Prograde eclogite in the Gföhl Nappe, Czech Republic: new evidence on Variscan high-pressure metamorphism

A layer of relict, high-temperature, prograde eclogite has been discovered within felsic granulite of the Gföhl Nappe, which is the uppermost tectonic unit in the Moldanubian Zone of the Bohemian Massif, the easternmost of the European Variscan massifs. Pressure-temperature conditions for eclogite (≥890  °C, 18.0  kbar) and felsic granulite ( c . 1000  °C, 16  kbar) place early metamorphism of the polymetamorphic Gföhl crustal rocks within the eclogite facies, and preservation of prograde compositional zoning in small garnet grains in high-temperature eclogite requires very rapid heating, as well as cooling. Mantle-derived garnet and spinel–garnet peridotites are associated with the high temperature-high pressure crustal rocks in the Gföhl Nappe, and this distinctive lithological suite appears to be unique among European Phanerozoic orogenic belts, implying that tectonic processes during the late stages in evolution of the Variscan belt were different from those in the Caledonian and Alpine belts. The unusually high temperatures and pressures in Gföhl crustal rocks, mineralogical evidence for rapid heating and cooling, juxtaposition of lithospheric and asthenospheric mantle with crustal rocks, and widespread production of late-stage granites indicate that culmination of the Variscan Orogeny may have been driven by lithospheric delamination and asthenospheric upwelling.     

Contrasting P–T–t paths for Neoproterozoic metamorphism in MacRobertson and Kemp Lands, east Antarctica

Mineral equilibria modelling and electron microprobe chemical dating of monazite in granulite facies metapelitic assemblages from the MacRobertson Land coastline, Rayner Complex, east Antarctica, are consistent with an 'anticlockwise' Neoproterozoic P–T–t path. Metamorphism occurred at c. 990–970 Ma, achieving peak conditions of 850 °C and 5.6–6.2 kbar at Cape Bruce, and 900 °C and 5.4–6.2 kbar at the Forbes Glacier ∼50 km to the east. These peak metamorphic conditions preceded the emplacement of regionally extensive syntectonic charnockite. High temperature conditions are likely to have been sustained for 80 Myr by lithospheric thinning and repeated pluton emplacement; advection was accompanied by crustal thickening to maximum pressures of 6–7 kbar, followed by near-isobaric cooling. This P–T–t path is distinct from that of rocks in adjacent Kemp Land, ∼50 km to the west, where a 'clockwise' P–T–t path from higher- P conditions at c. 940 Ma may reflect the response of a cratonic margin displaced from the main magma flux. In this scenario, crustal shortening was initially accommodated in younger, fertile crust (MacRobertson Land) involving metasediments and felsic plutons with the transfer of strain to adjacent older crust (Kemp Land) subsequent to charnockite emplacement.     

High-pressure granulites from the Sudetes (south-west Poland): evidence of crustal subduction and collisional thickening in the Variscan Belt

Two high-grade gneissic complexes of the Western Sudetes, the Góry Sowie Block and the Śnieżnik area complex, contain small, predominantly felsic granulitic inliers with minor Cpx-bearing intercalations. The P–T  conditions of the granulite facies events and of the subsequent re-equilibration are estimated using the ternary feldspar thermometer and the Geo-Calc computer program (version TWQ, Jan 92).
In the Góry Sowie granulites, the peak granulitic event occurred at c . 18–20 kbar and 900 °C, and the late decompressive re-equilibration within a range of 4–10 kbar and temperatures decreasing to 600–700 °C. The latter event is thought to have coincided with the main metamorphic phase in the surrounding gneisses.
The P–T  estimates are more scattered in the Śnieżnik granulites, but the peak conditions for the granulitic event are estimated at pressure over 22 kbar (possibly around 30 kbar) and temperature exceeding 900 °C. The analysed samples from the Śnieżnik area bear no significant evidence of lower-pressure re-equilibration.
Integrating the thermobarometric data and some age constraints indicates that the Góry Sowie granulites belong to the early stage 'type I' granulites of the Variscan Belt ( c . 400 Ma old), which are interpreted as fragments of continental crustal materials subducted to mantle depths in the earliest stages of the Variscan orogeny. The Śnieżnik granulites are more problematic; they may belong to a 'younger high- P suite' ( c . 350 Ma old), widespread in the southern and eastern parts of the Bohemian Massif, and possibly related to the climax of the Variscan continent–continent collision.     

Hot contacts of garnet peridotites in middle/upper crustal levels: new constraints on the nature of the late Variscan high-T/low-P event in the Moldanubian (Central Vosges/NE France)

P–T  paths based on parageneses in the immediate vicinity of former high-temperature contact zones between mantle peridotites and granulitic country rocks of the Central Vosges (NE France) were derived by applying several conventional thermometers and thermobarometric calculations with an internally consistent dataset. The results indicate that former garnet peridotites and garnet–spinel peridotites were welded together with crustal rocks at depths corresponding to 1–1.2 GPa. The temperature of the crustal rocks was about 650–700 °C at this stage, whereas values of 1100 °C (garnet peridotites) and 800–900 °C (garnet–spinel peridotites) were calculated for the ultramafic rocks. After emplacement of the mantle rocks, exhumation of the lower crust took place to a depth corresponding to 0.2–0.3 GPa. The temperatures of the incorporated peridotite slices were still high (900–1000 °C) at this stage. This is indicated by the presence of high- T  /low- P parageneses ( c . 800 °C, 0.2–0.3 GPa) in a small (1–10 m) contact aureole around a former garnet peridotite. Crustal rocks distant to the peridotites equilibrated in the same pressure range at lower temperature (650–700 °C). High cooling rates (10²–10³ °C Ma⁻¹) were calculated for a garnet–biotite rock inclusion in the peridotites and for the crustal rocks at the contact by applying garnet–biotite diffusion modelling. Minimum rates of 0.75–7.5 cm a⁻¹ are required for vertical ascent of rock units (30 km vertical distance) derived from the crust–mantle boundary, resulting in a late Variscan (340 Ma) high- T  /low- P event.     

Regional high-pressure metamorphism during intracratonic deformation: the Petermann Orogeny, central Australia

The Petermann Orogeny is a late Neoproterozoic to Cambrian ( c . 560–520  Ma) intracratonic event that affected the Musgrave Block and south-western Amadeus Basin in central Australia. In the Mann Ranges, within the central Musgrave Block, Mesoproterozoic granulite facies gneisses, granites and mafic dykes have been substantially reworked by deep crustal non-coaxial strain of late Neoproterozoic to early Cambrian age. Dolerite dykes have recrystallized to garnet granulite facies assemblages, associated with the development of a mylonitic fabric at P =12–13  kbar and T  =700–750 °C. Migmatization is restricted to discrete shear zones, which represent conduits for hydrous fluids during metamorphism. Peak metamorphism was followed by decompression to c . 7  kbar, reflecting exhumation of the terrane along the south-dipping Woodroffe Thrust. In scattered outcrops north of the Mann Ranges, peak metamorphism occurred at P =9–10  kbar and T  = c . 700 °C. The Woodroffe Thrust separates these deep crustal mylonites from granites that were metamorphosed during the Petermann Orogeny at P = c . 6–7  kbar and T  = c . 650 °C. The similarity in peak temperatures at different crustal levels implies an unusual thermal regime during this event. The existence of a relatively elevated geotherm corresponding with Th- and K-enriched granites that were in the mid-crust during the Petermann Orogeny suggests that radiogenic heat production may have substantially contributed to the thermal regime during metamorphism. This potentially has implications for the mechanisms by which intra-plate strain was localized during this event.     

Metamorphism and deformation at different structural levels in a strike-slip fault zone, Ross Lake fault, North Cascades, USA

Continental crust is displaced in strike-slip fault zones through lateral and vertical movement that together drive burial and exhumation. Pressure – temperature–deformation ( P–T–d ) histories of orogenic crust exhumed in transcurrent zones record the mechanisms and conditions of these processes. The Skagit Gneiss Complex, a migmatitic unit of the North Cascades, Washington (USA), was metamorphosed at depths of ∼25–30 km in a continental arc under contraction, and is bounded on its eastern side by the long-lived transcurrent Ross Lake fault zone (RLFZ). The P–T–d conditions recorded by rocks on either side of the RLFZ vary along the length of the fault zone, but most typically the fault separates high-grade gneiss and plutons from lower-grade rocks. The Ruby Mt–Elijah Ridge area at the eastern margin of the Skagit Gneiss exposes tectonic contacts between gneiss and overlying rocks; the latter rocks, including slivers of Methow basin deposits, are metamorphosed and record higher-grade metamorphism than in correlative rocks along strike along the RLFZ. In this area, the Skagit Gneiss and overlying units all yield maximum P–T conditions of 8–10 kbar at >650 °C, indicating that slices of basin rocks were buried to similar mid-crustal depths as the gneiss. After exhumation of fault zone rocks to <15 km depth, intrusion of granitoid plutons drove contact metamorphism, resulting in texturally late andalusite–cordierite in garnet schist. In the Elijah Ridge area of the RLFZ, an overlapping step-over or series of step-overs that evolved through time may have facilitated burial and exhumation of a deep slice of the Methow basin, indicating that strike-slip faults can have major vertical displacement (tens of kilometres) that is significant during the crustal thickening and exhumation stages of orogeny.     

Fifty-five-million-year history of oceanic subduction and exhumation at the northern edge of the Caribbean plate (Sierra del Convento mélange, Cuba)

Petrological and geochronological data of six representative samples of exotic blocks of amphibolite and associated tonalite-trondhjemite from the serpentinitic mélange of the Sierra del Convento (eastern Cuba) indicate counterclockwise P–T paths typical of material subducted in hot and young subduction zones. Peak conditions attained were ∼750 °C and 15 kbar, consistent with the generation of tonalitic partial melts observed in amphibolite. A tonalite boulder provides a U-Pb zircon crystallization age of 112.8 ± 1.1 Ma, and Ar/Ar amphibole dating yielded two groups of cooling ages of 106–97 Ma (interpreted as cooling of metamorphic/magmatic pargasite) and 87–83 Ma (interpreted as growth/cooling of retrograde overprints). These geochronological data, in combination with other published data, allow the following history of subduction and exhumation to be established in the region: (i) a stage of hot subduction 120–115 Ma, developed upon onset of subduction; (ii) relatively fast near-isobaric cooling (25 °C Myr⁻¹) 115–107 Ma, after accretion of the blocks to the upper plate lithospheric mantle; (iii) slow syn-subduction cooling (4 °C Myr⁻¹) and exhumation (0.7 km Myr⁻¹) in the subduction channel 107–70 Ma; and (iv) fast syn-collision cooling (74 °C Myr⁻¹) and exhumation (5 km Myr⁻¹) 70–60 Ma.     

Metamorphic and structural history of continental crust at a Mesozoic collisional margin, the Ruby terrane, central Alaska

Abstract The Ruby terrane is an elongate fragment of continental crustal rocks that is structurally overlain by thrust slices of oceanic crust. Our results from the Kokrines Hills, in the south-central part of the Ruby terrane, demonstrate that the low-angle schistose fabric formed under high- P /low- T conditions, at peak conditions of 10.8-13.2 kbar and 425-550° C, consistent with the rare occurrence of glaucophane. White mica ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar cooling ages from these blueschists indicate that the metamorphism occurred prior to 144 ± 1 Ma. The blueschist facies assemblages are partially replaced by greenschist facies assemblages in the eastern Kokrines Hills. In contrast, in the central and western Kokrines Hills, upper amphibolite to lower granulite facies metamorphism associated with extensive late Early Cretaceous plutonism has completely overprinted any evidence of an earlier high- P/T metamorphic history. Deformation accompanying the plutonism produced recumbent isoclinal folds in the plutonic rocks and pelitic gneisses of the wallrock; decompression reactions in the pelitic gneisses suggest that the deformation occurred during exhumation. Thermochronological data bracket the time of intrusion and cooling below 500° C between 118 ± 3 and 109 ± 1 Ma.
Our data from the schists of the Ruby terrane support the general assumption of many authors that the Ruby terrane was subducted beneath an oceanic island arc. This tectonic history is similar to that described for other large continental crustal blocks in northern and central Alaska, in the Brooks Range, Seward Peninsula and Yukon-Tanana Upland. The current orientation of the Ruby terrane at an oblique angle to these other crustal blocks and to the Cordilleran trend is due to post-collisional tectonic processes that have greatly modified the original continental margin.     

Timing and exhumation of eclogite facies shear zones, Musgrave Block, central Australia

Timing constraints on shear zones can provide an insight into the kinematic and exhumation evolution of metamorphic belts. In the Musgrave Block, central Australia, granulite facies gneisses have been affected, to varying degrees, by mylonitic deformation, some of which attained eclogite facies. The Davenport Shear Zone is a dominant strike-slip system that formed at eclogite facies conditions ( T  ≈650  °C and P ≈12.0  kbar). Sm–Nd mineral isochrons obtained from equilibrated high-pressure assemblages, as well as ⁴⁰Ar–³⁹Ar data, show that the eclogite and greenschist facies high-strain overprints were coeval, at c .  550  Ma. Mylonitic processes do not appear to have reset the U–Pb system in zircon, but may have partially disturbed it. The thermal gradient in the Musgrave Block crust at c .  550  Ma was c .  16  °C  km⁻¹ and at c .  535  Ma was c .  18  °C  km⁻¹, based on P – T  estimates of eclogite and greenschist facies shear zones, respectively. These estimates are similar to present-day geothermal gradients in many stable continental shield areas, suggesting that the region did not undergo a significant transient perturbation of the geotherm. Therefore, in the Musgrave Block, cooling subsequent to eclogite facies metamorphism appears to have been controlled by exhumation, rather than by the removal of a heat source. Estimated exhumation rates in the range 0.2 to ≥1.5  mm year⁻¹ are comparable with other orogenic belts, rather than cratonic areas elsewhere.     

Mineralogy and pressure–temperature–time path of Cretaceous granulite gneisses, south-eastern San Gabriel Mountains, southern California

Mid-Cretaceous granulite gneisses crop out in a narrow belt in the Cucamonga region of the south-eastern foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains, southern California. Interlayered mafic granulites and pelitic, carbonate, calc-silicate and quartzofeldspathic metasediments record hornblende granulite subfacies metamorphism at approximately 8 kbar and 700–800°C. Regional deformation and formation of banded gneisses ceased by c. 108 Ma. although mafic-intermediate magmatism and high-grade metamorphism continued locally as late as c. 88 Ma. Garnet zoning in metapelitic gneisses suggests that peak metamorphism was followed locally by a period of near-isobaric cooling, but this interpretation requires diachronous cooling of the granulite belt which cannot be demonstrated without detailed thermo-chronological data. It is more likely that the entire terrane remained at granulite facies P–T conditions until 88 Ma, followed by rapid uplift associated with juxtaposition against adjacent middle and upper crustal arc terranes. Uplift occurred between c. 88 and 78 Ma at rates of approximately 1–2 km Ma^-1. The geotectonic evolution of the Cucamonga granulites is similar to mid-Cretaceous high- P granulites in the Sierra Nevada and Salinian block of central California. Late Cretaceous uplift common to these granulites may provide an important tectonic link between dismembered Mesozoic batholithic terranes in the California Cordillera.     

Granulite facies metamorphism in the Mallee Bore area, northern Harts Range: implications for the thermal evolution of the eastern Arunta Inlier, central Australia

The Mallee Bore area in the northern Harts Range of central Australia underwent high-temperature, medium- to high-pressure granulite facies metamorphism. Individual geothermometers and geobarometers and average P–T  calculations using the program Thermocalc suggest that peak metamorphic conditions were 705–810 °C and 8–12 kbar. Partial melting of both metasedimentary and meta-igneous rocks, forming garnet-bearing restites, occurred under peak metamorphic conditions. Comparison with partial melting experiments suggests that vapour-absent melting in metabasic and metapelitic rocks with compositions close to those of rocks in the Mallee Bore area occurs at 800–875 °C and >9–10 kbar. The lower temperatures obtained from geothermometry imply that mineral compositions were reset during cooling. Following the metamorphic peak, the rocks underwent local mylonitization at 680–730 °C and 5.8–7.7 kbar. After mylonitization ceased, garnet retrogressed locally to biotite, which was probably caused by fluids exsolving from crystallizing melts. These three events are interpreted as different stages of a single, continuous, clockwise P–T  path. The metamorphism at Mallee Bore probably occurred during the 1745–1730 Ma Late Strangways Orogeny, and the area escaped significant crustal reworking during the Anmatjira and Alice Springs events that locally reached amphibolite facies conditions elsewhere in the Harts Ranges.     

Garnet exsolution in pyroxene from clinopyroxenites in the Moldanubian zone: constraining the early pre-convergence history of ultramafic rocks in the Variscan orogen

Exsolution lamellae of garnet in clinopyroxene and orthopyroxene porphyroclasts from garnet pyroxenites in the Moldanubian zone were studied to elucidate the pressure–temperature conditions of the exsolution process and to reconstruct the burial and exhumation path of ultramafic rocks in the Variscan orogen. The porphyroclasts occur in a fine-grained matrix with metamorphic fabrics, which consists of clinopyroxene and small amounts of garnet, orthopyroxene and amphibole. The clinopyroxene porphyroclasts contain garnet + orthopyroxene lamellae as well as ilmenite rods that have orientation parallel to (100) planes of the porphyroclasts. Orthopyroxene porphyroclasts host garnet and clinopyroxene lamellae, which show the same lattice preferred orientation. In both cases, lamellar orthopyroxene, clinopyroxene and garnet were partially replaced by secondary amphibole. Composition of exsolution phases and that of host pyroxene were reintegrated according to measured modal proportions and demonstrate that the primary pyroxene was enriched in Al and contained 8–11 mol.% Tschermak components. Conventional thermobarometry and thermodynamic modelling on the reintegrated pyroxene indicate that primary clinopyroxene and orthopyroxene megacrysts crystallized at 1300–1400 °C and 2.2–2.5 GPa. Unmixing and exsolution of garnet and a second pyroxene phase occurred in response to cooling and pressure increase before the peak pressure of 4.5–5.0 GPa was reached at ∼1100 °C. This scenario is consistent with a burial of hot upper-mantle ultramafics into a cold subcratonic environment and subsequent exhumation through 900 °C and 2.2–3.3 GPa, when the pyroxenites would have partially recrystallized during tectonic incorporation into eclogites and felsic granulites.     

Tectonothermal evolution of high-alumina rocks within the Protogine Zone, southern Sweden

Abstract The Protogine Zone comprises a system of anastomosing deformation zones which approximately parallel the eastern boundary of the Sveconorwegian (1200–900 Ma) province in south-west Sweden. Ages of granulite facies metamorphism in the Sveconorwegian province require exhumation from c . 30 to 35 km crustal depths after 920–880 Ma. ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹ Ar cooling ages are presented for muscovite from high-alumina rocks formed by hydrothermal leaching associated with the Protogine Zone. Growth of fabric-defining minerals was associated with a ductile deformational event; muscovite from these rocks cooled below argon retention temperatures ( c . 375 ± 25° C) at c . 965–955 Ma. Muscovite from granofels in zones of intense alteration indicates that temperatures > 375 ± 25° C were maintained until c . 940 Ma. Textural relations of Al₂SiO₅ polymorphs and chloritoid suggest that dated fabrics formed during exhumation. The process of exhumation, brittle overprint on ductile structures and hydrothermal activity along faults within the Protogine Zone tentatively are interpreted as the peripheral effects of initial Neoproterozoic exhumation of the granulite region of south-western Sweden.
Muscovite in phyllonites associated with the 'Sveconorwegian thrust system'cooled below argon retention temperatures at c . 927 Ma. Exhumation associated with this cooling could have been related to extension and onset of brittle-ductile deformation superimposed on Sveconorwegian contraction.     

Exhumation during oblique transpression: The Feiran–Solaf region, Egypt

The Feiran–Solaf metamorphic complex of Sinai, Egypt, is one of the highest grade metamorphic complexes of a series of basement domes that crop out throughout the Arabian-Nubian Shield. In the Eastern Desert of Egypt these basement domes have been interpreted as metamorphic core complexes exhumed in extensional settings. For the Feiran–Solaf complex an interpretation of the exhumation mechanism is difficult to obtain with structural arguments as all of its margins are obliterated by post-tectonic granites. Here, metamorphic methods are used to investigate its tectonic history and show that the complex was characterized by a single metamorphic cycle experiencing peak metamorphism at ∼700–750 °C and 7–8 kbar and subsequent isothermal decompression to ∼4–5 kbar, followed by near isobaric cooling to 450 °C. Correlation of this metamorphic evolution with the deformation history shows that peak metamorphism occurred prior to the compressive deformation phase D ₂, while the compressive D ₂ and D ₃ deformation occurred during the near isothermal decompression phase of the P–T loop. We interpret the concurrence of decompression of the P–T path and compression by structural shortening as evidence for the Najd fault system exhuming the complex in an oblique transpressive regime. However, final exhumation from ∼15 km depth must have occurred due to an unrelated mechanism.     

Exhumation of a Variscan orogenic complex: insights into the composite granulitic–amphibolitic metamorphic basement of south-east Corsica (France)

A structural, petrological and geochronological (U‐Th‐Pb of zircon and monazite) study reveals that the lower crust sequences of the Variscan high‐grade basement cropping out between Solenzara and Porto Vecchio, south‐east Corsica (France) have been tectonically juxtaposed along with middle crustal rocks during the extrusion of the orogenic root of the Variscan chain. We propose that a system of high‐temperature, orogen‐parallel shear zones that developed under a transpressive dextral tectonic regime caused the exhumation of the entire sequence. This tectonic complex is thus made up of rocks having undergone different P–T conditions (eclogite‐?, high‐pressure granulite facies and amphibolite facies) at different times, reflecting the progressive foreland migration of the orogenic front. The Solenzara granulites were derived from burial of continental crust to high‐pressure (1.8–1.4 GPa) and high‐ to ultrahigh‐temperature conditions (900–1000 °C) during the Variscan convergence: U–Pb ELA‐ICPMS zircon dating constrained the timing of this metamorphism at c. 360 Ma. The gneisses cropping out at Porto Vecchio are middle crustal‐level rocks that reached their peak temperature conditions (700–750 °C at <1.0 GPa) at c. 340 Ma. The diachronism of the metamorphic events, the foliation patterns and their geometry suggest that the granulites were exhumed to middle crustal levels through channel flow tectonics under continuous compression. The amphibolite facies gneisses of Porto Vecchio and the granulites of Solenzara were accreted through the development of a major dextral mylonitic zone forming under amphibolite facies conditions: in situ monazite isotope dating (ELA‐ICPMS) revealed that this deformation occurred at c. 320 Ma and was accompanied by the emplacement of syntectonic high‐K melts. A final HTLP static overprint, constrained at 312–308 Ma by monazite U‐Th‐Pb isotope dating, is related to the emplacement of the igneous products of the Sardinia‐Corsica batholith and marks the transition from the Variscan orogenic event to the Permian extension.     

Quantitative temperature-time information from retrograde diffusion zoning in garnet: constraints for the P–T–t history of the Central Black Forest, Germany

Garnet from a kinzigite, a high-grade gneiss from the central Black Forest (Germany), displays a prominent and regular retrograde diffusion zoning in Fe, Mn and particularly Mg. The Mg diffusion profiles are suitable to derive cooling rates using recent datasets for cation diffusion in garnet. This information, together with textural relationships, thermobarometry and thermochronology, is used to constrain the pressure–temperature–time history of the high-grade gneisses. The garnet–biotite thermometer indicates peak metamorphic temperatures for the garnet cores of 730–810  °C. The temperatures for the outer rims are 600–650  °C. Garnet–Al₂SiO₅–plagioclase–quartz (GASP) barometry, garnet–rutile–Al₂SiO₅–ilmenite (GRAIL) and garnet–rutile–ilmenite–plagioclase–quartz (GRIPS) barometry yield pressures from 6–9  kbar. U–Pb ages of monazite of 341±2  Ma date the low- P high- T metamorphism in the central Black Forest. A Rb/Sr biotite–whole rock pair defines a cooling age of 321±2  Ma. The two mineral ages yield a cooling rate of about 15±2  °C Ma⁻¹. The petrologic cooling rates, with particular consideration of the f O₂ conditions for modelling retrograde diffusion profiles, agree with the geochronological cooling rate. The oldest sediments overlying the crystalline basement indicate a minimum cooling rate of 10  °C Ma⁻¹.     

Pan-African eclogite facies metamorphism of ultramafic rocks in the Shackleton Range, Antarctica

In the Shackleton Range of East Antarctica, garnet-bearing ultramafic rocks occur as lenses in supracrustal high-grade gneisses. In the presence of olivine, garnet is an unmistakable indicator of eclogite facies metamorphic conditions. The eclogite facies assemblages are only present in ultramafic rocks, particularly in pyroxenites, whereas other lithologies – including metabasites – lack such assemblages. We conclude that under high-temperature conditions, pyroxenites preserve high-pressure assemblages better than isofacial metabasites, provided the pressure is high enough to stabilize garnet–olivine assemblages (i.e. ≥18–20 kbar). The Shackleton Range ultramafic rocks experienced a clockwise P–T path and peak conditions of 800–850 °C and 23–25 kbar. These conditions correspond to ∼70 km depth of burial and a metamorphic gradient of 11–12 °C km⁻¹ that is typical of a convergent plate-margin setting. The age of metamorphism is defined by two garnet–whole-rock Sm–Nd isochrons that give ages of 525 ± 5 and 520 ± 14 Ma corresponding to the time of the Pan-African orogeny. These results are evidence of a Pan-African suture zone within the northern Shackleton Range. This suture marks the site of a palaeo-subduction zone that likely continues to the Herbert Mountains, where ophiolitic rocks of Neoproterozoic age testify to an ocean basin that was closed during Pan-African collision. The garnet-bearing ultramafic rocks in the Shackleton Range are the first known example of eclogite facies metamorphism in Antarctica that is related to the collision of East and West Gondwana and the first example of Pan-African eclogite facies ultramafic rocks worldwide. Eclogites in the Lanterman Range of the Transantarctic Mountains formed during subduction of the palaeo-Pacific beneath the East Antarctic craton.     

Crustal thickening and ductile extension in the NE Greenland Caledonides: a metamorphic record from anatectic pelites

Caledonian orogenesis in NE Greenland resulted from the collision of Laurentia and Baltica during the Ordovician–Silurian. Anatectic pelites within the metasedimentary Smallefjord Sequence record a clockwise P – T  path, the result of early crustal thickening at c . 445–440 Ma and subsequent exhumation of the high-grade metamorphic core by a combination of ductile extension and tectonic denudation. The early prograde segment of the path followed a shallow, near-isothermal trajectory and attained a metamorphic peak of c . 9.0–10.0 kbar at >790 and <850 °C. Prograde metamorphism initiated anatexis of pelites in the kyanite stability field and continued with sillimanite stable. Inclusion trails in the garnet cores are textural remnants of early deformation, which occurred either before or during prograde metamorphism. The peak metamorphic conditions are anomalously high in the context of thermal models and P – T  paths for continental collision zones. The additional heat input required to promote migmatization may have been provided by advection as lower crustal high-pressure rocks and the uppermost mantle were uplifted following lithospheric thinning at an early stage in the orogeny. The prograde path was interrupted by the development of retrograde extensional shear fabrics defined by biotite+sillimanite and associated with garnet breakdown. Field observations indicate that ductile extension was accompanied by melt extraction, transport and emplacement of intracrustal granites dated at c . 430 Ma. Regional ductile extension and exhumation probably resulted from the development of gravitational instabilities within the overthickened crust during continental collision.     

Sapphirine in SW Sweden: a record of Sveconorwegian (–Grenvillian) late-orogenic tectonic exhumation

In the Sveconorwegian granulite region of SW Sweden, sapphirine occurs in reaction coronas in Mg- and Al-rich kyanite eclogites which form parts of mafic complexes. Aluminous to peraluminous sapphirine forms symplectitic intergrowths with plagioclase±corundum±spinel after kyanite. Kyanite and omphacite were the main reactants in the formation of sapphirine. The sapphirine formed during decompression from the eclogite facies ( P >15  kbar) through the high- to medium-pressure granulite and upper amphibolite facies at c. 750  °C. Preserved growth zoning in garnet, frozen-in reaction textures, and chemical disequilibrium suggest a rapid tectonic exhumation. Ductile deformation in the surrounding gneisses and parts of the mafic complex is characterized by foliation development, WNW–ESE stretching and dynamic recrystallization under granulite to upper amphibolite facies conditions, simultaneous with the sapphirine formation. This decompression, high-grade re-equilibration and associated deformation took place during the exhumation of the Sveconorwegian eclogites, bracketed between 969±14 and 956±7  Ma. Probable tectonic causes are late-orogenic gravitational collapse and/or plate divergence following the Sveconorwegian–Grenvillian continent–continent collision. There are no indications of metastability of aluminous and peraluminous sapphirine in the decompressed kyanite eclogites; sapphirine is stable in amphibole-poor and amphibolitized varieties, including rocks that have undergone dynamic recrystallization. Close similarities between rocks from different parts of the world with respect to reaction textures suggests that sapphirine+plagioclase-forming reactions are a universal feature in high-temperature decompressed kyanite eclogites.     

Dehydration melting, fluid buffering and decompressional P–T path in a granulite complex from the Eastern Ghats, India

A suite of metapelites, charnockites, calc-silicate rocks, quartzo-feldspathic gneisses and mafic granulites is exposed at Garbham, a part of the Eastern Ghats granulite belt of India. Reaction textures and mineral compositional data have been used to determine the P–T–X evolutionary history of the granulites. In metapelites and charnockites, dehydration melting reactions involving biotite produced quartzofeldspathic segregations during peak metamorphism. However, migration of melt from the site of generation was limited. Subsequent to peak metamorphism at c . 860° C and 8 kbar, the complex evolved through nearly isothermal decompression to 530–650° C and 4–5 kbar. During this phase, coronal garnet grew in the calc-silicates, while garnet in the presence of quartz broke down in charnockite and mafic granulite. Fluid activities during metamorphism were internally buffered in different lithologies in the presence of a melt phase. The P–T path of the granulites at Garbham contrasts sharply with the other parts of the Eastern Ghats granulite belt where the rocks show dominantly near-isobaric cooling subsequent to peak metamorphism.