Microstructural and metamorphic evolution of a high‐pressure granitic orthogneiss during continental subduction (Orlica–Śnieżnik dome,Bohemian Massif)

A microstructural and metamorphic study of a naturally deformed medium‐ to high‐pressure granitic orthogneiss (Orlica–?nie?nik dome, Bohemian Massif) provides evidence of behaviour of the felsic crust during progressive burial along a subduction‐type apparent thermal gradient (～10 °C km^?1). The granitic orthogneisses develops three distinct microstructural types, as follows: type I – augen orthogneiss, type II – banded orthogneiss and type III – mylonitic orthogneiss, each representing an evolutionary stage of a progressively deformed granite. Type I orthogneiss is composed of partially recrystallized K‐feldspar porphyroclasts surrounded by wide fronts of myrmekite, fully recrystallized quartz aggregates and interconnected monomineralic layers of recrystallized plagioclase. Compositional layering in the type II orthogneiss is defined by plagioclase‐ and K‐feldspar‐rich layers, both of which show an increasing proportion of interstitial minerals, as well as the deformation of recrystallized myrmekite fronts. Type III orthogneiss shows relicts of quartz and K‐feldspar ribbons preserved in a fine‐grained polymineralic matrix. All three types have the same assemblage (quartz + plagioclase + K‐feldspar + muscovite + biotite + garnet + sphene ± ilmenite), but show systematic variations in the composition of muscovite and garnet from types I to III. This is consistent with the equilibration of the three types at different positions along a prograde P?T path ranging from <15 kbar and <700 °C (type I orthogneiss) to 19–20 kbar and >700 °C (types II and III orthogneisses). The deformation types thus do not represent evolutionary stages of a highly partitioned deformation at constant P?T conditions, but reflect progressive formation during the burial of the continental crust. The microstructures of the type I and type II orthogneisses result from the dislocation creep of quartz and K‐feldspar whereas a grain boundary sliding‐dominated diffusion creep regime is the characteristic of the type III orthogneiss. Strain weakening related to the transition from type I to type II microstructures was enhanced by the recrystallization of wide myrmekite fronts, and plagioclase and quartz, and further weakening and strain localization in type III orthogneiss occurred via grain boundary sliding‐enhanced diffusion creep. The potential role of incipient melting in strain localization is discussed.     

Deformation of granitic rocks across the brittle-ductile transition

A microstructural analysis has been carried out on mylonites and mylonitic gneisses of the Eastern Peninsular Ranges Mylonite Zone, which were formed over a range of metamorphic conditions from lower greenschist to amphibolite facies. Composite planar fabrics in the form of C and S planes are found at all metamorphic grades. Fractured feldspars, kinked biotites and ductile deformation of quartz characterize the lower greenschist facies mylonites. At mid-upper greenschist grade orthoclase grains show dynamic recrystallization textures whereas plagioclase exhibits low temperature plasticity with only minor recovery. Biotite ribbons form by progressive rotation and coalescence of kink band segments to produce chevron fold patterns. At epidote-amphibolite grade and above, recovery processes and annealing recrystallization predominate in all minerals. Residual orthoclase porphyroclasts show strain-related myrmekite formation along those sides of the grains that face the instantaneous shortening direction. Myrmekite formation due to replacement reactions cannot explain this geometry. It is proposed that the myrmekites formed due to a combination of exsolution, replacement and strain-enhanced diffusion.     

Reaction localization and softening of texturally hardened mylonites in a reactivated fault zone, central Argentina

The Tres Arboles ductile fault zone in the Eastern Sierras Pampeanas, central Argentina, experienced multiple ductile deformation and faulting events that involved a variety of textural and reaction hardening and softening processes. Much of the fault zone is characterized by a (D2) ultramylonite, composed of fine‐grained biotite + plagioclase, that lacks a well‐defined preferred orientation. The D2 fabric consists of a strong network of intergrown and interlocking grains that show little textural evidence for dislocation or dissolution creep. These ultramylonites contain gneissic rock fragments and porphyroclasts of plagioclase, sillimanite and garnet inherited from the gneissic and migmatitic protolith (D1) of the hangingwall. The assemblage of garnet + sillimanite + biotite suggests that D1‐related fabrics developed under upper amphibolite facies conditions, and the persistence of biotite + garnet + sillimanite + plagioclase suggests that the ultramylonite of D2 developed under middle amphibolite facies conditions. Greenschist facies, mylonitic shear bands (D3) locally overprint D2 ultramylonites. Fine‐grained folia of muscovite + chlorite ± biotite truncate earlier biotite + plagioclase textures, and coarser‐grained muscovite partially replaces relic sillimanite grains. Anorthite content of shear band (D3) plagioclase is c. An30, distinct from D1 and D2 plagioclase (c. An35). The anorthite content of D3 plagioclase is consistent with a pervasive grain boundary fluid that facilitated partial replacement of plagioclase by muscovite. Biotite is partially replaced by muscovite and/or chlorite, particularly in areas of inferred high strain. Quartz precipitated in porphyroclast pressure shadows and ribbons that help define the mylonitic fabric. All D3 reactions require the introduction of H⁺ and/or H₂O, indicating an open system, and typically result in a volume decrease. Syntectonic D3 muscovite + quartz + chlorite preferentially grew in an orientation favourable for strain localization, which produced a strong textural softening. Strain localization occurred only where reactions progressed with the infiltration of aqueous fluids, on a scale of hundreds of micrometre. Local fracturing and microseismicity may have induced reactivation of the fault zone and the initial introduction of fluids. However, the predominant greenschist facies deformation (D3) along discrete shear bands was primarily a consequence of the localization of replacement reactions in a partially open system.     

浙西南遂昌—大柘地区八都岩群印支期变质变形序列

浙西南遂昌-大柘地区八都岩群在印支期变质事件影响下发生变质变形,通过详细野外调查和岩相学研究,可将其划分为3期变质变形序列：S₁变形期,NW向片麻理记录的残留紧闭褶皱,共生矿物组合为石榴子石变斑晶及其内部定向分布的包裹体矿物,石榴子石+黑云母+石英（泥质）和石榴子石+角闪石+斜长石+石英（长英质）;S₂变形期,区域性宽缓褶皱及NE向缓倾透入性片麻理,共生矿物组合为石榴子石变斑晶及定向分布的基质矿物,矽线石+石榴子石+黑云母+石英+斜长石±钾长石（泥质）和石榴子石+钾长石+斜长石+黑云母+石英（长英质）;S₃变形期,NE向陡倾透入性片麻理及韧脆性断裂大部分被花岗斑岩脉填充,共生矿物组合为石榴子石变斑晶及其周围退变矿物,石榴子石+矽线石+堇青石+斜长石+黑云母+石英±钾长石（泥质）和角闪石+斜长石+黑云母+钛铁矿（长英质）。结合前人研究成果,八都岩群印支期变质事件峰期变质程度达到麻粒岩相,显示顺时针近等温降压（ITD）型的p-T演化轨迹,S₁-S₃变质变形反映出从俯冲碰撞到快速折返冷却的演化过程,伴随S₃同期侵位的花岗斑岩锆石U-Pb定年结果,将该演化过程完成时间约束在229.7 Ma,可能是浙西南地区对印支期古特提斯洋域内印支-华南-华北板块之间俯冲-碰撞过程的响应。     

Grain-size reduction of feldspars by fracturing and neocrystallization in a low-grade granitic mylonite and its rheological effect

Feldspar grain-size reduction occurred due to the fracturing of plagioclase and K-feldspar, myrmekite formation and neocrystallization of albitic plagioclase along shear fractures of K-feldspar porphyroclasts in the leucocratic granitic rocks from the Yecheon shear zone of South Korea that was deformed under a middle greenschist-facies condition. The neocrystallization of albitic plagioclase was induced by strain energy adjacent to the shear fractures and by chemical free energy due to the compositional disequilibrium between infiltrating Na-rich fluid and host K-feldspar. With increasing deformation from protomylonite to mylonite, alternating layers of feldspar, quartz and muscovite developed. The fine-grained feldspar-rich layers were deformed dominantly by granular flow, while quartz ribbons were deformed by dislocation creep. With layer development and a more distributed strain in the mylonite, lower stresses in the quartz-rich layers resulted in a larger size of dynamically recrystallized quartz grains than that of the protomylonite.     

Development of quartz ribbons in quartzofeldspathic granulites

In high-grade (granulite facies) quartzofeldspathic rocks the progressive development of a fabric records contrasting deformation behaviour of quartz and feldspar. Feldspar has undergone deformation mainly by recrystallization-accommodated dislocation creep and produced smaller recrystallized grains progressively in the course of deformation. Quartz has not deformed solely by dislocation creep but also by a diffusion-controlled mechanism. Dislocation climb is important in the dislocation creep of quartz. In contrast to feldspar, quartz grains have not recrystallized into smaller grains at any stage of deformation. Rather, they have transformed initially to short monocrystalline ribbons and ultimately to long polycrystalline ribbons. This textural change of quartz is a continuous process and has taken place in the course of bulk textural change of the rocks during the deformation.     

Pseudotachylyte and the development of ultramylonite bands in the Saint-Barthélemy Massif,French Pyrenees

In mylonitic gneisses of the Saint-Barthelemy Massif in the French Pyrenees, evidence was found that ultramylonite bands developed by ductile deformation of pseudotachylyte.In the gneiss a mylonitic shape fabric was produced by a continuous structural event during retrogression from amphibolite to upper greenschist facies. Decrease in temperature caused gradual hardening in the gneiss which led to the development of pseudotachylyte bands by intermittent seismic slip. These acted as weak zones in which ductile deformation was concentrated. A microstructure typical of ultramylonite was produced in these deformed pseudotachylyte bands.     

P–T conditions of decompression of the Limpopo high-grade terrane: record from shear zones

The Southern Marginal Zone of the late Archean Limpopo Belt of southern Africa is an example of a high‐grade gneiss terrane in which both upper and lower crustal deformational processes can be studied. This marginal zone consists of large thrust sheets of complexly folded low‐strain gneisses, bound by an imbricate system of kilometre‐wide deep crustal shear zones characterized by the presence of high‐strain gneisses (‘primary straight gneisses’). These shear zones developed during the decompression stage of this high‐grade terrane. Low‐ and high‐strain gneisses both contain similar reaction textures that formed under different kinematic conditions during decompression. Evidence for the early M1/D1 metamorphic phase (> 2690 Ma) is rarely preserved in low‐strain gneisses as a uniform orientation of relict Al‐rich orthopyroxene in the matrix and quartz and plagioclase inclusions in the cores of early (M1) Mg‐rich garnet porphyroblasts. This rare fabric formed at > 820 °C and > 7.5 kbar. The retrograde M2/D2 metamorphic fabric (2630–2670 Ma) is well developed in high‐strain gneisses from deep crustal shear zones and is microscopically recognized by the presence of reaction textures that formed synkinematically during shear deformation: M2 sigmoid‐shaped reaction textures with oriented cordierite–orthopyroxene symplectites formed after the early M1 Mg‐rich garnet porphyroblasts, and syn‐decompression M2 pencil‐shaped garnet with oriented inclusions of sillimanite and quartz formed after cordierite under conditions of near‐isobaric cooling at 750–630 °C and 6–5 kbar. The symplectites and pencil‐shaped garnet are oriented parallel to the shear fabric and in the stretching direction. Low‐strain gneisses from thrust sheets show similar M2 decompression cooling and near‐isobaric cooling reaction textures that formed within the same P–T range, but under low‐strain conditions, as shown by their pseudo‐idioblastic shapes that reflect the contours of completely replaced M1 garnet and randomly oriented cordierite–orthopyroxene symplectites. The presence of similar reaction textures reflecting low‐strain conditions in gneisses from thrust sheets and high‐strain conditions in primary straight gneisses suggests that most of the strain during decompression was partitioned into the bounding shear zones. A younger M3/D3 mylonitic fabric (< 2637 Ma) in unhydrated mylonites is characterized by brittle deformation of garnet porphyroclasts and ductile deformation of the quartz–plagioclase–biotite matrix developed at < 600 °C, as the result of post‐decompression shearing under epidote–amphibolite facies conditions.     

Granitoid rocks of the southern Menderes Massif (southwestern Turkey): field evidence for Tertiary magmatism in an extensional shear zone

Recent field campaign in the southern Menderes Massif in southwestern Turkey revealed that the so-called ‘core of the massif’ comprises two distinct types of granitoid rocks: an orthogneiss (traditionally known as augen gneisses) and leucocratic metagranite, where the latter is intrusive into the former and the structurally overlying ‘cover’ schists. These differ from one another in intensity of deformation, degree of metamorphism and kinematics. The orthogneiss display penetrative top-to-the-N–NNE fabrics formed under upper-amphibolite facies conditions during the Eocene main Menderes metamorphism (MMM), whereas foliation and stretching lineation exists in the leucocratic metagranites but are not strongly developed. The leucocratic metagranites show evidence of syn- to post-emplacement deformation in a series of weakly developed top-to-the-S–SSW fabrics formed under lower greenschist-facies (?) conditions. Leucocratic metagranite bodies occur all along the augen gneiss–schist contact in the southern Menderes Massif; they are emplaced as sheet-like bodies into country rocks (previously deformed and metamorphosed during a top-to-the-N–NNE Alpine orogeny) along a ductile extensional shear zone, located between orthogneisses and metasediments, which was possibly active during emplacement. The data presently available indicate that emplacement and associated ductile extensional deformation occurred during Late Oligocene–Early Miocene time. These results confirm previous contentions that there are Tertiary granites in this part of the Menderes Massif.     

Igneous origin of K-feldspar megacrysts in deformed granite of the Papoose Flat Pluton, California, USA

Many points of evidence, especially igneous microstructures and structures resulting from solid-state deformation, indicate that K-feldspar megacrysts in deformed granites of the Papoose Flat pluton are residual phenocrysts, not porphyroblasts. Evidence of an igneous origin includes features such as crystal shapes, simple twinning, zonally arranged euhedral plagioclase inclusions, oscillatory compositional zoning, and local occurrence in microgranitoid enclaves. Evidence of solid-state deformation of the megacrysts (which is consistent with their existence prior to the mylonitic deformation) includes marginal recrystallization and neocrystallization, microcline twinning, marginal replacement by myrmekite, and recrystallized/neocrystallized “tails”. Evidence of porphyroblastic growth, such as overgrown inclusion trails, is absent. This appears to be the situation in most felsic augen gneisses and mylonites.     

Quartz shape fabric variations and c-axis fabrics in a ribbon-mylonite: arguments for an oscillating foliation

This paper describes quartz ribbons parallel to foliation, containing elongate recrystallized quartz grains aligned oblique to the foliation within a mylonite of the southern Tasman Belt, southeastern Australia. The shape fabric of quartz grains varies in obliquity (with respect to the foliation) and intensity (grain aspect ratio) from one ribbon to another, whereas the c-axis fabric pattern is stable with respect to the mylonitic foliation and lineation. It is argued that the grain shape fabric is an oscillating foliation due to competition between deformation and syntectonic recrystallization.     

内蒙赤峰地区若干主干断裂带的构造热年代学

黑里河-宋三家和西拉木仑近东西向断裂的宏观和显微组构特征均指示了右行走滑剪切；小城子-八里罕北北东向断裂显示了平面上的左行剪切和剖面上的正断式剪切。根据断裂糜棱岩中长石残斑与韧性基质在粒径上的显著差异，采用逐级破碎、逐级分选的方法，逐次剔除长石残斑。从细粒韧性基质中分选出钾长石、斜长石和黑云母，进行糜棱岩矿物内部Rb—Sr等时线定年和单颗粒黑云母的激光熔化^40Ar／^39Ar定年。定年结果显示，糜棱岩化促进了手标本尺度上的同位素均一化，造成了原岩同位素时钟的重置。定年结果表明，黑里河-宋三家断裂变形的年龄为232Ma；西拉木仑断裂右行挤压走滑的年龄为165Ma。蒙古古生代岩浆弧与华北地块北缘的碰撞拼贴，以及华北-蒙古联合地块与西伯利亚板块的碰撞拼贴的远程效应。导致了上述2期变形。小城子-八里罕断裂的左行和正断式剪切的年龄介于127～117Ma，与喀喇沁核杂岩的快速隆升时期相同。壳-幔隆升促进了中下地壳的韧性化和拆离，导致了北北东向断裂的左行和正断式剪切。     

Biotite melting in high-grade metamorphic gneisses from the Haut Allier (French Massif Central)

In the biotite-sillimanite and biotite-sillimanite-cordierite gneisses from the Haut Allier (French Massif Central), the biotite grains are partially melted: they are embayed and replaced by an isotropic material associated with metallic oxides. The complete study of this glass by optical microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, electronic microanalysis and X-Ray diffraction was performed: the glassy state is well established (locally some very fine kaolinite crystals are present in the glass as hydrothermal reconstruction). This glass results from the incongruent melting of biotite. The alumino-silicate melt corroded the preexistent quartz and feldspar grains. Anhydrous phases crystallized from this melt: successively sillimanite-cordierite and quartz. Correlatively, the melt must have become water-saturated and a new highly hydrated fluid phase should then have coexisted with it. Potassium and silicium, together with water, may have been components of the relatively mobile hydrous phase and this one may have been responsible for some hydration reactions such as muscovitization of feldspars. The petrological implications must be emphasized: in the studied gneisses, biotite cannot be considered as a resister. In fact, biotite melts and this melting is probably an important agent of the regional anatexis.     

辽东南长海地区花岗质片麻岩类的地球化学特征:对其原岩性质及形成环境的制约

本文对辽东南长海地区花岗质片麻岩进行了系统的岩石学和地球化学研究,以便对其原岩性质及形成的构造环境给予制约。研究结果表明,研究区内花岗质片麻岩类可划分为富钠和富钾两类花岗质岩石,前者包括黑云二长花岗质片麻岩和花岗闪长质片麻岩,矿物组成主要包括斜长石、石英、黑云母及少量的钾长石等,后者则主要包括花岗质、二长花岗质和糜棱岩化花岗质片麻岩,其矿物组成以钾长石、斜长石、石英和次要的白云母和黑云母为主。地球化学分析结果显示,富钠花岗质片麻岩具有富硅、富钠、高铝、富集LREEs和LILEs、强烈亏损HREEs和HFSEs(Nb、Ta、P、Ti)、轻重稀土强烈分馏、并显示弱负Eu异常和Ba的相对亏损等特征;而富钾花岗质片麻岩则显示高硅、富钾、过铝质的地球化学属性、富集LREEs和LILEs、亏损HREEs和HFSEs,与富钠花岗质岩石相比,轻重稀土分馏程度相对较弱、HFSEs以及Ba相对于Rb和Th的亏损程度更强,并显示中等负Eu异常和强烈的Sr负异常等特征。上述特征表明,辽东南长海地区富钠花岗质片麻岩应起源于中酸性陆壳物质的部分熔融,并可能有玄武质物质的加入,原岩应为具有活动大陆边缘属性的花岗闪长岩,其形成应与狼林地块(或胶辽地块)东南及南部先存洋盆向陆块之下的俯冲作用相联系;而富钾花岗质片麻岩应形成于中酸性陆壳物质的部分熔融,原岩为具有碰撞型花岗岩属性的碱性花岗岩,其形成应与洋壳消减闭合、陆陆碰撞拼贴相联系。     

二长石地质温度计在估算乌拉山金矿碱性长石形成温度中的应用

内蒙古乌拉山金矿田内主要出露晚太古代乌拉山群区域变质岩和规模不一的花岗岩体以及不同时代、不同种类的脉状地质体。含金矿脉中主要矿物共生组合为碱性长石、石英、斜长石、碳酸盐矿物(方解石、白云石)和少量金属硫化物。矿床的显著特征为碱性长石交代作用强烈，碱性长石也广泛产于该地区其他各种类型的岩石中。本文采用电子显微探针分析了共生碱性长石和斜长石的化学成分，并采用三元二长石温度模型估计了碱性长石的平衡温度。结果表明，第一成矿阶段的碱性长石一石英含金矿脉中碱性长石的形成温度为353℃，第二成矿阶段石英含金矿脉中碱性长石的形成温度为281℃，矿脉碱性长石形成压力约为5kbar。这些结果与同类矿石中平衡共生的碳酸盐矿物和云母类矿物的地质温度计估计的形成温度以及共生石英中流体包裹体的均一温度非常一致。因此，乌拉山金矿床形成和富集的温度可估测为260～380℃，压力约为5kbar。此外，应用二长石温度计计算了本地区区域变质片麻岩和花岗岩中碱性长石的平衡温度，所得温度比采用共生铁铝榴石和黑云母温度计估计的温度要低约250℃。这表明共生的铁铝榴石和黑云母的平衡温度可能代表其寄主变质岩变质期温度及寄主花岗岩原生温度，而区域变质岩和花岗岩中的碱性长石在经历了随后多次热液作用后，可能重新平衡再生，这也与前人对乌拉山金矿的矿床地质和同位素研究的结果一致。     

秦岭商丹带沙沟糜棱岩带的显微构造及其(p)-T-t演化路径的再认识

对沙沟糜棱岩带的78个样品进行了显微构造与组构分析。石英以动态重结晶Ⅱ型条带为主,其C-轴组构型式为极密Ⅰ型,同时可见Ⅲ型石英条带残存。长石均显脆性碎裂变形,仅钾长石略具韧性变形。糜棱岩面理普遍绕过石榴石斑晶分布。存在多次后期脆性变形构造。这些显微构造与组构特征表明,该带糜棱岩化阶段处于中─高绿片岩相条件、并大致发生在晚白垩世以后。糜棱岩化阶段之前该带可能存在一个角闪岩相左行韧性剪切变形阶段。糜棱岩化阶段之后,该带直接进入脆性变形阶段。据此,笔者对前人有关沙沟糜棱岩带(p)-T-t演化路径提出修正意见。     

Structures and fabrics in a crustal-scale shear zone,Betic Cordillera,SE Spain

A broad zone of dominantly ductile high-strain deformation lies beneath the Aguilón nappe in the Sierra Alhamilla, southern Spain. It forms part of a crustal-scale movement zone, traceable through much of the Betic Cordillera, which separates the Higher Betic Nappes from the underlying Nevado-Filabride Complex. The zone is characterized in outcrop by a distinctive platy foliation and a strong NNE-trending stretching lineation. Microstructural characteristics include quartz ribbons, mica fish, augen of feldspar and other minerals in a matrix of dynamically recrystallized quartz, and extensional crenulation cleavages. Narrow bands of ultramylonite and cataclasite occur within and on the margins of the movement zone. Deformation occurred under lower greenschist-facies conditions and was accompanied by retrogression of earlier higher-grade mineral assemblages.Structures in the movement zone developed in a temporal sequence, beginning with isoclinal folding and transposition of older foliations. This was followed by the formation of extensional crenulation cleavages, and the progressive localization of strain into the ultramylonite bands. Mylonitic foliation in these bands is deformed by syn-mylonite folds restricted to the bands. All these structures were then deformed by S- to SE-vergent small-scale folds restricted to the movement zone as a whole. Cataclasis, associated with alteration, is localized along the ultramylonite bands and indicates a transition to late-stage brittle deformation. The lower boundary of the movement zone is gradational: strain decreases, recrystallized grainsize and the degree of recrystallization of quartz increases, and pressure solution becomes the dominant deformation mechanism in mica-schist.Asymmetric quartz fabrics in the movement zone indicate a NNE sense of shear; but variations in the degree of asymmetry suggest that flow was partitioned, with the ultramylonite bands taking up much of the shear strain, and the intervening rocks deforming more slowly and with a lower degree of non-coaxiality. Diffuse fabrics in the fine-grained ultramylonite bands may indicate a switch to a grainsize-sensitive deformation mechanism, and an overall downward increase in the opening angle of crossed-girdle fabrics may reflect increased water activity at depth.     

The ultra‐high pressure coronitic and pseudomorphous reactions in a metagranodiorite from the Brossasco‐Isasca Unit,Dora‐Maira Massif,western Italian Alps: a petrographic study and equilibrium thermodynamic modelling

Metagranodiorite samples from the Brossasco‐Isasca Unit, Dora‐Maira Massif, western Alps, show pseudomorphous and coronitic textures where igneous minerals were partially replaced by ultra‐high pressure (UHP) metamorphic assemblages. The original magmatic paragenesis consisted of quartz, plagioclase, K‐feldspar, biotite and minor phases. During UHP metamorphism, the plagioclase (site P) was replaced by zoisite, jadeite, quartz, K‐feldspar and kyanite, and coronitic reactions developed between biotite and adjacent minerals. At the original igneous biotite–quartz contact (site A), a single corona of poorly zoned garnet is developed, whereas at the biotite–K‐feldspar (site B) and biotite–plagioclase (site C) contacts, composite coronas are formed. Integration of results from petrographic observations, calculations of mineral stoichiometry and thermodynamic calculations of mineral stability has allowed the determination of the metamorphic reactions involved and the estimation of the metamorphic conditions, which reached as high as 24 kbar and 650 °C. Accurate microanalysis by energy‐dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) and statistical analysis of the data allowed us to identify, for the first time in a natural Na‐pyroxene of metagranitoid rocks, the end‐member Ca‐Eskola.     

Tertiary evolution of the central Menderes Massif based on structural investigations of metamorphics and sedimentary cover rocks between Salihli and Kiraz (western Turkey)

Augen gneisses, mica schists, and marbles of the Menderes Massif and its sedimentary cover rocks are exposed south of the Gediz graben. The augen gneisses form the structurally lowest part of the studied lithological sequence, and are overlain by a schist complex. The structurally highest part is formed by a series of marbles. The ages of this lithological sequence range from Precambrian to Early Paleocene. Furthermore, this sequence records the tectonic evolution since the Precambrian. The sedimentary cover of the Menderes Massif consists of two groups of sediments from Early Miocene to Quaternary. The lower group, the Alayehir group, consists of Early- to mid-Miocene-aged fluvial and limnic sediments which form the lower and the upper parts, respectively. The Alayehir group is overlain by mainly fluvial sediments of the Gediz group. Both the Alayehir and the Gediz groups are separated by an angular unconformity. Six deformational phases could be distinguished within the metamorphic rocks of the Menderes Massif and its Tertiary cover. The structures which were interpreted to belong to deformational events predating the Paleocene are summarized as deformational phase D1. D1 structures were nearly completely overprinted by the subsequent deformation events. The second deformational phase D2 occurred between Early Eocene and Early Oligocene. D2 occurred contemporaneously with a Barrovian-type regional metamorphism. The third deformational phase D3 is characterized by folding of the axial planes which formed at the end of Early Oligocene. The deformational event D4 occurred during the Late Oligocene and is related to an extensional period. The deposition of the sedimentary rocks which belong to the Tertiary cover of the Menderes Massif that started in the Early Miocene was interrupted by a compressional phase (D5) during the Late Miocene. Sediments which were deposited since the Early Pliocene record structures which were related to a young extensional phase (D6). This extensional phase has continued to the Present.