P–T evolution and episodic zircon growth in barroisite eclogites of the Lanterman Range, northern Victoria Land, Antarctica

Abstract

AbstractPrograde P–T–t paths of eclogites are often ambiguous owing to high variance of mineral assemblages, large uncertainty in isotopic age determinations and/or variable degree of retrograde equilibration. We investigated these issues using the barroisite eclogites from the Lanterman Range, northern Victoria Land, Antarctica, which are relatively uncommon but free of retrogression. These eclogites revealed three stages of prograde metamorphism, defining two distinctive P–T trajectories, M1–2 and M3. Inclusion minerals in garnet porphyroblasts suggest that initial prograde assemblages (M1) consist of garnet+omphacite+barroisite/Mg‐pargasite+epidote+phengite+paragonite+rutile/titanite+quartz, and subsequent M2 assemblages of garnet+omphacite+barroisite+phengite+rutile±quartz. The inclusion‐rich inner part of garnet porphyroblasts preserves a bell‐shaped Mn profile of the M1, whereas the inclusion‐poor outer part (M2) is typified by the outward decrease in Ca/Mg and XFe (=Fe2+/(Fe2++Mg)) values. A pseudosection modelling employing fractionated bulk‐rock composition suggests that the eclogites have initially evolved from ~15 to 20 kbar and 520–570°C (M1) to ~22–25 kbar and 630–650°C (M2). The latter is in accordance with P–T conditions estimated from two independent geothermobarometers: the garnet–clinopyroxene–phengite (~25 ± 3 kbar and 660 ± 100°C) and Zr‐in‐rutile (~650–700°C at 22–27 kbar). The second segment (M3A–B) of prograde P–T path is recorded in the grossular‐rich overgrowth rim of garnet. Apart from disequilibrium growth of the M3A garnet, ubiquitous overgrowth of the M3B garnet permits us to estimate the P–T conditions at ~26 ± 3 kbar and 720 ± 80°C. The cathodoluminescence (CL) imaging of zircon grains separated from a barroisite eclogite revealed three distinct zones with bright rim, dark mantle and moderately dark core. Eclogitic phases such as garnet, omphacite, epidote and rutile are present as fine‐grained inclusions in the mantle and rim of zircon, in contrast to their absence in the core. The sensitive high‐resolution ion microprobe U–Pb dating on metamorphic mantle domains and neoblasts yielded a weighted mean 206Pb/238U age of 515 ± 4 Ma (tσ), representing the time of the M2 stage. On the other hand, overgrowth rims as well as bright‐CL neoblasts of zircon were dated at 498 ± 11 Ma (tσ), corresponding to the M3. Average burial rates estimated from the M2 and M3 ages are too low (<2 mm/year) for cold subduction regime (~5–10°C/km), suggesting that an exhumation stage intervened between two prograde segments of P–T path. Thus, the P–T–t evolution of barroisite eclogites is typified by two discrete episodes with an c. 15 Ma gap during the middle Cambrian subduction of the Antarctic Ross Orogeny.