Interpretation of porphyroblast inclusion trails: limitations imposed by growth kinetics and strain rates

Porphyroblast inclusion trails provide important information about the tectonometamorphic evolution of a metamorphic rock. However, there remains considerable controversy over whether porphyroblasts rotate during bulk non-coaxial deformation.
With reference to an area of the Scandinavian Caledonides and utilizing existing data from theoretical and experimental modelling, this study demonstrates that both 'straight' and 'S-shaped' inclusion trails are consistent with an interpretation in terms of syndeformational porphyroblast growth in a regime approximating to Newtonian simple shear. At crustal strain rates of 10^-14 s^-1 and porphyroblast growth times of 0.1–1.0 Ma, it is shown that a maximum of 5-9 angular rotation would occur during growth. At faster strain rates of 10^-12 s^-1 (e.g. those in a shear zone) porphyroblast angular rotations of 90 are shown to occur in 0.1–0.25 Ma (i.e. times comparable with or faster than porphyroblastesis). In view of this, 'S-shaped' inclusion trails are to be expected in porphyroblasts growing in active shear zones or other situations of high shear strain, whereas 'straight' inclusion trails can be interpreted as static overgrowth of an existing fabric or as syndeformational porphyroblastesis at low strain rates.     

变质岩中变斑晶成核生长及旋转问题的述评

发生递进变形的变质岩中,斑晶成核生长于变形分解作用的递进缩短带内,斑晶的大小受两侧递进剪切变形带的限制。除少数螺旋状石榴石外,产于共轴或非共轴递进不均匀缩短变形过程中的斑晶不发生旋转,斑晶内部包体形迹(Si)反映外部面理(Se)的再活化。利用未旋转斑晶中的包体形迹可以确定早期面理的取向,寻找构造演化的时间标志,确定褶皱轴迹等,本文给出了斑晶中包体形迹弯曲的成因模式图。     

Rotation of porphyroblasts in non-coaxial deformation: insights from computer simulations

Porphyroblast inclusion trails have the potential to provide critical information about tectonometamorphic events. Recently, however, traditional interpretations of inclusion trails have been called into question by the suggestions that porphyroblasts do not rotate during non-coaxial deformation and that apparent spiral inclusion trails can be generated in coaxial deformation. We present a new computer model that simulates inclusion trail development. Model results suggest: (1) that the extent of porphyroblast rotation is controlled by conditions at the porphyroblast-matrix boundary; (2) that curved inclusion trails may develop in unrotated porphyroblasts; (3) that classic "snowball" inclusion trails are most simply explained by rotational growth histories; and (4) that some of the observations used to support the view that porphyroblasts do not rotate (e.g. weakly sigmoidal inclusion trails, apparent truncations of inclusion trails) can be accounted for by variations in the growth rate of rotating porphyroblasts.     

Numerical simulations of spiral‐shaped inclusion trails: can 3D geometry distinguish between end‐member models of spiral formation?

Numerical 3D simulations of the development of spiral inclusion trails in porphyroblasts were conducted in order to test the proposals that (a) 3D spiral geometry differs between the rotation and nonrotation end‐member models of spiral formation proposed in the literature, and (b) 3D spiral geometry can be used as a criterion to distinguish between the two end‐member models in rocks. Four principal differences are identified between the two sets of simulations: smoothness of spiral curvature; spacing of foliation planes; alignment of individual foliation planes either side of the sphere representing the porphyroblast; and spiral asymmetry with respect to matrix shear sense. Of these differences, only spiral asymmetry and possibly the alignment of individual foliation planes are diagnostic criteria for distinguishing between the end‐member models. In the absence of a readily applied test to distinguish the end‐member models, interpretation of spiral inclusion trails is problematic. It is necessary to determine complementary evidence to distinguish porphyroblast rotation or nonrotation during spiral formation.     

Fan-shaped staurolite in the Bolton syncline, eastern Connecticut: evidence for porphyroblast rotation during growth

Fan‐shaped polycrystalline staurolite porphyroblasts, 3–4 cm in length and 0.5 cm in width, occur together with centimetre‐sized euhedral prismatic staurolite porphyroblasts in pelitic schists of the Littleton Formation on the western overturned limb of the Bolton syncline in eastern Connecticut. The fans consist of intergrown planar splays of [001] elongated prisms, which are crudely radial from a single apex. The apical angles of the radial groupings range up to 70°. The orientations of the individual staurolite prisms are related by a rigid rotation about an axis perpendicular to the fan plane. The zone axes [001] always lie in the plane of the fan. Although the angle between the [100] zone axes of the individual prisms is uniform in each fan, it ranges from +30° to ?30° in different fans. Internally, the fans display: (i) remnants of a passively captured S_i foliation defined by disc‐shaped quartz blebs (type 1 inclusions) and layers of very fine carbonaceous material and tabular ilmenite platelets; (ii) bent staurolite blades and undulose extinction along low‐angle (010) subgrain boundaries near the apex of the fans; (iii) wedge‐shaped dilatational zones containing equigranular inclusion‐free quartz, mica and staurolite, and (iv) growth‐related quartz inclusion trails roughly perpendicular to a crystal face (type 2 inclusions). The S_i inclusion trails are typically perpendicular to the fan surface, radiate parallel to the blades, and show little to no curvature except at the very edge of the fans where they abruptly curve through nearly 90° into parallelism with an external S_e foliation. Careful examination of the three‐dimensional geometry of fans based on U‐stage measurements, serial sections and two‐circle optical goniometric measurements permits a detailed reconstruction of their sequential development. The origin of a fan involves limited intracrystalline deformation and brittle crack dilation, spalling, rotation, and growth of small marginal fragments and of new staurolite along wedge‐shaped zones along the S_i inclusion surfaces. Fans preferentially develop in porphyroblasts in which S_i is subparallel to the 010 cleavage. These internal features reflect the rotation and deformation of a brittle porphyroblast relative to syn‐growth shear stresses.     

Sigmoidal inclusion trails, punctuated fabric development, and interactions between metamorphism and deformation

Porphyroblast inclusion fabrics are consistent in style and geometry across three Proterozoic metamorphic field gradients, comprising two pluton-related gradients in central Arizona and one regional gradient in northern New Mexico. Garnet crystals contain curved ‘sigmoidal’ inclusion trails. In low-grade chlorite schists, these trails can be correlated directly with matrix crenulations of an older schistosity (S1). The garnet crystals preferentially grew in crenulation hinges, but some late crenulations nucleated on existing garnet porphyroblasts. At higher grade, biotite, staurolite and andalusite porphyroblasts occur in a homogeneous S2 foliation primarily defined by matrix biotite and ilmenite. Biotite porphyroblasts have straight to sigmoidal inclusion trails that also represent the weakly folded S1 schistosity. Staurolite and andalusite contain distinctive inclusion-rich and inclusion-poor domains that represent a relict S2 differentiated crenulation cleavage. Together, the inclusion relationships document the progressive development of the S2 fabric through six stages. Garnet and biotite porphyroblasts contain stage 2 or 3 crenulations; staurolite and andalusite generally contain stage 4 crenulations, and the matrix typically contains a homogeneous stage 6 cleavage. The similarity of inclusion relationships across spatially and temporally distinct metamorphic field gradients of widely differing scales suggests a fundamental link between metamorphism and deformation. Three end-member relationships may be involved: (1) tectonic linkages, where similar P-T-time histories and similar bulk compositions combine to produce similar metamorphic and structural signatures; (2) deformation-controlled linkages, where certain microstructures, particularly crenulation hinges, are favourable environments for the nucleation and/or growth of porphyroblasts; and (3) reaction-controlled linkages, where metamorphic reactions, particularly dehydration reactions, are associated with an increase in the rate of fabric development. A general model is proposed in which (1) garnet and biotite porphyroblasts preferentially grow in stage 2 or 3 crenulation hinges, and (2) chlorite-consuming metamorphic reactions lead to pulses in the rate of fabric evolution. The data suggest that fabric development and porphyroblast growth may have been quite rapid, of the order of several hundreds of thousands of years, in these rocks. These microstructures and processes may be characteristic of low-pressure, first-cycle metamorphic belts.     

How useful are ‘millipede’ and other similar porphyroblast microstructures for determining synmetamorphic deformation histories?

ABSTRACT Oppositely concave microfolds (OCMs) in and adjacent to porphyroblasts can be classified into five nongenetic types. Type 1 OCMs are found in sections through porphyroblasts with spiral-shaped inclusion trails cut parallel to the spiral axes, and commonly show closed foliation loops. Type 2 OCMs, commonly referred to as ‘millipede’ microstructure, are highly symmetrical, the foliation folded into OCMs being approximately perpendicular to the overprinting foliation. Type 3 OCMs are similar to Type 2, but are asymmetrical, the foliation folded into OCMs being variably oblique to the overprinting foliation. Type 4 OCMs are highly asymmetrical, only one foliation is present, and this foliation is parallel to the local shear plane. Type 5 OCMs result from porphyroblast growth over a microfold interference pattern. Types 1 and 2 are commonly interpreted as indicating highly noncoaxial and highly coaxial bulk deformation paths, respectively, during porphyroblast growth. However, theoretically they can form by any deformation path intermediate between bulk coaxial shortening and bulk simple shearing. Given particular initial foliation orientation and timing of porphyroblast growth, Type 3 OCMs can also form during these intermediate deformation paths, and are commonly found in the same rocks as Type 2 OCMs. Type 4 OCMs may indicate highly noncoaxial deformation during porphyroblast growth, but may be difficult to distinguish from Type 3 OCMs. Thus, Types 1–3 (and possibly 4) reflect the finite strain state, giving no information about the rotational component of the deformation(s) responsible for their formation. Furthermore, there is a lack of unequivocal independent evidence for the degree of noncoaxiality of deformation (s) during the growth of porphyroblasts containing OCMs. Type 2 OCMs that occur independently of porphyroblasts or other rigid objects might indicate highly coaxial bulk shortening, but there is a lack of supporting physical or computer modelling. It is possible that microstructures in the matrix around OCMs formed during highly noncoaxial and highly coaxial deformation histories might have specific characteristics that allow them to be distinguished from one another. However, determining degrees of noncoaxiality from rock fabrics is a major, longstanding problem in structural geology.     

流体包裹体面的研究背景、现状及发展前景

在地质流体研究领域，流体包裹体面（Fluid Inclusion Plane-FIP)作为能将地质流体的活动与特定构造和岩浆作用相联系的一种手段，正在发挥越来越重要的作用，并成为流体包裹体研究领域的一个热点。本文对流体包裹体面的研究背景及现状进行了详细的阐述，指出它在地质流体及相关研究领域具有十分广阔的应用前景。     

Flow kinematics in the deeper part of a subduction channel, as inferred from inclusion trails in plagioclase porphyroblasts from the Sambagawa metamorphic rocks, south-west Japan

The subduction and exhumation of accretionary prism metasedimentary rocks are accompanied by large‐strain ductile deformations which may be recorded in microstructures. Porphyroblast microstructures have been a key to unravel the kinematics in such deformed belts. Shape‐preferred orientation (SPO) of epidote and amphibole inclusions that define S‐shaped trails in prograde cores of plagioclase porphyroblasts were analysed from the high‐P/T Sambagawa metamorphic rocks. Inclusions are found to be elongate parallel to the [010] and [001] directions, respectively, and their long‐axis orientations define an internal foliation S_i (best‐fit great circle) and lineation L_i (maximum on the S_i). S‐shaped inclusion trails in the orthogonal sections do not exhibit the same geometries, but rather are grouped into two types, where the foliation intersection axes (FIAs) are nearly perpendicular and parallel to L_i, respectively. These two types of S‐shaped inclusion trails are seen in the sections inclined at low and high angles to the L_i, respectively. However, the latter type commonly consists of composite trails, where the S_i is first rotated about an FIA perpendicular to the L_i (i.e. unique axis), and then about an FIA parallel to the L_i. The S‐shaped inclusion trails are interpreted to have formed by the successive overgrowth of matrix minerals and rotation of the plagioclase porphyroblast cores about a unique axis in non‐coaxial deformation. The rotation of S_i about an FIA nearly parallel to the L_i is perhaps an apparent rotation, caused by the deflection of foliation around the growing prismatic plagioclase grain prior to inclusion into the porphyroblast. This study has for the first time documented the 3‐D geometry of S‐shaped inclusion trails in porphyroblasts from accretionary prism metasedimentary rocks and identified their origin, which helps to understand the flow kinematics in the deeper part of a subduction channel.     

Foliation development and refraction in metamorphic rocks: reactivation of earlier foliations and decrenulation due to shifting patterns of deformation partitioning

Abstract Reactivation of early foliations accounts for much of the progressive strain at more advanced stages of deformation. Its role has generally been insufficiently emphasized because evidence is best preserved where porphyroblasts which contain inclusion trails are present. Reactivation occurs when progressive shearing, operating in a synthetic anastomosing fashion parallel to the axial planes of folds, changes to a combination of coarse- and finescale zones of progressive shearing, some of which operate antithetically relative to the bulk shear on a fold limb. Reactivation of earlier foliations occurs in these latter zones. Reactivation decrenulates pre-existing or just-formed crenulations, generating shearing along the decrenulated or rotated pre-existing foliation planes. Partitioning of deformation within these foliation planes, such that phyllosilicates and/or graphite take up progressive shearing strain and other minerals accommodate progressive shortening strain, causes dissolution of these other minerals. This results in concentration of the phyllosilicates in a similar, but more penetrative manner to the formation of a differentiated crenulation cleavage, except that the foliation can form or intensify on a fold limb at a considerable angle to the axial plane of synchronous macroscopic folds. Reactivation can generate bedding-parallel schistosity in multideformed and metamorphosed terrains without associated folds. Heterogeneous reactivation of bedding generates rootless intrafolial folds with sigmoidal axial planes from formerly through-going structures. Reactivation causes rotation or ‘refraction’of axial-plane foliations (forming in the same deformation event causing reactivation) in those beds or zones in which an earlier foliation has been reactivated, and results in destruction of the originally axial-plane foliation at high strains. Reactivation also provides a simple explanation for the apparently ‘wrong sense’, but normally observed ‘rotation’of garnet porphyroblasts, whereby the external foliation has undergone rotation due to antithetic shear on the reactivated foliation. Alternatively, the rotation of the external foliation can be due to its reactivation in a subsequent deformation event. Porphyroblasts with inclusion trails commonly preserve evidence of reactivation of earlier foliations and therefore can be used to identify the presence of a deformation that has not been recognized by normal geometric methods, because of penetrative reactivation. Reactivation often reverses the asymmetry between pre-existing foliations and bedding on one limb of a later fold, leading to problems in the geometric analysis of an area when the location of early fold hinges is essential. The stretching lineation in a reactivated foliation can be radically reoriented, potentially causing major errors in determining movement directions in mylonitic schistosities in folded thrusts. Geometric relationships which result from reactivation of foliations around porphyroblasts can be used to aid determination of the timing of the growth of porphyroblasts relative to deformation events. Other aspects of reactivation, however, can lead to complications in timing of porphyroblast growth if the presence of this phenomenon is not recognized; for example, D₂-grown porphyroblasts may be dissolved against reactivated S₁ and hence appear to have grown syn-D₁.     

Timing of porphyroblast growth in the Fleur de Lys Supergroup, Newfoundland

Abstract In the Fleur de Lys Supergroup, western Newfoundland, inclusion trails in garnet and albite porphyroblasts indicate that porphyroblasts overgrew a crenulation foliation, without rotation, probably during the deformation event that produced the crenulations. Further deformation of the matrix resulted in strong re-orientation and retrograde metamorphism of the matrix foliation, which is consequently highly oblique to the crenulation foliation preserved in the porphyroblasts. The resulting matrix foliation locally preserves relics of the early crenulations, and also has itself been crenulated later in places. Thus the porphyroblasts grew before the later stages of deformation, rather than during the final stage, as had been suggested previously. The new interpretation is consistent with available ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar cooling ages which indicate a late Ordovician-early Silurian metamorphic peak, rather than the Devonian peak suggested by previous workers. The inclusion patterns and microprobe data indicate normal outward growth of garnet porphyroblasts from a central nucleus, rather than as a series of veins as proposed by de Wit (1976a, b). However, the observations presented here support growth of porphyroblasts without rotation, which is implied by the de Wit model.     

变斑晶包体形迹研究的几个问题

变斑晶是联系变质与变形的重要媒介。变斑晶内的包体按几何形态可分为９大类。在发生递进变形的变质岩中，斑晶成核生长于变形分解作用的递进缩短带内。除少数螺旋状石榴石外，产于共轴或非共轴递进不均匀缩短变形过程中的斑晶不发生旋转。在韧性剪切带中，由于存在变形分解作用，在岩石发生递进变形过程中，产于共轴或非共轴递进缩短带内的变斑晶也不发生旋转。利用未旋转斑晶中包体形迹可以确定早期面理的取向，寻找构造演化时间标志，确定变形变质关系及其演化史。如在大背坞地区，根据黄铁矿变斑晶的旋转演化，可以恢复韧性剪切带的成生演化历史。近十几年来由于计算机模拟的引人，使变斑晶微构造研究从定性步入定量阶段。     

Deformation partitioning and porphyroblast rotation in meta-morphic rocks: a radical reinterpretation

Abstract Most porphyroblasts never rotate during ductile deformation, provided they do not internally deform during subsequent events, with the exception of relatively uncommon but spectacular examples of spiralling garnets. Instead, the surrounding foliation rotates and reactivates due to partitioning of the deformation around the porphyroblast. Consequently, porphyroblasts commonly preserve the orientation of early foliations and stretching lineations within strain shadows or inclusion trails, even where these structures have been rotated or obliterated in the matrix due to subsequent deformation. These relationships can be readily used to help develop an understanding of the processes of foliation development and they demonstrate the prominent role of reactivation of old foliations during subsequent deformation. They can also be used to determine the deformation history, as porphyroblasts only rotate when the deformation cannot partition and involves progressive shearing with no combined bulk shortening component.     

Porphyroblast inclusion trails: the key to orogenesis

Detailed microstructural analysis of inclusion trails in hundreds of garnet porphyroblasts from rocks where spiral-shaped inclusion trails are common indicates that spiral-shaped trails did not form by rotation of the growing porphyroblasts relative to geographic coordinates. They formed instead by progressive growth by porphyroblasts over several sets of near-orthogonal foliations that successively overprint one another. The orientations of these near-orthogonal foliations are alternately near-vertical and near-horizontal in all porphyroblasts examined. This provides very strong evidence for lack of porphyroblast rotation.
The deformation path recorded by these porphyroblasts indicates that the process of orogenesis involves a multiply repeated two-stage cycle of: (1) crustal shortening and thickening, with the development of a near-vertical foliation with a steep stretching lineation; followed by (2) gravitational instability and collapse of this uplifted pile with the development of a near-horizontal foliation, gravitational spreading, near-coaxial vertical shortening and consequent thrusting on the orogen margins. Correlation of inclusion trail overprinting relationships and asymmetry in porphyroblasts with foliation overprinting relationships observed in the field allows determination of where the rocks studied lie and have moved within an orogen. This information, combined with information about chemical zoning in porphyroblasts, provides details about the structural/metamorphic ( P-T-t ) paths the rocks have followed.
The ductile deformation environment in which a porphyroblast can rotate relative to geographic coordinates during orogenesis is spatially restricted in continental crust to vertical, ductile tear/transcurrent faults across which there is no component of bulk shortening or transpression.     

变斑晶晶内显微构造特征及其成因综述

变斑晶晶内包体径迹的成因研究是当代变质岩岩石学研究的一个重大方向。变斑晶是联系变质的变形的重要媒介，对研究造山过程及机制、ｐ－Ｔ－ｔ轨迹，褶皱作用机制，变质过程，变形过程、物质运移机制等起着关键性的作用，晶内包体径迹按几何形态分为９大类，综合当前的模拟结果，观察事实，分别对其成因问题作了探讨。     

Testing models for the development of spiral-shaped inclusion trails in garnet porphyroblasts: to rotate or not to rotate, that is the question

Abstract The formation of spiral-shaped inclusion trails (SSITs) is problematical, and the two viable models for their formation involve opposite shear senses along the foliation in which the porphyroblasts are growing. One model argues for porphyroblast rotation, with respect to a geographically fixed reference frame, whereas the other argues for no such porphyroblast rotation, but instead rotation of the matrix foliation around the porphyroblast. Thus, porphyroblasts with SSITs cannot be used as shear-sense indicators until it is conclusively determined which model best explains them.
Any successful model must explain features associated with SSITs, including: (1) foliation truncation zones, (2) smoothly curving SSITs, (3) millipede microstructure, (4) total inclusion-trail curvature in median sections, (5) porphyroblasts with SSITs that have grown together, (6) evidence for relative porphyroblast displacements, (7) shear-sense indicators inside and outside porphyroblasts; (8) crenulations associated with porphyroblasts and (9) geometries in sections subparallel to spiral axes (axes of rotation). A detailed study of these features suggests that most, if not all, can be explained by both the rotational and non-rotational models, in spite of these models involving diametrically opposed movement senses. Therefore, geometrical analysis of individual porphyroblast microstructures may not determine which model best explains SSITs until the kinematics required to form these microstructures are better understood, in particular the sense of shear along a developing crenulation cleavage. Specific tests for determining the shear sense along crenulation cleavages are proposed, and results of such tests may conclusively resolve the debate over how SSITs form.     

Fluid Flow History in Lower Triassic Bulgo Sandstone,Central Sydney Basin,Australia

INTRODUCTIONThe Sydney basin(Fig.1) forms the southernm ost partofthe Sydney- Gunnedah- Bowen basin system (Bembrick et al.,1973) .It started as a rift and evolved into a foreland basin inMiddle Triassic with sediments lapping unconformably on thedeformed and metamorphosed rocks of the L achlan fold belt inthe west and abutting the New England fold belt in thenortheast along the east- dipping Hunter thrust.The Sydneybasin is separated from the Gunnedah basin by the MountCoricudgy an…     

Spiral and staircase inclusion trail axes within garnet and staurolite porphyroblasts from schists of the Bolton Syncline, Connecticut: timing of porphyroblast growth and the effects of fold development

In the Littleton Formation, garnet porphyroblasts preserve three generations of growth that occurred before formation of the Bolton Syncline. Inclusion trails of foliations overgrown by these porphyroblasts are always truncated by the matrix foliation suggesting that garnet growth predated the matrix foliation. In contrast, many staurolite porphyroblasts grew synchronously with formation of the Bolton Syncline. However, local rim overgrowths of the matrix foliation suggest that some staurolite porphyroblasts continued to grow after development of the fold during younger crenulation producing deformations. The axes of curvature or intersection of foliations defined by inclusion trails inside the garnet porphyroblasts lie oblique to the axial plane of the Bolton Syncline but do not change orientation across it. This suggests the garnets were not rotated during the subsequent deformation associated with fold development or during even younger crenulation events. Three samples also contain a different set of axes defined by curvature of inclusion trails in the cores of garnet porphyroblasts suggesting a protracted history of garnet growth. Foliation intersection axes in staurolite porphyroblasts are consistently orientated close to the trend of the axial plane of the Bolton Syncline on both limbs of the fold. In contrast, axes defined by curvature or intersection of foliations in the rims of staurolite porphyroblasts in two samples exhibit a different trend. This phase of staurolite growth is associated with a crenulation producing deformation that postdated formation of the Bolton Syncline. Measurement of foliation intersection axes defined by inclusion trails in both garnet and staurolite porphyroblasts has enabled the timing of growth relative to one another and to the development of the Bolton Syncline to be distinguished in rocks where other approaches have not been successful. Consistent orientation of foliation intersection axes across a range of younger structures suggests that the porphyroblasts did not rotate relative to geographical coordinates during subsequent ductile deformation. Foliation intersection axes in porphyroblasts are thus useful for correlating phases of porphyroblastic growth in this region.     

Episodic porphyroblast growth in the Fleur de Lys Supergroup, Newfoundland: timing relative to the sequential development of multiple crenulation cleavages

Inclusion trails in garnet and albite porphyroblasts in the Fleur de Lys Supergroup preserve successive generations of microstructures, some of which correlate with equivalent microstructures in the matrix. Microstructure–porphyroblast relationships provide timing constraints on a succession of seven crenulation cleavages (S1–S7) and five stages of porphyroblast growth. Significant destruction and alteration of early fabrics has occurred during the microstructural development of the rock mass. Garnet porphyroblasts grew episodically through four growth stages (G1–G4) and preserve a succession of five fabrics (S1–S5) as inclusion trails. Garnet growth during each of the four growth phases did not occur on all pre-existing porphyroblasts, resulting in contrasting growth histories between individual garnet porphyroblasts from the same outcrop. Albite porphyroblasts grew during a single stage of growth and have overgrown microstructures continuous with the matrix. The garnet and albite porphyroblast inclusion trails record a succession of crenulation cleavages without any rotation of the porphyroblasts relative to other porphyroblasts in the population.
Complex microstructural histories are best resolved by preparing multiple oriented thin sections from a large number of samples of different rock types within the area of study. The succession of matrix foliations must be understood, as it provides the most useful time-frame against which to measure the relative timing of phases of porphyroblast growth. Comparable microstructures must be identified in different porphyroblasts and in the rock matrix.     

Microstructural features of albite porphyroblasts as indicators of sequential Barrovian metamorphic mineral growth in the Caledonides of the SW Scottish Highlands

Inclusion – porphyroblast and porphyroblast – porphyroblast relationships show that abundant albite in mica schists in the Caledonides of the SW Scottish Highlands are part of the Barrovian metamorphic assemblage. Growth early in the D2 deformational phase of porphyroblast cores followed the growth of Mn‐rich garnet but preceded the growth of porphyroblasts of the index mineral almandine. Two sets of inclusion trails in the albite correspond to the regionally expressed S1 and S2. Straight trails of muscovite, chlorite, quartz, epidote and the earliest growth of biotite make up S1. Crenulated trails express deformation of S1 early in D2 with muscovite, chlorite, biotite, quartz, epidote and the Mn‐rich garnet associated with the development of S2 crenulation cleavage. The geometries of these trails uniquely record early stages of D2 deformational history. An _0?3 growth is related to the temporal coincidence of the formation of S1–S2 crenulation cleavage hinges as favourable sites for nucleation and the release of large amounts of water from prograde reactions during tectonothermal reconstitution of first cycle immature sediments with a volcanic component. The main characteristics of the regionally expressed D2 schistosity were developed during the major grain coarsening that followed both albite and almandine porphyroblast growth. Essentially inclusion‐free An _4?19 rims grew on the inclusion‐containing cores in the almandine zone in the later stages of schistosity growth and unoriented porphyroblasts of muscovite, biotite and chlorite indicate that mineral growth extended from the later stages of D2 to post‐D2. Previous interpretations of the albite porphyroblast growth having been during D4 to post‐D4 contemporaneous with retrogression are inconsistent with the microstructural evidence.