Abstract
The chemistry of the pyroxenes suggests that the garnet lherzolites enclosed in the Norwegian basal gneisses have equilibrated at depths greater than 70 kilometres along an expected sub-continental geotherm. Such depths are somewhat shallower than the apparent depths of origin of most garnet lherzolite xenoliths in kimberlite pipes. Distribution coefficients for Fe 2+/Mg 2+ and Mn 2+/Mg 2+ between coexisting clinopyroxenes and garnets support the slightly lower equilibration temperatures deduced for the Norwegian garnet lherzolites compared with the xenolithic garnet lherzolites in kimberlites. The pressure-temperature equilibration conditions deduced for the Norwegian garnet lherzolites (800–1020°C at 22–37 kbs) contrast with previous estimates (625 ± 30° at 14 kbs) for basic eclogite masses in the Norwegian gneisses. This suggests a possible dual paragenesis of the Norwegian eclogites, with the garnet lherzolites being tectonic slices of the sub-continental upper mantle and the basic eclogites deep crustal metamorphic rocks.
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