Abstract
A genetic link between some areas of very low grade of metamorphism and an extensional setting is argued. A model is presented in which the metamorphism develops in response to enhanced thermal gradients generated by extensional processes, and the pressure-temperature-time paths are anticipated as being anticlockwise in form. Examples of granulite facies metamorphism attributed by Sandiford and Powell [1] to extensional settings may represent the lower crustal analogue of the very low grade examples examined here. Extensional processes may thus provide the mechanisms by which metamorphism in a variety of crustal levels can develop. The traditional association of regional metamorphism with convergent processes is no longer tenable and the term diastathermal metamorphism proposed by Robinson [2] is appropriate to demonstrate the fundamental difference between these two types of regional metamorphism.
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