Growth zoning of garnet porphyroblasts: Grain boundary and microtopographic controls

Chemical zoning in the outer few 10s of microns of garnet porphyroblasts has been investigated to assess the scale of chemical equilibrium with matrix minerals in a pelitic schist. Garnet porphyroblasts from the Late Proterozoic amphibolite facies regional metamorphic mica schists from Glen Roy in the Scottish Highlands contain typical prograde growth zoning patterns. Edge compositions have been measured via a combination of analysis of traverses across the planar edges of porphyroblast surfaces coupled to X-ray mapping of small areas within polished thin sections at the immediate edge of the porphyroblasts. These approaches reveal local variation in garnet composition, especially of grossular (Ca) and almandine (Fe) components, with a range at the edge from <7 mol.% grs to >16 mol.% grs, across distances of less than 50 µm. This small-scale patchy compositional zoning is as much variation as the core–rim compositional zoning across the whole of a 3 mm porphyroblast. Ca and Fe heterogeneity occurs on a scale suggesting a combination of inefficient diffusive exchange across grain boundaries during prograde growth and the evolving microtopography of the porphyroblast surface control garnet composition. The latter creates haloes of compositional zoning adjacent to some inclusions, which typically extend from the inclusion towards the porphyroblast edge during further growth. The lack of a consistent equilibrium composition at the garnet edge is also apparent in the internal zoning of the porphyroblast and so processes occurring during entrapment of some mineral inclusions have a profound influence on the overall chemical zoning. Garnet compositions and associated zoning patterns are widely used by petrologists to reconstruct P–T–t paths for crustal rocks. The evidence of extremely localized (10–50 µm scale) equilibrium during growth further undermines these approaches.     

Contact aureoles as constraints on regional P-T trajectories: an example from the Northern Alabama Piedmont, USA

Abstract Contact aureoles of plutons emplaced into regionally metamorphosed terranes can provide indicators of physical conditions along a portion of regional metamorphic P-T trajectories, thereby allowing reconstruction of more complete P-T loops than would be otherwise possible. In the Northern Alabama Piedmont of the southern Appalachians, Wedowee Group metapelites preserve evidence for two regional metamorphic phases overprinted by contact metamorphism adjacent to the Blakes Ferry Trondhjemite. Textural evidence indicates that an early bt+st+grt assemblage was replaced by bt+chl+grt during the latter stages of regional metamorphism. Changes in AKFM topology, complex Fe-Mg-Ca garnet zoning, and the latestage appearance of epidote indicate that a sequence of continuous reactions (bt+st = grt+ ms followed by chl+ms+Ca-grt+Ca-pl=bt+ (Fe+Mg)-grt+ep) occurred in response to increasing pressure and resulted in the observed changes in mineral assemblage. Pl-ms-bt-grt thermobarometry indicates conditions of 580° 65°C, 8.5±0.8 kbar for equilibration of grt+ bt+chl. Pluton emplacement, subsequent to penetrative deformation, caused textural annealing and mineral re-equilibration by the continuous reaction bt+(Fe+Mg)-grt+ep = chl+ms+Ca-grt+Ca-pl within 50 m of the pluton. Conditions of 510±65°C, 5-7 kbar are inferred. A reconstructed P-T trajectory for this area is characterized by (1) early moderate- T , moderate- P metamorphism; (2) an increase in P to approximately 8.5 kbar; and (3) decompression and slight cooling prior to pluton emplacement. The compressional phase of this path is interpreted to result from underthrusting of the Wedowee metasediments to mid-crustal levels during Palaeozoic crustal thickening. Late-stage decompression prior to intrusion records uplift of these rocks in response to movement on structurally lower thrusts.     

Geospeedometry of metamorphic rocks: examples in the Rantasalmi-Sulkava and Kiuruvesi areas, eastern Finland. Biotite–garnet diffusion couples

Compositional zoning in biotite–garnet pairs in metamorphic rocks from eastern Finland has been studied. The Mg profiles in the garnet side of biotite–garnet crystal pairs have been interpreted by means of Lasaga's theory (geospeedometry). However, the binary interdiffusion equations are first reformulated by starting from a ternary system and using the lattice fixed frame of reference. This frame of reference gives the fluxes directly by means of the numbers of diffusing ions, which helps to check the 1-dimensionality of the analysis assumed in Lasaga's theory. It is also shown that the recently argued effect of the third cation Ca is negligible in our samples. We were able to investigate satisfactory profiles in three samples from different areas. The values for the cooling rate are a few degrees per million years if the diffusion data obtained by Freer are adopted. The cooling rates are in agreement with recent estimates based on the K–Ar ages on biotite in the same areas.     

The effect of whole-rock MnO content on the stability of garnet in pelitic schists during metamorphism

Garnet-bearing mineral assemblages are commonly observed in pelitic schists regionally metamorphosed to upper greenschist and amphibolite facies conditions. Modelling of thermodynamic data for minerals in the system Na₂O–K₂O–FeO–MgO–Al₂O₃–SiO₂–H₂O, however, predicts that garnet should be observed only in rocks of a narrow range of very high Fe/Mg bulk compositions. Traditionally, the nearly ubiquitous presence of garnet in medium- to high-grade pelitic schists is attributed qualitatively to the stabilizing effect of MnO, based on the observed strong partitioning of MnO into garnet relative to other minerals. In order to quantify the dependence of garnet stability on whole-rock MnO content, we have calculated mineral stabilities for pelitic rocks in the system MnO–Na₂O–K₂O–FeO–MgO–Al₂O₃–SiO₂–H₂O for a moderate range of MnO contents from a set of non-linear equations that specify mass balance and chemical equilibrium among minerals and fluid. The model pelitic system includes quartz, muscovite. albite, pyrophyllite, chlorite, chloritoid, biotite, garnet, staurolite, cordierite, andalusite, kyanite. sillimanite, K-feldspar and H₂O fluid. In the MnO-free system, garnet is restricted to high Fe/Mg bulk compositions, and commonly observed mineral assemblages such as garnet–chlorite and garnet–kyanite are not predicted at any pressure and temperature. In bulk compositions with X_Mn= Mn/(Fe + Mg + Mn) > 0.01, however, the predicted garnet-bearing mineral assemblages are the same as the sequence of prograde mineral assemblages typically observed in regional metamorphic terranes. Temperatures predicted for the first appearance of garnet in model pelitic schist are also strongly dependent on whole-rock MnO content. The small MnO contents of normal pelitic schists (X_Mn= 0.01–0.04) are both sufficient and necessary to account for the observed stability of garnet.     

Constraining the P–T path of a MORB-type eclogite using pseudosections, garnet zoning and garnet-clinopyroxene thermometry: an example from the Bohemian Massif

A mid‐ocean ridge basalt (MORB)‐type eclogite from the Moldanubian domain in the Bohemian Massif retains evidence of its prograde path in the form of inclusions of hornblende, plagioclase, clinopyroxene, titanite, ilmenite and rutile preserved in zoned garnet. Prograde zoning involves a flat grossular core followed by a grossular spike and decrease at the rim, whereas Fe/(Fe + Mg) is also flat in the core and then decreases at the rim. In a pseudosection for H₂O‐saturated conditions, garnet with such a zoning grows along an isothermal burial path at c. 750 °C from 10 kbar in the assemblage plagioclase‐hornblende‐diopsidic clinopyroxene‐quartz, then in hornblende‐diopsidic clinopyroxene‐quartz, and ends its growth at 17–18 kbar. From this point, there is no pseudosection‐based information on further increase in pressure or temperature. Then, with garnet‐clinopyroxene thermometry, the focus is on the dependence on, and the uncertainties stemming from the unknown Fe³⁺ content in clinopyroxene. Assuming no Fe³⁺ in the clinopyroxene gives a serious and unwarranted upward bias to calculated temperatures. A Fe³⁺‐contributed uncertainty of ±40 °C combined with a calibration and other uncertainties gives a peak temperature of 760 ± 90 °C at 18 kbar, consistent with no further heating following burial to eclogite facies conditions. Further pseudosection modelling suggests that decompression to c. 12 kbar occurred essentially isothermally from the metamorphic peak under H₂O‐undersaturated conditions (c. 1.3 mol.% H₂O) that allowed the preservation of the majority of garnet with symplectitic as well as relict clinopyroxene. The modelling also shows that a MORB‐type eclogite decompressed to c. 8 kbar ends as an amphibolite if it is H₂O saturated, but if it is H₂O‐undersaturated it contains assemblages with orthopyroxene. Increasing H₂O undersaturation causes an earlier transition to SiO₂ undersaturation on decompression, leading to the appearance of spinel‐bearing assemblages. Granulite facies‐looking overprints of eclogites may develop at amphibolite facies conditions.     

Metamorphism of carbonaceous material in the Tono contact aureole, Kitakami Mountains, Japan

Abstract Optical and X-ray studies of carbonaceous material in the Tono contact metamorphic aureole, Kitakami Mountains, northeast Japan, have revealed that metamorphic graphitization proceeded through two discontinuous changes: first, optically anisotropic domains develop within the coaly phytoclast, forming transitional material, and then, ordered graphite crystallizes by the decomposition of pre-existing carbonaceous materials. Coaly material disappears in the uppermost chlorite zone. Transitional material appears in the middle of the lower chlorite zone. Graphite appears in the upper chlorite zone and its modal abundance increases across the andalusite iso-grad to the cordierite isograd where all the carbonaceous materials have converted to graphite. The apparently continuous variation in the crystallographic parameters of the bulk carbonaceous material during graphitization is largely due to variation in the modal proportions of three types of carbonaceous materials. The temperature of graphitization in the present area is at least 100°C higher than the temperature in the Sanbagawa and New Caledonia high-pressure metamorphic terrains, probably due to the slow reaction rate of metamorphic graphitization and to the short duration of contact metamorphism.     

Strontium isotope zoning in garnet: implications for metamorphic matrix equilibration,geochronology and phase equilibrium modelling

In principle, garnet growth rates may be calculated from ⁸⁷Rb/⁸⁶Sr and ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr measurements in garnet subsamples and the surrounding rock matrix. Because of low Rb/Sr, garnet should passively record the matrix decay of ⁸⁷Rb to ⁸⁷Sr as a progressive increase in ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr from core to rim. This concept was tested by collecting Rb‐Sr data for five garnet grains from four major orogenic belts: eastern Vermont (c. 380 Ma), western New Hampshire (c. 320 Ma), southern Chile (c. 75 Ma) and northwestern Italy (c. 35 Ma). Both normal Sr isotope zoning (increasing ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr from core to rim) and inverse Sr zoning (decreasing ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr from core to rim) were observed. Garnet and matrix isotope data commonly yielded grossly inaccurate model ages. Incomplete Rb and Sr equilibration among matrix minerals is invoked to explain the deviations between theoretical v. measured zoning patterns and the age disparities. Initially, the reactive matrix is dominated by rapidly equilibrating Rb‐rich mica, which imparts high ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr values in garnet cores. Progressive participation of slower equilibrating Sr‐rich plagioclase buffers or even reduces ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr, possibly leading to flat or decreasing ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr from garnet cores to rims. Unusually high ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr in garnet in combination with bulk matrix compositions causes erroneously young apparent ages, so metamorphic ages, growth rates, and associated heating and loading rates are likely suspect. Although Rb‐Sr may be the most susceptible because of the profound disparities between mica and feldspar, zircon reactivity might influence the Lu‐Hf system by up to a few per cent. The Sm‐Nd system seems generally immune to these effects. Pseudosection analysis and conventional garnet geochronology, which presume complete matrix equilibration during metamorphism, may require modification to account for differences between whole‐rock v. reactive matrix compositions.     

On the mechanism of resorption zoning in metamorphic garnet

Abstract An analytical electron microscope study of almandine garnet from a metamorphosed Al–Fe‐rich rock revealed detailed composition profiles and defect microstructures of resorption zoning along fluid‐infiltrated veins and even into the garnet/ilmenite (inclusion) interface. This indicates a limited volume diffusion for the cations in substitution (mainly Ca and Fe) and an interface‐controlled partition for the extension of a composition‐invariant margin. A corrugated interface between the Ca‐rich margin/zone and the almandine garnet core is characterized by dislocation arrays and recovery texture further suggesting a resorption process facilitated by diffusion‐induced recrystallization, diffusion‐induced dislocation migration and diffusion–induced grain boundary migration. Integrated microstructural and chemical studies are essential for understanding the underlying mechanisms of processes such as garnet zoning and its modification. Without this understanding, it will not be possible to reliably use garnet compositions for thermobarometry and other applications that rely on garnet chemical information.     

Shape, size, spatial distribution and composition of garnet crystals in highly deformed gneiss of the Otter Lake area, Québec, and a model for garnet crystallization

Garnet–biotite–(sillimanite) gneiss (～700 °C, 7 kbar) of the Otter Lake area in the Western Grenville Province (Canadian Shield) occurs as granitic gneiss (group 4) that forms a large part of the Otter Complex, and as widely distributed, more heterogenous metasedimentary gneiss (group 2). In one sample of group 4 gneiss (Qtz₂₅ Pl₃₄ Kfs₂₈ Bt₁₀ Grt_2.5 Sil₁) the true diameter (determined by serial grinding) of subhedral garnet crystals ranges from 0.2 to 3.0 mm, with a mode at 1.0 mm. Nearest‐neighbour measurements in this sample, and in surfaces of nine additional samples (all <5% garnet) confirm that garnet crystals are distributed mainly at random; slight clustering was detected in two samples. In one sample of group 4 gneiss, microprobe analyses on sections through crystal centres (obtained by serial slicing), reveal that small crystals and margins to large crystals contain more Fe and Mn and less Mg than the broad central regions of large crystals. Based on these and previous results, together with theoretical considerations, a crystallization model is proposed, in which, (i) garnet was produced by the continuous reaction, Ms + Bt + Qtz → Grt + Kfs + H₂O, (ii) nucleation occurred by the random selection of randomly distributed Ms–Bt–Qtz triple junctions, (iii) the rate of linear growth remained constant, and (iv) as temperature increased, the rate of nucleation first increased slowly, then remained nearly constant, and finally declined. Within‐population compositional homogenization was followed, on cooling, by local Fe–Mg–Mn exchange with biotite.     

Petrological significance of prograde homogenization of growth zoning in garnet: an example from the Llano Uplift'pa

In the Llano Uplift of central Texas (USA), prograde homogenization of garnet growth zoning took place during moderate- to high-pressure dynamothermal metamorphism over a narrow temperature range near the transition from the amphibolite to the granulite facies. This subtle record of early dynamothermal metamorphism survived subsequent static metamorphism at low pressures in the middle-amphibolite facies, despite the destruction of most high-pressure mineral assemblages that originated in the early metamorphic episode. Geographically systematic variations in the degree of homogenization indicate that the uplift as a whole underwent high-pressure metamorphism, in accord with emerging tectonic models for the mid-Proterozoic evolution of the southern margin of the North American continent.     

西藏甲玛超大型铜矿石榴子石特征及成因意义

石石榴子石是西藏甲玛超大型铜多金属矿床的主要矽卡岩矿物,分布广、颜色变化大,石榴子石矽卡岩中矿化好,是开展甲玛矽卡岩成因研究的一个重要切入点。通过对甲玛矿区大量岩矿心的地质编录,归纳石榴子石的颜色、晶形、矿物组合、矿化等地质现象,总结石榴子石在甲玛矿床的空间分布、矿化特征等,结合显微镜下鉴定,分析石榴子石的矿物学特征,并通过电子探针分析其化学成分。甲玛石榴子石集中于矽卡岩中,少量分布于角岩、大理岩和斑岩中。石榴子石为钙铁-钙铝榴石系列,以钙铁榴石为主,发育颜色与成分环带,光性异常致部分非均质。深色环带的SiO2、Al2O3含量较浅色环带高,而TFeO含量相反。石榴子石形成于矽卡岩早期,为晚期Cu、Mo、Pb、Zn、Au、Ag等多金属硫化物沉淀富集提供了有利空间。甲玛石榴子石的矿物学特征、化学成分组成、REE特征、流体包裹体、H-O同位素特征等显示其属于接触交代成因,认为甲玛是典型的岩浆热液接触交代矽卡岩型铜多金属矿床。     

Chromium and manganese zoning in pelitic garnet and kyanite: Spiral,overprint, and oscillatory (?) zoning patterns and the role of growth rate

X‐ray composition maps and quantitative analyses for Mn, Ca and Cr have been made for six pelitic and calc‐pelitic garnet crystals and Al, Fe and Cr analyses maps have been made for two kyanite crystals, from lower and mid/upper amphibolite facies rocks from the Grenville Province of western Labrador, using an electron microprobe analyser and a laser ablation ICP‐MS. Garnet with spiral (‘snowball’) internal fabrics (S_i) has spiral zoning in major elements, implying that growth was concentrated in discrete regions of the crystal at any one time (spiral zoning). Cr zoning is parallel to S_i in low amphibolite facies garnet with both straight and spiral internal fabrics, indicating that the garnet overprinted a fabric defined by Cr‐rich (mica±chlorite±epidote) and Cr‐poor (quartz±plagioclase) layers during growth (overprint zoning) and that Cr was effectively immobile. In contrast, in mid/upper amphibolite facies garnet porphyroblasts lacking S_i, Cr zoning is concentric, implying that Cr diffusion occurred. Cr zoning in kyanite porphyroblasts appears superficially similar to oscillatory zoning, with up to three or four annuli of Cr enrichment and/or depletion present in a single grain. However, the variable width, continuity, Cr concentration and local bifurcation of individual annuli suggest that an origin by overprint zoning may be more likely. The results of this study explain previously observed nonsystematic Cr zoning in garnet and irregular partitioning of Cr between coexisting metamorphic mineral pairs. In addition, this study points to the important role of crystal growth rate in determining the presence or absence of inclusions and the type of zoning exhibited by both major and trace elements. During fast growth, inclusions are preferentially incorporated into the growing porphyroblast and slow diffusing elements such as Cr are effectively immobile, whereas during slow growth, inclusions are not generally included in the porphyroblast and Cr zoning is concentric.     

西藏知不拉铜多金属矿床地质、石榴子石分带特征及其地质意义

西藏知不拉铜多金属床是冈底斯成矿带东段典型的矽卡岩矿床,石榴子石是矿区最主要的矽卡岩矿物,其颗粒间的空隙是金属矿物的主要赋存部位。本文通过详细的钻孔编录,结合岩矿鉴定及电子探针分析,划分出两种不同类型的石榴子环带,并在垂向上具有明显的分带:产于顶板凝灰岩中的石榴子石以钙铁榴石为主,环带中心颜色深,向外逐渐变浅,由纯钙铁榴石过渡到钙铝榴石;而位于底板大理岩附近石榴子石多以钙铝榴石为主,从环带核部向外颜色变深,化学组成由钙铝榴石向钙铁榴石变化,其它化学成分变化不大。反映该区上下两套不同性质围岩在石榴子石形成过程中所起的作用不同,其中上部凝灰岩主要提供了Fe,底部大理岩则是Ca的来源,热液流体贡献Si、Al及部分Fe,并随着环境和物质成分改变导致环带外侧具有不同于核部的变化趋势。这很好地解释了石榴子石矽卡岩在空间上具有上部为钙铁榴石、向下逐渐过渡到钙铝榴石的空间分带。石榴子石特征及分带显示了其属热液接触交代成因,这为矿床类型的确定提供了依据,也为在该区域内寻找类似矿床指明了方向。     

柴达木盆地北缘大柴旦和锡铁山榴辉岩中石榴子石环带对比及地质意义

大柴旦榴辉岩和锡铁山榴辉岩同为柴达木盆地北缘高压—超高压变质带的组成部分,但它们的岩相学特征、形成的PT条件及榴辉岩中石榴子石中保存的成分环带均具有明显的差异。大柴旦榴辉岩峰期变质的PT条件为T=620～730℃,P=2.3～2.8GPa,岩相学研究表明其经历了近等温降压或降温降压的后榴辉岩相历史,保存有进变质的矿物组合和石榴子石的生长环带及增生结构。相反,锡铁山榴辉岩的榴辉岩相的温度较高,岩相学研究显示其具有明显的后榴辉岩相的高温麻粒岩相的叠加,PT轨迹显示压力峰期早于温度峰期,具有略升温降压的后榴辉岩相变质历史,榴辉岩中石榴子石的成分环带表现为扩散环带,没有生长环带保留。大柴旦榴辉岩和锡铁山榴辉岩的不同的石榴子石环带特征反映了两者在形成过程中,特别是折返过程中不同的构造热历史。     

Two-stage growth of porphyroblastic biotite and garnet in the Barrovian metapelites of the Imjingang belt, central Korea

Porphyroblastic biotite and garnet in the Barrovian metapelites of the Imjingang belt, Korea, were investigated to unravel the sequence and mechanism of mineral growth. Poikiloblastic biotite contains straight inclusion trails (S_i) discontinuous to the major foliation, and develops clear zones at the grain margin. These microstructures suggest an initial growth of biotite between two contractional deformations (D_n−1 and D_n) followed by an overgrowth during D_n. Although garnet poikiloblasts contain variable S_i patterns, their major growth is likely to have occurred during D_n on the basis of compositional relationships among variable garnet types. Early poikiloblasts of both minerals were formed by chemical replacement of the matrix that consisted mainly of chlorite, muscovite and quartz. Subsequent growth of biotite was governed by a crack-filling mechanism, and was accompanied by the production of extensional cracks inside or around biotite, providing fluid pathways. The overgrowth of garnet was favoured at the biotite–garnet interface, and the consequence was a partial replacement of inclusion-poor garnet after biotite subsequent to D_n. In addition, clear zones and pressure shadows as well as the matrix around biotite porphyroblasts were replaced by garnet, suggesting an inheritance of various pre-existing microstructures in the S_i pattern of garnet. Further attention is thus required for any attempt to delineate the microstructural interaction between deformation and metamorphism, particularly in a sample containing early-grown porphyroblasts. Microstructural evidence for the two-stage growth of biotite and garnet is present up to the kyanite zone, indicating that this growth mechanism is prevalent during progressive metamorphism of Barrovian metapelites.     

Petrology and geothermobarometry of granulite facies metapelites from the Hisøy-Torungen area, south Norway: new data on the Sveconorvegian P–T–t path of the Bamble sector

ABSTRACT The high-grade rocks (metapelite, quartzite, metagabbro) of the Hisøy-Torungen area represent the south-westernmost exposures of granulites in the Proterozoic Bamble sector, south Norway. The area is isoclinally folded and a metamorphic P–T–t path through four successive stages (M1-M4) is recognized. Petrological evidence for a prograde metamorphic event (M1) is obtained from relict staurolite + chlorite + albite, staurolite + hercynite + ilmenite, cordierite + sillimanite, fine-grained felsic material + quartz and hercynite + biotite ± sillimanite within metapelitic garnet. The phase relations are consistent with a pressure of 3.6 ± 0.5 kbar and temperatures up to 750–850°C. M1 is connected to the thermal effect of the gabbroic intrusions prior to the main (M2) Sveconorwegian granulite facies metamorphism. The main M2 granulite facies mineral assemblages (quartz+ plagioclase + K-feldspar + garnet + biotite ± sillimanite) are best preserved in the several-metre-wide Al-rich metapelites, which represent conditions of 5.9–9.1 kbar and 790–884°C. These P–T conditions are consistent with a temperature increase of 80–100°C relative to the adjacent amphibolite facies terranes. No accompanying pressure variations are recorded. Up to 1-mm-wide fine-grained felsic veinlets appear in several units and represent remnants of a former melt formed by the reaction: Bt + Sil + Qtz→Grt + lq. This dehydration reaction, together with the absence of large-scale migmatites in the area, suggests a very reduced water activity in the rocks and XH₂O = 0.25 in the C–O–H fluid system was calculated for a metapelitic unit. A low but variable water activity can best explain the presence or absence of fine-grained felsic material representing a former melt in the different granulitic metapelites. The strongly peraluminous composition of the felsic veinlets is due to the reaction: Grt +former melt ± Sil→Crd + Bt ± Qtz + H₂O, which has given poorly crystalline cordierite aggregates intergrown with well-crystalline biotite. The cordierite- and biotite-producing reaction constrains a steep first-stage retrograde (relative to M2) uplift path. Decimetre- to metre-wide, strongly banded metapelites (quartz + plagioclase + biotite + garnet ± sillimanite) inter-layered with quartzites are retrograded to (M3) amphibolite facies assemblages. A P–T estimate of 1.7–5.6 kbar, 516–581°C is obtained from geothermobarometry based on rim-rim analyses of garnet–biotite–plagioclase–sillimanite–quartz assemblages, and can be related to the isoclinal folding of the rocks. M4 greenschist facies conditions are most extensively developed in millimetre-wide chlorite-rich, calcite-bearing veins cutting the foliation.     

Alpine metamorphism in the south-east Tauern Window, Austria: 1. P–T variations in space and time

Abstract The Pennine rocks exposed in the south-east Tauern Window, Austria, contain mineral assemblages which crystallized in the mid-Tertiary ‘late Alpine’regional metamorphism. The pressure and temperature conditions at the thermal peak of this event have been estimated for rocks at four different structural levels using a variety of published and thermochemically derived geobarometers and geothermometers. The results are: (a) In the garnet+chlorite zone, 2–5 km structurally above the staurolite+biotite isograd: T= 490.50°C, P= 7° 1 kbar; (b) Within 0.5 km of the staurolite+biotite isograd: T= 560±300C, P=7.1 kbar; (c) In the staurolite+biotite zone, c. 2.5 km structurally below the staurolite+biotite isograd: T= 610±30°C, P=7.6±1.2 kbar; (d) In the staurolite+biotite zone, 3–4 km structurally below the staurolite+biotite isograd: T= 630±40°C, P= 6.6±1.2 kbar. The pressure estimates imply that the total thickness of overburden above the basement-cover interface in the mid-Tertiary was c. 26.4 km. This overburden can only be accounted for by the Austro-Alpine units currently exposed in the vicinity of the Tauern Window, if the Altkristallin (the ‘Middle Austro-Alpine’nappe) was itself buried beneath an ‘Upper Austro-Alpine’nappe or nappe-pile which was 7.4 km thick at that time. The occurrence of epidote + margarite + quartz pseudomorphs after lawsonite in garnet, indicates that part of the Mesozoic Pennine cover sequence in the south-east Tauern experienced blueschist-facies conditions (T<450°C, P<12 kbar) in early Alpine times. Evidence from the central Tauern is used to argue that the blueschist-facies imprint post-dated the main phase of tectonic thickening (D¹_A) and was thus a direct consequence of continental collision. Combined oxygen-isotope and fluid-inclusion studies on late-stage veins, thought to have been at lithostatic pressure and in thermal equilibrium with their host rocks during formation, suggest that they crystallized from aqueous fluids at 1.1±0.4 kbar and 420.20°C. Early Alpine, late Alpine and vein-formation P–T constraints have been used to construct a P–T path for the base of the Mesozoic cover sequence in the south-east Tauern Window. The prograde part of the P–T path, between early and late Alpine metamorphic imprints, is unlikely to have been a smooth curve and may well have had a low dP/dT overall; the decompression (presumably due to erosion) which occurred immediately before the thermal peak and possibly also earlier in the Tertiary, was probably partly or completely cancelled by the effects of early- to mid-Tertiary (D²_A) tectonic thickening. The thermal peak of metamorphism was followed by a phase of almost isothermal decompression, which implies a period of rapid uplift in the middle Tertiary. The peak metamorphic P–T estimates are compared with the solutions of England's (1978) one-dimensional conductive thermal model of the Eastern Alps, and are shown to be consistent with the idea that the late Alpine metamorphism was caused by tectonic burial of the Pennine Zone beneath the Austro-Alpine nappes in the absence of extraneous heat sources, such as large intrusions, at depth.     

Metamorphic P–T Paths from pelitic schists and greenstones from the south-west Tauern Window, Eastern Alps

Abstract Petrological data from intercalated pelitic schists and greenstones are used to construct a pressure–temperature path followed by the Upper Schieferhülle (USH) series during progressive metamorphism and uplift in the south-west Tauern Window, Italy. Pseudomorphs of Al–epidote + Fe-epidote + albite + oligoclase + chlorite after lawsonite and data on amphibole crystal chemistry indicate early metamorphism in the lawsonite-albite-chlorite subfacies of the blueschist facies at P ± 7–8 kbar. Geothermometry and geobarometry yield conditions of final equilibration of the matrix assemblage of 475±25°C, 5–6 kbar; calculations with plagioclase and phengite inclusions in garnet indicate early garnet growth at pressures of ∼ 7.5 kbar. Garnet zoning patterns are complex and reversals in zoning can be correlated between samples. Thermodynamic modelling of these zoning profiles implies garnet growth in response to four distinct phases of tectonic activity. Fluid inclusion data from coexisting immiscible H₂O–CO₂–NaCl fluids constrain the uplift path to have passed through temperatures of 380 + 30°C at 1.3 + 0.2 kbar.
There is no evidence for metamorphism of USH at pressures greater than ∼ 7.5 kbar in this area of the Tauern Window. This is in contrast to pressures of ± 10 kbar recorded in the Lower Schieferhülle only 2–3 km across strike. A history of differential uplift and thinning of the intervening section during metamorphism is necessary to reconcile the P–T data obtained from these adjacent tectonic units.     

Oscillatory zoning in eclogitic garnet and amphibole,Northern Serpentinite Melange,Cuba: a record of tectonic instability during subduction?

Exotic blocks of eclogite from distant localities along the Northern Serpentinite Melange of Cuba have comparable P–T histories that include high‐pressure prograde sections (450–600 °C, >15 kbar) associated with subduction of oceanic lithosphere, and retrograde sections within the albite–epidote amphibolite facies (<500 °C, <10 kbar) related to melange uplift. ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar and Rb/Sr cooling ages (118–103 Ma) of one of the blocks indicate pre‐Aptian subduction and Aptian–Albian uplift. Detailed X‐ray imaging and profiling further reveals that minerals in these eclogite blocks (notably garnet and amphibole) display subtle but well defined oscillatory zoning that developed along the prograde trajectory of the rocks, previous to attainment of peak eclogitic conditions. The chemistry (e.g. coupled changes of Mg# and Mn in garnet, and of Si, Ti, Al and Na in amphibole) and geometry (euhedral to anhedral shapes) of the oscillations can be interpreted in terms of subtle fluctuations in P–T during the general prograde subduction‐related metamorphic path. A (near‐) equilibrium model is presented for the formation of oscillations at near peak conditions by means of recurrent dissolution‐growth reaction processes. This model for near‐peak conditions, and the chemical signatures of earlier oscillations (notably in amphibole), suggest that episodes of retrogression (upward movement?) affected parts of the subducting slab. It is proposed that these retrograde episodes record the tectonic rupture of the subducting slab and, probably, of the upper plate mantle, either due to the intrinsic dynamic behaviour of subduction systems or to the effects of the plate‐tectonic rearrangement of the Caribbean region during the Early Cretaceous.