed during uplift, define a polyphase metamorphic evolution which, from geochronological evidence, occurred solely within the Variscan cycle. The complex breakdown in other Bohemian Massif eclogites and the distinct variation in their temperatures during uplift suggest a multi-stage thrusting model for the regional evolution of the eclogites. Such an evolution has significance with respect to incorporation of mantle slices into crustal sequences and fluid derivation from successively subducted units, possibly driving the breakdown reactions.

Testing models for the development of spiral-shaped inclusion trails in garnet porphyroblasts: to rotate or not to rotate, that is the question

Abstract: The formation of spiral-shaped inclusion trails (SSITs) is problematical, and the two viable models for their formation involve opposite shear senses along the foliation in which the porphyroblasts are growing. One model argues for porphyroblast rotation, with respect to a geographically fixed reference frame, whereas the other argues for no such porphyroblast rotation, but instead rotation of the matrix foliation around the porphyroblast. Thus, porphyroblasts with SSITs cannot be used as shear-sense indicators until it is conclusively determined which model best explains them. Any successful model must explain features associated with SSITs, including: (1) foliation truncation zones, (2) smoothly curving SSITs, (3) millipede microstructure, (4) total inclusion-trail curvature in median sections, (5) porphyroblasts with SSITs that have grown together, (6) evidence for relative porphyroblast displacements, (7) shear-sense indicators inside and outside porphyroblasts; (8) crenulations associated with porphyroblasts and (9) geometries in sections subparallel to spiral axes (axes of rotation). A detailed study of these features suggests that most, if not all, can be explained by both the rotational and non-rotational models, in spite of these models involving diametrically opposed movement senses. Therefore, geometrical analysis of individual porphyroblast microstructures may not determine which model best explains SSITs until the kinematics required to form these microstructures are better understood, in particular the sense of shear along a developing crenulation cleavage. Specific tests for determining the shear sense along crenulation cleavages are proposed, and results of such tests may conclusively resolve the debate over how SSITs form.

A garnet population in Yellowknife schist, Canada

Abstract: Data are presented on a garnet population in a specimen of garnet-biotite-plagioclase-quartz schist from the cordierite zone of an Archaean thermal dome in the Southern Slave Province of the Canadian Shield. Garnet crystals are bounded by planar dodecahedral faces and by trapezohedral faces which on the 10-μm scale are corrugated. Crystal distribution, as revealed by dissection of a small cubic volume of rock, is random. The size distribution is normal, with a mean diameter of 0.81 mm and a standard deviation of 0.32 mm. In the largest crystal of the population (mean radius 0.83 mm), [Mn] = 100 Mn/(Fe + Mg + Mn + Ca) decreases from 14.5 at the centre to 7.5 and then increases in the outer margin to 8.5; [Fe] increases continuously from 67 at the centre to 77 at the surface; [Mg] increases from 12.5 to 13.5 and then falls sharply to 11; [Ca] remains unchanged at 4.0 and then drops to 3.3. Progressively smaller crystals have progressively lower [Mn] and higher [Fe] concentrations at their centres, while all crystals have the same margin composition. Growth vectors extending from given concentration contours to crystal surfaces are of equal length regardless of the size of the crystal in which the vector is located. A garnet-forming model is presented in which reaction was initiated by a rise in temperature. Nucleation sites were randomly selected. The nucleation rate increased with time and then declined. Crystal faces advanced at a constant linear rate, which implies an increase in volume proportional to surface area. Initially, the composition of garnet deposited on crystal surfaces was determined by van Laar equations of equilibrium, which demanded the withdrawal of Mn and Fe from within chlorite crystals. This transfer reaction was then accompanied by an ion exchange reaction which moved Mn and Fe to garnet surfaces from biotite, in exchange for Mg. The exchange reaction provides an explanation for the high overall concentration of Mn and Fe in garnet and for the observed Mn and Mg reversals in the margins of crystals. The increase of garnet volume in the garnet population is found to be parabolic, i.e. Vαα5.

High‐pressure/low‐temperature metamorphism in northern Hubei Province, central China

Abstract: The Qinling-Dabie accretionary fold belt in east-central China represents the E-W trending suture zone between the Sino-Korean and Yangtze cratons. A portion of the accretionary complex exposed in northern Hubei Province contains a high-pressure / low-temperature metamorphic sequence progressively metamorphosed from the blueschist through greenschist to epidote-amphibolite / eclogite facies. The Hongan metamorphic belt can be divided into three metamorphic zones,based on progressive changes in mineral assemblages: Zone Ⅰ,in the south,is characterized by transitional blueschist-greenschist facies; ZoneⅡis characterized by greenschist facies; ZoneⅢ,in the northern most portion of the belt,is characterized by eclogite and epidote-amphibolite facies sequences. Changes in amphibole compositions from south to north as well as the appearance of increasingly higher pressure mineral assemblages toward the north document differences in metamorphic P-T conditions during formation of this belt. Preliminary P-T estimates for Zone I metamorphism are 5 ~ 7 kbar,350 ~ 450℃; estimates for Zone III eclogites are 10 ~ 22 kbar,500 ±50℃. The petrographic,chemical and structural characteristics of this metamorphic belt indicate its evolutionin a northward-dipping subduction zone and subsequent uplift prior to and during the final collisionbetween the Sino-Korean and Yangtze cratons.

Metamorphism and tectonic evolution of the Lancang paired metamorphic belts, south-western China

Abstract: The Lancang metamorphic terrane consists of an eastern low-P/T belt and a western high-P/T belt divided by a N–S-trending fault. Protoliths of both units are mid–late Proterozoic basement and its cover. The low-P/T belt includes the Permian Lincang batholith, related amphibolite facies rocks of the Damenglong and Chongshan groups, and Permo-Triassic volcanic and volcaniclastic rocks. Most whole-rock Rb–Sr isochron and U–Pb zircon ages of the Lincang batholith are in the range 290–279 and 254–212 Ma, respectively. Metamorphism of the low-P/T belt reaches upper amphibolite with local granulite facies (735°C at 5 kbar), subsequently retrogressed at 450–500°C during post-Triassic time. The high-P/T rocks grade from west to east from blueschist through transitional blueschist/greenschist to epidote amphibolite facies. Estimated P–T conditions follow the high-P intermediate facies series up to about 550–600°C, at which oligoclase is stable. The 40Ar/39Ar plateau age of sodic amphibole in blueschist is 279 Ma. The paired metamorphic belts combined with the spatial and temporal distribution of other blueschist belts lead us to propose a tentative tectonic history of south-east Asia since the latest Precambrian. Tectonic juxtaposition of paired belts with contrasting P–T conditions, perhaps during collision of the Baoshan block with south-east Asia, suggests that an intervening oceanic zone existed that has been removed. The Baoshan block is a microcontinent rifted from the northern periphery of Gondwana. Successive collision and amalgamation of microcontinents from either Gondwana or the Panthalassan ocean resulted in rapid southward continental growth of c. 500 km during the last 200 Ma. Hence, the Lancang region in south-east Asia represents a suture zone between two contrasting microcontinents.

Thermobarometry in a subgreenschist to greenschist transition in metabasites of the Abitibi greenstone belt, Superior Province, Canada

Abstract: Mineral equilibria in the system CaO–MgO–Al2O3–SiO2–H2O provide a basis for mapping of four reaction isograds and one bathograd in the low-pressure transition from subgreenschist to greenschist facies. Most of the Matachewan area of the Abitibi greenstone belt is in the lower-pressure bathozone, as indicated by the widespread occurrences of the subassemblage Prh–Chl. The higher-pressure bathozone is indicated by two occurrences of Pmp–Act–Ep–Qtz, but in these samples the bathograd is displaced to anomalously low pressure by the high Fe content of the coexisting minerals. This illustrates the need to analyse coexisting minerals, calculate activities of end-member species, and compute P–T curves for individual samples before interpreting the isograd/bathograd pattern. Petrographic and microprobe analysis indicates that great care must be taken in the selection of ‘equilibrium’ assemblages. Pyroxene phenocrysts in one sample are replaced by the assemblage Pmp–Act–Ep–Chl–Qtz, whereas Prh–Act–Ep–Chl–Qtz occurs in the groundmass. Compositional variation may be more cryptic, as in a sample of metabasaltic hyaloclastite that contains two spatially distinct ‘univariant’ assemblages, Prh–Pmp–Ep–Chl–Qtz and Prh–Act–Ep–Chl–Qtz, within the devitrified matrix. Whereas chlorite compositions are similar in both assemblages, prehnite and epidote in the latter assemblage are significantly richer in Fe and poorer in Al. Accordingly, the rock is interpreted to contain two distinct ‘univariant’ assemblages, rather than one ‘invariant’ assemblage (Prh–Pmp–Act–Ep–Chl–Qtz). The displaced ‘univariant’ curves for this sample intersect at 2.2 kbar and 250°C. Taking account of all thermobarometric implications, the low-grade limit of the greenschist facies is at 250–270°C and 2–2.5 kbar, corresponding to depths of 7–8 km. Comparison of apparent P–T conditions on both sides of the Larder Lake – Cadillac break, a regional CO2-metasomatized fault zone that is spatially associated with many Archaean gold deposits, provides an upper limit of not more than c. 1 km for post-metamorphic south-side-up, dip-slip displacement.

Generation of pseudotachylite under granulite facies conditions, and its preservation during cooling

Abstract: Discontinuous ultramylonite zones cut Proterozoic granulite facies gneisses in MacRobertson Land, east Antarctica, and preserve evidence of ductile non-coaxial flow and reverse sense of shear. Cross-cutting relationships indicate that ultramylonite deformation involved overthrusting to the east, but progressively rotated to involve overthrusting to the north; rotation of the principal compressive stress axes is inferred. Extensive pseudotachylite developed during ultramylonitization, the history of individual ultramylonite zones having involved a single episode of pseudotachylite generation. Neoblastic sillimanite indicates ultramylonitization occurred at >520° C. On the basis of inferred recrystallized granulite facies mineral assemblages ultramylonitization occurred at >700° C, and ≤7.3 ± 0.5 kbar, at aH2O± 0.3 and low aCO2. Comparison of these values with those suggested by metamorphic assemblages in rocks unaffected by mylonitization indicates that the Rayner Complex experienced a late increase in pressure of 1–2 kbar during ultramylonitization. The P-T-aH2O conditions of the ultramylonite zones are inferred to have been close to the solidus for minimum melting, pseudotachylite generation having involved a limited pressure drop during brittle fracturing at high strain rates. Most of the pseudotachylite veins are undeformed; the mechanism(s) of fracturing and melting must have caused strain hardening in rocks surrounding the ultramylonite, further strain having been mostly accommodated by a new or subsidiary shear zone. Renewed stress at reduced strain rates, or renewed stress in zones in which the proportion of pseudotachylite was significantly higher, could have led to the rare occurrences of deformed pseudotachylite. The preservation of fine-grained pseudotachylite is dependent on it remaining dry.

Fluid infiltration and regional metamorphism of the Waits River Formation, north‐east Vermont, USA

Abstract: The Siluro-Devonian Waits River Formation of north-east Vermont was deformed, intruded by plutons and regionally metamorphosed during the Devonian Acadian Orogeny. Five metamorphic zones were mapped based on the mineralogy of carbonate rocks. From low to high grade, these are: (1) ankerite-albite, (2) ankerite-oligoclase, (3) biotite, (4) amphibole and (5) diopside zones. Pressure was near 4.5kbar and temperature varied from c. 450° C in the ankerite-albite zone to c. 525° C in the diopside zone. Fluid composition for all metamorphic zones was estimated from mineral equilibria. Average calculated χco2[= CO2/(CO2+ H2O)] of fluid in equilibrium with the marls increases with increasing grade from 0.05 in the ankerite-oligoclase zone, to 0.25 in the biotite zone and to 0.44 in the amphibole zone. In the diopside zone, χCO2 decreases to 0.06. Model prograde metamorphic reactions were derived from measured modes, mineral chemistry, and whole-rock chemistry. Prograde reactions involved decarbonation with an evolved volatile mixture of χCO2 > 0.50. The χCO2 of fluid in equilibrium with rocks from all zones, however, was generally <0.40. This difference attests to the infiltration of a reactive H2O-rich fluid during metamorphism. Metamorphosed carbonate rocks from the formation suggests that both heat flow and pervasive infiltration of a reactive H2O-rich fluid drove mineral reactions during metamorphism. Average time-integrated volume fluxes (cm3 fluid/cm2 rock), calculated from the standard equation for coupled fluid flow and reaction in porous media, are (1) ankerite-oligoclase zone: c. 1 × 104; (2) biotite zone: c. 3 × 104; (3) amphibole zone: c. 10 × 104; and diopside zone: c. 60 × 104. The increase in calculated flux with increasing grade is at least in part the result of internal production of volatiles from prograde reactions in pelitic schists and metacarbonate rocks within the Waits River Formation. The mapped pattern of time-integrated fluxes indicates that the Strafford-Willoughby Arch and the numerous igneous intrusions in the field area focused fluid flow during metamorphism. Many rock specimens in the diopside zone experienced extreme alkali depletion and also record low χCO2. Metamorphic fluids in equilibrium with diopside zone rocks may therefore represent a mixture of acid, H2O-rich fluids given off by the crystallizing magmas, and CO2-H2O fluids produced by devolatilization reactions in the host marls. Higher fluxes and different fluid compositions recorded near the plutons suggest that pluton-driven hydrothermal cells were local highs in the larger regional metamorphic hydrothermal system.

Grain boundary migration of water and carbon dioxide during uplift of garnet-zone Alpine Schist, New Zealand

Abstract: Deformed quartz veins in garnet-zone schist adjacent to the active Alpine Fault, New Zealand, have fluid inclusions trapped along quartz grain boundaries. Textures suggest that the inclusions formed in their present shapes during annealing of the deformed veins. Many of the inclusions are empty, but some contain carbon dioxide with densities that range from 0.16 to 0.80 g cm−3. No water, nitrogen or methane was detected. The inclusions are considerably more CO2-rich than either the primary metamorphic fluid (<5% CO2) or fluids trapped in fracture-related situations in the same, or related, rocks (<50% CO2). Enrichment of CO2 is inferred to have resulted from selective migration (wicking) of saline water from the inclusions along water-wet grain boundaries after cooling-induced immiscibility of a water-CO2 mixture. Inclusion volumes changed after loss of water. Non-wetting CO2 remained trapped in the inclusions until further percolation progressively removed CO2 in solution. This mechanism of fluid migration dominated in ductile quartz-rich rocks near, but below, the brittle-ductile transition. At deeper levels, hydraulic fracturing is also an important mechanism for fluid migration, whereas at shallower levels advection through open fractures dominates the fluid flow regime.

Regional and local patterns of low‐grade metamorphism in the North Shore Volcanic Group, Minnesota, USA

Abstract: The North Shore Volcanic Group in northern Minnesota is part of the Middle Proterozoic Keweenawan sequence, one of the largest plateau lava provinces in the world. The primary geochemistry of the basalts suggests that volcanism occurred in an intracontinental rift environment. The subaerial lava flows, mainly amygdaloidal olivine tholeiites and tholeiites, have undergone low-grade metamorphism from zeolite to lower greenschist facies. On the basis of alteration phases replacing the primary magmatic minerals, infilling amygdales and veins, and replacing secondary minerals, the following zones have been distinguished: (1) thomsonite-scolecite-smectite, (2) heulandite-stilbite-smectite, (3) laumontitechlorite-albite, (4) laumontite-chlorite-albite ± prehnite ± pumpellyite and (5) epidote-chlorite-albite ± actinolite zone. In addition to the overall zonation based on mineral parageneses, zonations in the composition of the Ab content of the newly formed albite replacing primary Ca-rich plagioclase and of the newly formed mafic phyllosilicates are observed within the sequence and within single flows. Mafic phyllosilicates in the upper part of the sequence (mainly smectites and mixed-layer smectite/chlorites) display high Si and Ca + Na + K contents, whereas in the lower part of the sequence the amounts of Si and Ca + Na + K are markedly lower (mainly chlorites and mixed-layer chlorite/smectites). Similar zonations are observed within the individual flows. The albite content of the newly formed plagioclase is highest, and the Si and Ca + Na + K content of the phyllosilicates lowest in the amygdaloidal flow top while the opposite is true for the massive flow interior. The above features suggest that the overall pattern is one of burial-type metamorphism associated with extension in the rift setting. In detail, the mineral assemblages are controlled not only by the stratigraphic position but also by the flow morphology controlling permeability whose effect on the assemblages is most pronounced in the stratigraphically upper parts. This suggests that at the first stages of alteration (lowest grade) the patterns of fluid flow were important effects in controlling the assemblages. At greater burial depth, assemblages are more homogeneous, perhaps representative of a more even and pervasive flow pattern. Using the observed assemblages at face value to define grade and/or facies, different conditions would be assigned within the different morphological flow portions. Thus at low-grade metamorphic conditions it is essential to integrate assemblages from different morphological flow portions in order to define satisfactorily the overall metamorphic conditions.

Pressure–temperature evolution of lawsonite‐bearing eclogites, Pinchi Lake, British Columbia

Abstract: Blueschists and retrogressed eclogites are located along the Pinchi Fault Zone (near 54°30′N and 124°W) in central British Columbia. The Pinchi Fault separates rocks of contrasting geological histories, and the blueschists and eclogites occur with ultramafic rocks as fault-bounded blocks. The retrogressed eclogites occur as tectonic blocks, now in glacial debris, a few metres across; blueschists occur in coherent kilometre-sized tracts. Eclogites contain garnet–omphacite–rutile–quartz, with glaucophane, lawsonite and titanite. Some of the lawsonite appears to be stable with omphacite and garnet. Tectonic blocks of eclogite from two different localities have recorded different P–T histories. In one tectonic block, P–T estimates for garnet inclusions in clinopyroxene and lawsonite (c. 565° C, >13.1 kbar) suggest that garnet and omphacite initially equilibrated outside the stability field of lawsonite. A decrease in temperature, as recorded in garnet rims and matrix clinopyroxene, resulted in crystallization of lawsonite and other retrogressive minerals. Later crystallization of stilpnomelane (locally pseudomorphing garnet), howieite, winchite and actinolite was triggered by an influx of fluid under P–T conditions outside the stability field of garnet. Lawsonite appears to have been stable, suggesting a minimum pressure of about 3 kbar. In the second tectonic block, clinopyroxene inclusions in garnet suggest temperatures near 350° C (P > 10 kbar) and garnet rims equilibrated with matrix clinopyroxene suggest temperatures near 450° C at pressures above c. 12 kbar.

Granulite facies metamorphism, palaeo‐isotherms and disturbance of the U‐Pb systematics of zircon in anorogenic plutonic rocks from the Adirondack Highlands

Abstract: In the Adirondack Highlands of New York State, the effect of granulite facies metamorphism on the physical and isotopic characteristics of zircon from anorogenic plutonic rocks has a distinct geographical pattern. The location of zircon populations which appear to have been altered describes a roughly circular area where metamorphic palaeotemperatures have been determined to be in excess of 750° C. Zircons from anorogenic plutonic rocks outside this area were undisturbed during metamorphism and yield well constrained ages. Granitic, charnockitic and mangeritic anorogenic plutonic rocks peripheral to the Marcy anorthosite massif have large, euhedral, prismatic zircons that display fine, internal, magmatic growth zonations and abundant, randomly orientated, mineral inclusions. Co-genetic zircon fractions yield linear discordant arrays and well constrained upper intercepts of 1125–1157 Ma. Metamorphic zircon is limited to sporadically developed and volumetrically insignificant, clear, low-U overgrowths or protuberances. In marked contrast, zircons from petrographically and geochemically identical rocks adjacent to, or within, the Marcy anorthosite massif are typically large, limpid, anhedral to subhedral crystals or crystal fragments lacking internal features except for tubular cavities and CO-2-rich inclusions. Co-genetic zircon fractions yield nearly concordant, non-linear clusters with 207Pb/206Pb minimum ages of 1073–1095 Ma. Metamorphic overgrowths cannot be readily identified by optical or cathodoluminscence techniques; however, many grains show complex and unusual external boundaries suggestive of post-crystallization modification. These data indicate that temperatures as low as 750° C, in combination with other factors, may have been sufficient to facilitate recrystallization, and diffusion of radiogenic Pb from the zircon crystal structure, during the complex, protracted metamorphism of the Adirondack Highlands.

Unravelling the spirals: a serial thin-section study and three-dimensional computer-aided reconstruction of spiral-shaped inclusion trails in garnet porphyroblasts

Abstract: Seventy-seven spatially orientated, serial thin sections cut from a single rock reveal changes in the geometry of spiral-shaped inclusion trails (SSlTs) in garnet porphyroblasts. The observed SITS are doubly curved, non-cylindrical surfaces, with total inclusion-trail curvature decreasing systematically from the cores to the rims of porphyroblasts. The three-dimensional geometry of the SSITs, reconstructed with the aid of computer graphics, shows that the orientations of spiral axes defined by the SSITs are not related in any expected nor predictable way to the main foliation in the matrix. This suggests continued deformation after or during the latest stages of porphyroblast growth, which has important implications for the use of SSITs as shear-sense indicators. Whether the formation of SSITs involves significant porphyroblast rotation with respect to a geographically fixed reference frame cannot be determined from the available data. Key wocds: computer graphics; garnet porphyroblasts; serial thin sections; spiral-shaped inclusion trails; three-dimensional reconstruction.

Metamorphic history and tectonic evolution of the Qinling Complex, eastern Qinling Mountains, China

Abstract: The metamorphic history and tectonic evolution of the Qinling Complex is divided into formation and modification stages. During the Proterozoic formation stage, three deformational sequences are recognized. Andalusite–muscovite, sillimanite–muscovite and sillimanite–K-feldspar zones of amphibolite facies regional metamorphism are earlier than, or synchronous with the first or second phase of folding. Ductile shear zones were formed and Caledonian granites were emplaced during the modification stage. The granites superimposed contact aureoles (garnet–K-feldspar zone) on the regional metamorphic fabric. Metamorphic reactions, P–T conditions of metamorphism and P–T–t paths were estimated by analysis of mineral textures and standard thermobarometric techniques. The P–T–t path of the Proterozoic tectonometamorphic cycle shows prominent clockwise decompression. The P–T–t path of the Caledonian tectonometamorphic cycle is characterized by an early rise of pressure and temperature, followed by isothermal decompression (rapid uplift) and finally with isobaric cooling. The P–T–t paths of the two tectonometamorphic cycles reflect two major stages of collision and uplift in the evolution of the Qinling orogenic belt during the Proterozoic and Caledonian–Hercynian periods, respectively.