Plurifacial alpine metamorphism in the eastern Betic Cordilleras (SE Spain), with special reference to the genesis of the glaucophane

Abstract

Rocks metamorphosed in two or more different facies are not necessarily polymetamorphic and are termed plurifacial rocks. The following age sequence of metamorphic facies of alpine age is reported: (1) glaucophane-schist facies; (2) albite-epidote-amphibolite facies; (S) almandine-amphibolite facies. There was a transition from kinematic to static conditions. The alpine metamorphism described seems to have proceeded under a pile of overthrust sheets. The change in metamorphic facies was in part due to a considerable rise of the temperature.