Sapphirine-bearing granulites of the anabar shield

Abstract

The results of a detailed study of the mineral and chemical composition, geothermobarometry, and U-Pb isotope dating of zircon of high-aluminous sapphirine-bearing crystals of shales associated with biotite-garnet-sillimanite gneisses, hypersthene-two feldspar and high-potassium hypersthene orthogneisses, Ti-rich and subalkaline metabasites belonging to the Kilegirian Formation of the Daldyn series of the Anabar shield. Unlike the known granulites of the Daldin and Upper Ananbar series, the rocks of this association are enriched in K, Rb, Ba, Th, light REEs, differing in elevated (La/Yb)n. The results of thermobarometry yielded the P–Tparameters of formation and evolution of sapphirine-bearing granulites in the Anabar shield with peak values of UHT metamorphism in the range of T= 920–1000°C at P= 9–11 kbar. Isotope-geochronological data indicate a polymetamorphic evolution of these rocks. Detrital zircon cores in the center of crystals yielded ages of 3.36, 2.75, 2.6, and 2.5 Ga. Later, superimposed metamorphic transformations of the detrital zircon formed rims dated to 2.4, 2.3, 2.2, and 1.8 Ga. The timing of formation of aluminous metasedimentary and associated metamagmatic rocks can be estimated in the interval from 2.5 to 2.4 billion years. A potential provenance source of the detrital zircons could be hypersthene plagiogneisses and metabasites of the Daldyn series with a premetamorphic age no less than 3.3 Ga, and products of their metamorphism of about 2.7 Ga old, and possibly not yet detected in the region Na-K granites with an age of about 2.6–2.5 billion years, known on other shields and enriched with radioactive (K, Th, U) and rare elements. An additional source of clastic material in the formation of aluminous sediments could be the associated two feldspar magmatic rocks of rhyolite composition, having the same model age with them.