Oriented precipitates of quartz and amphibole in clinopyroxene of metabasites from the Greek Rhodope: a product of open system precipitation during eclogite–granulite–amphibolite transition

Abstract

AbstractIn metabasites from the high‐grade metamorphic Kimi Complex of the Greek Rhodope, lamellae of quartz and amphibole were observed together with either rutile or titanite precipitates in the cores of clinopyroxene that underwent a prolonged exhumation history from eclogite via granulite and amphibolite facies conditions. Lamellae are crystallographically oriented along clinopyroxene cleavage planes (010) and interpreted as the result of precipitation during a two‐step intracrystalline compositional adjustment from an omphacite‐ to a Ca‐Tschermak‐rich clinopyroxene and finally to diopside. Even though retrograde diffusion profiles develop in clinopyroxene, the diffusion rates of highly charged ions like Si4+, Al3+and Ti4+are too slow, so precipitates rich in Si4+ (quartz), Al3+(amphibole) and Ti4+(rutile or titanite) form as viable kinetic alternatives. These precipitation reactions are not possible isochemically, and additional exchange of ions with the matrix is required for precipitation to occur. This exchange of mainly rapidly diffusing low‐charge ions is postulated to proceed by bulk diffusion (self‐diffusion) and does not require special pathways or fluid, even though these may play an additional role during metamorphism. This hitherto undescribed process of precipitation made possible by diffusional exchange with the matrix through an intact host crystal lattice is termed here as ‘open system precipitation’ (OSP). No prior Ca‐Eskola‐rich (ultrahigh‐pressure, UHP) composition of omphacite is required to explain the observed precipitates. It is proposed that many precipitation phenomena that were hard to explain in a closed‐system scenario can now be explained more readily by OSP. Calculation of an original solid solution composition, as in an UHP phase, from precipitate and host mineral analyses becomes imprecise to the degree that bulk diffusion and hence OSP have been important.