The pressure path of solid inclusions in minerals: the retention of coesite inclusions during uplift

An inclusion model allows calculation of the stresses in and around minerals included in other minerals: during changes in pressure and temperature. The equations are applied to illustrate cooling and uplift histories of quarzo-feldspathic rocks from 500°C and various pressures to ambient conditions. Even in the absence of pore-fluid pressure, microfractures may open at external pressures of 200–400 MPa and temperatures of 200–400°C due to differential volume changes of the constituent minerals. Coesite included in garnet cannot have formed during progressive metamorphism from quartz at lithostatic pressures below the coesite stability field because of differential volume changes. Coesite inclusions are captured by their host minerals at ultra-high pressures and they persist to lower pressures because of the large volume increase occurring at the coesite to -quartz transition. The Pⁱ-T path followed by the SiO₂ inclusion traces the boundary between the stability fields of coesite and -quartz until radial fractures develop in the host at low external pressure.     

Raman spectroscopic estimation of depth of diamond origin: technical developments and the application

Residual pressure around mineral inclusions in diamond can provide useful information on the depth of diamond origin. Differential stress between an inclusion and host diamond arises from differences in thermal expansion and compressibility between host diamond and minerals. We determined residual pressure around mineral inclusions in a diamond from the Internationalnaya pipe, Yakutia, Russia, using the three-dimensional Raman mapping system developed recently by our group. The maximum residual pressures around the olivine and chromite inclusions were determined to be 0.69 GPa and 0.75 GPa, respectively. We proposed an advanced method for determining simultaneously pressure and temperature conditions where the mineral inclusions were trapped in the host diamond. The obtained values were 3.0 GPa and 447 °C, but these values are lower than typical P-T conditions in the mantle. Several technical possibilities for the discrepancy are discussed.     

北大别的高温超高压变质作用与多阶段折返

近期的变质岩石学、地球化学及同位素年代学研究表明,北大别整体经历了高温超高压变质作用和多阶段折返历史,因而表现为广泛发育的多期减压结构和极少保留早期的超高压变质记录。北大别榴辉岩以高温变质作用以及折返期间因麻粒岩相和角闪岩相退变质变质作用而形成的多期后成合晶为显著特征。石榴子石中伴有放射状胀裂纹的单晶和多晶石英包体指示早期柯石英的转变结果,这已被锆石中发现的柯石英残晶所证实。结合北大别北部榴辉岩和片麻岩中发现的金刚石等超高压证据以及三叠纪变质记录,由此证明北大别整体经历过深俯冲和印支期超高压变质作用。北大别榴辉岩的多阶段高温条件主要来自石榴子石-绿辉石矿物对温度计、单斜辉石中紫苏辉石+石英针状矿物出熔体以及金红石中较高的Zr含量和变质锆石中较高的Ti含量等得出的温度证据。此外,多期后成合晶以及石榴子石和单斜辉石等矿物中成分分带的存在,证明该区榴辉岩经历了一个多阶段、快速折返过程;而不同变质阶段的温度、压力和形成时代,却反映该区榴辉岩经历了长时间的高温变质演化与缓慢冷却过程。长时间的高温变质作用与缓慢冷却过程也许正是北大别长期难以发现柯石英和有关超高压记录的重要原因。因此,这些成果为大别山三个不同超高压岩片的差异折返模型的建立提供了新的证据。     

Pressure-induced incipient amorphization of α-quartz and transition to coesite in an eclogite from Antarctica: a first record and some consequences

Monocrystalline quartz inclusions in garnet and omphacite from various eclogite samples from the Lanterman Range (Northern Victoria Land, Antarctica) have been investigated by cathodoluminescence (CL), Raman spectroscopy and imaging, and in situ X‐ray (XR) microdiffraction using the synchrotron. A few inclusions, with a clear‐to‐opalescent lustre, show ‘anomalous’ Raman spectra characterized by weak α‐quartz modes, the broadening of the main α‐quartz peak at 465 cm^?1, and additional vibrations at 480–485, 520–523 and 608 cm^?1. CL and Raman imaging indicate that this ‘anomalous’α‐quartz occurs as relicts within ordinary α‐quartz, and that it was preserved in the internal parts of small quartz inclusions. XR diffraction circular patterns display irregular and broad α‐quartz spots, some of which show an anomalous d‐spacing tightening of ～2%. They also show some very weak, hazy clouds that have d‐spacing compatible with coesite but not with α‐quartz. Raman spectrometry and XR microdiffraction characterize the anomalies with respect to α‐quartz as (i) a pressure‐induced disordering and incipient amorphization, mainly revealed by the 480–485 and 608‐cm^?1 Raman bands, together with (ii) a lattice densification, evidenced by d‐spacing tightening; (iii) the cryptic development of coesite, 520–523 cm^?1 being the main Raman peak of coesite and (iv) Brazil micro‐twinning. This ‘anomalous’α‐quartz represents the first example of pressure‐induced incipient amorphization of a metastable phase in a crustal rock. This issue is really surprising because pressure‐induced amorphization of metastable α‐quartz, observed in impactites and known to occur between 15 and 32 GPa during ultrahigh‐pressure (UHP) experiments at room temperature, is in principle irrelevant under normal geological P–T conditions. A shock (due to a seism?) or a local overpressure at the inclusion scale (due to expansion mismatch between quartz and its host mineral) seem the only geological mechanisms that can produce such incipient amorphization in crustal rocks. This discovery throws new light on the modality of the quartz‐coesite transition and on the pressure regimes (non‐lithostatic v. lithostatic) during high‐pressure/UHP metamorphism. In particular, incipient amorphization of quartz could favour the quartz‐coesite transition, or allow the growth of metastable coesite, as already experimentally observed.     

Prograde evolution of Sulu UHP metamorphic rock in Yangzhuang,Junan region,deduced by combined Raman and petrological studies

The prograde metamorphic history of the Sulu ultrahigh‐pressure metamorphic terrane has been revealed using Raman‐based barometry of the SiO₂ phases and other mineral inclusions in garnet porphyroblasts of a coesite eclogite from Yangzhuang, Junan region, eastern China. Garnet porphyroblasts have inner and outer segments with the boundary being marked by discontinuous changes in the grossular content. In the inner segment, the SiO₂ phase inclusions are α‐quartz with no coesite or relict features such as radial cracks. The residual pressures retained by the quartz inclusions systematically increase from the crystal centre to the margin of the inner segment. The metamorphic conditions estimated by calculation from the residual pressure and conventional thermodynamic calculation range from 500 to 630 °C and 1.3 to 2.3 GPa for the stage of the inner segment. Coesite and its pseudomorph occur as inclusions in the outer segment of the garnet and matrix omphacite. This occurrence of coesite is consistent with the pressure and temperature conditions of 660–725 °C and 3.1 GPa estimated by conventional geothermobarometry. Our results suggest that the quartz inclusions in the inner segment were trapped by garnet under α‐quartz‐stable conditions and survived phase transition to coesite at the peak metamorphic stage. The SiO₂ phases and other inclusions in the garnet have retained evidence of the pre‐eclogite prograde stage even during exhumation stage. The combined Raman spectroscopic and petrological approaches used here offers a powerful means for obtaining more robust constraints prograde stages involving garnet growth where different SiO₂ phases are present as inclusions.     

Paragonite eclogites from Dabie Shan,China: re-equilibration during exhumation?

Abstract Paragonite in textural equilibrium with garnet, omphacite and kyanite is found in two eclogites in the ultrahigh-pressure metamorphic terrane in Dabie Shan, China. Equilibrium reactions between paragonite, omphacite and kyanite indicate a pressure of about 19 kbar at c . 700° C. However, one of the paragonite eclogites also contains clear quartz pseudomorphs after coesite as inclusions in garnet, suggesting minimum pressures of 27 kbar at the same temperature. The disparate pressure estimates from the same rock suggest that the matrix minerals in the ultrahigh-pressure eclogites have recrystallized at lower pressures and do not represent the peak ultrahigh-pressure assemblages. This hypothesis is tested by calibrating a garnet + zoisite/clinozoisite + kyanite + quartz/coesite geobarometer and applying it to the appropriate eclogite facies rocks from ultrahigh- and high-pressure terranes. These four minerals coexist from 10 to 60 kbar and in this wide pressure range the grossular content of garnet reflects the equilibrium pressure on the basis of the reaction zoisite/clinozoisite = grossular + kyanite + quartz/coesite + H₂O. The results of the geobarometer agree well with independent pressure estimates from eclogites from other orogenic belts. For the paragonite eclogites in Dabie Shan the geobarometer indicates pressures in the quartz stability field, confirming that the former coesite-bearing paragonite-eclogite has re-equilibrated at lower pressures. On the other hand, garnets from other coesite-bearing but paragonite-free kyanite-zoisite eclogites show a very wide variation in grossular content, corresponding to a pressure variation from coesite into the quartz field. This wide variation, partly due to a rimward decrease in grossular component in garnet, is caused by partial equilibration of the mineral assemblage during the exhumation.     

Interfacial friction-induced pressure and implications for the formation and preservation of intergranular coesite in metamorphic rocks

The finding of intergranular coesite and coesite pseudomorphs has been taken as critical evidence to support that the formation of coesite was related to regional ultrahigh pressure (UHP) metamorphism rather than the pressure-vessel effect. Previous laboratory deformation experiments found that coesite occurs in practically undeformed strain-forbidden zones immediately adjacent to the piston–sample interfaces while the mean stress applied to the specimen is remarkably lower than the quartz–coesite equilibrium boundary. The formation and preservation of intergranular coesite in eclogites from UHP metamorphic terranes and the occurrence of coesite in strain-forbidden zones within experimentally deformed rocks can be more satisfactorily explained by the theory of interfacial friction-induced pressure, which is a well-known in metal forging. During certain episodes of fast tectonic deformation under high transient differential stresses, the interfacial friction can induce very significant deformation pressures in thin layers of weak materials (e.g., SiO₂) between large garnet crystals that are refractory and mechanically strong, thus act as excellent anvils. The local deformation pressure, which deviates from the lithostatic value, is likely an intrinsic property of highly constrained flows of weak materials between strong walls at least on a microstructural scale.     

苏北东海青龙山变斑状榴辉岩的变质演化

青龙山部分榴辉岩以含绿帘石、蓝晶石和滑石变斑晶为特征,但是其峰变质矿物组合由基质中细粒的石榴石+绿辉石+多硅白云母+柯石英+金红石+绿帘石构成,它们定向分布形成片理构造。相图中石榴石组成等值线温压计确定的峰变质组合为:石榴石+绿辉石+多硅白云母+蓝晶石+金红石+柯石英+硬柱石+滑石,与岩相学观察结果不符。这可能是超高压变质流体显著偏离计算相图假设的流体相为纯水所致。无定向的变斑晶切割片理,晚于峰变质组合结晶于弱剪切应力的环境。岩相学观察和相图模拟结果显示,变斑晶的形成顺序为蓝晶石-绿帘石-滑石。绿帘石在<2GPa大量生长形成变斑晶,它包含柯石英并不一定说明二者平衡共生,更可能是温压快速下降后峰变质组合被绿帘石变斑晶包含。由矿物组合限定的青龙山变斑状榴辉岩P-T路径为典型的"发卡式"。含水矿物出现于岩石的各个变质组合,并且沿退变质P-T路径陆续结晶数量增多,表明在退变质过程中不断有流体渗入岩石。     

大别山-苏鲁超高压变质带的矿物学和岩石学研究进展

本文总结了近年来大别山 苏鲁超高压变质带的矿物学和岩石学进展。针对大别山 苏鲁超高压变质带中的区域片麻岩围岩是否经历超高压变质的问题 ,研究者在常规岩石学和矿物学手段不能奏效的情况下 ,引入显微喇曼光谱测试 ,最终在各种类片麻岩的锆石中发现柯石英、硬玉和雯石等高压和超高压矿物包裹体 ,证明大别山 苏鲁超高压变质带中的大多数岩石曾与榴辉岩一起被俯冲到地幔深度 ,后又一起回返到地表。在喇曼光谱的测试过程中 ,发现锆石中的柯石英包裹体有 0～ 2 3 0 0MPa不等的现时晶内超压 ,并证明这种晶内超压是超高压变质岩回返过程中 ,柯石英向石英转化而导致的体积膨胀造成的。研究者在产于青岛仰口榴辉岩的石榴子石中发现大量单斜辉石、金红石和磷灰石出熔 ,精细的晶体化学和岩石学研究证明出熔前的石榴子石形成于大于 70 0 0MPa的压力条件 ,说明苏鲁地区的部分陆壳岩石可能曾被俯冲到大于 2 0 0km深的地幔。岩石学研究发现产于桃行地区的榴辉岩在角闪岩相区域退变质之前 ,在 4 0～ 5 0km的浅部地幔深度发育有一期高压麻粒岩相 过渡榴辉岩相变质。进一步研究发现这期变质是由于峰期的多硅白云母在回返到 4 0～5 0km深的浅部地幔时脱水熔融导致的     

Foreword

Since the discovery of a lot of eclogites with coesite and diamond inclusions related to the continent-continent collision-orogeny environment, the ultrahigh-pressure metamorphism (UHPM) in the Dabie-Sulu has aroused great interest in geologists. Experimental studies have proved that such minerals as diamond, coesite and omphacite etc. formed at pressures 2-5 GPa (and corresponding temperatures). However, it does not mean that by the formation pressure we can directly determine that the metamorphic rocks are the products of a deep-seated subducting plate downward to depths of 100-200 km and then returning to the surface. The calculation method of P/SW (depth=pressure/specific gravity), i.e. the formula of pressure=depth×specific gravity, needs to be thought about again.     

Partial melting of metapelites at ultrahigh-pressure conditions, Greenland Caledonides

Eclogite, orthogneiss and, by association, metapelite from an island at 78°N in North‐East Greenland experienced ultrahigh‐pressure (UHP) metamorphism at approximately 970 °C and 3.6 GPa, at the end of the Caledonian collision, 360–350 Ma. Hydrous metapelites contain abundant leucocratic layers and lenses composed of medium‐grained, anhedral, equigranular quartz, antiperthitic plagioclase and K‐feldspar with minor small garnet and kyanite crystals. Leucosomes are generally parallel to the matrix foliation, are interlayered with residual quartz bands, anastomose around residual garnet and commonly cross‐cut micaceous segregations. Textures suggest that the leucosomes crystallized from a syntectonic melt, but crystallized at the end of local high‐grade deformation. The metapelite outcrop is < 1.5 km from kyanite eclogites with confirmed coesite, but the metapelites lack coesite and palisade textures diagnostic of coesite pseudomorphs. They do contain highly fractured garnet megacrysts with polycrystalline quartz inclusions (some surrounded by radial fractures) and Ti‐rich phengite inclusions that suggest the former presence of coesite. Polyphase inclusions in garnet contain reactants and products of the inferred dehydration melting reaction: Phe + Qtz = Ky + Kfs + Rt + melt. The reactants are thought to have been early inclusions of hydrous phases within garnet that melted and then crystallized new phases. Garnet surrounding these inclusions has patchy zoning with elevated Ca, consistent with experiments that produced similar patchy microstructures in garnet around inclusions with an unequivocal melt origin. The peak UHP metamorphic assemblage in these rocks is inferred to have been phengite, coesite, garnet, kyanite, rutile, fluid ± omphacite ± epidote. Phase diagrams indicate that dehydration melting of phengite in this assemblage would have occurred after decompression from peak pressure, but still above the coesite to quartz transition. Unusual crown‐ and moat‐like textures in garnet around some polycrystalline quartz inclusions are also consistent with the inference that melting took place at UHP conditions.     

Experimental study of quartz inclusions in garnet at pressures up to 3.0 GPa: evaluating validity of the quartz-in-garnet inclusion elastic thermobarometer

Garnet crystals with quartz inclusions were hydrothermally crystallized from oxide starting materials in piston–cylinder apparatuses at pressures from 0.5 to 3 GPa and temperatures ranging from 700 to 800 °C to study how entrapment conditions affect remnant pressures of quartz inclusions used for quartz-in-garnet (QuiG) elastic thermobarometry. Systematic changes of the 128, 206 and 464 cm^?1 Raman band frequencies of quartz were used to determine pressures of quartz inclusions in garnet using Raman spectroscopy calibrations that describe the P–T dependencies of Raman band shifts for quartz under hydrostatic pressure. Within analytical uncertainties, inclusion pressures calculated for each of the three Raman band frequencies are equivalent, which suggests that non-hydrostatic stress effects caused by elastic anisotropy in quartz are smaller than measurement errors. The experimental quartz inclusions have pressures ranging from ??0.351 to 1.247 GPa that span the range of values observed for quartz inclusions in garnets from natural rocks. Quartz inclusion pressures were used to model P–T conditions at which the inclusions could have been trapped. The accuracy of QuiG thermobarometry was evaluated by considering the differences between pressures measured during experiments and pressures calculated using published equation of state parameters for quartz and garnet. Our experimental results demonstrate that Raman measurements performed at room temperature can be used without corrections to estimate garnet crystallization pressures. Calculated entrapment pressures for quartz inclusions in garnet are less than ~?10% different from pressures measured during the experiments. Because the method is simple to apply with reasonable accuracy, we expect widespread usage of QuiG thermobarometry to estimate crystallization conditions for garnet-bearing silicic rocks.     

Synthetic fluid inclusions - VII. Re-equilibration of fluid inclusions in quartz during laboratory-simulated metamorphic burial and uplift

ABSTRACT P-T conditions inferred from fluid inclusions in metamorphic rocks often disagree with the values predicted from mineral equilibria calculations. These observations suggest that inclusions formed during early stages of regional metamorphism continue to re-equilibrate during burial and subsequent uplift in response to differential pressure. P-T conditions accompanying burial and uplift were experimentally simulated by initially forming pure H₂O inclusions in quartz at elevated temperatures and pressures, and then re-equilibrating the inclusions in the presence of a 20 wt% NaCl solution such that final confining pressures ranged from 5 kbar above to 4 kbar below the initial internal pressure of the inclusions at the temperature of re-equilibration. In all samples re-equilibrated at confining pressures below the internal pressure, some inclusions were formed that had compositions of 20 wt% NaCl and densities in accord with the final P-T conditions. Additionally, some inclusions were observed to contain fluids of intermediate salinities (between 0 and 20 wt% NaCl). Densities of these inclusions were also consistent with formation at the re-equilibration P-T conditions. The remainder of the fluid inclusions observed in these samples contained pure H₂O and their homogenization temperatures corresponded to densities intermediate between the initial and final P-T conditions. In short-term experiments (7 days) where the initial internal overpressure exceeded 1 kbar, no inclusions were found that contained the original density and none were found to have totally re-equilibrated. Instead, most H₂O inclusions re-equilibrated until their internal pressures were between ∼750 and 1500 bars above the confining pressure, regardless of the initial pressure differential. In a long-term experiment (52 days), inclusions re-equilibrated at a lower confining pressure than the initial internal pressure displayed homogenization temperatures corresponding to a range in final internal pressures between 0 kbar (i.e. total re-equilibration) and 1.2 kbar above the confining pressure. In experiments where the confining pressure during re-equilibration exceeded the initial internal pressure, densities of pure H₂O inclusions increased to values intermediate between the initial and final P-T conditions. Additionally, these inclusions were generally surrounded by a three-dimensional halo of smaller inclusions, also of intermediate density, resulting in a texture similar to that previously ascribed to decrepitation from internal overpressure. In extreme cases where confining pressures were 4–5 kbar above the initial pressure, the parent inclusion almost completely closed leaving only the three-dimensional array of small (5 μm) inclusions, the outline of which may be several times the volume of the original inclusion. Groups of such inclusions closely resemble textures commonly observed in medium- to high-grade metamorphic rocks. Inclusions containing 10 and 42 wt% NaCl solutions trapped at 600 °c and 3 kbar were re-equilibrated at 600 °c and 1 kbar for 5 days in dry argon to evaluate the importance of H₂O diffusion as a mechanism of lowering the inclusion bulk density. Salinities of re-equilibrated inclusions obtained from freezing point depressions and halite dissolution temperatures indicate that original compositions were preserved. Density changes similar to those previously described were noted in these experiments, in inclusions showing no visible microfractures. Therefore, density variations observed in inclusions in this study, re-equilibrated under rapid deformation conditions, are considered to result from a change in the inclusion volume, without significant loss of contents by diffusion or leakage.     

一种非板块深俯冲快折返的柯石英形成新机制——评析“石英—柯石英相变研究中若干问题讨论”一文

本文分析评论了嵇少丞等(2010)发表的"石英—柯石英相变研究中若干问题讨论"一文。指出他们对柯石英非俯冲折返新机制的一些误解,对某些热力学、物理学概念,及其在地学问题中的解释理解的不同。分析了机械球磨的作用机制;论证了机械球磨作用本质与构造挤压剪切作用本质的同一性。分析了岩石糜棱岩化过程的两个阶段;讨论了地震波形成柯石英机制的可能性。围绕比较标准问题,论证了高能机械球磨(预处理)能大大降低α-石英转变成柯石英的压力、温度和合成时间,促进柯石英的形成。用小尺度不均匀局域高压微区模型解释了人工合成柯石英的规律性、南极洲天然矿物的行为,柯石英的寄生矿物、岩石——锆石、榴辉岩包裹体、非包裹体的形成。列举事例澄清了"球磨引进的Fe杂质提高柯石英形成压力迟缓合成"的说法;讨论了第二相存在对石英—柯石英转变的影响和"应变禁区"边界区的应力梯度相变驱动力可以形成柯石英问题。指出了机械球磨石英原料预处理和静高压合成柯石英后处理两步法,是一种实验室研究柯石英形成规律的有效物理方法;小尺度不均匀局域高压微区模型和无需板块深俯冲快折返的柯石英形成机制,是一种有希望的柯石英形成新机制。     

Coesite inclusions in diamonds of Yakutia

The results of the study of diamonds with inclusions of high-pressure modification of SiO₂ (coesite) by Raman spectroscopy are reported. It is established that the octahedral crystal from the Zapolyarnaya pipe is characterized by the highest residual pressure (2.7 ± 0.07 GPa). An intermediate value of this parameter (2.1 ± 0.07 GPa) was obtained for a crystal of transitional habit from the Maiskaya pipe. The minimal Raman shift was registered for coesite in diamond from the Komsomol’skaya–Magnitnaya pipe and provided a calculated residual pressure of 1.8 ± 0.03 GPa. The residual pressures for crystals from the placer deposits of the Kuoika and Bol’shaya Kuonamka rivers are 2.7 ± 0.07 and 3.1 ± 0.1 GPa, respectively. Octahedral crystals were formed in the mantle at a higher pressure than rhombododecahedral diamonds.     

Factors affecting preservation of coesite in ultrahigh‐pressure metamorphic rocks: Insights from TEM observations of dislocations within kyanite

To understand the preservation of coesite inclusions in ultrahigh‐pressure (UHP) metamorphic rocks, an integrated petrological, Raman spectroscopic and focussed ion beam (FIB) system–transmission electron microscope (TEM) study was performed on a UHP kyanite eclogite from the Sulu belt in eastern China. Coesite grains have been observed only as rare inclusions in kyanite from the outer segment of garnet and in the matrix. Raman mapping analysis shows that a coesite inclusion in kyanite from the garnet rim records an anisotropic residual stress and retains a maximum residual pressure of ~0.35 GPa. TEM observations show quartz is absent from the coesite inclusion–host kyanite grain boundaries. Numerous dislocations and sub‐grain boundaries are present in the kyanite, but dislocations are not confirmed in the coesite. In particular, dislocations concentrate in the kyanite adjacent to the boundary with the coesite inclusion, and they form a dislocation concentration zone with a dislocation density of ~10⁹ cm^?2. A high‐resolution TEM image and a fast Fourier transform‐filtered image reveal that a tiny dislocation in the dislocation concentration zone is composed of multiple edge dislocations. The estimated dislocation density in most of the kyanite away from the coesite inclusion–host kyanite grain boundaries is ~10⁸ cm^?2, being lower than that in kyanite adjacent to the coesite. In the case of a coesite inclusion in a matrix kyanite, using Raman and TEM analyses, we could not identify any quartz at the grain boundaries. Dislocations are not observed in the coesite, but numerous dislocations and stacking faults are developed in the kyanite. The estimated overall dislocation density in the coesite‐bearing matrix kyanite is ~10⁸ cm^?2, but a high dislocation density region of ~10⁹ cm^?2 is also present near the coesite inclusion–host kyanite grain boundaries. Inclusion and matrix kyanite grains with no coesite have dislocation densities of ≤10⁸ cm^?2. Dislocation density is generally reduced during an annealing process, but our results show that not all dislocations in the kyanite have recovered uniformly during exhumation of the UHP rocks. Hence, one of the key factors acting as a buffer to inhibit the coesite to quartz transformation is the mechanical interaction between the host and the inclusion that lead to the formation of dislocations in the kyanite. The kyanite acts as an excellent pressure container that can preserve coesite during the decompression of rocks from UHP conditions. The search for and study of inclusions in kyanite may be a more suitable approach for tracing the spatial distribution of UHP metamorphic rocks.     

Petrology of coesite-bearing eclogite from Habutengsu Valley, western Tianshan, NW China and its tectonometamorphic implication

Coesite inclusions in garnet have been found in eclogite boudins enclosed in coesite‐bearing garnet micaschist in the Habutengsu Valley, Chinese western Tianshan, which are distinguished from their retrograde quartz by means of optical characteristics, CL imaging and Raman spectrum. The coesite‐bearing eclogite is mainly composed of porphyroblastic garnet, omphacite, paragonite, glaucophane and barroisite, minor amounts of rutile and dotted (or banded) graphite. In addition to coesite and quartz, the zoned porphyroblastic garnet contains inclusions of omphacite, Na‐Ca amphibole, calcite, albite, chlorite, rutile, ilmenite and graphite. Multi‐phase inclusions (e.g. Czo + Pg ± Qtz, Grt II + Qtz and Chl + Pg) can be interpreted as breakdown products of former lawsonite and possibly chloritoid. Coesite occurs scattered within a compositionally homogenous but narrow domain of garnet (outer core), indicative of equilibrium at the UHP stage. The estimate by garnet‐clinopyroxene thermometry yields peak temperatures of 420–520 °C at 2.7 GPa. Phase equilibrium calculations further constrain the P–T conditions for the UHP mineral assemblage Grt + Omp + Lws + Gln + Coe to 2.4–2.7 GPa and 470–510 °C. Modelled modal abundances of major minerals along a 5 °C km^?1 geothermal gradient suggests two critical dehydration processes at ～430 and ～510 °C respectively. Computed garnet composition patterns are in good agreement with measured core‐rim profiles. The petrological study of coesite‐bearing eclogite in this paper provides insight into the metamorphic evolution in a cold subduction zone. Together with other reported localities of UHP rocks from the entire orogen of Chinese western Tianshan, it is concluded that the regional extent of UHP‐LT metamorphism in Chinese western Tianshan is extensive and considerably larger than previously thought, although intensive retrogression has erased UHP‐LT assemblages at most localities.     

Coesite inclusions and prograde compositional zonation of garnet in whiteschist of the HP-UHPM Kokchetav massif, Kazakhstan: a record of progressive UHP metamorphism

Coarse-grained whiteschist, containing the assemblage: garnet+kyanite+phengite+talc+quartz/coesite, is an abundant constituent of the ultrahigh-pressure metamorphic (UHPM) belt in the Kulet region of the Kokchetav massif of Kazakhstan.

Garnet displays prograde compositional zonation, with decreasing spessartine and increasing pyrope components, from core to rim. Cores were recrystallized at T=380°C (inner) to 580°C (outer) at P<10 kbar (garnet–ilmenite geothermometry, margarite+quartz stability), and mantles at T=720–760°C and P_H20=34–36 kbar (coesite+graphite stability, phengite geobarometer, KFMASH system reaction equilibria). Textural evidence indicates that rims grew during decompression and cooling, within the Qtz-stability field.

Silica inclusions (quartz and/or coesite) of various textural types within garnets display a systematic zonal distribution. Cores contain abundant inclusions of euhedral quartz (type 1 inclusions). Inner mantle regions contain inclusions of polycrystalline quartz pseudomorphs after coesite (type 2), with minute dusty micro-inclusions of chlorite, and more rarely, talc and kyanite in their cores; intense radial and concentric fractures are well developed in the garnet. Intermediate mantle regions contain bimineralic inclusions with coesite cores and palisade quartz rims (type 3), which are also surrounded by radial fractures. Subhedral inclusions of pure coesite without quartz overgrowths or radial fractures (type 4) occur in the outer part of the mantle. Garnet rims are silica-inclusion-free.

Type 1 inclusions in garnet cores represent the low-P, low-T precursor stage to UHPM recrystallization, and attest to the persistence of low-P assemblages in the coesite-stability field. Coesites in inclusion types 2, 3, and 4 are interpreted to have sequentially crystallized by net transfer reaction (kyanite+talc=garnet+coesite+H₂O), and were sequestered within the garnet with progressively decreasing amounts of intragranular aqueous fluid.

During the retrograde evolution of the rock, all three inclusion types diverged from the host garnet P–T path at the coesite–quartz equilibrium, and followed a trajectory parallel to the equilibrium boundary resulting in inclusion overpressure. Coesite in type 2 inclusions suffered rapid intragranular H₂O-catalysed transformation to quartz, and ruptured the host garnet at about 600°C (when inclusion P27 kbar, garnet host P9 kbar). Instantaneous decompression to the host garnet P–T path, passed through the kyanite+talc=chlorite+quartz reaction equilibrium, resulting in the dusty micro-assemblage in inclusion cores. Type 3 inclusions suffered a lower volumetric proportion transformation to quartz at the coesite–quartz equilibrium, and finally underwent rupture and decompression when T<400°C, facilitating coesite preservation. Type 4 coesite inclusions are interpreted to have suffered minimal transformation to quartz and proceeded to surface temperature conditions along or near the coesite–quartz equilibrium boundary.     

High Pressure-Differential Thermal Analysis and Ultrasonic Wave Amplitude Analysis of Ice-Water Equilibrium at 1.5-5.0GPa

Water is the most active component in all geological systems.It has an important effect on the physical properties of minerals and melts.It also plays a key role in the evolution of the Earth.Accurate thermodynamics data on water are currently confined to pressures below 1.0GPa and temperatures below 900℃.Presented in this paper are new data available on the P-T properties of water at pressures up to 5.0GPa,develoged from differential thermal analysis and ultrasonic wave amplitude analysis.It has been found that there may exist another ternary point at 3.0GPa and that ultrasonic wave amplitude change of ice-water transition shows two inflection points above 2.0GPa, consistent with the two peaks of differential thermal curves above 2.0GPa .It may be a new phenomenon which needs further study.     

超高压变质岩中柯石英的产出和保存机制

了解柯石英的产出并制约其保存机制对于深入认识超高压变质岩的形成和演化具有重要的启示意义.早期的研究发现超高压变质岩中的柯石英主要以包裹体的形式产在刚性寄主矿物中,而粒间柯石英之前仅在苏鲁仰口的超高压双矿物榴辉岩中有过发现.目前提出的柯石英保存机制主要包括以下两种:涉及"构造超压"的"高压釜"模型和较干的变质演化环境.新近报道的大别山甘家岭超高压变沉积岩中的粒间柯石英和白云石中的大量柯石英包裹体肯定了较干的变质演化环境而削弱了传统的"高压釜"模型在保存柯石英方面所起的作用.