Ortho- and clinopyroxenes from the pyroxene granulites of Swat Kohistan, northern Pakistan

Abstract

SummaryThis paper presents wet chemical analyses of forty-one pyroxenes (thirty-nine of them new) from pyroxene granulites and a few neighbouring rocks from Swat Kohistan and the adjoining Indus Valley. The granulites, considered to be derived from plutonic norites of an island arc tholeiitic nature, constitute one of the most extensive belts of its kind in the world. The pyroxenes are not unusual in any respect but they bear a closer resemblance to metamorphic than to igneous pyroxenes crystallized from deep-seated tholeiitic magmas. The distribution of Mg, Fe, and Mn (average KDMg−Fe=0.57) and the tie-line intersections on the Wo-En join (generally from Wo80.5 to Wo76.5) between the coexisting eighteen pyroxene pairs from the granulites are discussed. Based on eight different methods of geothermometry and other considerations, it is concluded that the pyroxene granulites were metamorphosed at around 800 °C and 7 to 8 kbar.