Garnet Rims Research Articles

Preservation of deep Himalayan PT conditions that formed during multiple events in garnet cores: Mylonitization produces erroneous results for rims

The Kathmandu Thrust Sheet, which overlies the Lesser Himalayas along the southern part of the Main Central Thrust (MCT) and forms the leading edge of the Higher Himalayan crystalline rocks, is folded at a regional scale by the Gorkha-Kathmandu fold couplet in Central Nepal. Garnet porphyroblasts lying close to the MCT within this thrust sheet preserve structural and metamorphic history that predates mylonitization during thrust emplacement. The succession of five FIA sets preserved within these porphyroblasts formed due to changes in the direction of India's motion relative to Asia after they collided. The intersection of Fe, Ca and Mn isopleths for garnet cores reveals that FIA sets 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 nucleated respectively at 6.2kbar and 515°C, 6–7kbar and 545–550°C, 6.6kbar and 530°C, 5.6–6.2kbar and 525–550°C and 6.8–6.9kbar and 520–560°C. The average PT mode of thermocalc, which relies on equilibrium being achieved between the garnet rims and the matrix, gives pressures around 11kbar that do not accord with the lengthy succession of lower core pressures. The many foliations in the matrix, which formed during top to the south thrusting plus subsequent deformations that eventually led to these rocks reaching the surface, truncate all foliations preserved within the porphyroblasts that are defined by inclusion trails. This has resulted in the garnet rims not being in equilibrium with the matrix and the anomalously high pressures. The garnet rims may have been affected by slow dissolution and solution transfer over the period of time that the matrix was deforming plastically at high strain rates as the rocks were uplifted. The assumption of equilibrium between garnet rims and surrounding silicates used by various rim geothermobarometric methods does not hold for these rocks.

Chlorine-rich fluid or melt activity during granulite facies metamorphism in the Late Proterozoic to Cambrian continental collision zone—An example from the Sør Rondane Mountains, East Antarctica

In the granulite facies rocks, the role of low H2O activity fluids is still unclear. The importance of understanding its role is gradually being recognized, and it enables us to help understand the process of granulite formation. Attention has been specifically focused on Cl-rich fluids and high-salinity alkaline fluids in the geochemical modification of continental crust. We have investigated the field distribution of Cl-rich biotite in the pelitic gneisses of the Sør Rondane Mountains, East Antarctica where Late Proterozoic to Cambrian granulites are widely exposed. Among 27 samples studied, a garnet-biotite-sillimanite gneiss from Balchenfjella was selected as best suited sample to constrain the P-T-t conditions of Cl-rich fluid or melt activity. This gneiss contains garnet porphyroblasts that have a P-rich core with oscillatory zoning in P. The garnet core includes Cl-poor biotite and fluorapatite. This core has been partially resorbed and discontinuously overgrown by a P-poor rim, in which Cl-rich biotite and chlorapatite are included. Coarse-grained, rounded zircon grains are exclusively included in the rim of the garnet porphyroblast and are also present in the matrix. This mode of occurrence suggests that the Cl-rich biotite and chlorapatite, together with coarse-grained zircon were formed almost simultaneously. The P-T conditions of Cl-rich biotite entrapment in the garnet rim are estimated to be ca. 800°C and 0.8GPa. In comparison, peak metamorphic condition is ca. 850°C and 1.1GPa. These pieces of observation suggest that Cl-rich fluid or melt infiltrated at the core-rim boundary of garnet. In the case of fluid infiltration, the fHCl/fH2O ratio of the fluid in equilibrium with Cl-rich biotite and chlorapatite in the garnet rim are estimated to be ten times larger than that in equilibrium with Cl-poor biotite and fluorapatite in the matrix and the garnet core. The LA-ICP-MS U-Pb dating of the coarse-grained zircon included in the garnet rim gave concordia age of 603±14Ma. Therefore, Cl-rich fluid or melt infiltration took place close to the metamorphic peak condition of ca. 800°C and 0.8GPa at 603±14Ma. The field distribution of Cl-rich fluid or melt activity is somewhat linear in the Sør Rondane Mountains. High Cl-activity is located near the large scale ductile shear zones, suggesting its relation to high-strain zones. Regional distribution of high-grade Cl-rich fluid or melt activity in the Sør Rondane Mountains implies that it is one of the major phenomena in the continental collision processes.

High-Ti muscovite as a prograde relict in high pressure granulites with metamorphic Devonian zircon ages (Běstvina granulite body, Bohemian Massif): Consequences for the relamination model of subducted crust

High-pressure kyanite–K-feldspar granulites in the Běstvina granulite body, which belongs to the Variscan orogenic root in the Bohemian Massif, preserve muscovite, rutile and kyanite inclusions in garnet. High-Ti muscovite (Ti=0.09–0.20p.f.u., Si=0.21–3.24p.f.u.) included in garnet is associated with quartz and is in crystallographic continuity with biotite, interpreted in terms of exsolution from an original less-dioctahedral higher-Ti muscovite. The assemblage garnet–kyanite–antiperthite–perthite–quartz–rutile and the mineral compositions indicate a peak of metamorphism at about 900°C and 17–21kbar, based on P–T pseudosection modeling, ternary-feldspar and Zr-in-rutile thermometry. The matrix assemblage garnet–kyanite–plagioclase-K-feldspar–quartz–rutile–ilmenite and garnet rim compositions at contact with feldspars and quartz indicate the end of overall equilibration in the presence of melt at 12–14kbar and 820–840°C. Embayments of biotite and plagioclase locally replacing garnet, and connected with modification of garnet composition, may indicate sites of last isolated melt or diffusion of H2O from that melt down to 10kbar and 800°C. Zircon with uniform cathodoluminescence (CL) pattern is present as rims around cores with faint oscillatory zoning, or as entire rounded grains. These zircons gave a cluster of ages at 359±4Ma, interpreted as the age of metamorphism. Zircon ages from the cores with common faint oscillatory zoning range from 500 to 398Ma, and are interpreted as magmatic grains variably reset during metamorphism. Two older ages obtained on cores of 620±18Ma probably represent an inherited zircon component. Molar isopleths of zircon along the P–T path in pseudosections suggest that crystallization of metamorphic zircon occurred during decompression and cooling from 17 to 21kbar and 900°C to 12–14kbar and 820–840°C. The inferred P–T path and the age of metamorphism are discussed in the framework of a geodynamic model that considers the granulites to be a part of a subducted plate that failed to continue to subduct and was spread below the upper plate.

A TEM study of the oriented orthopyroxene and forsterite inclusions in garnet from Otrøy garnet peridotite, WGR, Norway: new insights on crystallographic characteristics and growth energetics of exsolved pyroxene in relict majoritic garnet

AbstractRegularly oriented orthopyroxene (opx) and forsterite (fo) inclusions occur as opx + rutile (rt) or fo + rt inclusion domains in garnet (grt) from Otrøy peridotite. Electron diffraction characterization shows that forsterite inclusions do not have any specific crystallographic orientation relationships (COR) with the garnet host. In contrast, orthopyroxene inclusions have two sets of COR, that is, COR‐I: <111>grt//<001>opx and {110}grt∼//∼{100}opx (∼13° off) and COR‐II: <111>grt//<011>opx and {110}grt∼//∼{100}opx (∼14° off), in four garnet grains analysed. Both variants of orthopyroxene have a blade‐like habit with one pair of broad crystal faces parallel/sub‐parallel to {110}grt plane and the long axis of the crystal, <001>opx for COR‐I and <011>opx for COR‐II, along <111>grt direction. Whereas the lack of specific COR between forsterite and garnet, along with the presence of abundant infiltrating trails/veinlets decorated by fo + rt at garnet edges, provide compelling evidence for the formation of forsterite inclusions in garnet through the sequential cleaving–infiltrating–precipitating–healing process at low temperatures, the origin of the epitaxial orthopyroxene inclusions in garnet is not so obvious. In this connection, the reported COR, the crystal habit and the crystal growth energetics of the exsolved orthopyroxene in relict majoritic garnet were reviewed/clarified. The exsolved orthopyroxene in a relict majoritic garnet follows COR‐III: {112}grt//{100}opx and <111>grt//<001>opx. Based on the detailed trace analysis on published SEM images, these exsolved orthopyroxene inclusions are shown to have the crystal habit with one pair of broad crystal faces parallel to {112}grt//{100}opx and the long crystal axis along <111>grt//<001>opx. Such a crystal habit can be rationalized by the differences in oxygen sub‐lattices of both structures and represents the energetically favoured crystal shape of orthopyroxene inclusions in garnet formed by solid‐state exsolution mechanism. Considering the very different COR, crystal habit, as well as crystal growth direction, the orthopyroxene inclusions in garnet of the present sample most likely had been formed by mechanism(s) other than solid‐state exsolution, regardless of their regularly oriented appearance in garnet and the COR specification between orthopyroxene and garnet. In fact, the crystallographic characteristics of orthopyroxene and the similar chemical compositions of garnet at opx + rt inclusion domains, fo + rt inclusion domains/trails and garnet rim suggest that the orthopyroxene inclusions in the garnet are most likely formed by similar cleaving‐infiltration process as forsterite inclusions, though probably at an earlier stage of metamorphism. This work demonstrates that the oriented inclusions in host minerals, with or without specific COR, can arise from mechanism(s) other than solid‐state exsolution. Caution is thus needed in the interpretation of such COR, so that an erroneous identification of exhumation from UHP depths would not be made.

Rates and mechanism of Y, REE, and Cr diffusion in garnet

Numerical simulation of the evolution of stranded diffusion profiles in partially resorbed garnet crystals from the aureole of the Makhavinekh Lake Pluton, Labrador, yields quantitative determinations of rates of diffusion of Y, rare earth elements (REEs), and Cr at ~700–900 °C, 0.53 GPa. Diffusion coefficients for these trivalent cations are 0.5–1.5 log 10 units smaller than those for major divalent cations measured in the same crystals, but diffusivities for trivalent cations are all equal to one another to within ±0.25 log 10 unit. Integration of these new data with previously published results resolves some prior inconsistencies, and defines the dependence of diffusivities for Y, the REEs, and Cr on temperature, pressure, and oxygen fugacity, while accounting for minor effects of ionic radius and host-crystal composition. Nd, Sm, and Eu—elements that are strongly depleted in rims of relict garnet crystals due to preferential partitioning out of garnet during resorption—evolve small but distinct maxima from initially nearly flat profiles; this “uphill diffusion” results from cross-coupling with Y and the other REEs, which are strongly concentrated in relict garnet rims by resorption. The weak dependence of diffusivity on ionic radius and host-crystal composition, the near-equivalence of diffusivities of Y+REEs with that of Cr, and the strong positive cross-coupling among Y+REEs are all explained by a diffusion mechanism that links the mobility of VIII Y+REEs with that of VI Al; this is likely a consequence of the dominance of the menzerite-(Y) component as a means of incorporating Y+REEs in the garnet structure. However, the variety of possible substitution mechanisms that may enable Y+REE incorporation into garnet, and the degree to which each may be favored in different regimes of temperature, pressure, and oxygen fugacity, imply a potential for great complexity, as the net diffusional flux may result from the superposed effect of multiple diffusion mechanisms, each with different kinetics.

P–T history and geochemical characteristics of mafic granulites and charnockites from west of Periya, North Kerala, southern India

The study region forms the northern part of Kerala (south India) and constitutes part of granulite–facies rocks of the exhumed Proterozoic south Indian Granulite Terrain (SGT). The SGT consists of a large variety of rock types with a wide range of mineral parageneses and chemical compositions, namely charnockite, mafic granulite, gneiss, schist, anorthosite, granite and minor meta-sedimentary rocks. Garnet–bearing mafic granulites occur as small enclaves within charnockites. We report for the first time P–T constraints on the prograde path preceding peak metamorphism in the northernmost part of Kerala. An increase of the Mg, Fe and decrease of Ca and Mn contents from the core towards the rim of garnet in the mafic granulites suggest prograde garnet growth. The prograde path was followed by peak metamorphism at a temperature of c. 800°C and a pressure of c. 7.5kbar as computed by isopleths of XMg garnet, XCa garnet and XAn plagioclase. The resorption of garnet in various reaction textures and the development of spectacular orthopyroxene–plagioclase, biotite–quartz and hornblende–plagioclase symplectites characterize the subsequent stages of metamorphism. The PT path is characteristically T-convex suggesting an isothermal decompression path and reflects rapid uplift followed by cooling of a tectonically thickened crust. Diffusion modeling of Fe–Mg exchange between garnet and hornblende suggests a near-peak cooling rate of 10–70°C/myr. Such cooling rates are too high to be accounted for by normal isostatic uplift and erosion and suggest that the terrain was tectonically exhumed. Charnockites are richer in SiO2 and lower in MgO and CaO when compared to mafic granulites. Their REE patterns are relatively flat and show prominent negative europium anomalies. The mafic granulites are metamorphosed tholeiitic basalts as revealed by major- and trace-element geochemistry.

Evidence for channelized external fluid flow and element transfer in subducting slabs (Raspas Complex, Ecuador)

Fluids released at great depth by dehydrating subducting plates play a major role in mass transport and are responsible for metasomatism and partial melting in the overlying mantle wedge. To investigate the fluid-flow regime and element mobility within a subducting oceanic lithosphere, the Raspas Complex in Ecuador has been selected where an ophiolite association of blueschists, eclogites, metapelites and ultramafitites is exposed. This ophiolite association stands out by high-pressure zoisite veins, associated metasomatized zoisite eclogites and deserpentinized, pseudo-spinifex textured chlorite harzburgites indicating fluid flow and element mobility at a depth of about 60km. Oscillatory zoning in vein zoisite and garnet rims in the metasomatized eclogites is explained by cyclic fluid expulsion during high-pressure deserpentinization after overstepping of the antigorite breakdown reaction. Fluid inclusion studies reveal a homogeneous low-salinity aqueous fluid composition with minor CH4 and CO2 which is in accord with open-system fluid infiltration derived from an external source. The deserpentinized chlorite harzburgite is a potential source for the low-salinity aqueous fluid. The association of zoisite veins with zoisite eclogites which are enriched in LREE, MREE, Pb, Sr, HFSE, Th, and U, compared to MORB-type eclogites, documents the metasomatic effects and the fluid mobility of a large range of trace elements. In addition, the fluid-mobile trace elements B, Rb, Pb, and Sr are enriched in fluid inclusions in omphacite. Most trace elements cannot be derived from the serpentinites but might be explained by leaching from metabasites and metapelites in zones of intense fluid–rock interaction. A garnet–amphibole rock, deficient in LREE, MREE and Sr, could represent such a leached metabasite. B, Rb, Th and U could be derived from metapelites. By channelized fluid flow and high fluid flux, the fluid-mobile trace elements might be transported into the mantle wedge.

Constraining peak P–T conditions in UHP eclogites: calculated phase equilibria in kyanite‐ and phengite‐bearing eclogite of the Tromsø Nappe, Norway

AbstractKyanite‐ and phengite‐bearing eclogites have better potential to constrain the peak metamorphic P–T conditions from phase equilibria between garnet + omphacite + kyanite + phengite + quartz/coesite than common, mostly bimineralic (garnet + omphacite) eclogites, as exemplified by this study. Textural relationships, conventional geothermobarometry and thermodynamic modelling have been used to constrain the metamorphic evolution of the Tromsdalstind eclogite from the Tromsø Nappe, one of the biggest exposures of eclogite in the Scandinavian Caledonides. The phase relationships demonstrate that the rock progressively dehydrated, resulting in breakdown of amphibole and zoisite at increasing pressure. The peak‐pressure mineral assemblage was garnet + omphacite + kyanite + phengite + coesite, inferred from polycrystalline quartz included in radially fractured omphacite. This omphacite, with up to 37 mol.% of jadeite and 3% of the Ca‐Eskola component, contains oriented rods of silica composition. Garnet shows higher grossular (XGrs = 0.25–0.29), but lower pyrope‐content (XPrp = 0. 37–0.39) in the core than the rim, while phengite contains up to 3.5 Si pfu. The compositional isopleths for garnet core, phengite and omphacite constrain the P–T conditions to 3.2–3.5 GPa and 720–800 °C, in good agreement with the results obtained from conventional geothermobarometry (3.2–3.5 GPa & 730–780 °C). Peak‐pressure assemblage is variably overprinted by symplectites of diopside + plagioclase after omphacite, biotite and plagioclase after phengite, and sapphirine + spinel + corundum + plagioclase after kyanite. Exhumation from ultrahigh‐pressure (UHP) conditions to 1.3–1.5 GPa at 740–770 °C is constrained by the garnet rim (XCaGrt = 0.18–0.21) and symplectite clinopyroxene (XNaCpx = 0.13–0.21), and to 0.5–0.7 GPa at 700–800 °C by sapphirine (XMg = 0.86–0.87) and spinel (XMg = 0.60–0.62) compositional isopleths. UHP metamorphism in the Tromsø Nappe is more widespread than previously known. Available data suggest that UHP eclogites were uplifted to lower crustal levels rapidly, within a short time interval (452–449 Ma) prior to the Scandian collision between Laurentia and Baltica. The Tromsø Nappe as the highest tectonic unit of the North Norwegian Caledonides is considered to be of Laurentian origin and UHP metamorphism could have resulted from subduction along the Laurentian continental margin. An alternative is that the Tromsø Nappe belonged to a continental margin of Baltica, which had already been subducted before the terminal Scandian collision, and was emplaced as an out‐of‐sequence thrust during the Scandian lateral transport of nappes.

Iron oxidation state in garnet from a subduction setting: a micro-XANES and electron microprobe (“flank method”) comparative study

The variation of the Fe-redox state across a strongly zoned garnet crystal occurring in a FeTi-oxide metagabbro from a subduction setting has been investigated comparing micro-XANES and electron microprobe (“flank method”) results. This sample represents an ideal monitor of the redox processes associated with devolatilization reactions occurring in the subducting slab and likely involved in the oxidation of the mantle wedge, as well as a challenge for the analytical methods. Since in the studied garnet the Fe3+/ΣFe variations are small and occur on a micrometric scale, we exploited the X-ray microprobe available at the ESRF ID22 beamline to reach a spot size of 1.7 μm × 5.3 μm. Our study represents a first attempt to measure the Fe3+/ΣFe variations across a single crystal of garnet, ca. 400 μm in diameter, using the micro-XANES technique. The absolute Fe3+/ΣFe values obtained with micro-XANES and “flank method” are perfectly comparable, ranging from a maximum of about 0.1 in the garnet core to a minimum of 0.0 in the garnet rim.

Mesoproterozoic syntectonic garnet within Belt Supergroup metamorphic tectonites: Evidence of Grenville-age metamorphism and deformation along northwest Laurentia

Northern Idaho contains Belt-Purcell Supergroup equivalent metamorphic tectonites that underwent two regional deformational and metamorphic events during the Mesoproterozoic. Garnet-bearing pelitic schists from the Snow Peak area of northern Idaho yield Lu–Hf garnet-whole rock ages of 1085±2Ma, 1198±79Ma, 1207±8Ma, 1255±28Ma, and 1314±2Ma. Garnet from one sample, collected from the Clarkia area, was micro-drilled to obtain separate core and rim material that produced ages of 1347±10Ma and 1102±47Ma. The core versus rim ages from the micro-drilled sample along with the textural and spatial evidence of the other Lu–Hf garnet ages indicate two metamorphic garnet growth events at ~1330Ma (M1) and ~1080Ma (M2) with the intermediate ages representing mixed ages. Some garnet likely nucleated and grew M1 garnet cores that were later overgrown by younger M2 garnet rims. Most garnet throughout the Clarkia and Snow Peak areas are syntectonic with a regional penetrative deformational fabric, preserved as a strong preferred orientation of metamorphic matrix minerals (e.g., muscovite and biotite). The syntectonic garnets are interpreted to represent one regional, coeval metamorphic and deformation event at ~1080Ma, which overlaps in time with the Grenville Orogeny. The older ~1330Ma ages may represent an extension of the East Kootenay Orogeny described in western Canada. These deformational and metamorphic events indicate that western Laurentia (North America) was tectonically active in the Mesoproterozoic and during the assembly of the supercontinent Rodinia.

A granulite record of multistage metamorphism and REE behavior in the Dabie orogen: Constraints from zircon and rock-forming minerals

A combined study of mineral inclusions, U–Pb ages and trace elements was carried for zircon and coexisting minerals from granulite in the North Dabie Terrane (NDT) of the Dabie–Sulu ultrahigh-pressure metamorphic (UHP) zone, east-central China. The results provide insights into the exhumation history of NDT and into rare earth element (REE) behavior during retrogression. Besides inherited cores and one magmatic rim, zircons separated from the granulite record three episodes of metamorphism under different P–T conditions: (1) 223.8±2.3Ma for domains that contain Grt+Cpx±Rt±F−Ap±Aln inclusions without plagioclase and show flat HREE patterns without negative Eu anomalies, representing peak eclogite-facies event; (2) 213.3±2.1Ma for domains that contain Pl±Cpx±Grt±Qtz±Ap inclusions and show rather flat HREE patterns with negative Eu anomalies, corresponding to granulite-facies retrogression; (3) 199.9±3.3Ma for domains that contain Amp±Pl±Qtz±Ap inclusions and show high REE contents with steep HREE patterns and remarkable negative Eu anomalies, representing amphibolite-facies overprinting. Therefore, the UHP eclogite in NDT experienced decompression heating during the initial exhumation, with local hydration in the late stage of the Triassic continental collision.Garnet in the granulite is composed of a corroded core with embayed outline and spongy texture and an overgrowth rim. There is equilibrium distribution of HREE between garnet rim and granulite-facies zircon domain, confirming the geological interpretation of 213.3±2.1Ma for the granulite-facies metamorphism. There is the prograde HREE depletion in porphyroblastic garnet from core to rim and the continuous decrease of HREE from the eclogitic to granulitic zircons, suggesting that the metamorphic transformation from eclogite-facies to granulite-facies took place in a closed system. On the other hand, the amphibolitic zircons show steep HREE patterns and significantly elevated REE contents, suggesting that the amphibolite-facies metamorphism took place in an open system with introduction of external fluids containing more REE to the granulite-facies rocks. Residual clinopyroxene partially replaced by amphibole has remarkably elevated REE contents relative to euhedral primary clinopyroxene. There is equilibrium distribution of REE between the residual clinopyroxene and the amphibole, marking fluid action during the amphibolite-facies overprinting.

Multiple garnet growth in garnet–kyanite–staurolite gneiss, Pangong metamorphic complex, Ladakh Himalaya: New constraints on tectonic setting

Garnet–kyanite–staurolite gneiss in the Pangong complex, Ladakh Himalaya, contains porphyroblastic euhedral garnets, blades of kyanite and resorbed staurolite surrounded by a fine-grained muscovite-biotite matrix associated with a leucogranite layer. Sillimanite is absent. The gneiss contains two generations of garnet in cores and rims that represent two stages of metamorphism. Garnet cores are extremely rich in Mn (XSps=0.35–0.38) and poor in Fe (XAlm=0.40–0.45), whereas rims are relatively Mn-poor (XSps=0.07–0.08), and rich in Fe (XAlm=0.75–0.77). We suggest that garnet cores formed during prograde metamorphism in a subduction zone followed by abrupt exhumation, during early collision of the Ladakh arc and Karakoram block. The subsequent India–Asia continental collision subducted the metamorphic rocks to a mid-crustal level, where the garnet rims overgrew the Mn-rich cores at ca. 680°C and ca. 8.5kbar. PT calculations were estimated from phase diagrams calculated using a calculated bulk chemical composition in the Mn–NCKFMASHT system for the garnet–kyanite–staurolite-bearing assemblage. Muscovites from the metamorphic rocks and associated leucogranites have consistent K–Ar ages (ca. 10Ma), closely related to activation of the Karakoram fault in the Pangong metamorphic complex. These ages indicate the contemporaneity of the exhumation of the metamorphic rocks and the cooling of the leucogranites.

Metamorphic evolution of lawsonite eclogites from the southern Motagua fault zone, Guatemala: insights from phase equilibria and Raman spectroscopy

AbstractLawsonite eclogite (metabasalt and metadolerite) and associated metasedimentary rocks in a serpentinite mélange from an area just south of the Motagua fault zone (SMFZ), Guatemala, represent excellent natural records of the forearc slab–mantle interface. Pseudosection modelling of pristine lawsonite eclogite reproduces the observed predominant mineral assemblages, and garnet compositional isopleths intersect within the phase fields, yielding a progradeP–Tpath that evolves from 20 kbar, 470 °C (M1) to 25 kbar, 520 °C (M2). The dominant penetrative foliation within the eclogite blocks is defined by minerals developed during the prograde evolution, and the associated deformation, therefore, took place during subduction. Thermometry using Raman spectra of carbonaceous material in metasedimentary rocks associated with the SMFZ eclogites gives estimates of peak‐Tof ∼520 °C. Barometry using Raman spectroscopy shows unfractured quartz inclusions in garnet rims retain overpressures of up to ∼10 kbar, implying these inclusions were trapped at conditions just below the quartz/coesite transition, in agreement with the results of phase equilibrium analysis. Additional growth of Ca‐rich garnet indicates initial isothermal decompression to 20 kbar (M3) followed by hydration and substantial cooling to the lawsonite–blueschist facies (M4). Further decompression of the hydrated eclogite blocks to the pumpellyite–actinolite facies (3–5 kbar, 230–250 °C) is associated with dehydration and veining (M5). The presence of eclogite as m‐ to 10 m‐sized blocks in a serpentinite matrix, lack of widespread deformation developed during exhumation and derived progradeP–Tpath associated with substantial dehydration of metabasites within the antigorite stability field suggest that the SMFZ eclogites represent the uppermost part of the forearc slab crust sampled by an ascending serpentinite diapir in an active, moderate‐Tsubduction zone.

Archaean granulite facies metamorphism at the Singhbhum Craton–Eastern Ghats Mobile Belt interface: implication for the Ur supercontinent assembly

In this study, we investigate the geological significance and the antiquity of lower crustal granulite facies metamorphism from the Rengali Domain, which lies in between the Singhbhum Craton in the north and the Eastern Ghats Mobile Belt in the south. Petrographic, mineral compositional, metamorphic reaction history and geothermobarometric studies of two representative metapelite granulite samples reveal widespread biotite melting at peak granulite facies metamorphic conditions of 7.8 ± 0.13 kbar, 849 ± 31 °C and subsequent melt extraction, producing a mixture of residual granulites and melts in the Rengali Province. Depending on local bulk rock compositional variations, biotite melting produced peak metamorphic assemblages of garnet + cordierite in the more aluminous compositional domain, while garnet + orthopyroxene + cordierite resulted in domains of intermediate alumina. During post‐peak cooling, there were localized developments of biotite + sillimanite + quartz symplectites replacing garnet and cordierite and biotite + quartz intergrowths after orthopyroxene. Application of garnet‐orthopyroxene and garnet‐biotite Fe–Mg exchange thermometers to co‐existing garnet rim and symplectitic biotite show the extent of cooling to 610–660 °C. Electron microprobe geochronology of texturally well constrained monazites indicates the timing of peak granulite metamorphism at 3057 ± 17 Ma and its metamorphic reheating at 2781 ± 16 Ma. The present findings when collated with available geological and geophysical data appear to indicate that the studied granulites and the associated granite gneisses, charnockite and enderbite suite of rocks of the Rengali Domain are part of the exhumed lower continental crust of the Singhbhum Craton. The significance of this Neoarchaean orogenesis in the ‘Ur’ supercontinent assembly is discussed. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Implications of garnet resorption for the Lu-Hf garnet geochronometer: an example from the contact aureole of the Makhavinekh Lake Pluton, Labrador

In the contact aureole of the Makhavinekh Lake Pluton (MLP), Labrador, garnet resorption caused redistribution of Lu and loss of Hf, creating spuriously young Lu-Hf garnet ages. Garnet grew during granulite facies regional metamorphism at 1860-1850 Ma. At 1322 Ma, garnet rims were replaced by coronas of cordierite and orthopyroxene during contact metamorphism. Garnet-ilmenite Lu-Hf geochronology using bulk-garnet separates yields apparent ages that young from 1876 ± 21 Ma at 4025 m from the contact to 1396 ± 8 Ma at 450 m from the contact. Toward the contact, garnet crystals are progressively more resorbed. Concentrations of Lu measured by LA-ICP-MS along radial traverses on central sections through relict garnet decrease gently away from the cores but rise steeply within 50-200 lm of the edges of the relicts. Enrichments of Lu in rims of relict garnet demonstrates strong partitioning of Lu into garnet during resorption and modest intracrystalline diffusion. Hafnium distributions could not be measured, but considering the strong incompatibility of Hf with garnet, it is likely that nearly all Hf in resorbed portions of the garnet was lost from the crystals. Lu-Hf ages in the aureole are thus controlled predominantly by this retention of Lu and loss of Hf during garnet resorption. This deduction was tested with a simple numerical model in which the partial retention of Lu and loss of Hf is tracked as a population of garnet is resorbed. Assuming a spherical geometry for garnet porphyroblasts, Rayleigh fractionation is used to approximate initial Lu zoning profiles ranging from flat to steeply decreasing toward garnet rims. The model simulates: (i) Lu-Hf decay for a specified period before resorption; (ii) instantaneous resorption with retention of Lu and loss of Hf from the resorbed portion of the crystal and (iii) Lu-Hf decay during a specified period after resorption. Several parameters influence the modelled age, but garnet resorption and Lu retention are the primary factors. When all other parameters are held constant, larger amounts of resorption and higher degrees of Lu retention produce younger apparent ages (false ages). Similarly, flatter initial Lu profiles yield younger apparent ages as a consequence of the larger proportion of Lu and Hf that resides in the outer portions of the porphyroblast. The difference between the apparent and actual ages is greater if the duration of the pre-resorption decay period is large relative to the post-resorption decay period. Larger crystals in a Gaussian crystal-size distribution (CSD) generally dominate the Lu-Hf budget and produce an older apparent age relative to the age of the mean crystal size. Compared to a symmetrical Gaussian CSD, positively skewed CSDs result in reduced resorption of large crystals and produce an older apparent age. Application of the model to the MLP aureole, positing growth at 1850 Ma and resorption at 1320 Ma, yields model ages that young from 1850 to 1374 Ma toward the contact, in good agreement with the apparent ages determined from geochronology.

Palaeozoic accretion of the microcontinent Chilenia, North Patagonian Andes: high-pressure metamorphism and subsequent thermal relaxation

Basement rocks of the Colohuincul Complex (CC) crop out in the eastern foothills of the North Patagonian Andes (latitude 41°S). We studied the chemical composition of mineral phases in a mica-schist and a migmatite of this complex and constructed P–T pseudosections contoured by various chemical parameters of minerals. The P–T metamorphic path of the mica-schist is characterized by a high-pressure, low-temperature event (1.8 GPa and 440°C) indicated by a spessartine-rich core in prograde-zoned garnet and phengite relicts with high Si contents (3.40 pfu). The increase of Xpyrope (from 0.02 to 0.08) towards the garnet rim and the decrease of Si (to 3.16) in phengite reflect decompression accompanied by heating to 580°C (1.1 GPa), followed by cooling to 570°C (0.9 GPa). In contrast, the migmatitic paragneiss underwent partial melting and subsequent P–T conditions of 610°C and 0.5 GPa. Thermal relaxation after crustal thickening deduced from the mica-schist is interpreted to be the result of collision as the microcontinent Chilenia was thrust under the western South American part of Gondwana. Mid-upper crustal P–T conditions of the migmatite reflect its location within the Gondwanan crust. Two populations of monazite Th–U–Pb ages in migmatites and schists of the Colohuincul Complex with weighted average peaks at 391.7 ± 4.0 Ma (2σ) and 350.4 ± 5.8 Ma (2σ) are ascribed to the collisional and a later retrograde event.

High-pressure partial melting and melt loss in felsic granulites in the Kutná Hora complex, Bohemian Massif (Czech Republic)

Felsic granulites from the Kutná Hora complex in the Moldanubian zone of central Europe preserve mineral assemblage that records transition from early eclogite to granulite facies conditions, and exhibits leucocratic banding, which is interpreted as an evidence for melt loss during the decompression path. The granulites are layered and consist of variable proportions of quartz, ternary feldspar, garnet, biotite, kyanite, and rutile. In the mesocratic layers, garnet grains show relatively high Ca contents corresponding to 28–41mol% grossular end member. They have remarkably flat compositional profiles in their cores but their rims exhibit an increase in pyrope and a decrease in grossular and almandine components. In contrast, garnets from the leucocratic layers have relatively low Ca contents (15–26mol% grossular) that further decrease towards the rims. In addition to modeling of pressure–temperature pseudosections, compositions of garnet core composition, garnet rim-ternary feldspar–kyanite–quartz equilibrium, ternary feldspar composition, and the garnet–biotite equilibrium provide five constraints that were used to reconstruct the pressure–temperature path from eclogite through the granulite and amphibolite facies. In both layers, garnet cores grew during omphacite breakdown and phengite dehydration melting at 940°C and 2.6GPa. Subsequent decompression heating to 1020°C and 2.1GPa produced Ca- and Fe-poor garnet rims due to the formation of Ca-bearing ternary feldspar and partial melt. In both the mesocratic and leucocratic layer, the maximum melt productivity was 26 and 18vol.%, respectively, at peak temperature constrained by the maximum whole-rock H2O budget, ~1.05–0.75wt.%, prior to the melting. The preservation of prograde garnet-rich assemblages required nearly complete melt loss (15–25vol.%), interpreted to have occurred at 1000–1020°C and 2.2–2.4GPa by garnet mode isopleths, followed by crystallization of small amounts of residual melt at 760°C and 1.0GPa. Phase formation and melt productivity were independently determined by experiments in the piston-cylinder apparatus at 850–1100°C and 1.7–2.1GPa. Both the thermodynamic calculations and phase equilibrium experiments suggest that the partial melt was produced by the dehydration melting: muscovite+quartz=melt+K-feldspar+kyanite. The presence of partial melt facilitated attainment of mineral equilibria at peak temperature thus eliminating any potential relics of early high-pressure phases such as phengite or omphacite. By contrast, adjacent mafic granulites and eclogites, which apparently share the same metamorphic path but have not undergone partial melting commonly preserve relics or inclusions of eclogite-facies mineral assemblages.

Phase equilibria in quartzitic garnet-kyanite-chloritoid micaschist from the Eclogite Zone, Tauern Window, Eastern Alps

In a quartzitic garnet-kyanite-chloritoid micaschist garnet is present as compact, partly euhedral grains and as web-like types with numerous inclusions of quartz. Compact types overgrown by web garnets or alternating layers of both types are also common. Continuous zoning is observed with increase of pyrope and decrease of grossular and spessartine component towards garnet rim. A first stage of garnet growth together with chloritoid is recognized, followed by a garnet rim stage including kyanite. Calculated P-T pseudosections in the KNCFMMnASTH system suggest a prograde path with garnet growth starting in the assemblage chloritoid-chlorite-lawsonite-glaucophane (muscovite-quartz-rutile-H2O excess phases). Later breakdown of chloritoid +chlorite is followed by the reaction chloritoid+quartz = garnet+kyanite+H2O. The calculations suggest that glaucophane was present along a major portion of the prograde P-T path. Conditions of ~20.5 kbar, 540 °C are suggested for growth of garnet core and ~19–21 kbar, 580–590 °C for garnet rim coexisting with the assemblage garnet-kyanite-chloritoid-paragonite. During exhumation, cooling and influx of H2O took place. As a result high-XMg chloritoid was formed in the matrix and lower-XMg chloritoid in garnet inclusions. In a later event at lower P-T conditions, minor amounts of low-Si phengite, biotite, chlorite and clinozoisite replaced high-Si phengite, kyanite, garnet and chloritoid.

Significant cooling during exhumation of UHP eclogite from the Taohang area in the Sulu region of eastern China and its tectonic significance

AbstractThe decompressional pressure–temperature (P–T) path was estimated for ultrahigh‐pressure (UHP) eclogite from the Sulu region of eastern China by applying geo‐thermobarometers to well‐preserved equilibrium mineral pairs. The sample studied is a kyanite‐bearing eclogite that was collected from the Taohang area of the Sulu region. Garnet is relatively homogeneous in chemical composition, but omphacite has a clear chemical zoning with decreasing jadeite content from core to rim. Assuming that peak‐P equilibrium compositions are preserved in the cores of garnet (Grt) and omphacite (Omp), P–T conditions were calculated to be about 700°C and 3.4 GPa. On the other hand, the jadeite content of omphacite rims varies from 0.35 to 0.46 mol.%. Nevertheless, the variation in Fe/Mg ratios of omphacite rims is very small. Temperatures of 566 ± 54°C were obtained at 1.5 GPa for garnet rim and omphacite rim pairs. These petrological considerations indicate that temperatures should have significantly declined during the early decompression stage of this eclogite. In other areas of the Sulu region, isothermal decompression paths were proposed, and it was concluded that the UHP rocks were exhumed as a large mass tens of kilometers in thickness to avoid thermal effects from the surrounding materials. However, the newly identified decompression path accompanying the significant cooling may indicate that the Taohang outcrop was located at the margin of the Sulu UHP terrane. Thus, the decompressional P–T path is not unique in the Sulu region and varies depending on the location.

Pan-African metamorphic evolution in the southern Yaounde Group (Oubanguide Complex, Cameroon) as revealed by EMP-monazite dating and thermobarometry of garnet metapelites

Garnet-bearing micaschists and paragneisses of the Yaounde Group in the Pan-African Central African Orogenic Belt in Cameroon underwent a polyphase structural evolution with the deformation stages D 1–D 2, D 3 and D 4. The garnet-bearing assemblages crystallized in course of the deformation stage D 1–D 2 which led to the formation of the regional main foliation S 2. In X Ca– X Mg coordinates one can distinguish several zonation trends in the garnet porphyroblasts. Zonation trends with increasing X Mg and variably decreasing X Ca signalize a garnet growth during prograde metamorphism. Intermineral microstructures provided criteria for local equilibria and a structurally controlled application of geothermobarometers based on cation exchange and net transfer reactions. The syndeformational P– T path sections calculated from cores and rims of garnets in individual samples partly overlap and align along clockwise P– T trends. The P– T evolution started at ∼450 °C/7 kbar, passed high-pressure conditions at 11–12 kbar at variable temperatures (600–700 °C) and involved a marked decompression toward 6–7 kbar at high temperatures (700–750 °C). Th–U–Pb dating of metamorphic monazite by electron microprobe (EMP-CHIME method) in eight samples revealed a single period of crystallization between 613 ± 33 Ma and 586 ± 15 Ma. The EMP-monazite age populations between 613 ± 33 Ma enclosed in garnet and 605 ± 12 Ma in the matrix apparently bracket the high temperature–intermediate pressure stage at the end of the prograde P– T path. The younger monazites crystallized still at amphibolite-facies conditions during subsequent retrogression. The Pan-African overall clockwise P– T evolution in the Yaounde Group with its syndeformational high pressure stages and marked pressure variations is typical of the parts of orogens which underwent contractional crustal thickening by stacking of nappe units during continental collision and/or during subduction-related accretionary processes.