Study and implication of the high-pressure felsic granulite in the Qinling complex of East Qinling

As a window of insight into the lower crust, high pressure granulite has received much attention since last decade. Yushugou high pressure granulite‐peridotite Complex was located in the northeast margin of Southern Tianshan, NW China. Previous ideas agreed that the peridotite unit in Yushugou, combined with the ultramafic rocks in Tonghuashan and Liuhuangshan, represent an ophiolite belt. However, the metamorphic evolution and tectonic mechanism of the Yushugou high pressure (HP) granulite remain controversial. Petrological investigations and phase equilibrium modelling for two representative felsic granulite samples suggest two stages metamorphism of the rocks in Yushugou Complex. Granulite facies metamorphism (Stage I) with P‐T conditions of 9.8–10.4 kbar at 895–920°C was recorded by the porphyroblastic garnet core; HP granulite facies metamorphism (Stage II) shows P‐T conditions of 13.2–13.5 kbar at 845–860°C, based on the increasing grossular and decreasing pyrope contents of garnet rims. The Yushugou HP felsic granulites have recorded an anticlockwise P‐T path, characterized by the temperature decreasing and pressure increasing simultaneously. The LA‐ICP‐MS isotopic investigations on zircons from the felsic granulite show that the protolith ages of the granlulites are ∼430 Ma, with two age groups of ∼390 Ma and 340–350 Ma from the metamorphic rims of zircon, indicating the Stage I and II metamorphic events, respectively. A tectonic model was proposed to interpret the processes. The investigated felsic granulite was derived from deep rooted hanging wall, with Stage I granulite facies metamorphism of ∼390 Ma, which may be related to the Devonian arc magmatic intrusion; Stage II HP granulite facies metamorphism (340–350 Ma) may due to the involvement of being captured into the subducting slab and experienced the high pressure metamorphism.

The Late Cretaceous sedimentary melanges from the External Liguride Units of Northern Apennines include large slide-blocks of subcontinental mantle peridotites, MORbasalts and lower and upper continental crust rocks. The slide-block association has been interpreted as representative of a continent-ocean transition between the Internal Liguride oceanic domain (Late Jurassic Western Tethys) and the thinned continental margin of the Adria plate (Marroni et al., 1998). The slide-blocks of lower continental crust consist of mafic and felsic granulites, which locally preserve primary contacts. The mafic granulites commonly display a metamorphic layering, but undeformed rocks preserving a gabbroic fabric are locally found. Undeformed mafic granulites are mostly represented by spinel-bearing gabbronorites, usually containing significant amounts of either olivine or Fe-Ti-oxides. Olivine- and Fe-Ti oxide-bearing rocks locally show spinel-pyroxene symplectites and garnet coronas, respectively. The felsic granulites are mainly quartzo- feldspathic rocks consisting of mesoperthitic to perthitic feldspar, quartz and garnet. The gabbroic protoliths of the granulites were emplaced at about 290 Ma at deep crustal levels, where they underwent slow cooling and recrystallisation under granulite-facies conditions (P = 0.7-0.8 GPa, T = 800-900°C). They were exhumed to upper levels, in association with the felsic granulites, in late Triassic-middle Jurassic times. The gabbro-derived granulites can be recognized as cumulus rocks with negligible amounts of residual trapped liquid, on the basis of low SiO2/Al2O3 ratios and overall low contents of incompatible trace elements. The Mg# value ranges from 80 to 52, and point to negative correlations with TiO2 and MnO, thus indicating a tholeiitic differentiation trend. Most gabbro-derived granulites have slightly LREEenriched patterns showing decreasing Eu positive anomaly with increasing total REE abundances. Chondrite normalization of incompatible trace elements reveals spikes at Ba and Sr, and a slight Zr depletion. The quartzo-feldspathic granulites have LREE enriched patterns, with nearly flat HREE and no or slightly positive Eu anomaly; Ba is abruptly enriched relative to REE, whereas Nb and Ti are depleted. The gabbro-derived granulites show a wide range in Sr and Nd isotopic compositions. The Sr isotopic ratio recalculated at 290 Ma varies between 0.7031 and 0.7077, and the initial eNd ranges between +6.8 and -4.5. Two samples of quartzo-feldspathic granulite yield age-corrected Sr isotopic ratios of 0.7107 and 0.7109, and eNd of -8.0 and -5.7. As a whole, the Nd and Sr isotopic data at 290 Ma form a hyperbolic array, in which the olivine-bearing gabbronorites have the highest eNd values and the lowest Sr isotopic ratios. Clinopyroxenes have been analyzed for trace elements by ion microprobe. Clinopyroxene from olivine-bearing gabbronorites shows peculiar compositions that indicate a metamorphic origin through olivine-plagioclase reaction, i.e. the igneous protoliths of the olivine-bearing gabbronorites were most likely troctolite-type cumulates. Clinopyroxenes from Fe-Ti oxide bearing gabbronorites show igneous geochemical trends, thus suggesting that these rocks contained clinopyroxene as original igneous phase. Petrography, bulk-rock and mineral composition indicate that the gabbro-derived granulites can be related to a fractional crystallization process, with early separation of olivine and plagioclase, followed by the replacement of olivine by pyroxene at the liquidus. Trace element modelization of the parental liquid compositions applied to the olivine-bearing rocks yields LREE- and LILE-enriched liquids, with absence of negative Nb anomaly, similar to plume-type MOR-basalts and continental tholeiites. However, a P-MORB origin seems to contrast with the initial Nd and Sr isotopic compositions, which are close to depleted mantle values at the time of emplacement. AFC modelization was successfully applied to obtain the isotopic compositions of the most contaminated samples, starting from the trace element and isotopic compositions of the parental liquids of the olivine gabbronorites and assuming a crustal contaminant with low Sr/Nd and isotopic composition comparable to that of the quartzo-feldspathic granulites. AFC calculations also indicate that the parental liquids of the olivine-bearing gabbronorites cannot be ascribed to N-MORB primary liquids. The primary mantle magma was necessarily characterized by moderate LILE enrichment, although an increase in LILE concentrations could have been enhanced by a small crustal contribution. The LILE enrichment in the parental liquids of the gabbro-derived granulites may be explained with a low degree partial melting of a rather fertile lithospheric mantle source. Alternatively, the primary liquids of the gabbro-derived granulites were related to a mantle source enriched in LILE as a result of the Variscan subduction event.

Chicheng high-pressure granulites record the paleoproterozoic tectonic evolution in the northern North China Craton

The Limpopo Belt of southern Africa is generally believed to represent the root of a late Archaean continental collision zone, and has been used to demonstrate the validity of the uniformitarian concept in tectonics Large scale tectonic models have been applied in spite of the fact that large portions of the belt yet await the most basic investigations. Here we report the first detailed field and petrographic study of the northernmost part of the Limpopo Belt, the Northern Marginal Zone sensu stricto (NMZ s.s) and conclude, on the basis of relative age relation, nature of PT evolution and deformation, that none of the current models can correctly explain the evolution of the study area. The evolution of NMZ s.s, is complex and includes four metamorphic stages, two major plutonic episodes and at least three deformation events. The oldest rocks, mafic granulites, record all four stages of metamorphic mineral growth. The first two stages predate deposition of sediments and the intrusion of voluminous enderbite and charnockite between 2.72 and 2.62 Ga. The bulk of our observations relate to the late Archaean (stage 3) granulite facies event. Abundant reaction textures are preserved in mafic granulite, metasediments, metamorphosed charnockite and enderbite and allow us to qualitatively reconstruct the PT evolution. Prograde heating occurred in the sillimanite stability held. During peak temperature conditions vapour-absent melting is observed in most felsic lithologies,Temperatures between 800 and 850 degrees C at pressures as low as 0.4-0.5 GPa are indicated by various mineral assemblages. The thermal peak was followed by an increase in pressure. Typical reactions of anti-clockwise PT evolution, like breakdown of cordierite + spinel to sapphirine and orthopyroxene + plagioclase to garnet + quartz, are frequently found. Maximum pressure is constraint to ca. 0.85 GPa by the complete absence of garnet in mafic granulites. Initial cooling was rapid, and is indicated by the back reaction of melt + orthopyroxene to biotite + quartz symplectites preserved in migmatites. This metamorphic event was accompanied by intrusion of porphyritic charnockite and granite, and by coeval compressional deformation. The observed evolution, especially the combination of an anti-clockwise PT loop and compressional tectonics, requires a strong, transient heat-source affecting the base of the crust. Neither the thermal evolution nor the relative timing is correctly predicted by existing collision models. The NMZ s.s. granulites were finally exhumed in a separate event along upper greenschist-facies thrusts, in response to a transpressive orogeny affecting the units further south at 2.0 Ga. In spite of potential ambiguities inherent to a qualitative approach, our observations show that petrography and field work, if used in conjunction with dating of a few key age relations and structural interpretation, are a pre-requisite to the erection of realistic tectonic models. The example of the NMZ s.s. may encourage geoscientists with limited access to analytical facilities to reassess the geological evolution of terrains which lack basic description.

High-pressure (HP) granulites exposed within the eastern Himalayan syntaxis are dominantly felsic rocks. They were displaced southward over the Pei sequence by the NW-dipping Upper Thrust. Twenty-three SHRIMP U/Pb analyses of zircons from one HP sample demonstrate that this rock was derived from Proterozoic sedimentary rocks that underwent high-temperature metamorphism or partial melting to form granitoids or paragneisses at about 500 Ma. During Oligocene collision between India and Asia, these crystalline rocks were buried beneath south Tibet, recrystallizing to form HP felsic granulites at 30-33 Ma, with a metamorphic retrogression at about 23 Ma. Evidently the south Tibetan crust was thickened, and then uplifted at this time.

The Kwoiek Area of British Columbia contains a pendant or screen of metamorphosed sedimentary and volcanic rocks almost entirely surrounded by a portion of the Coast Range Batholith, and intruded by several dozen stocks. The major metamorphic effects were produced by the quartz diorite batholithic rocks, with minor and later effects by the quartz diorite stocks. The sequence of important metamorphic reactions in the metasedimentary and metavolcanic rocks, ranging in grade from chlorite to sillimanite, is: 1. chlorite + carbonate + muscovite → epidote + biotite 2. chlorite + carbonate → actinolite + epidote 3. chlorite + muscovite → garnet + biotite 4. chlorite + epidote → garnet + hornblende 5. chlorite + muscovite → garnet + staurolite + biotite 6. chlorite + muscovite → aluminum silicate + biotite 7. muscovite + staurolite → garnet + aluminum silicate + biotite 8. staurolite → garnet + aluminum silicate Continuous reactions, occurring between reactions 5 and 7, are: A. chlorite + (high Ti) biotite + Al2O3 (from plagioclase?)→ garnet + staurolite + (low Ti) biotite + O2 B. muscovite (phengitic) → garnet + staurolite +muscovite (less phengitic) + O2 (?) Detailed electron microprobe work on garnet, staurolite, biotite, and chlorite shows that: (1) The garnet porphyroblasts are zoned according to a depletion model, called the Rayleigh depletion model, which assumes equilibrium between the edge of a growing garnet and the minerals which are unzoned, notably biotite, chlorite, and muscovite, but which assumes disequilibrium within the garnet. (2) The staurolite porphyroblasts are also zoned, and from their zoning patterns reactions A, B, and 5 are documented. Progressive reduction of iron with increasing grade of metamorphism is also inferred from the staurolite zoning patterns. (3) During a late period of falling temperature garnet continued to grow and the biotite and chlorite reequilibrated. The biotite, chlorite, and garnet edge compositions can vary from point to point in a given thin section, indicating that the volume of equilibrium at the final stage of metamorphism was only a few cubic microns. (4) The horizon within the garnet that grew at maximum temperature can be identified. The Mg/Fe ratio of this horizon, if the garnet composition is a limiting composition in the Al2O3 - K2O - FeO - MgO tetrahedron, increases systematically with increasing metamorphic grade. Biotite and chlorite compositions also show a general increase in Mg/Fe ratio with increasing metamorphic grade, but staurolite appears to show the reverse effect. (5) The Mg/Fe ratio at the maximum temperature horizon of the garnet porphyroblasts is a function of its Mn content as evidenced from the study of five garnet-bearing rocks, collected from one outcrop area, with the same assemblage but with differing proportions of minerals. An important implication of zoned minerals is that the effective composition of a system in a phase lies on the join between the homogeneous minerals (if there are two) and not within three-or- four-phase fields when a zoned mineral, such as garnet or staurolite, is present in the assemblage. Study of the three aluminum silicates found in the Kwoiek Area showed that a constant pressure change in polymorphs from andalusite to kyanite to sillimanite took place with increasing temperature. This transition series is best explained by the metastable formation of andalusite. Photographic materials on pages 15, 121, 160, 162, and 164 are essential and will not reproduce clearly on Xerox copies. Photographic copies should be ordered.

Based on metamorphic studies of the Yadong high-pressure (HP) granulite and multiple thermochronological investigations of granitoids from both upper and lower parts, the Yadong section in the eastern Himalaya constrains the Cenozoic tectonic evolution of the Greater Himalayan Sequence (GHS). The Yadong HP granulite, located at the top of the GHS, underwent a peak-stage HP granulite facies metamorphism and two stages of retrograde metamorphism. Granulite and hornblende facies retrograde metamorphism took place at 48.5 and 31.8 Ma, respectively, marking the time of exhumation of the subducted Indian slab to lower and middle crustal levels. Subsequently, an average young zircon U–Pb age obtained from the Yadong HP granulite indicated that this unit was captured by its surroundings in a partially molten condition at 16.9 Ma. In addition, three granitoids from both the lower and the upper parts of the GHS yielded biotite 40Ar/39Ar ages of 11.0, 11.3, and 11.5 million years. These consistent ages suggest that the GHS along the Yadong section was laterally extruded and synchronously cooled to ∼300°C at ∼11.3 Ma. Furthermore, the granitic gneisses yield apatite fission track ages of ∼7 million years, documenting the cooling of the GHS to ∼110°C. A two-stage model describes the Cenozoic tectonic evolution of the GHS: (1) the Indian slab had subducted under Tibet before ∼55 Ma, and was exhumed to the lower crust (50-40 km) at 48.5 Ma, and to the middle crust (22-15 km) at 31.8 Ma; and (2) the partial melting occurred at middle crustal levels during the period 31.8 to 16.9 Ma, causing channel flow. In the late stage, the GHS was laterally extruded by ductile mid-crustal flow during the period 16.9 to ∼7 Ma, characterized by a fast cooling rate of ∼2 mm per year.

Discovery of pelitic high-pressure granulite from Manjinggou of the Huai’an Complex, North China Craton: Metamorphic P–T evolution and geological implications

This paper deals with the metamorphic evolution of the Bacariza Fm that outcrops in the two uppermost structural units of the Cabo Ortegal Complex (NW Iberian Massif). This formation includes ultramafic and mafic granulites, garnet amphibolites and garnet trondhjemitic gneisses. Although mineral associations characteristic of high pressure granulites predominate in the least retrogressed of these rocks, the presence of relic kyanite along with the fact that plagioclase only appears in symplectitic textures resulting from de-jadeitization of pyroxenes point to an earlier eclogite facies metamorphism. Thermobarometric estimations indicate higher P-T conditions for the rocks in the uppermost structural unit.

Four phases of Orosirian metamorphism in the north North China Craton (NNCC): Insights into the regional tectonic framework and evolution

In situ U-Pb geochronology was carried out on amphibolites and siliciclastic metasediments of the Kinzigite Formation exposed in the northernmost sector of the Ivrea-Verbano Zone (Finero area). The aim is to shed light on the tectono-metamorphic evolution of this intermediate-lower crustal section and its bearing with the evolution of the southern and better known sectors of the IVZ. Based on field observation and petrography a metamorphic gradient gently increasing from amphibolite to upper amphibolite facies (from SE to NW) characterizes the whole metamorphic sequence. Metapelites consist mainly of biotite, quartz, plagioclase, garnet, and sillimanite; muscovite progressively disappears as K-feldspar appears and becomes abundant. Amphibolites are made of green-brown hornblende and plagioclase and may contain clinopyroxene defining thin layers together with plagioclase and titanite. Both metapelites and amphibolites show mylonitic deformation which is more intense towards NW, i.e. towards the lower structural levels. The mylonitic deformation strongly affected the lower crustal metabasic rocks of External Gabbro unit (Finero Mafic Complex). Zircon, monazite and titanite U-Pb geochronology was carried out with laser ablation (LA)-ICP-MS on amphibolites, migmatitic paragneiss and mafic granulites occurring as slivers of the Kinzigite Formation in the External Gabbro unit of the Finero Mafic Complex. The multi-chronological approach allowed recognizing three discrete tectono-metamorphic events, at Permian, Triassic and Jurassic. Zircon and monazite yielded Permian ages suggesting (re)crystallization during an high temperature event characterized by both metamorphism and magmatism. Titanite dating provided Triassic and Jurassic ages that were interpreted as U-Pb resetting ages. A Triassic perturbation of the U-Pb system was also recorded by zircon and monazite as rare domains. The tectono-metamorphic reconstruction of the evolution of the northernmost IVZ, as revealed by the new geochronological data, is only partially in agreement with the temperature-time evolutions depicted for the southern sectors of the IVZ. Permian ages indicating magmatism and high temperature metamorphism are common throughout the IVZ, as well as the Jurassic ages related to local thermal pulses and tectonic activity. Conversely, the occurrence of well-constrained Triassic ages is in fact peculiar of the Finero area. Two possible explanations may account for this Triassic event: Triassic ages are possibly related to the thermal effect and fluid circulation during the emplacement of the External Gabbro unit; or alternatively, they are the response to the ductile deformation largely recognized in the whole area. This study is a further evidence of the necessity of approaching crystalline basement with multiple geochronometers in order to unravel the complete tectono-metamorphic evolution.

Protolith ages and timing of peak and retrograde metamorphism of the high-pressure granulites in the Shandong Peninsula, eastern North China Craton

Felsic leucosome veins are widely distributed in biotite granitic gneiss in the Xitieshan terrane, North Qaidam, western China. The leucosome veins are derived from anatectic magmatites and consist mainly of plagioclase, K-feldspar, quartz and amphibole with minor biotite. Thermobarometric study indicates that the leucosome records granulite-facies metamorphic conditions of P=(6.5-9.6)×10

The Early Paleozoic Orogeny in eastern South China has been highly controversial. It has been alternatively interpreted to have formed in an intra-plate setting driven by far-field tectonic forces or at plate boundaries involving subduction–collision. The West Cathaysia terrane in the core of the orogen is characterized by extensive magmatism, intense deformation and especially high-grade metamorphism. Identifying early Paleozoic high-pressure (HP) metamorphism and establishing a complete P–T–t path from the high-grade metamorphic rocks could help us understand the tectono-thermal evolution process and nature of the Early Paleozoic Orogeny. Here, we present results from a felsic granulite from the Chencai Complex in the northeastern West Cathaysia terrane. Petrographic evidence, mineral compositions and phase equilibria modelling indicate that the granulite underwent a pre-peak HP stage with P–T conditions of 13.3–14.7 kbar/696–718°C and low geothermal gradients of 13–14°C km −1 , and a peak high-temperature stage with P–T conditions of 9.7–11.0 kbar/785–820°C. A clockwise P–T path involving pre-peak decompressional heating, post-peak near-isothermal decompression and near-isobaric cooling processes was constrained for the HP felsic granulite. In situ monazite U–Pb geochronology combined with previous results date these metamorphic processes at c. 440, c. 425 and c. 400 Ma, respectively. Our new metamorphic and geochronological data from the HP felsic granulite support the case that the Early Paleozoic Orogeny was a typical collisional one.

Felsic granulite with layers of eclogite facies rocks in the Bohemian Massif; did they share a common metamorphic history?