Geodynamic evolution of Mt. Riiser-Larsen, Napier Complex, East Antarctica, with reference to the UHT mineral associations and their reaction relations

Abstract

Abstract Mt. Riiser-Larsen is the largest outcrop in the Archaean–early Proterozoic Napier Complex, East Antarctica. The area is structurally divided into the Main and the Western Blocks by the subvertical Riiser-Larsen Main Shear Zone (RLMSZ) of about 200 m width composed of mylonite and pseudotachylite. Mineral parageneses including sapphirine+quartz and osumilite, diagnostic of ultrahigh-temperature (UHT) metamorphism, are found in Mg-rich aluminous, siliceous and quartzo-feldspathic gneiss layers in both the Main and the Western Blocks of the Mt. Riiser-Larsen area. Some of the sapphirine–quartz associations are accompanied by retrograde reaction textures, which include growth of cordierite and/or garnet between sapphirine and quartz in the Main Block, and of orthopyroxene+sillimanite in the Western Block. These textures indicate the reaction (1) sapphirine + quartz ( + orthopyroxene ) = cordierite and (2) sapphirine + quartz ( + orthopyroxene ) = garnet in the Main Block and (3) sapphirine + quartz = orthopyroxene + sillimanite in the Western Block. Phase equilibria and P – T pseudosections for sapphirine+quartz-bearing associations suggest that these three reactions took place during a temperature drop from 1100 °C to 1000 °C at pressures of 0.6–0.8 GPa in the Main Block and 0.8–0.9 GPa in the Western Block. The geological structure and distribution of the UHT rocks provide an insight into the vertical extent of the>1000 °C UHT metamorphic zone: a minimum thickness of 4–5 km of the UHT-metamorphosed layers, which become deeper towards the west in the Main Block. The Western Block represents a c. 0.1–0.3 GPa ( c. 3–10 km) deeper structural level than the Main Block. In addition to the extent of the horizontal distribution of UHT metamorphism in the Napier Complex, our results on the vertical component provide new constraints for modelling the heat source and tectonic process of the unusually high-temperature regional metamorphism in the late Archaean–early Proterozoic. Electron microprobe monazite U–Th–Pb dating for hydrated and mylonitized sapphirine–quartz gneiss gave a wide spectrum of monazite age distribution between 2300 and 800 Ma, suggesting the tectonic uplift and juxtaposition of the two blocks in the Mt. Riiser-Larsen area later than the mid–late Proterozoic.