Phengite Barometry Research Articles

High-pressure/low-temperature metamorphism of the Kő-hegy gneiss, Sopron (W-Hungary); phengite barometry and fluid inclusions

High-pressure/low-temperature metamorphism of the Kő-hegy gneiss, Sopron (W-Hungary); phengite barometry and fluid inclusions

Magmatic arc metamorphism: petrology and temperature history of metabasic rocks in the Coastal Cordillera of northern Chile

We investigated the metamorphic cooling history of underplated magmatic rocks at midcrustal depth. Granulites and amphibolites occur within the Jurassic magmatic belt of the Coast Range south of Antofagasta in northern Chile between 23°25′ and 24°20′ S. The protoliths of the metamorphic rocks are basic intrusions of Early Mesozoic age. They are part of the magmatically formed crust, and the essentially dry magmas were emplaced in an extensional regime. The granulites (clinopyroxene–orthopyroxene–plagioclase) show all stages of fabric development from magmatic to granoblastic fabrics. Pyroxene compositions were reset at temperatures around 800° C independent of the stage of textural equilibration. The granulites were partially amphibolitized at upper amphibolite facies temperatures of 600–700° C. Following cooling, a possible reheating to greenschist facies temperatures around 500° C is indicated by prograde zoning in magnetite–ilmenite pairs. Mineral assemblages are not suitable for barometry, but a conservative estimation of the garnet‐in reaction at given whole‐rock compositions suggests maximum pressures in the granulite facies of around 5 kbar, and similar pressures are indicated by phengite barometry for the greenschist facies. The P–T path of granulite–amphibolite metamorphism is one of slow cooling from magmatic temperatures with heterogeneous deformation. The thinning of the pre‐Andean (Precambrian–Triassic) crust was apparently compensated by the magmatic underplating and this special tectonomagmatic setting caused the prolonged residence of the accreted rocks at midcrustal levels.

Genesis and solvus relations of submicroscopically intergrown paragonite and phengite in a blueschist from northern California

Electron microbeam techniques have been used to examine submicroscopically intergrown paragonite, phengite and chlorite from the South Fork Mountain Schist of the Franciscan Terrane of northern California, which was subjected to blueschist facies metamorphism. The sample also contains quartz, albite, lawsonite, and rutile. The subassemblage albite-lawsonite-rutile requires metamorphic conditions on the low-temperature side of the equilibrium albite+lawsonite+rutile=paragonite+sphene+quartz+H2O (T<200° C and P<7.4 kbars based on thermodynamic data of Holland and Powell 1990). The white micas appear to be optically homogeneous, but back-scattered electron images can distinguish two different micas by their slight difference in contrast. Electron microprobe analyses (EMPA) of micas show Na/(Na+K) ranging from 0.2 to 0.8. The two micas are resolved by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) as packets of phengite and paragonite that range from 20 to several hundred nm in thickness. The compositions, determined by analytical electron microscopy (AEM), constrain the limbs of the phengite-paragonite solvus to values of Na/(Na+K)=<0.02 and 0.97, representing less mutual solid solution than ever reported by EMPA. The textural relations imply that the sheet silicates were derived from reactions between fluids and detrital clays and that they are in an intermediate stage of textural development. We caution that microprobe analyses of apparently homogeneous sheet silicates may yield erroneous data and lead to faulty conclusions using phengite barometry and paragonite-muscovite thermometry, especially in fine-grained rocks that formed at relatively low temperatures.

Geothermobarometry in metasediments of the southern Grossvenediger area (Tauern Window, Austria)

Metasediments in the southern Grossvenediger area (Tauern Window, Austria) were studied along a cross‐section through rocks of increasing metamorphic grade from the margin of the Tauern Window in the south to the base of the Upper Schieferhülle, including the Eclogite Zone, in the north.In the southern part of the cross‐section there is no evidence for a pre‐late Alpine metamorphic history in the form of high‐pressure relics or pseudomorphs. Mineral assemblages are characterized by the stability of tremolite + calcite, biotite + calcite and biotite + chlorite + calcite. In the northern part a more complete Alpine metamorphic evolution is preserved. Primary high‐pressure assemblages are dolomite + quartz, tremolite + zoisite, zoisite + dolomite + quartz + phengite I and probably tremolite + dolomite + phengite I. Secondary, post‐kinematic assemblages [tremolite + calcite, talc + calcite, phengite II + chlorite + calcite (+ quartz), biotite + chlorite + calcite, biotite + zoisite + calcite] formed as a result of the dominant late Alpine metamorphic overprint. The occurrence of biotite + zoisite + calcite is confined to the northernmost area and defines a biotite–zoisite–calcite isograd. P–T estimates based on standard thermobarometric techniques and on stability relationships of tremolite + calcite + dolomite + quartz and zoisite give consistent results. P–T conditions of the main Tertiary metamorphic overprint were 525° C, P= 7.5 ± 1 kbar in the northern part of the cross‐section. The southern part was metamorphosed at lower temperatures of 430–470° C. The Si‐content of phengites from this area is almost as high as that of phengites from the Eclogite Zone (Simax= 3.4 pfu). Pressures &gt; 10 kbar at 420° C are suggested by phengite barometry according to Massone &amp; Schreyer (1987). In the absence of high‐pressure relics or pseudomorphs, these phengites, which lack late Alpine re‐equilibration, are the only record that rocks of the southern part probably also experienced an early non‐eclogitic high‐pressure metamorphism.