Formation of Al-rich titanite (CaTiSiO 4O–CaAlSiO 4OH) reaction rims on ilmenite in metamorphic rocks as a function of fH 2O and fO 2

Abstract

Reaction rims of titanite on ilmenite are described in samples from four terranes of amphibolite-facies metapelites and amphibolites namely the Tamil Nadu area, southern India; the Val Strona area of the Ivrea-Verbano Zone, northern Italy, the Bamble Sector, southern Norway, and the northwestern Austroalpine Ötztal Complex. The titanite rims, and hence the stability of titanite (CaTiSiO 4O) and Al–OH titanite, i.e. vuaganatite (hypothetical end-member CaAlSiO 4OH), are discussed in the light of fH 2O- and fO 2-buffered equilibria involving clinopyroxene, amphibole, biotite, ilmenite, magnetite, and quartz in the systems CaO–FeO/Fe 2O 3–TiO 2–SiO 2–H 2O–O 2 (CFTSH) and CaO–FeO/Fe 2O 3–Al 2O 3–SiO 2–H 2O–O 2 (CFASH) present in each of the examples. Textural evidence suggests that titanite reaction rims on ilmenite in rocks from Tamil Nadu, Val Strona, and the Bamble Sector originated most likely due to hydration reactions such as clinopyroxene + ilmenite + quartz + H 2O = amphibole + titanite and oxidation reactions such as amphibole + ilmenite + O 2 = titanite + magnetite + quartz + H 2O during amphibolite-facies metamorphism, or, as in the case of the Ötztal Complex, during a subsequent greenschist-facies overprint. Overstepping of these reactions requires fH 2O and fO 2 to be high for titanite formation, which is also in accordance with equilibria involving Al–OH titanite. This study shows that, in addition to P, T, bulk–rock composition and composition of the coexisting fluid, fO 2 and fH 2O also play an important role in the formation of Al-bearing titanite during amphibolite- and greenschist-facies metamorphism.