Showing papers on "Granulite published in 1999"

Internal morphology, habit and U-Th-Pb microanalysis of amphibolite-to-granulite facies zircons: geochronology of the Ivrea Zone (Southern Alps)

Abstract: Several types of growth morphologies and alteration mechanisms of zircon crystals in the high-grade metamorphic Ivrea Zone (IZ) are distinguished and attributed to magmatic, metamorphic and fluid-related events. Anatexis of pelitic metasediments in the IZ produced prograde zircon overgrowths on detrital cores in the restites and new crystallization of magmatic zircons in the associated leucosomes. The primary morphology and Th-U chemistry of the zircon overgrowth in the restites show a systematic variation apparently corresponding to the metamorphic grade: prismatic (prism-blocked) low-Th/U types in the upper amphibolite facies, stubby (fir-tree zoned) medium-Th/U types in the transitional facies and isometric (roundly zoned) high-Th/U types in the granulite facies. The primary crystallization ages of prograde zircons in the restites and magmatic zircons in the leucosomes cannot be resolved from each other, indicating that anatexis in large parts of the IZ was a single and short lived event at 299 ± 5 Ma (95% c. l.). Identical U/Pb ages of magmatic zircons from a metagabbro (293 ± 6 Ma) and a metaperidotite (300 ± 6 Ma) from the Mafic Formation confirm the genetic context of magmatic underplating and granulite facies anatexis in the IZ. The U-Pb age of 299 ± 5 Ma from prograde zircon overgrowths in the metasediments also shows that high-grade metamorphic (anatectic) conditions in the IZ did not start earlier than 20 Ma after the Variscan amphibolite facies metamorphism in the adjacent Strona–Ceneri Zone (SCZ). This makes it clear that the SCZ cannot represent the middle to upper crustal continuation of the IZ. Most parts of zircon crystals that have grown during the granulite facies metamorphism became affected by alteration and Pb-loss. Two types of alteration and Pb-loss mechanisms can be distinguished by cathodoluminescence imaging: zoning-controlled alteration (ZCA) and surface-controlled alteration (SCA). The ZCA is attributed to thermal and/or decompression pulses during extensional unroofing in the Permian, at or earlier than 249 ± 7 Ma. The SCA is attributed to the ingression of fluids at 210 ± 12 Ma, related to hydrothermal activity during the breakup of the Pangaea supercontinent in the Upper Triassic/Lower Jurassic.

Growth, annealing and recrystallization of zircon and preservation of monazite in high-grade metamorphism: conventional and in-situ U-Pb isotope, cathodoluminescence and microchemical evidence

Abstract: Zircon and monazite from granulite- to amphibolite-facies rocks of the Vosges mountains (central Variscan Belt, eastern France) were dated by ion-microprobe and conventional U-Pb techniques. Different granulites of igneous (so-called leptynites) and sedimentary origin (kinzigites) and their leucosomes were dated at 334.9 ± 3.6, 335.4 ± 3.6 and 336.7 ± 3.5 Ma (conventional age 335.4 ± 0.6 Ma). Subsequent growth stages of zircon were distinguished by secondary electron (SEM) and cathodoluminescence (CL) imaging: (1) subsolidus growth producing round anhedral morphologies and sector zoning; (2) appearance of an intergranular fluid or melt phase at incipient dehydration melting that first resulted in resorption of pre-existing zircons, followed by growth of acicular zircons or overgrowths on round zircons consisting of planar growth zoning; (3) advanced melting producing euhedral prismatic zircons with oscillatory zoning overgrowing the sector zones. Two further lithologies, the Kaysersberg granite and the Trois-Epis units, were both formerly considered as migmatites. The intrusion of the Kaysersberg granite was dated at 325.8 ± 4.8 Ma. The Trois-Epis unit was found to be the product of volume recrystallization of a former granulite, which occurred under amphibolite-facies conditions 327.9 ± 4.4 Ma ago. The amphibolite-facies overprint of the Trois-Epis zircons led to the complete rejuvenation of most of the zircon domains by annealing and replacement/recrystallization processes. Annealing is assumed to occur in strained lattice domains, which are possibly disturbed by high trace element contents and/or large differences in decay damage between adjacent growth zones. Investigation of cathodoluminescence structures reveals that the replacement occurs along curved chemical reaction fronts that proceed from the surface towards the interior of the zircon. The monazite U-Pb system still records the age of high-grade metamorphism at around 335 Ma. The chemical reagent responsible for the rejuvenation of zircon obviously left the monazite unaffected.

Tectonic setting, origin, and obduction of the Oman ophiolite

Abstract: The Semail ophiolite in the Oman Mountains is the world9s largest and best preserved thrust sheet of oceanic crust and upper mantle (>10 000 km 2 , ∼550 km long, ∼150 km wide); it was emplaced onto the Arabian continental margin during Late Cretaceous time. The ophiolite originated 96–94 Ma at a spreading center above a northeast-dipping subduction zone associated with initiation of immature island-arc tholeiitic lavas (Lasail arc) at the highest levels of the ophiolite. Simultaneous underthrusting of Triassic (and Jurassic[?]) mid-oceanic-ridge basalt and alkalic volcanic rocks beneath >12 km of upper mantle depleted harzburgites produced garnet + clinopyroxene amphibolites formed at temperatures of ∼850 °C, dated as 95–93 Ma. Subduction cannot have been initiated at a mid-oceanic ridge, otherwise the protolith of the amphibolites in the metamorphic sole would be the same age and composition as the ophiolite volcanic rocks above. In the northern part of the Oman Mountains in the Bani Hamid area, United Arab Emirates, ∼870 m of granulite facies rocks (enstatite + spinel ± diopside quartzites, garnet + diopside + wollastonite calc-silicate marbles, clinopyroxene-bearing amphibolites) were formed at temperatures similar to those of the garnet + diopside amphibolites of the Oman sole, 800–850 °C, but at slightly higher pressures, as much as 9 kbar. They are interpreted as deeper level metamorphosed continental margin sedimentary rocks exhumed by out-of-sequence thrusting placing granulites over mantle sequence harzburgites during the later stages of obduction. Subduction of the Arabian continental crust beneath the obducting Semail ophiolite to ∼78–90 km depth has been proven by thermobarometry of the As Sifah eclogites (to 20–23 kbar) in the eastern sector. In the United Arab Emirates the subducted continental crust began to partially melt, producing unusual biotite ± muscovite ± garnet ± tourmaline ± cordierite ± andalusite–bearing granites that intrude the uppermost mantle sequence harzburgites and lowermost crustal sequence cumulate gabbros of the ophiolite. We suggest that the entire leading (northeast) edge of the Arabian plate was subducted beneath the ophiolite during the final stages of obduction leading to eclogitization of the crustal rocks. Higher temperatures and pressures in the United Arab Emirates sector, possibly due to a thicker or double-thickness ophiolite section, led to blueschist, amphibolite, and granulite facies conditions in the metamorphic sole, and crustal melting in the subophiolite basement produced leucocratic granites that intruded up as dikes through the obducted ophiolite. A model for ophiolite obduction is presented, which accounts for all the structural and metamorphic conditions reported from the Oman Mountains.

Thermal evolution of two textural types of mafic granulites in the North China Craton; evidence for both mantle plume and collisional tectonics

Abstract: Mafic granulites from the North China craton can be divided into two textural types, referred to as A- and B-types. A-type mafic granulites display garnet+quartz symplectic coronas, and outcrop in the eastern and western zones of the craton, whereas B-type mafic granulites exhibit orthopyroxene+plagioclase±clinopyroxene symplectites or coronas, and are mainly exposed in the central zone of the craton. Most A-type mafic granulites preserve the prograde (M1), peak (M2) and post-peak near-isobaric cooling (M3) assemblages, which are represented respectively by inclusions of hornblende+plagioclase+quartz, a peak mineralogy of orthopyroxene+clinopyroxene+plagioclase+quartz+garnet, and overprinted by garnet+quartz symplectic coronas. These mineral assemblages and their P–T (pressure-temperature) estimates define anticlockwise P–T evolutionary paths. The B-type mafic granulites preserve the peak (M1), post-peak near-isothermal decompression (M2) and cooling (M3) assemblages, which are represented by the peak assemblage of orthopyroxene+clinopyroxene+plagioclase+quartz+garnet±hornblende, post-peak orthopyroxene+plagioclase±clinopyroxene symplectites or coronas, and later hornblende+plagioclase+magnetite symplectites, respectively. These mineral assemblages and their P–T estimates define clockwise P–T paths.The anticlockwise P–T paths of the A-type mafic granulites in the eastern and western zones of the North China craton are consistent with a model of underplating and intrusion of mantle-derived magmas. In combination with lithological, structural and geochronological data, the eastern and western zones of the North China craton are considered to represent two continental blocks that developed through the interaction of mantle plumes with the lithosphere from the Palaeoarchaean to the Neoarchaean era. The B-type mafic granulites and associated rocks in the central zone represent a magmatic arc that was metamorphosed and deformed during amalgamation of the eastern and western continental blocks in the late Palaeoproterozoic era. The mineral reaction relations and clockwise P–T paths of the B-type mafic granulites from the central zone record the tectonothermal history of the collision that resulted in the final assembly of the North China craton at c. 1800 Ma.

The tectonic evolution of the Kohistan‐Karakoram collision belt along the Karakoram Highway transect, north Pakistan

Abstract: The Kohistan arc terrane comprises an intra-oceanic island arc of Cretaceous age separating the Indian plate to the south from the Karakoram (Asian) plate to the north within the Indus suture zone of north Pakistan. The intra-oceanic arc volcanics (Chalt, Dras Group) were built on a foundation of dominantly mid-ocean ridge basalt (MORB)-related amphibolites of the Kamila Group. The subarc magma chamber is represented by multiple intrusions of a huge gabbro-norite complex (Chilas complex), which includes some ultramafic assemblages of residual mantle harzburgite and dunite, layered cumulates, and hornblendites cut by late stage dikes of hornblende + plagioclase pegmatites. The Chilas complex norites intrude the Gilgit metasediments of lower amphibolite and greenschist facies in northern Kohistan, which also form xenolithic roof pendants within the top of the Chilas complex. Along the southern margin of Kohistan, Jijal and Sapat complex ultramafics (dunites, harzburgites and websterites) form remnant suprasubduction zone ophiolitic mantle rocks along the hanging wall of the Main Mantle Thrust, the Cretaceous obduction plane along which Kohistan was emplaced onto Indian plate rocks. Garnet granulites of the Jijal complex, formed at 12–14 kbars, represent original magmatic lower crustal rocks subducted to depths of at least 45 km and metamorphosed during high-pressure and high-temperature subduction of earlier arc-related rocks. Obduction of the Sapat ophiolite and Kohistan arc occurred between ∼75 and 55 Ma. The closure of the Shyok suture zone separating Kohistan from the Karakoram plate must have occurred prior to 75 Ma, the age of the Jutal basic dikes which crosscut the closure-related fabrics, mainly late north directed backthrusting in the lower Hunza valley. Andean-type granitoid (gabbrodiorite-granodiorite-granite) emplacement along the Kohistan-Ladakh batholith ended at the time of India-Asia collision, ∼ 60–50 Myr ago. Postcollisional crustal thickening along the Karakoram led to multiple episodes of metamorphism from latest Cretaceous and throughout the Tertiary. Sillimanite grade metamorphism in Hunza was actually pre-India-Asia collision and may have resulted from the earlier Kohistan collision. Localized and sporadic crustal melting episodes across northern Kohistan (Indus confluence and Parri granite sheets) and the southern Karakoram (Hunza dikes and Sumayar and Mango Gusar leucogranites) occurred from 51 to 9 Ma and culminated in the huge Baltoro monzogranite-leucogranite intrusion 25–21 Myr ago. A vast network of leucogranitic and pegmatitite dikes containing gem quality aquamarine + muscovite ± tourmaline ± garnet ± biotite quartz are younger than 5 Ma and form the final phase of intrusion in the Haramosh area and parts of the southern Karakoram area.

Seismic Velocities and Anisotropy of the Lower Continental Crust: A Review

Abstract: —Seismic anisotropy is often neglected in seismic studies of the earth’s crust. Since anisotropy is a common property of many typically deep crustal rocks, its potential contribution to solving questions of the deep crust is evaluated. The anisotropic seismic velocities obtained from laboratory measurements can be verified by computations based on the elastic constants and on numerical data pertaining to the texture of rock-forming minerals. For typical lower crustal rocks the influence of layering is significantly less important than the influence of rock texture. Surprisingly, most natural lower crustal rocks show a hexagonal type of anisotropy. Maximum anisotropy is observed for rocks with a high content of aligned mica. It seems possible to distinguish between layered intrusives and metasediments on the basis of in situ measurements of anisotropy, which can thus be used to validate different scenarios of crustal evolution.

The History of Granulite-Facies Metamorphism and Crustal Growth from Single Zircon U-Pb Geochronology: Namaqualand, South Africa

Abstract: The Namaqualand Metamorphic Complex is a well-exposed, INTRODUCTION Mesoproterozoic, low-pressure, amphibolite–granulite-facies terrane flanking the Archaean Kaapvaal Craton of southern Africa. Previous isotopic dating in the region suggests an ~150 my period of prograde granulite-facies metamorphism and episodic granite emplacement The mid-crustal granulite-facies problem in the mid-crust. In contrast, thermal modelling suggests that Granulite-facies terranes are rocks of the Earth’s lower suband superjacent magmatic accretion should not have exceeded and middle crust that equilibrated at high pressures (P ) 30 my in duration. This enigma is resolved by precise U–Pb zircon and temperatures (T ). Their petrology and geoSHRIMP dating of the major orthogneissic units of the region. chronology commonly preserve both prograde and retroThese data point to Kibaran crustal growth at 1220–1170 Ma, grade characteristics. Because these terranes reflect a which occurred on the margins of a Palaeoproterozoic (2000–1800 number of different crustal and tectonic processes, their Ma) continental nucleus. A later, distinct, orogenic episode, here origin is important in understanding the nature of contermed the Namaquan (time equivalent of the Grenvillian), involved tinental growth and crustal evolution. crustal thickening and magmatism at 1060–1030 Ma and was Granulite-facies rocks typically reflect P–T conditions responsible for, and coeval with, the peak of metamorphism. Lowof 6–9 kbar and 750–850°C and comprise anhydrous P granulite-facies metamorphism resulted from advective heating mineral assemblages that point to conditions of reduced and crustal thickening by magmatic accretion over a 30 my interval. water activity (Harley, 1989). In the lower crust some granulite-facies rocks are thought to be residues of partial melting that has moved melt and volatiles to higher crustal levels. Alternatively, granulite-facies rocks may form where mutually soluble CO2–H2O-rich fluids stream upwards through the crust, causing local reduction in volatile content and accompanying mineral phase changes along the fluid flow paths (Harley, 1989). In the

Ultra-high Temperature Metamorphism of Metapelitic Granulites from Kondapalle, Eastern Ghats Belt: Implications for the Indo-Antarctic Correlation

Abstract: A suite of quartz- and corundum-bearing metapelitic granulites, intruded by layered gabbronorite-pyroxenite-anorthosite at Kondapalle, Eastern Ghats Belt, preserves a multitude of reaction textures involving oxide and silicate minerals that attest to several prograde and retrograde reactions. In the quartz-bearing associations, the reactions are: (a) biotite + sillimanite + quartz →garnet + liquid; (b) garnet + sillimanite →spinel (+ magnetite) + quartz; (c) Fe2TiO4 + O2 →ferrian ilmenite + magnetite; (d) reversal of reaction (b); (e) Fe2O3-rich ilmenite + plagioclase + quartz →Fe2O3-poor ilmenite + garnet + O2. Reactions in the corundum-bearing associations are: (f) spinel + biotite + sillimanite →garnet + liquid; (g) biotite + sillimanite →garnet + Ti-rich spinel + corundum + liquid; (h) biotite + sillimanite →garnet + corundum + liquid; (i) Fe2TiO4 + FeAl2O4 + O2 →ferrian ilmenite + Fe3O4 + Al2O3 (in ilmenite); (j) garnet + corundum →spinel + sillimanite. To examine the paragenetic evolution of the metapelitic granulites, a petrogenetic grid for the KFMASH system at high temperatures and pressures, involving quartz and corundum, was constructed. The sequence of inferred reactions documents an anticlockwise heating-cooling path. Reintegrated compositions of spinel (with >10 mol % Fe2TiO4) and feldspars indicate ultra-high temperature (UHT) of metamorphism (>1000°C), comparable with the liquidus temperature of the enclosing magmatic rocks. Crystallization pressures inferred for the magmatic rocks and the pressure constraints imposed by the petrogenetic grid on the metapelite assemblages indicate that the emplacement of the igneous suite and the accompanying UHT metamorphism occurred in the lower crust (>8 kbar). Reported U-Pb cooling ages of monazite and allanite from a late pegmatite suggest the UHT metamorphism to be older than 1600 Ma. The deduced P-T history and the absence of Grenvillian high-grade metamorphism in the study area provide important constraints on the configuration of East Gondwana, in particular on the continuation of the Napier-Rayner terrane boundary into the Eastern Ghats Belt.

Nature and Composition of the Lower Continental Crust in Central Spain and the Granulite–Granite Linkage: Inferences from Granulitic Xenoliths

Abstract: Xenolith-bearing alkaline ultrabasic dykes were intruded into the of the Hercynian basement of the Spanish Central System in early Mesozoic times. The suite of lower-crustal xenoliths in the dykes divided into three groups: felsic peraluminous granulites, metapelitic granulites and charnockitic granulites. The felsic granulites form ~95% of the total volume of the xenoliths, whereas the charnockitic and metapelitic granulites are much less abundant (~0·01 5%, respectively). Thermobarometric calculations based on mineral paragenesis indicate equilibration conditions around 850–950°C, 7–11 kbar; thus the xenoliths represent lower continental crustal material. Superimposed on this high-T high-P assemblage is a high-T low-P paragenesis represented mainly by kelyphitic coronas, reflecting re-equilibration during transport in the clearly restitic mineral assemblages, with up to 50% garnet and 37% sillimanite. Major and trace element modelling supports the idea that the late-Hercynian peraluminous granites of central Spain represent liquids in equilibrium with restitic material of similar composition to the studied lower-crustal xenoliths. 87Sr/86Sr and eNd of the felsic xenoliths, calculated at an average Hercynian age of 300 Ma, are in the range 0·706–0·712, and –1·4 to –8·2, respectively. These values match the isotopic composition of the outcropping late Hercynian granites. The Sr isotopic composition of the xenoliths is lower than that of the outcropping mid-crustal lithologies (orthogneisses, pelites). A major contribution from the lower crust to the source of Hercynian granites greatly reduces the necessity of invoking a large mantle contribution in models of granite petrogenesis. The felsic nature of the lower continental crust in central Spain contrasts with the more mafic lower-crustal composition estimated in other European Hercynian areas, suggesting a non underplated crust in this region of the Hercynian orogenic belt.

New zircon ages and regional significance for the evolution of the Pan-African orogen in Madagascar

Abstract: New 207 Pb/ 206 Pb single zircon evaporation ages for granulites, gneisses and granites in southern and central Madagascar record a widespread Pan-African metamorphic and magmatic event in the period c. 650–556 Ma, but also earlier ages in the range 1890–1710 Ma, inherited from protolith material and reflecting heterogeneous crustal sources. South of the Ranotsara shear zone, metasedimentary gneisses and granulites contain an early population of detrital zircons with ages in the range 1890–1740 Ma; a detrital grain with an age of 899 ± 2 Ma suggests that some sedimentary protoliths were deposited later than c. 900 Ma. Metamorphic zircons have a mean age of 564.2 ± 0.9 Ma. North of the Ranotsara shear zone, our data provide information on the age of source material of metamorphic rocks: 788.6 ± 0.7 Ma for the time of emplacement of the granitic precursor of a granulite-facies charnockite and 650.9 ± 0.9 Ma for the protolith age of an amphibolite-facies migmatitic gneiss. A structurally conformable alkali granite sheet with a crystallization age of 568.7 ±1.6 Ma contains xenocrystic zircons, one of which has an age of 1229.6 ± 1.0 Ma, inherited from the source of the anatectically derived material. The post-tectonic, alkalic Carion granite has an emplacement age of 556.0 ± 1.7 Ma and provides a minimum age for granulite- and amphibolite-facies metamorphism. Our field data indicate that extensional shear zones are common in central Madagascar, locally controlling amphibolite-facies retrogression of granulite-facies rocks and the emplacement of crustal melt granites. These events record the widespread extensional collapse of the Pan-African orogen in Madagascar.

Post-granulite facies monazite growth and rejuvenation during Permian to Lower Jurassic thermal and fluid events in the Ivrea Zone (Southern Alps)

Abstract: U-Pb analyses of single monazite grains from two granulite facies metapelites in the Ivrea Zone (Southern Alps) reveal the presence, in both samples, of at least three different ages and prove that earlier interpretations of supposedly concordant monazite data as cooling ages are unwarranted. One group of monazite data defines a subconcordant discordia line with an upper intercept age of 293.4 ± 5.8 Ma and a lower intercept age of 210 ± 14 Ma. The upper intercept is interpreted as the real cooling age of the monazites. The lower intercept is interpreted as an episode of fluid-driven Pb-loss, indicated by the presence of internal and external corrosion structures not only of the monazites but also of the zircons in the same samples that are also rejuvenated at 210 ± 12 Ma. Another group of monazite data lies above the concordia. The presence of excess 206Pb indicates that these crystals have grown below the monazite blocking temperature, thus after the granulite facies metamorphism. The age of growth of the new monazite crystals is approached by their 207Pb/235U ages that range between 273 and 244 Ma. The two groups of post-cooling age (post-293.4 ± 5.8 Ma) monazite data correspond to two distinct late- and post-Variscan geotectonic regimes that affected the Southern Alps, (1) Permian transtension with decompression and anatectic melting; (2) Upper Triassic to Lower Jurassic rifting with geographically dispersed hydrothermal activity and alkaline magmatism.

Petrology of Sapphirine-bearing and Associated Granulites from Central Sri Lanka

Abstract: + spinel = sapphirine. This produced coarse-grained coronas of sequence sapphirine around the corundum and spinel. The earliest assemblage at Hakurutale was orthopyroxene + sillimanite + sapphirine. Garnet growth occurred via the reactions orthopyroxene + sillimanite + sapphirine = garnet and orthopyroxene + sillimanite = garnet + quartz. Locally, garnet was partially destroyed by a INTRODUCTION variety of corona-forming continuous reactions. The most important Rocks of highly aluminous and magnesian bulk comare garnet = orthopyroxene + sillimanite + sapphirine and position commonly record a part of the P‐T path close garnet + sillimanite = sapphirine + cordierite (both localities) to peak temperatures (e.g. Hensen, 1987), where the and, at Hakurutale, garnet + quartz = orthopyroxene + sense of the P‐T path—clockwise or counter-clockwise— sillimanite, garnet + sillimanite + quartz = cordierite and may be determined. These rocks generally contain a garnet + quartz = orthopyroxene + cordierite. In places, subset of the minerals garnet (Gar), orthopyroxene (Opx), orthopyroxene + sillimanite + quartz reacted to form cordierite, cordierite (Crd), Al-spinel (Sp) and sapphirine (Spr), in and orthopyroxene + sillimanite reacted to form cordierite + combination with sillimanite (Sil), corundum (Cor) or sapphirine coronas. At Hakurutale, inclusion textures indicate that quartz (Qz). They have been increasingly used in the sapphirine was present in the earliest recorded assemblages (prograde), last few years to deduce parts of the P‐T paths witnessed but also formed later as various corona-forming reactions occurred. by granulite-facies terranes (e.g. Droop & BucherNurminen, 1984; Droop, 1989; Bertrand et al., 1992;

Sapphirine in SW Sweden: a record of Sveconorwegian (–Grenvillian) late-orogenic tectonic exhumation

Abstract: In the Sveconorwegian granulite region of SW Sweden, sapphirine occurs in reaction coronas in Mg- and Al-rich kyanite eclogites which form parts of mafic complexes. Aluminous to peraluminous sapphirine forms symplectitic intergrowths with plagioclase±corundum±spinel after kyanite. Kyanite and omphacite were the main reactants in the formation of sapphirine. The sapphirine formed during decompression from the eclogite facies (P >15 kbar) through the high- to medium-pressure granulite and upper amphibolite facies at c. 750 °C. Preserved growth zoning in garnet, frozen-in reaction textures, and chemical disequilibrium suggest a rapid tectonic exhumation. Ductile deformation in the surrounding gneisses and parts of the mafic complex is characterized by foliation development, WNW–ESE stretching and dynamic recrystallization under granulite to upper amphibolite facies conditions, simultaneous with the sapphirine formation. This decompression, high-grade re-equilibration and associated deformation took place during the exhumation of the Sveconorwegian eclogites, bracketed between 969±14 and 956±7 Ma. Probable tectonic causes are late-orogenic gravitational collapse and/or plate divergence following the Sveconorwegian–Grenvillian continent–continent collision. There are no indications of metastability of aluminous and peraluminous sapphirine in the decompressed kyanite eclogites; sapphirine is stable in amphibole-poor and amphibolitized varieties, including rocks that have undergone dynamic recrystallization. Close similarities between rocks from different parts of the world with respect to reaction textures suggests that sapphirine+plagioclase-forming reactions are a universal feature in high-temperature decompressed kyanite eclogites.

Sm–Nd evidence for high‐grade Ordovician metamorphism in the Arunta Block, central Australia

Abstract: Sm–Nd ages from the Harts Range in the south-eastern Arunta Inlier in central Australia indicate that regional metamorphism up to granulite facies occurred in the Early Ordovician (c. 475 Ma). This represents a radical departure from previous tectonic models for the region and identifies a previously unrecognized intraplate event in central Australia. Peak metamorphic assemblages (800 °C and 10.5 kbar) formed at around 476±14 Ma and underwent approximately 4 kbar of near-isothermal decompression at 475±4 Ma. A coarse-grained unfoliated garnet–clinopyroxene-bearing marble inferred to have recrystallized late in the decompressional evolution, gives an age of 469±7 Ma. Two lines of evidence suggest the Early Ordovician tectonism occurred in an extensional setting. First, the timing of the high-grade lower crustal deformation coincides with a period of marine sedimentation in the Amadeus and Georgina basins that was associated with a seaway that developed across central Australia. Second, isothermal decompression of lower crustal rocks was associated with the formation of a regional, sub-horizontal mid-crustal foliation. In the Entia Gneiss Complex, which forms the structurally lowest part of the Harts Range, upper-amphibolite facies metamorphism (c. 700 °C, 8–9 kbar) occurred at 479±15 Ma. There is no evidence that P–T conditions in the Entia Gneiss Complex were as high as in the overlying units. This implies that the extensional system was reworked during a later compressional event. Sm–Nd data from the mid-amphibolite facies (c. 650 °C and 6 kbar) detachment zone that separates the Irindina Supracrustal Assemblage and Entia Gneiss Complex give an age of 449±10 Ma. This age corresponds to the timing of a change in the pattern and style of sedimentation in the Amadeus and Georgina basins, and indicates that the change in basin dynamics was associated with mid-crustal deformation. It also suggests that compressional deformation culminating in the Devonian to Carboniferous (400–300 Ma) Alice Springs Orogeny may have begun as early as c. 450 Ma. At present, the extent of Early Ordovician tectonism in central Australia is unknown. However, granulite facies metamorphism and associated intense deformation imply an event of regional extent. An implication of this work is that high-grade lower crustal metamorphism and intense deformation occurred during the development of a broad, shallow, slowly subsiding intraplate basin.