Compositional zoning and inclusions of garnet in Sanbagawa metapelites from the Asemi-gawa route, central Shikoku, Japan

Abstract

Compositional and textural characteristics of the zonal structure and inclusions of garnet in metapelites from areas of high-grade greenschist facies (garnet zone) to areas of epidote-amphibolite facies (albite-biotite and oligoclase biotite zones) located along the Asemi-gawa route were examined using EPMA and Raman spectroscopy to investigate evolution of the P-T history of Sanbagawa metamorphism. Garnet grains exhibit two types of compositional zoning patterns: bell-shaped and composite types with spessartine variation. Bell-shape zoning is characterized by a monotonous decrease in the spessartine component from the crystal core towards the margin. Almandine and pyrope components exhibit the opposite trend. The grossular content reaches a maximum at an intermediate position between the core and the rim, and then decreases towards the outermost rim. The composite-zoned garnet is divided into core and mantle parts and it exhibits discontinuous compositional variations according to the associated boundary, evidencing resorption of the core and overgrowth of the mantle during crystallization; implying a two-stage growth of garnet during the Sanbagawa metamorphism. Composite-zoned garnet is characteristically observed in metapelites from a part of the albite-biotite zone, and quartz grains included in its core retain a higher residual pressure than those in garnet from other mineral zones. Isolated paragonite crystal occurs particularly as an inclusion in the core part of this composite-zoned garnet. These data suggest that part of the Sanbagawa metamorphic rocks in the Asemi-gawa region recrystallized under higher-pressure conditions up to the eclogite facies, prior to regional metamorphism from the greenschist, to the epidote-amphibolite facies that formed the regional thermal structure of the Sanbagawa belt of central Shikoku.