Showing papers in "Journal of Metamorphic Geology in 2010"

Formation of gold deposits: a metamorphic devolatilization model

Abstract: A metamorphic devolatilization model can explain the enrichment, segregation, timing, distribution and character of many goldfields such as those found in Archean greenstone belts, slate-belts and other gold-only provinces. In this genetic model, hydrated and carbonated greenschist facies rocks, particularly metabasic rocks, are devolatilized primarily across the greenschist-amphibolite facies boundary in an orogenic setting. Devolatilization operates on the scale of individual mineral grains, extracting not just H2O and CO2 but also S and, in turn, Au. Elevated gold in solution is achieved by complexing with reduced S, and by H2CO3 weak acid buffering near the optimal fluid pH for gold solubility (the buffering is more important than being at the point of maximum gold solubility). Low salinity ensures low base metal concentrations in the auriferous metamorphic fluid. Migration of this fluid upwards is via shear zones and/or into hydraulic fracture zones in rocks of low tensile strength. The geometry of the shear zones dictates the kilometre-scale fluid migration paths and the degree of fluid focusing into small enough volumes to form economic accumulations of gold. Deposition of gold from solution necessitates breakdown of the gold-thiosulphide complex and is especially facilitated by fluid reduction in contact with reduced carbon-bearing host rocks and/or by sulphidation of wallrocks to generate iron-bearing sulphide and precipitated gold. As such, black slate, carbon seams, banded iron formation, tholeiitic basalt, magnetite-bearing diorite and differentiated tholeiitic dolerite sills are some of the important hosts to major goldfields. Gold deposition is accompanied by carbonation, sulphidation and muscovite/biotite alteration where the host rock is of suitable bulk composition. The correlation of major gold deposits with rock type, even when the gold is primarily in veins, argues for rock-dominated depositional systems, not fluid-dominated ones. As a consequence, a general role in gold deposition for fluid mixing, temperature decrease and/or fluid pressure decrease and boiling is unlikely, although such effects may be involved locally. Several geological features that are recorded at gold-only deposits today reflect subsequent modifications superimposed upon the products of this generic metamorphic devolatilization process. Overprinting by higher-grade metamorphism and deformation, and/or (palaeo)-weathering may provide many of the most-obvious features of goldfields including their mineralogy, geochemistry, geometry, small-scale timing features, geophysical response and even mesoscopic gold distribution. © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Extending the applicability of the Raman carbonaceous-material geothermometer using data from contact metamorphic rocks

Abstract: The degree of graphitization of carbonaceous material (CM) has been widely used as an indicator of metamorphic grade. Previous work has demonstrated that peak metamorphic temperature (T )o f regional metamorphic rocks can be estimated by an area ratio (R2) of peaks recognized in Raman spectra of CM. The applicability of this method to low-pressure ( 50) that adequately reflects the range of sample heterogeneity. Using this procedure (with 532-nm laser) and adapting our new calibration, the errors of the Raman CM geothermometer for contact metamorphic rocks decrease to � ±30 � C.

Influence of ferric iron on the stability of mineral assemblages

Abstract: Ferric iron is present in all metamorphic rocks and has the ability to significantly affect their phase relations. However, the influence of ferric iron has commonly been ignored, or at least not been considered quantitatively, mainly because its abundance in rocks and minerals is not determined by routine analytical techniques. Mineral equilibria calculations that explicitly account for ferric iron can be used to examine its effect on the phase relations in rocks and, in principle, allow the estimation of the oxidation state of rocks. This is illustrated with calculated pseudosections in NCKFMASHTO for mafic and pelitic rock compositions. In addition, it is shown that ferric iron has the capacity to significantly increase the stability of the corundum + quartz assemblage, making it possible for this assemblage to exist at crustal P–T conditions in oxidized rocks of appropriate composition.

U–Pb zircon geochronology of coesite-bearing eclogites from the southern Dulan area of the North Qaidam UHP terrane, northwestern China: spatially and temporally extensive UHP metamorphism during continental subduction

Abstract: Coesite-bearing eclogites from >100 km 2 in the southern Dulan area, North Qaidam Mountains (NQM) of western China, contain zircon that records protolith crystallization and ultra high pressure (UHP) metamorphism. Sensitive High-Resolution Ion Microprobe (Mass Spectrometer) and Laser Ablation Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry U-Pb analyses from cathodoluminescence (CL)-dark zircon cores in a coesite-bearing eclogite yield an upper intercept age of 838 ± 50 Ma, and oscillatory zoned cores in a kyanite-bearing eclogite gave a weighted mean 206 Pb ⁄ 238 U age of 832 ± 20 Ma. These zircon cores yield steep heavy rare earth element (HREE) slopes and negative Eu anomalies that suggest a magmatic origin. Thus, c. 835 Ma is interpreted as the eclogite protolith age. Unzoned CL-grey or -bright zircon and zircon rims from four samples yield weighted mean ages of 430 ± 4, 438 ± 2, 446 ± 10 and 446 ± 3 Ma, flat HREE patterns without Eu anomalies, and contain inclusions of garnet, omphacite, rutile, phengite and rare coesite. These ages are interpreted to record 16 ± 5 Myr of UHP metamorphism. These new UHP ages overlap the age range of both eclogite and paragneiss from the northern Dulan area, suggesting that all UHP rock types in the Dulan area belong to the same tectonic unit. Our results are consistent with slow continental subduction, but do not match oceanic subduction and diapiric exhumation UHP model predictions. These new data suggest that, similar to eclogites in other HP ⁄ UHP units of the NQM and South Altyn Tagh, protoliths of the eclogites in the Dulan area formed in a continental setting during the Neoproterozoic, and then subducted to mantle depth together with continental materials during the Early Palaeozoic.

Two stages of granulite facies metamorphism in the eastern Himalayan syntaxis, south Tibet: petrology, zircon geochronology and implications for the subduction of Neo‐Tethys and the Indian continent beneath Asia

Abstract: The eastern Himalayan syntaxis in southeastern Tibet consists of the Lhasa terrane, High Himalayan rocks and Indus-Tsangpo suture zone. The Lhasa terrane constitutes the hangingwall of a subduction zone, whereas the High Himalayan rocks represent the subducted Indian continent. Our petrological and geochronological data reveal that the Lhasa terrane has undergone two stages of medium-P metamorphism: an early granulite facies event at c. 90 Ma and a late amphibolite facies event at 36–33 Ma. However, the High Himalayan rocks experienced only a single high-P granulite facies metamorphic event at 37–32 Ma. It is inferred that the Late Cretaceous (c. 90 Ma) medium-P metamorphism of the southern Lhasa terrane resulted from a northward subduction of the Neo-Tethyan ocean, and that the Oligocene (37–32 Ma) high-P (1.8–1.4 GPa) rocks of the High Himalayan and coeval medium-P (0.8–1.1 GPa) rocks of the Lhasa terrane represent paired metamorphic belts that resulted from the northward subduction of the Indian continent beneath Asia. Our results provide robust constraints on the Mesozoic and Cenozoic tectonic evolution of south Tibet.

Metamorphic history of a syn-convergent orogen-parallel detachment: The South Tibetan detachment system, Bhutan Himalaya

Abstract: The South Tibetan detachment system (STDS) in the Himalayan orogen is an example of normal-sense displacement on an orogen-parallel shear zone during lithospheric contraction. Here, in situ monazite U(-Th)-Pb geochronology is combined with metamorphic pressure and temperature estimates to constrain pressure-temperature-time ( P-T-t ) paths for both the hangingwall and footwall rocks of a Miocene ductile component of the STDS (outer STDS) now exposed in the eastern Himalaya. The outer STDS is located south of a younger, ductile/brittle component of the STDS (inner STDS), and is characterized by structurally upward decreasing metamorphic grade corresponding to a transition from sillimanite-bearing Greater Himalayan sequence rocks in the footwall with garnet that preserves diffusive chemical zoning to staurolite-bearing Chekha Group rocks in the hangingwall, with garnet that records prograde chemical zoning. Monazite ages indicate that prograde garnet growth in the footwall occurred prior to partial melting at 22.6 ± 0.4 Ma, and that peak temperatures were reached following c. 20.5 Ma. In contrast, peak temperatures were reached in the Chekha Group hangingwall by c. 22 Ma. Normal-sense (top-to-the-north) shearing in both the hangingwall and footwall followed peak metamorphism from c. 23 Ma until at least c. 16 Ma. Retrograde P-T-t paths are compatible with modelled P-T-t paths for an outer STDS analogue that is isolated from the inner STDS by intervening extrusion of a dome of mid-crustal material.

Influence of tectonic overpressure onP-Tpaths of HP-UHP rocks in continental collision zones: thermomechanical modelling

Abstract: The principle of lithostatic pressure is habitually used in metamorphic geology to calculate burial/exhumation depth from pressure given by geobarometry. However, pressure deviation from lithostatic, i.e. tectonic overpressure/underpressure due to deviatoric stress and deformation, is an intrinsic property of flow and fracture in all materials, including rocks under geological conditions. In order to investigate the influences of tectonic overpressure on metamorphic P-T paths, 2D numerical simulations of continental subduction/collision zones were conducted with variable brittle and ductile rheologies of the crust and mantle. The experiments suggest that several regions of significant tectonic overpressure and underpressure may develop inside the slab, in the subduction channel and within the overriding plate during continental collision. The main overpressure region that may influence the P-T paths of HP-UHP rocks is located in the bottom corner of the wedge-like confined channel with the characteristic magnitude of pressure deviation on the order of similar to 0.3 GPa and 10-20% from the lithostatic values. The degree of confinement of the subduction channel is the key factor controlling this magnitude. Our models also suggest that subducted crustal rocks, which may not necessarily be exhumed, can be classified into three different groups: (i) UHP-rocks subjected to significant (>= 0.3 GPa) overpressure at intermediate subduction depth (50-70 km, P = 1.5-2.5 GPa) then underpressured at depth >= 100 km (P >= 3 GPa); (ii) HP-rocks subjected to >= 0.3 GPa overpressure at peak P-T conditions reached at 50-70 km depth in the bottom corner of the wedge-like confined subduction channel (P = 1.5-2.5 GPa); (iii) lower-pressure rocks formed at shallower depths (< 40 km depth, P < 1 GPa), which are not subjected to significant overpressure and/or underpressure.

Retrograde melt–residue interaction and the formation of near-anhydrous leucosomes in migmatites

Abstract: Considering physical segregation of melt from its residue, the chemical potentials of the components (oxides) are the same in both when segregation occurs. Then, as P–T conditions change, gradients in chemical potential are established between the melt-rich domains and residue permitting diffusional interaction to occur. In particular, on cooling, the chemical potential of H2O becomes higher in the melt segregation than in the residue, particularly when biotite becomes stable in the residue assemblage. Diffusion of water from the melt to the residue promotes crystallization of anhydrous products from the melt and hydrous products in the residue. This diffusive process, when coupled with melt loss from the rocks subsequent to some degree of crystallization, can result in a significant degree of anhydrous leucosome being preserved in a migmatite with only minor retrogression of the residue. If H2O can diffuse between the melt segregation and all of the residue, then no apparent selvedge between the two will be observed. Alternatively, if H2O can diffuse between the melt segregation and only part of the residue, then a distinct selvedge may be produced. Diffusion of H2O into the residue may be in part responsible for the commonly anhydrous nature of leucosomes, especially in granulite facies migmatites. Diffusion of other relatively mobile species such as Na2O and K2O has a lesser effect on overall melt crystallization but can change the proportion of quartz, plagioclase and K-feldspar in the resultant leucosome. The diffusion of H2O out of the melt results in the enhanced crystallization of the melt in the segregation and increases the amount of resulting anhydrous leucosome relative to the amount produced if melt crystallized in chemical isolation from the residue. For high residue:melt ratios, the proportion of resulting near-anhydrous leucosome can approach that of the proportion of melt present at the onset of cooling with only minor loss of melt from a given segregation required. Crystallization of melt segregations via the diffusion of H2O out of them into the host may also play a major role in driving melt-rich segregations across key rheological transitions that would allow the expulsion of remaining melt from the system.

Triassic eclogite from northern Vietnam: inferences and geological significance

Abstract: The first finding of low-temperature eclogites from the Indochina region is reported. The eclogites occur along the Song Ma Suture zone in northern Vietnam, which is widely regarded as the boundary between the South China and Indochina cratons. The major lithology of the area is pelitic schist that contains garnet and phengite with or without biotite, chloritoid, staurolite and kyanite, and which encloses blocks and lenses of eclogite and amphibolite. The eclogites commonly consist of garnet, omphacite, phengite, rutile, quartz and/or epidote with secondary barroisite. Omphacite is commonly surrounded by a symplectite of Na-poor omphacite and Na-rich plagioclase. In highly retrograded domains, diopside + tremolite + plagioclase symplectites replace the primary phases. Estimated peak-pressure metamorphic conditions based on isochemical phase diagrams for the eclogites are 2.1–2.2 GPa and 600–620 °C, even though thermobarometric results yield higher pressure and temperature conditions (2.6–2.8 GPa and 620–680 °C). The eclogites underwent a clockwise P–T trajectory with a post-peak-pressure increase of temperature to a maximum of >750 °C at 1.7 GPa and a subsequent cooling during decompression to 650 °C and 1.3 GPa, which was followed by additional cooling before close-to-isothermal decompression to ∼530 °C at 0.5 GPa. The surrounding pelitic schist (garnet–chloritoid–phengite) records similar metamorphic conditions (580–600 °C at 1.9–2.3 GPa) and a monazite chemical age of 243 ± 4 Ma. A few monazite inclusions within garnet and the cores of some zoned monazite in garnet–phengite schist record an older thermal event (424 ± 15 Ma). The present results indicate that the Indochina craton was deeply (>70 km) subducted beneath the South China craton in the Triassic. The Silurian cores of monazite grains may relate to an older non-collisional event in the Indochina craton.

Calculated phase equilibria for a morb composition in a P–T range, 450–650 °C and 18–28 kbar: the stability of eclogite

Abstract: Lower temperature eclogite (with T = 600 °C) represents a significant part of the occurrences of eclogite in orogenic belts. 'True' eclogite, with, for example, garnet + omphacite >70%, is well represented in such an occurrence. Calculated phase equilibria in Na2O-CaO-K2O-FeO-MgO-Al2O3-SiO2-H2O-TiO2-O (NCKFMASHTO), for just one rock composition - that of a representative mid-ocean ridge basalt, morb- are used to see under what circumstances 'true' eclogite is predicted to occur. The variables considered are not only pressure (P) and temperature (T) but also water content and oxidation state. The latter two variables are known to exert a significant control on mineral assemblage but are difficult to establish retrospectively from the observed rocks themselves. It is found that whereas oxidation state does have a strong effect on mineral assemblage, the key control on developing 'true' eclogite is shown to be temperature and water content. If temperature is established to be <600 °C, water content has to be low (less or much less than that for H2O saturation) in order for 'true' eclogite to form. Moreover, unless pressure is at the high end in the range considered, lawsonite eclogite and 'true' eclogite will tend to be mutually exclusive, with the former requiring high water content at the lower temperature where it occurs, but the latter requiring low water content. © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Cold subduction and the formation of lawsonite eclogite - constraints from prograde evolution of eclogitized pillow lava from Corsica

Abstract: A new discovery of lawsonite eclogite is presented from the Lancone glaucophanites within the Schistes Lustres nappe at Defile du Lancone in Alpine Corsica. The fine-grained eclogitized pillow lava and inter-pillow matrix are extremely fresh, showing very little evidence of retrograde alteration. Peak assemblages in both the massive pillows and weakly foliated inter-pillow matrix consist of zoned idiomorphic Mg-poor (<0.8 wt% MgO) garnet + omphacite + lawsonite + chlorite + titanite. A local overprint by the lower grade assemblage glaucophane + albite with partial resorption of omphacite and garnet is locally observed. Garnet porphyroblasts in the massive pillows are Mn rich, and show a regular prograde growth-type zoning with a Mn-rich core. In the inter-pillow matrix garnet is less manganiferous, and shows a mutual variation in Ca and Fe with Fe enrichment toward the rim. Some garnet from this rock type shows complex zoning patterns indicating a coalescence of several smaller crystallites. Matrix omphacite in both rock types is zoned with a rimward increase in XJd, locally with cores of relict augite. Numerous inclusions of clinopyroxene, lawsonite, chlorite and titanite are encapsulated within garnet in both rock types, and albite, quartz and hornblende are also found included in garnet from the inter-pillow matrix. Inclusions of clinopyroxene commonly have augitic cores and omphacitic rims. The inter-pillow matrix contains cross-cutting omphacite-rich veinlets with zoned omphacite, Si-rich phengite (Si = 3.54 apfu), ferroglaucophane, actinolite and hematite. These veinlets are seen fracturing idiomorphic garnet, apparently without any secondary effects. Pseudosections of matrix compositions for the massive pillows, the inter-pillow matrix and the cross-cutting veinlets indicate similar P-T conditions with maximum pressures of 1.9-2.6 GPa at temperatures of 335-420 °C. The inclusion suite found in garnet from the inter-pillow matrix apparently formed at pressures below 0.6-0.7 GPa. Retrogression during initial decompression of the studied rocks is only very local. Late veinlets of albite + glaucophane, without breakdown of lawsonite, indicate that the rocks remained in a cold environment during exhumation, resulting in a hairpin-shaped P-T path.

Three metamorphic events recorded in a single garnet: Integrated phase modelling, in situ LA‐ICPMS and SIMS geochronology from the Moine Supergroup, NW Scotland

Abstract: In situ LA-ICP-MS monazite geochronology from a garnet-bearing diatexite within the Moine Supergroup (Glenfinnan Group) NW Scotland records three temporally distinct metamorphic events within a single garnet porphyroblast. The initial growth of garnet occurred in the interval c. 825–780 Ma, as recorded by monazite inclusions located in the garnet core. Modelled P–T conditions based on the preserved garnet core composition indicate an initially comparatively high geothermal gradient regime and peak conditions of ∼650 °C and 7 kbar. Monazite within a compositionally distinct second shell of garnet has an age of 724 ± 6 Ma. This is indistinguishable from a SIMS age of 725 ± 4 Ma obtained from metamorphic zircon in the sample, which is interpreted to record the timing of migmatization. This second stage of garnet growth occurred on a P–T path from ∼6 kbar and 650 °C rising to ∼9 kbar and 700 °C, with the peak conditions associated with partial melting. A third garnet zone which forms the rim contains monazite with an age of 464 ± 3 Ma. Monazite in the surrounding matrix has an age of 462 ± 2 Ma. This corresponds well with a U–Pb SIMS zircon age of 463 ± 4 Ma obtained from a deformed pegmatite that was emplaced during widespread folding and reworking of the migmatite fabric. The P–T conditions associated with the final phase of garnet growth were ∼7 kbar and 650 °C. The monazite ages coupled with the phase relations modelled from this multistage garnet indicate that it records two Neoproterozoic tectonothermal events as well as the widespread Ordovician Grampian event associated with Caledonian orogenesis. Thus, this single garnet records much of the Neoproterozoic to Ordovician thermal history in NW Scotland, and highlights the long history of porphyroblast growth that can be revealed by in situ isotopic dating and associated P–T modelling. This approach has the potential to reveal much of the thermal architecture of Neoproterozoic events within the Moine Supergroup, despite intense Caledonian reworking, if suitable textural and mineralogical relationships can be indentified elsewhere.

Metamorphic P–T profile and P–T path discontinuity across the far‐eastern Nepal Himalaya: investigation of channel flow models

Abstract: Thermobarometric data and compositional zoning of garnet show the discontinuities of both metamorphic pressure conditions at peak-T and P–T paths across the Main Central Thrust (MCT), which juxtaposes the high-grade Higher Himalayan Crystalline Sequences (HHCS) over the low-grade Lesser Himalaya Sequences (LHS) in far-eastern Nepal Maximum recorded pressure conditions occur just above the MCT (∼11 kbar), and decrease southward to ∼6 kbar in the garnet zone and northward to ∼7 kbar in the kyanite ± staurolite zone The inferred nearly isothermal loading path for the LHS in the staurolite zone may have resulted from the underthrusting of the LHS beneath the HHCS In contrast, the increasing temperature path during both loading and decompression (ie clockwise path) from the lowermost HHCS in the staurolite to kyanite ± staurolite transitional zone indicates that the rocks were fairly rapidly buried and exhumed Exhumation of the lowermost HHCS from deeper crustal depths than the flanking regions, recording a high field pressure gradient (∼12–16 kbar km−1) near the MCT, is perhaps caused by ductile extrusion along the MCT, not the emplacement along a single thrust, resulting in the P–T path discontinuities These observations are consistent with the overall scheme of the model of channel flow, in which the outward flowing ‘HHCS’ and inward flowing ‘LHS’ are juxtaposed against each other and are rapidly extruded together along the ‘MCT’ A rapid exhumation by channel flow in this area is also suggested by a nearly isothermal decompression path inferred from cordierite corona surrounding garnet in gneiss of the upper HHCS However, peak metamorphic temperatures show a progressive increase of temperature structurally upward (∼570–740 °C) near the MCT and roughly isothermal conditions (∼710–810 °C) in the upper structural levels of the HHCS The observed field temperature gradient is much lower than those predicted in channel flow models However, the discrepancy could be resolved by taking into account heat advection by melt and/or fluid migration, as these can produce low or nearly no field temperature gradient in the exhumed midcrust, as observed in nature

Early Cambrian eclogites in SW Mongolia: evidence that the Palaeo‐Asian Ocean suture extends further east than expected

Abstract: Newly discovered eclogites, Early Cambrian carbonates and chloritoid-bearing metapelites form the Tsakhir Uul accretionary wedge, which was thrust during the Early Cambrian over the Mesoproterozoic Dzabkhan-Baydrag continent. The rock association of the wedge forms a tectonic window emerging through the hangingwall Khantaishir ophiolite unit, which preserves a typical Tethyan-type ophiolitic sequence. The eclogites correspond geochemically to T-MORB modified by fluid circulation. They are composed of garnet, omphacite, amphibole, rutile ±muscovite ±quartz ±epidote and exhibit well-equilibrated matrix textures. Jadeite content of the omphacite reaches up to 45 mol.%, the Si content of muscovite is between 3.40 and 3.45 p.f.u., amphibole is winchite to barroisite, but reaches tschermakitic composition at some rims, and garnet composition is grs0.24–0.36, alm0.43–0.56, py0.05–0.18, sps0.00–0.18, inline image. The peak assemblage, together with the composition of garnet rims, omphacite, amphibole and muscovite, correspond in a pseudosection to 20−22.5 kbar and 590−610 °C. The tschermakitic rim of amphibole is interpreted as partial reequilibration on decompression below 16 kbar and ∼600−630 °C. Two muscovite separates from the eclogite yielded an Ar–Ar plateau age of 543.1 ± 3.9 Ma (1σ) and a mean age of 547.9 ± 2.6 Ma (1σ), whereas muscovite from an interbedded garnet-chloritoid micaschist yielded an Ar–Ar plateau age of 536.9 ± 2.7 Ma (1σ); these ages are interpreted as cooling ages. The P–T data, geochemistry of eclogites and cooling ages suggest an affinity between the Tsakhir Uul wedge and the Gorny Altai and the north Mongolian blueschist belt, which are believed typical for subduction of warm oceanic lithosphere and closure of small oceanic basins. Thus, the discovery of the Tsakhir Uul eclogites represents an important finding suggesting extension of the Early Cambrian subduction system of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt far to the east in a region where it was not expected.

Garnet–chloritoid–kyanite assemblages: eclogite facies indicators of subduction constraints in orogenic belts

Abstract: The assemblage garnet–chloritoid–kyanite is shown to be quite common in high-pressure eclogite facies metapelites from orogenic belts around the world, and occurs over a narrowly restricted range of temperature 550–600 °C, between 20 and 25 kbar. This assemblage is favoured particularly by large Al2O3:K2O ratios allowing the development of kyanite in addition to garnet and chloritoid. Additionally, ferric iron and manganese also help stabilize chloritoid in this assemblage. Pseudosections for several bulk compositions illustrate these high-pressure assemblages, and a new thermodynamic model for white mica to include calcium and ferric iron was required to complete the calculations. It is extraordinary that so many orogenic eclogite facies rocks, both mafic eclogites sensu stricto as well as metapelites with the above assemblage, all yield temperatures within the range of 520–600 °C and peak pressures 23±3 kbar. Subduction of oceanic crust and its entrained associated sedimentary material must involve the top of the slab, where mafic and pelitic rocks may easily coexist, passing through these P–T conditions, such that rocks, if they proceed to further depths, are generally not returned to the surface. This, together with the tightly constrained range in peak temperatures which such eclogites experience, suggests thermal weakening being a major control on the depths at which crustal material is decoupled from the downgoing slab.

Role of plagioclase and reaction softening in a metagranite shear zone at mid-crustal conditions (Gotthard Massif, Swiss Central Alps)

Abstract: A lower amphibolite Alpine shear zone from the Fibbia metagranite (Gotthard Massif, Central Alps) has been studied to better understand the parameters controlling strain localization in granitic rocks. The strain gradient on the metre-scale shows an evolution from a weakly deformed metagranite (QtzI- KfsI-AbI-BtI ±P l II-ZoI-PhgI-Grt) to a fine banded ultramylonite (QtzII-KfsII-AbII-PlII-BtII- PhgII ± Grt-ZoII). Strain localization is coeval with dynamic recrystallization of the quartzofeldspathic matrix and a modal increase in mica, at the expense of K-feldspar. The continuous recrystallization of plagioclase during deformation into a very fine-grained assemblage forming anastomosed ribbons is interpreted as the dominant process in the shear zone initiation and development. The shear zone initiated under closed-system conditions with the destabilization of metastable AbI-ZoI porphyroclasts into fine-grained (20-50 lm sized) AbII-PlII aggregates, and with minor crystallization of phengite at the expense of K-feldspar. The development of the shear zone requires a change in state of the system, which becomes open to externally derived fluids and mass transfer. Indeed, mass balance calculations and thermodynamic modelling show that the ultramylonite is characterized by gains in CaO, FeO and H2O. The progressive input of externally derived CaO drives the continuous metamorphic recrystallization of the fine-grained AbII-PlII aggregate into a more PlII-rich and finer aggregate. Input of water favours the crystallization of phengite at the expense of K-feldspar to form an interconnected network of weak phases. Thus, recrystallization of 50% of the bulk rock volume would induce a decrease of the strength of the rock that might contribute to the development of the shear zone. This study emphasizes the major role of metamorphic reactions and more particularly plagioclase on strain localization process. Plagioclase represents at least one-third of the bulk rock volume in granitic systems and forms a stress- supporting framework that controls the rock rheology. Therefore, recrystallization of plagioclase due to changes in P-T conditions and ⁄ or bulk composition must be taken into account, together with quartz and K-feldspar, in order to understand strain localization processes in granites.

Metamorphic evolution of the Naga Hills eclogite and blueschist, Northeast India: implications for early subduction of the Indian plate under the Burma microplate

Abstract: Tectonic slices and lenses of eclogite within mafic and ultramafic rocks of the Early Cretaceous–Eocene Naga Hills ophiolite were studied to constrain the physical conditions of eastward subduction of the Indian plate under the Burma microplate and convergence rate prior to the India–Eurasia collision. Some of the lenses are composed of eclogite, garnet-blueschist, glaucophanite and greenschist from core to margin, representing a retrograde hydrothermal alteration sequence. Barroisite, garnet, omphacite and epidote with minor chlorite, phengite, rutile and quartz constitute the peak metamorphic assemblage. In eclogite and garnet-blueschist, garnet shows an increase in Mg and Fe and decrease in Mn from core to rim. In chlorite in eclogite, Mg increases from core to rim. Inclusions of epidote, glaucophane, omphacite and quartz in garnet represent the pre-peak assemblage. Glaucophane also occurs profusely at the rims of barroisite. The matrix glaucophane and epidote represent the post-peak assemblage. The Fe3+ content of garnet-hosted omphacite is higher than that of matrix omphacite, and Fe3+ increases from core to rim in matrix glaucophane. Albite occurs in late stage veins. P–T pseudosection analysis indicates that the Naga Hills eclogites followed a clockwise P–T path with prograde metamorphism beginning at ∼1.3 GPa/525 °C and peaking at 1.7–2.0 GPa/580–610 °C, and subsequent retrogression to ∼1.1 GPa/540 °C. A comparison of these P–T conditions with numerical thermal models of plate subduction indicates that the Naga Hills eclogites probably formed near the top of the subducting crust with convergence rates of ∼ 55–100 km Myr−1, consistent with high pre-collision convergence rates between India and Eurasia.

Palaeoproterozoic high‐pressure granulite overprint of the Archean continental crust: evidence for homogeneous crustal thickening (Man Rise, Ivory Coast)

Abstract: The character of mountain building processes in Palaeoproterozoic times is subject to much debate. Based on the discovery of high-pressure granulites in the Man Rise (Cote dIvoire), several authors have argued that Eburnean (Palaeoproterozoic) reworking of the Archean basement was achieved by modern-style thrust-dominated tectonics. A mafic granulite of the Kouibli area (Archean part of the Man Rise, western Ivory Coast) displays a primary assemblage (M1) containing garnet, diopsidic clinopyroxene, red-brown pargasitic amphibole, plagioclase (andesine), rutile, ilmenite and quartz. This assemblage is associated with a subvertical regional foliation. Symplectites that developed at the expense of the M1 assemblage contain ortho- pyroxene, clinopyroxene, plagioclase (bytownite), green pargasitic amphibole, ilmenite and magnetite (M2). Multiequilibrium thermobarometric calculations and P-T pseudosections calculated with THERMOCALC suggest granulite facies conditions of � 13 kbar, 850 � C and <7 kbar, 700-800 � C for M1 and M2, respectively. In agreement with the qualitative information obtained from reaction textures and chemical zoning of minerals, this suggests an evolution dominated by decompression accompanied by moderate cooling. A Sm-Nd garnet - whole-rock age of 2.03 Ga determined on this sample indicates that this evolution occurred during the Palaeoproterozoic. It is argued that from the geodynamic point of view the observed features are best explained by homogeneous thickening of the margin of the Archean craton, re-heated and softened due to the accretion of hot, juvenile Palaeoproterozoic crust, as well as coeval intrusion of juvenile magmas. Crustal shortening was mainly accommodated by trans- pressive shear zones and by lateral crustal spreading rather than large-scale thrust systems.

Dependence of reaction kinetics on H2O activity as inferred from rates of intergranular diffusion of aluminium

Abstract: Quantitative constraints on the accelerative effects of H2O on the kinetics of metamorphic reactions arise from a comparison of rates of intergranular diffusion of Al in natural systems that are fluid-saturated, hydrous but fluid-undersaturated, and nearly anhydrous. Widths of symplectitic reaction coronas around partially resorbed garnet crystals in the contact aureole of the Makhavinekh Lake Pluton, northern Labrador, combined with time–temperature histories from conductive thermal models, yield intergranular diffusivities for Al from ∼700–900 °C under nearly anhydrous conditions. Those rates, when extrapolated down temperature, are approximately three orders of magnitude slower than rates derived from re-analysis of garnet resorption coronas formed under hydrous but fluid-undersaturated conditions near 575 °C in rocks of the Llano Uplift of central Texas, which are in turn approximately four orders of magnitude slower than rates at comparable temperatures derived from numerical simulations of prograde garnet growth in fluid-saturated conditions in rocks from the Picuris Range of north-central New Mexico. Thus, even at constant temperature, rates of intergranular diffusion of Al – and corresponding length scales and timescales of metamorphic reaction and equilibration – may vary by as much as seven orders of magnitude across the range of H2O activities found in nature.

Inverted metamorphic field gradient towards a Variscan suture zone (Champtoceaux Complex, Armorican Massif, France)

Abstract: We describe, date and constrain the P–T conditions of a syntectonic inverted metamorphic sequence associated with continental collision and crustal-scale thrusting in one of the key regions of the late Palaeozoic Variscan belt of Western Europe – the Champtoceaux Complex (Armorican Massif, France), interpreted as a trace of the Variscan suture zone between Laurussia and Gondwana. The Complex consists of several stacked units, some of them eclogite-bearing, that are sandwiched between two main pieces of continental crust – the Parautochthon and the Upper Allochthon. Moderately to steeply dipping foliation parallels the main lithological boundaries. From the bottom to the top of the metamorphic rock pile, the following sequence testifies to the syntectonic temperature increase: chlorite–biotite-bearing metagreywackes (Parautochthon); orthogneisses with eclogite lenses; micaschists with chloritoid–chlorite–garnet; orthogneisses; micaschists with staurolite–biotite–garnet with chloritoid inclusions (Lower Allochthon); and migmatites with boudins of eclogite and kyanite–biotite–garnet-bearing metapelitic lenses (Upper Allochthon). Mylonitic amphibolites with lenses of serpentinized peridotite mark the boundary between the Lower Allochthon and the overlying Upper Allochthon, suggesting the presence of a major thrust. It is inferred that the latter is responsible for the development of the inverted metamorphic zoning. Multiequilibrium thermobarometry and pseudosections calculated with thermocalc indicate that equilibration temperatures of the syntectonic peak metamorphic assemblages increase upwards in the rock pile from 650 °C in the Upper Allochthon. All units equilibrated at similar pressures between 7 and 10 kbar. In the Upper Allochthon, chronological results on muscovite suggest initial cooling from c. 343 Ma (muscovite Rb–Sr) to c. 337 Ma (muscovite 40Ar–39Ar). A subsequent very rapid temperature decrease is suggested by the synchronous closure of the muscovite and biotite K–Ar and biotite Rb–Sr isotopic systems (c. 337–335 Ma). This cooling is also recorded in the Upper Micaschists of the Lower Allochthon and in the Parautochthon with muscovite 40Ar–39Ar ages of c. 336–334 and 332 Ma, respectively. Ages of c. 343 Ma inferred from disturbed muscovite spectra from the Parautochthon are possibly linked to a previous higher pressure metamorphic event in this unit. It is suggested that the development of the inverted metamorphic zoning in the Champtoceaux Complex is due to the emplacement of a hot nappe over colder units and is contemporaneous with major crustal thrusting and associated pervasive ductile deformation. The preservation of this inverted field gradient was possible because of fast cooling, tentatively associated with the syn-compressional denudation of the tectonic pile, expressed by the detachment at the top of the nappe pile. The efficiency of cooling is best shown by the near-coincidence of Rb–Sr and 40Ar–39Ar ages, obtained on both sides of the major thrust. Finally, we highlight similarities with other regions of the West-European Variscan belt (Iberian massif, French Massif Central) and suggest that inverted metamorphic zoning is systematically associated with the contact between the Lower and Upper Allochthons.

Phase equilibria and metamorphic evolution of glaucophane‐bearing UHP eclogites from the Western Dabieshan Terrane, Central China

Abstract: Glaucophane-bearing ultrahigh pressure (UHP) eclogites from the western Dabieshan terrane consist of garnet, omphacite, glaucophane, kyanite, epidote, phengite, quartz/coesite and rutile with or without talc and paragonite. Some garnet porphyroblasts exhibit a core–mantle zoning profile with slight increase in pyrope content and minor or slight decrease in grossular and a mantle–rim zoning profile characterized by a pronounced increase in pyrope and rapid decrease in grossular. Omphacite is usually zoned with a core–rim decrease in j(o) [=Na/(Ca + Na)]. Glaucophane occurs as porphyroblasts in some samples and contains inclusions of garnet, omphacite and epidote. Pseudosections calculated in the NCKMnFMASHO system for five representative samples, combined with petrographic observations suggest that the UHP eclogites record four stages of metamorphism. (i) The prograde stage, on the basis of modelling of garnet zoning and inclusions in garnet, involves P–T vectors dominated by heating with a slight increase in pressure, suggesting an early slow subduction process, and P–T vectors dominated by a pronounced increase in pressure and slight heating, pointing to a late fast subduction process. The prograde metamorphism is predominated by dehydration of glaucophane and, to a lesser extent, chlorite, epidote and paragonite, releasing ∼27 wt% water that was bound in the hydrous minerals. (ii) The peak stage is represented by garnet rim compositions with maximum pyrope and minimum grossular contents, and P–T conditions of 28.2–31.8 kbar and 605–613 °C, with the modelled peak-stage mineral assemblage mostly involving garnet + omphacite + lawsonite + talc + phengite + coesite ± glaucophane ± kyanite. (iii) The early decompression stage is characterized by dehydration of lawsonite, releasing ∼70–90 wt% water bound in the peak mineral assemblages, which results in the growth of glaucophane, j(o) decrease in omphacite and formation of epidote. And, (iv) The late retrograde stage is characterized by the mineral assemblage of hornblendic amphibole + epidote + albite/oligoclase + quartz developed in the margins or strongly foliated domains of eclogite blocks due to fluid infiltration at P–T conditions of 5–10 kbar and 500–580 °C. The proposed metamorphic stages for the UHP eclogites are consistent with the petrological observations, but considerably different from those presented in the previous studies.

The stability of sapphirine + quartz: calculated phase equilibria in FeO–MgO–Al2O3–SiO2–TiO2–O

Abstract: The presence in rocks of coexisting sapphirine + quartz has been widely used to diagnose conditions of ultra-high-temperature (UHT) metamorphism (>900 °C), an inference based on the restriction of this assemblage to temperatures >980 °C in the conventionally considered FeO–MgO–Al2O3–SiO2 (FMAS) chemical system. With a new thermodynamic model for sapphirine that includes Fe2O3, phase equilibra modelling using thermocalc software has been undertaken in the FeO–MgO–Al2O3–SiO2–O (FMASO) and FeO–MgO–Al2O3–SiO2– TiO2–O (FMASTO) chemical systems. Using a variety of calculated phase diagrams for quartz-saturated systems, the effects of Fe2O3 and TiO2 on FMAS phase relations are shown to be considerable. Importantly, the stability field of sapphirine + quartz assemblages extends down temperature to 850 °C in oxidized systems and thus out of the UHT range.

Using calculated chemical potential relationships to account for coronas around kyanite: an example from the Bohemian Massif

Abstract: Corona textures around kyanite, involving for example zoned plagioclase separating kyanite from the matrix, reflect the instability of kyanite with the matrix on changing P-T conditions, commonly related to decompression. The chemical potential gradients set up between the kyanite and the matrix as a consequence of slow Al diffusion drive corona development, with the zoning of the plagioclase reflecting the gradients. Calculated mineral equilibria are used to account for corona textures involving plagioclase ± garnet around kyanite, and replacement of kyanite by plagioclase + spinel symplectite, in quartz + plagioclase + K-feldspar + garnet + kyanite granulite facies gneiss from the Blanský les massif in the Bohemian massif, Czech Republic. In the garnet-bearing coronas, a commonly discontinuous garnet layer lies between the kyanite and the continuous plagioclase layer in the corona, with both the garnet and the plagioclase appearing mainly to replace matrix rather than kyanite. The garnet layer commonly extends around kyanite from original matrix garnet adjacent to the kyanite. Where garnet is missing in the corona, the kyanite itself may be replaced by a spinel. -plagioclase corona. In a local equilibrium model, the mineral and mineral compositional spatial relationships are shown to correspond to paths in μ(Na2O)-μ(CaO)-μ(K2O)-μ(FeO)-μ(MgO)-μ(SiO2) in the model chemical system, Na2O-CaO-K2O-FeO-MgO-Al2O3-SiO2 (NCKFMAS). The discontinuous nature of the garnet layer in coronas is accounted for by the effect of the adjacent original garnet on the chemical potential relationships. The replacement of kyanite by spinel + plagioclase appears to be metastable with respect to replacement by corundum + plagioclase, possibly reflecting the difficulty of nucleating corundum. © 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Internally consistent data for sulphur-bearing phases and application to the construction of pseudosections for mafic greenschist facies rocks in Na2O-CaO-K2O-FeO-MgO-Al2O3-SiO2-CO2-O-S-H2O

Abstract: The Holland and Powell internally consistent data set version 5.5 has been augmented to include pyrite, troilite, trov (Fe0.875S), anhydrite, H2S, elemental S and S2 gas. Phase changes in troilite and pyrrhotite are modelled with a combination of multiple end-members and a Landau tricritical model. Pyrrhotite is modelled as a solid solution between hypothetical end-member troilite (trot) and Fe0.875S (trov); observed activity–composition relationships fit well to a symmetric formalism model with a value for wtrot−trov of −3.19 kJ mol−1. The hypothetical end-member approach is required to compensate for iron distribution irregularities in compositions close to troilite. Mixing in fluids is described with the van Laar asymmetric formalism model with aij values for H2O–H2S, H2S–CH4 and H2S–CO2 of 6.5, 4.15 and 0.045 kJ mol−1 respectively. The derived data set is statistically acceptable and replicates the input data and data from experiments that were not included in the initial regression. The new data set is applied to the construction of pseudosections for the bulk composition of mafic greenschist facies rocks from the Golden Mile, Kalgoorlie, Western Australia. The sequence of mineral assemblages is replicated successfully, with observed assemblages predicted to be stable at X(CO2) increasing with increasing degree of hydrothermal alteration. Results are compatible with those of previous work. Assemblages are insensitive to the S bulk content at S contents of less than 1 wt%, which means that volatilization of S-bearing fluids and sulphidation are unlikely to have had major effects on the stable mineral assemblage in less metasomatized rocks. The sequence of sulphide and oxide phases is predicted successfully and there is potential to use these phases qualitatively for geobarometry. Increases in X(CO2) stabilized, in turn, pyrite–magnetite, pyrite–hematite and anhydrite–pyrite. Magnetite–pyrrhotite is predicted at temperatures greater than 410 °C. The prediction of a variety of sulphide and oxide phases in a rock of fixed bulk composition as a function of changes in fluid composition and temperature is of particular interest because it has been proposed that such a variation in phase assemblage is produced by the infiltration of multiple fluids with contrasting redox state. The work presented here shows that this need not be the case.

Zeolites in fissures of granites and gneisses of the Central Alps

Abstract: Six different Ca-zeolite minerals are widespread in various assemblages in late fissures and fractures in granites and gneisses of the Swiss Alps. The zeolites formed as a result of water–rock interaction at relatively low temperatures (<250 °C) in the continental upper crust. The zeolites typically overgrow earlier minerals of the fissure assemblages, but zeolites also occur as monomineralic fissure fillings. They represent the youngest fissure minerals formed during uplift and exhumation of the Alpine orogen. A systematic study of zeolite samples showed that the majority of finds originate from three regions particularity rich in zeolite-bearing fissures: (i) in the central and eastern part of the Aar- and Gotthard Massifs; (2) Gibelsbach/Fiesch, in a fissure breccia located at the boundary of Aar Massif and Permian sedimentary rocks; and (3) in Penninic gneisses of the Simano nappe at Arvigo (Val Calanca). Rail and road tunnel construction across the Aar- and Gotthard Massif provided excellent data on zeolite frequency in Alpine fissures. It was found that 32% (Gotthard NEAT rail base tunnel, Amsteg section) and 18% (Gotthard road tunnel) of all studied fissures are filled with zeolites. The number of different zeolites is limited to six species: laumontite, stilbite and scolecite are abundant and common, whereas heulandite, chabazite and epistilbite occur occasionally. Calcium is the dominant extra-framework cation, with minor K and Na. Heulandite and chabazite contain Sr up to 29 and 10 mol.% extra-framework cations respectively. Na and K contents in zeolites tend to increase during growth as a result of changes in fluid composition and/or temperature. The K enrichment of stilbite found in surface outcrops compared to subsurface samples may indicate late stage cation exchange with surface water. Texture data, relative age sequences derived from fissure assemblages and equilibrium calculations show that the Ca-dominated zeolites precipitated from fluid with decreasing temperature in the order (old to young = hot to cold): scolecite, laumontite, heulandite, chabazite and stilbite. The necessary components for zeolite formation are derived from dissolving primary granite and gneiss minerals. The nature of these minerals depends, among other factors, on the metamorphic history of the host rock. Zeolites in the Aar Massif derived from the dissolution of epidote, secondary calcite and albite that were originally formed during Alpine greenschist metamorphism from primary granite and gneiss assemblages. Zeolite fissures occur in areas of H2O-dominated fluids. This is consistent with equilibrium calculations that predict a low CO2 tolerance of zeolite assemblages, particularly at low temperature.

Footwall dip of a core complex detachment fault: thermobarometric constraints from the northern Snake Range (Basin and Range, USA)

Abstract: Low-angle detachment faults are common features in areas of large-scale continental extension and are typically associated with metamorphic core complexes, where they separate upper plate brittle extension from lower plate ductile stretching and metamorphism. In many core complexes, the footwall rocks have been exhumed from middle to lower crustal depths, leading to considerable debate about the relationship between hangingwall and footwall rocks, and the role that detachment faults play in footwall exhumation. Here, garnet–biotite thermometry and garnet–muscovite–biotite–plagioclase barometry results are presented, together with garnet and zircon geochronology data, from seven locations within metapelitic rocks in the footwall of the northern Snake Range decollement (NSRD). These locations lie both parallel and normal to the direction of footwall transport to constrain the pre-exhumation geometry of the footwall. To determine P–T gradients precisely within the footwall, the ΔPT method of Worley & Powell (2000) has been employed, which minimizes the contribution of systematic uncertainties to thermobarometric calculations. The results show that footwall rocks reached pressures of 6–8 kbar and temperatures of 500–650 °C, equivalent to burial depths of 23–30 km. Burial depth remains constant in the WNW–ESE direction of footwall transport, but increases from south to north. The lack of a burial gradient in the direction of footwall transport implies that the footwall rocks, which today define a sub-horizontal datum in the direction of fault transport, also defined a sub-horizontal datum at depth in Late Cretaceous time. This suggests that the footwall was not tilted about the normal to the fault transport direction during exhumation, and hence that the NSRD did not form as a low-angle normal fault cutting down through the lower crust. Instead, the following evolution for the northern Snake Range footwall is proposed. (i) Mesozoic contraction caused substantial crustal thickening by duplication and folding of the miogeoclinal sequence, accompanied by upper greenschist to amphibolite facies metamorphism. (ii) About half of the total exhumation was accomplished by roughly coaxial stretching and thinning in Late Cretaceous to Early Tertiary time, accompanied by retrogression and mylonitic deformation. (iii) The footwall rocks were then ‘captured’ from the middle crust along a moderately dipping NSRD that soled into the middle crust with a rolling-hinge geometry at both upper and lower terminations.

Fluid flow and Al transport during quartz-kyanite vein formation, Unst, Shetland Islands, Scotland

Abstract: Quartz-kyanite veins, adjacent alteration selvages and surroundingprecursor wall rocks in the Dalradian Saxa Vord Pelite of Unst in the Shetland Islands (Scotland) were investigated to constrain the geochemical alteration and mobility of Al associated with channelized metamorphic fluid infiltration during the Caledonian Orogeny. Thirty-eight samples of veins, selvages and precursors were collected, examined using the petrographic microscope and electron microprobe, and geochemically analysed. With increasing grade, typical precursor mineral assemblages include, but are not limited to, chlorite+chloritoid, chlorite+chloritoid+kyanite, chlorite+chloritoid+staurolite and garnet+staurolite+kyanite+chlori- toid. These assemblages coexist with quartz, white mica (muscovite, paragonite, margarite), and Fe-Ti oxides. The mineral assemblage of the selvages does not change noticeably with metamorphic grade, and consists of chloritoid, kyanite, chlorite, quartz, white mica and Fe-Ti oxides. Pseudosections for selvage and precursor bulk compositions indicate that the observed mineral assemblages were stable at regional metamorphic conditions of 550-600 � C and 0.8-1.1 GPa. A mass balance analysis was performed to assess the nature and magnitude of geochemical alteration that produced the selvages adjacent to the veins. On average, selvages lost about )26% mass relative to precursors. Mass losses of Na, K, Ca, Rb, Sr, Cs, Ba and volatiles were )30 to )60% and resulted from the destruction of white mica. Si was depleted from most selvages and transported locally to adjacent veins; average selvage Si losses were about )50%. Y and rare earth elements were added due to the growth of monazite in cracks cutting apatite. The mass balance analysis also suggests some addition of Ti occurred, consistent with the presence of rutile and hematite- ilmenite solid solutions in veins. No major losses of Al from selvages were observed, but Al was added in some cases. Consequently, the Al needed to precipitate vein kyanite was not derived locally from the selvages. Veins more than an order of magnitude thicker than those typically observed in the field would be necessary to accommodate the Na and K lost from the selvages during alteration. Therefore, regional transport of Na and K out of the local rock system is inferred. In addition, to account for the observed abundances of kyanite in the veins, large fluid-rock ratios (10 2 -10 3 m 3 fluid m )3 rock) and time-integrated fluid fluxes in excess of � 10 4 m 3 fluid m )2 rock are required owing to the small concentrations of Al in aqueous fluids. It is concluded that the quartz-kyanite veins and their selvages were produced by regional-scale advective mass transfer by means of focused fluid flow along a thrust fault zone. The results of this study provide field evidence for considerable Al mass transport at greenschist to amphibolite facies metamorphic conditions, possibly as a result of elevated concentrations of Al in metamorphic fluids due to alkali-Al silicate complexing at high pressures.

Unravelling the tectonothermal evolution of reworked Archean granulite facies metapelites using in situ geochronology: an example from the Gawler Craton, Australia

Abstract: The use of in situ geochronological techniques allows for direct age constraints to be placed on fabric development and the metamorphic evolution of polydeformed and reworked terranes. The Shoal Point region of the southern Gawler Craton consists of a series of reworked granulite facies metapelitic and metaigneous units which belong to the Late Archean Sleaford Complex. Structural evidence indicates three phases of fabric development with D1 retained within boudins, D2 consisting of a series of upright open to isoclinal folds producing an axial planar fabric and D3 composed of a highly planar vertical high-strain fabric which overprints the D2 fabric. Th-U-total Pb EPMA monazite and garnet Sm-Nd geochronology constrain the D1 event to the c. 2450 Ma Sleaford Orogeny, whereas the D2 and D3 events are constrained to the 1730-1690 Ma Kimban Orogeny. P-T pseudosections constrain the metamorphic conditions for the Sleafordian Orogeny to between 4.5 and 6 kbar and between 750 and 780 � C. Subsequent Kimban-aged reworking reached peak metamorphic conditions of 8-9 kbar at 820- 850 � C during the D2 event, followed by high-temperature decompression to metamorphic conditions <6 kbar and 790-850 � C associated with the development of the D3 high-strain fabric. The P-T-t evolution of the Shoal Point rocks reflects the transpressional exhumation of lower crustal rocks during the Kimban Orogeny and the development of a regional flower structure.

P–T–t path of the Hercynian low-pressure rocks from the Mandatoriccio complex (Sila Massif, Calabria, Italy): new insights for crustal evolution

Abstract: The tectono-metamorphic evolution of the Hercynian intermediate–upper crust outcropping in eastern Sila (Calabria, Italy) has been reconstructed, integrating microstructural analysis, P–T pseudosections, mineral isopleths and geochronological data. The studied rocks belong to a nearly complete crustal section that comprises granulite facies metamorphic rocks at the base and granitoids in the intermediate levels. Clockwise P–T paths have been constrained for metapelites of the basal level of the intermediate–upper crust (Umbriatico area). These rocks show noticeable porphyroblastic textures documenting the progressive change from medium-P metamorphic assemblages (garnet- and staurolite-bearing assemblages) towards low-P/high-T metamorphic assemblages (fibrolite- and cordierite-bearing assemblages). Peak-metamorphic conditions of ∼590 °C and 0.35 GPa are estimated by integrating microstructural observations with P–T pseudosections calculated for bulk-rock and reaction-domain compositions. The top level of the intermediate–upper crust (Campana area) recorded only the major heating phase at low-P (∼550 °C and 0.25 GPa), as documented by the static growth of biotite spots and of cordierite and andalusite porphyroblasts in metapelites. In situ U–Th–Pb dating of monazite from schists containing low-P/high-T metamorphic assemblages gave a weighted mean U–Pb concordia age of 299 ± 3 Ma, which has been interpreted as the timing of peak metamorphism. In the framework of the whole Hercynian crustal section the peak of low-P/high-T metamorphism in the intermediate-to-upper crust took place concurrently with granulite facies metamorphism in the lower crust and with emplacement of the granitoids in the intermediate levels. In addition, decompression is a distinctive trait of the P–T evolution both in the lower and upper crust. It is proposed that post–collisional extension, together with exhumation, is the most suitable tectonic setting in which magmatic and metamorphic processes can be active simultaneously in different levels of the continental crust.

The metamorphic history of rocks buried, accreted and exhumed in an accretionary prism: an example from the Otago Schist, New Zealand

Abstract: Although subgreenschist facies metamorphic rocks are widespread in the upper crust, mineralogical processes affecting these rocks are poorly understood. Subgreenschist mineralogical transitions have been invoked as critical controls on the mechanical behaviour of rocks within the crustal seismogenic zone, calling for further study of very low-grade metamorphic assemblages. In this study a multi-technique thermobarometric study of the Chrystalls Beach Complex melange, which is located within the Otago Schist accretion-collision assemblage of the South Island of New Zealand, is presented. The Chrystalls Beach Complex comprises highly sheared trench-fill sedimentary rocks and scattered pillow basalts, and is inferred to have formed during Jurassic subduction under the paleo-Pacific Gondwana margin. Equilibrium mineral assemblages indicate peak P–T conditions in the range 400–550 MPa and 250–300 °C, which is supported by chlorite thermometry. Relatively high pressures of burial and accretion during foliation development are inferred from phengite content and b0 spacing analyses of white mica. Rare lawsonite occurs in a post-foliation vein, and illite ‘crystallinity’ measurements indicate a thermal overprint during exhumation. These P–T estimates and their relative chronology indicate that the mineral assemblages developed along a clockwise P–T path. Based on variability in P–T estimates from different techniques, mineral assemblages developed during burial are largely overprinted during exhumation at similar or higher-T than experienced along the prograde path. Observed subduction-related subgreenschist assemblages are therefore likely to indicate lower-P than experienced during subduction, as higher-P mineral compositions re-equilibrate during exhumation. The P–T path inferred in this study is similar in shape to P–T paths for higher grade parts of the Otago Schist, and other exhumed accretionary prisms around the world, and is therefore probably common for rocks buried, accreted and exhumed in accretionary prisms.