Dehydration-melting of amphibolite at 10 kbar: the effects of temperature and time

Abstract

We have simulated the dehydration-melting of a natural, low-K, calcic amphibolite (67.4% hornblende, 32.5% anorthite) in piston-cylinder experiments at 10 kbar and 750–1000°C, for 1–9 days. The solidus temperature is lower than 750°C; garnet appears at 850°C. The overall reaction is: Hb+P→L+Cpx+Al-Hb+Ca-Hb+Ga+Opx. Three stages of reaction are: (1) melting dominated by the growth of clinopyroxene and garnet, with little change in composition of liquid or garnet, (2) a reversal of this reaction between 875°C and 900°C, with decreases in the amounts of liquid and garnet, and (3) a large increase in liquid along with the loss of hornblende and decrease of plagioclase while clinopyroxene and garnet increase. Garnet is enriched in pyrope and zoned from Fe-cores to Mg-edges (range ∼3 mol % pyrope); liquid composition is enriched first in An (to ∼950°C) and then in Ab. The liquids are more calcic and aluminous than natural tonalites, which is attributed to the plagioclase composition (An90). The formation of peraluminous liquid from the metaluminous amphibolite is caused by anorthite — not H2O-saturated conditions. The results are consistent with an amphibolite phase diagram with relatively high solidus temperatures in the garnet-absent field (900–1000°C), but with a solidus backbend at ∼7–9 kbar, coincident with the garnet-in boundary. Hornblende breakdown due to garnet formation in a closed system must make H2O available for H2O-undersaturated melting right down to the H2O-saturated solidus, below 700°C, which defines a large low-temperature PT area where hydrous granitoid melts can be generated with residual garnet and hornblende.