Sapphirine + quartz assemblage from the Irumide Belt, northern Malawi: Implications for Mesoproterozoic ultrahigh-temperature metamorphism related to Rodinia assembly

Abstract

The Irumide Belt sensu lato situated between the Bangweulu Block to the northwest and the Neoproterozoic Mozambique–Zambezi Belt to the southeast is a Mesoproterozoic orogenic belt that developed probably during the amalgamation of the supercontinent Rodinia. In this study, we present new petrological, geothermobarometric, and geochronological data of pelitic granulites and related rocks from the Jenda area in northern Malawi, and evaluate the timing and pressure–temperature (P–T) conditions of high-grade metamorphism. To the best of our knowledge, we are the first to report the occurrence of sapphirine + quartz association in pelitic granulite from the Irumide Belt sl. which provides a robust evidence of peak ultrahigh-temperature (UHT) metamorphism. The sapphirine occurs as poikiloblastic grains with rounded quartz inclusions in the absence of any retrograde minerals. The mineral phase equilibrium modeling constrains the peak UHT conditions of the pelitic granulites as 950–1000 °C and 7–8.5 kbar for sapphirine-bearing and ∼6 kbar and > 950 °C for sapphirine-free samples. These conditions are consistent with the results of ternary-feldspar geothermometry (900–1000 °C at 8 kbar). From the stability of rutile, we estimate a prograde pressure of >9 kbar, and the occurrence of retrograde cordierite and biotite suggests that the rocks went through P–T conditions of ∼6–7 kbar/∼775–825 °C, indicating a clockwise P–T path and defining high-pressure and UHT conditions. In-situ monazite Th–U–Pbtotal geochronology of the sapphirine-bearing rock yielded a weighted-mean age of 1022 ± 10 Ma which is considered to mark the timing of peak metamorphism. Sapphirine-free granulites also gave consistent ages of 1049 ± 13 Ma and 1048 ± 10 Ma, which are also comparable with published ages. We thus infer that the Irumide Belt sl. underwent regional high-pressure to UHT metamorphism at ca. 1.05 to 1.02 Ga possibly related to the main collisional event of the Bangweulu Block with an unknown craton or magmatic arc during the assembly of Rodinia supercontinent.