Petrology of very-high-pressure eclogitic rocks from the Brossasco-Isasca Complex, Dora-Maira Massif, Italian Western Alps

Petrographical and mineral chemical data are given for the eclogites which occur in the garnet-kyanite micaschists of the Penninic Dora-Maira Massif between Brossasco, Isasca and Martiniana (Italian Western Alps) and for a sodic whiteschist associated with the pyrope-coesite whiteschists of Martiniana. The Brossasco-Isasca (BI) eclogites are fine grained, foliated and often mica-rich rocks with a strong preferred orientation of omphacite crystals and white micas. Porphyroblasts of hornblende are common in some varieties, whilst zoisite and kyanite occur occasionally in pale green varieties associated with leucocratic layers with quartz, jadeite and garnet. These features differentiate the BI eclogites from the eclogites that occur in other continental units of the Western Alps, which all belong to type C. Garnet, sodic pyroxene and glaucophane are the major minerals in the sodic whiteschist. Sodic pyroxene in the eclogites is an omphacite often close to Jd₅₀Di₅₀, with very little acmite and virtually no Al^IV, and impure jadeite in the leucocratic layers and in the sodic whiteschist. Garnet is almandine with 20–30 mol. % for each of the pyrope and grossular components in the eclogites and a pyrope-rich variety in the sodic whiteschist. White mica is a variably substituted phengite, and paragonite apparently only occurs as a replacement product of kyanite. Amphibole is hornblende in the eclogites, but the most magnesian glaucophane yet described in the sodic whiteschist. Quartz pseudomorphs of coesite were found occasionally in a few pyroxenes and garnets. The P-T conditions during the VHP event are constrained in the eclogites by reactions which define a field ranging from 27–28 kbar to 35 kbar and from 680 to 750° C. These temperatures are consistent with the results of garnet-pyroxene and garnet-phengite geothermometry which suggest that the eclogites may have equilibrated at around 700° C. In the sodic whiteschist pressures ranging from 29 to 35 kbar can be deduced from the stability of the jadeite-pyrope garnet-glaucophane compatibility. As in the eclogites water activity must have been low. Such conditions are close to the P-T values estimated for the early Alpine recrystallization of the pyrope-coesite rock and, like petrographical and mineralogical features, set aside the BI eclogites from the other eclogites of the Western Alps, instead indicating a close similarity to some of the eclogite bodies occurring in the Adula nappe of the Central Alps. An important corollary is that glaucophane stability, at least in Na- and Mg-rich compositions and under very high pressures, may extend up to 700° C, in agreement with the HT stability limit suggested by experimental studies.     

Omphacite in Californian metamorphic rocks

Omphacite is a common mineral in greenstones, metasediments and related Franciscan rocks of the glaucophane schist facies. It also occurs in late veins cutting amphibolites, glaucophane schists, eclogites, greenstones, and occasionally metagraywackes. It is apparent that this mineral is stable under glaucophane schist facies conditions in rocks of a suitable bulk composition, and is not restricted to the eclogite facies. Association with albite, quartz and lawsonite, and late veining of omphacite veins by aragonite indicates that pressures necessary to form omphacite are reasonably close to those calculated from an ideal solution model.     

Garnet Types from the Cazadero Area, California

This is the third in a series of papers on glaucophane schistsfrom the Franciscan Formation near Cazadero, California. Previouspapers describe three distinct types of glaucophane-bearingFranciscan metamorphic rocks near Cazadero. The purpose of this study is to investigate the garnets presentin metamorphic types III (bedrock schists) and IV (tectonicblocks) as defined by Coleman & Lee (1963). Twenty-fourgarnet analyses are presented. Sixteen of these are from (aragonite-bearing)type III glaucophane schists, and eight are from type IV glaucophaneschists. Type IV rocks include California eclogites. Type III rocks include metabasalt, metachert, metashale, meta-ironstone,and metacarbonate that were formed under high pressure and relativelylow temperature. These rocks contain garnets that display awide range of composition, but the dominant molecules representedare consistently almandine, spessartine, and grossular. Type IV rocks are mainly metabasalts that were probably formedunder higher temperatures and pressures than type III rocks.There is a distinct difference between garnets from type IIIrocks and those from type IV (including eclogites); the lattercontainless spessartine and more pyrope, and the dominant moleculesare almandine and grossular. The four analyses of garnets fromCalifornia eclogites have an average pyrope content of aboutten molecular per cent, and they extend the range of compositionreported for eclogite garnets. Quantitative spectrographic determinations of minor elementsare listed for each of the garnets described. The values determinedfor some of the minor elements have a wide range and a capriciousdistribution over a few feet of outcrop area. As a group, both the garnets from type III rocks and those fromtype IV are pyralspites with large contents (as much as 35 molecularper cent) of ugrandite. This unusual admixture of the pyralspiteand ugrandite garnet series may have resulted in part from theconditions (high pressures and relatively low temperatures)under which the enclosing rocks were recrystallized.     

Petrological constraints on the eclogite- and blueschistfacies metamorphism and P-T-t paths in the Western Alps*

Phase relationships in the model mafic system and geothermobarometry allow discrimination of four main groups of high-P rocks in the nappes of the Western Alps: very high-P eclogite-facies (including kyanite eclogites and coesite-pyrope assemblages), eclogite-facies (paragonite-zoisite eclogites), high-T blueschist-facies (glaucophane-garnet ± lawsonite assemblages) and low-T blueschist-facies (glaucophane-lawsonite ± pumpellyite assemblages). The blueschist-facies-eclogite-facies transition is promoted chiefly by increasing T, low bulk X_Mg and relatively low μ_H2O. The variety of assemblages and the heterogeneous approach to equilibrium observed in the Alpine rocks are not only constrained by the intersection of the reaction surfaces in P-T-X space, but also by the effect and timing of the processes which control kinetics (i.e. pervasive deformation and fluid infiltration). The faster rate of dehydration reactions relative to hydration reactions along with the fact that different bulk compositions crossed the reaction curves at different temperatures (and times), all may have induced μ_H2O gradients and contributed to the heterogeneous distribution of deformation through a process of reaction-enhanced ductility. Also mass-transfer may have been an effective process in determining the type of high-P assemblage in particular rock volumes. As regards the P-T-t paths, only the post-climax histories are recorded well in the Alpine nappes. Post-eclogitic exhumation paths at decreasing temperatures characterize structurally higher nappes which were first subducted during the early-Alpine (Cretaceous) event. In contrast, more or less isothermal decompression paths characterize structurally deeper nappes formed by westward propagation of the underthrust surfaces during the early-Alpine event and the subsequent meso-Alpine (Palaeogene) collision between the ‘European’and ‘African’plates. In the Western Alps, prevalent eclogite-facies conditions were attained during the metamorphic climax of the early-Alpine subduction, while blueschist-facies recrystallization characterizes the early-Alpine exhumation of the eclogitized units and the subsequent intracontinental underthrusts linked to the meso-Alpine continental collision.     

Lu–Hf garnet systematics of a polymetamorphic basement unit: new evidence for coherent exhumation of the Adula Nappe (Central Alps) from eclogite-facies conditions

The Adula Nappe in the Central Alps is a mixture of various pre-Mesozoic continental basement rocks, metabasics, ultrabasics, and Mesozoic cover rocks, which were pervasively deformed during Alpine orogeny. Metabasics, ultrabasics, and locally garnet–mica schists preserve eclogite-facies assemblages while the bulk of the nappe lacks such evidence. We provide garnet major-element data, Lu profiles, and Lu–Hf garnet geochronology from eclogites sampled along a north–south traverse. A southward increasing Alpine overprint over pre-Alpine garnets is observed throughout the nappe. Garnets in a sample from the northern Adula Nappe display a single growth cycle and yield a Variscan age of 323.8 ± 6.9 Ma. In contrast, a sample from Alpe Arami in the southernmost part contains unzoned garnets that fully equilibrated to Alpine high-pressure (HP) metamorphic conditions with temperatures exceeding 800 °C. We suggest that the respective Eocene Lu–Hf age of 34.1 ± 2.8 Ma is affected by partial re-equilibration after the Alpine pressure peak. A third sample from the central part of the nappe contains separable Alpine and Variscan garnet populations. The Alpine population yields a maximum age of 38.8 ± 4.3 Ma in line with a previously published garnet maximum age from the central nappe of 37.1 ± 0.9 Ma. The Adula Nappe represents a coherent basement unit, which preserves a continuous Alpine high-pressure metamorphic gradient. It was subducted as a whole in a single, short-lived event in the upper Eocene. Controversial HP ages and conditions in the Adula Nappe may result from partly preserved Variscan assemblages in Alpine metamorphic rocks.     

Jadeite–garnet glaucophane schists in the Bizan area,Sambagawa metamorphic belt,eastern Shikoku,Japan: significance and extent of eclogite facies metamorphism

Eclogite facies metamorphic rocks have been discovered from the Bizan area of eastern Shikoku, Sambagawa metamorphic belt. The eclogitic jadeite–garnet glaucophane schists occur as lenticular or sheet‐like bodies in the pelitic schist matrix, with the peak mineral assemblage of garnet + glaucophane + jadeite + phengite + quartz. The jadeitic clinopyroxene (X_Jd 0.46–0.75) is found exclusively as inclusions in porphyroblastic garnet. The eclogite metamorphism is characterized by prograde development from epidote–blueschist to eclogite facies. Metamorphic P–T conditions estimated using pseudosection modelling are 580–600 °C and 18–20 kbar for eclogite facies. Compared with common mafic eclogites, the jadeite–garnet glaucophane schists have low CaO (4.4–4.5 wt%) and MgO (2.1–2.3 wt%) bulk‐rock compositions. The P–T– pseudosections show that low X_Ca bulk‐rock compositions favour the appearance of jadeite instead of omphacite under eclogite facies conditions. This is a unique example of low X_Ca bulk‐rock composition triggered to form jadeite at eclogite facies conditions. Two significant types of eclogitic metamorphism have been distinguished in the Sambagawa metamorphic belt, that is, a low‐T type and subsequent high‐T type eclogitic metamorphic events. The jadeite–garnet glaucophane schists experienced low‐T type eclogite facies metamorphism, and the P–T path is similar to lawsonite‐bearing eclogites recently reported from the Kotsu area in eastern Shikoku. During subduction of the oceanic plate (Izanagi plate), the hangingwall cooled gradually, and the geothermal gradient along the subduction zone progressively decreased and formed low‐T type eclogitic metamorphic rocks. A subsequent warm subduction event associated with an approaching spreading ridge caused the high‐T type eclogitic metamorphism within a single subduction zone.     

瑞士阿尔卑斯山地质考察纪实

本文概述了瑞士地质单元基本特征和地质演化过程。详细记述的内容为:汝拉山侏罗纪地层和构造;磨拉石盆地中海相和陆相磨拉石沉积;海尔微第带的推覆构造、复理石沉积、华力西地块;平宁带中的蛇绿混杂岩、闪光片岩、低温高压变质岩(蓝闪石片岩、榴辉岩),活化基底和盖层推覆体;奥地利阿尔卑斯—南阿尔卑斯仰冲叠覆体中的基底和未受变质的南大陆边缘的浅水碳酸盐岩及断陷盆地内较深水放射虫硅质岩。笔者提出,具有典型意义的瑞士阿尔卑斯碰撞造山带的研究成果对于深入研究我国西部造山带有着重要借鉴作用。     

Kyanite-eclogite to amphibolite fades evolution of hydrous mafic and pelitic rocks,Adula nappe,Central Alps

In the southern Adula nappe (Central Alps), two stages of regional metamorphism have affected mafic and pelitic rocks. Earlier eclogite facies with a regional zonation from glaucophane eclogites to kyanite-hornblende eclogites was followed by a Tertiary overprint which varied from greenschist to high-grade amphibolite facies. Despite a common metamorphic history, contrasting equilibration conditions are often recorded by high-pressure mafic eclogite and adjacent predominantly lower-pressure pelite assemblages. This pressure contrast may be explained by different overprinting rates of the two bulk compositions during unloading. The rates are controlled by a mechanism in which dehydrating metapelites provide the H₂O required for simultaneous overprinting of enclosed mafic eclogites by hydration.Quantitative mass balance modelling based on corona textures is used to show that overprinting of metapelites during unloading involved dehydration reactions. The relatively rapid rate of dehydration reactions led to nearly complete reequilibration of metapelites to amphibolite facies assemblages.After the formation during high-pressure metamorphism of mafic eclogites, later lower-pressure reequilibration by hydration to amphibolites was slow, and therefore incomplete, because it depended on large scale transport of H₂O from adjacent, dehydrating metapelites.The facies contrast observed between rocks of different bulk composition is thus a consequence of the general tendency of metamorphic rocks to retain the most dehydrated assemblage as the final recorded state.     

Petrology and metamorphism of glaucophane eclogites in Changning-Menglian suture zone,Bangbing area,southeast Tibetan Plateau: An evidence for Paleo-Tethyan subduction

High/ultrahigh-pressure (HP/UHP) metamorphic complexes, such as eclogite and blueschist, are generally regarded as significant signature of paleo-subduction zones and paleo-suture zones. Glaucophane eclogites have been recently identified within the Lancang Group characterized by accretionary mélange in the Changning-Menglian suture zone, at Bangbing in the Shuangjiang area of southeastern Tibetan Plateau. The authors report the result of petrological, mineralogical and metamorphism investigations of these rocks, and discuss their tectonic implications. The eclogites are located within the Suyi blueschist belt and occur as tectonic lenses in coarse-grained garnet muscovite schists. The major mineral assemblage of the eclogites includes garnet, omphacite, glaucophane, phengite, clinozoisite and rutile. Eclogitic garnet contains numerous inclusions, such as omphacite, glaucophane, rutile, and quartz with radial cracks around. Glaucophane and clinozoisite in the matrix have apparent optical and compositional zonation. Four stages of metamorphic evolution can be determined: The prograde blueschist facies (M₁), the peak eclogite facies (M₂), the decompression blueschist facies (M₃) and retrograde greenschist facies (M₄). Using the Grt-Omp-Phn geothermobarometer, a peak eclogite facies metamorphic P-T condition of 3000–3270 MPa and 617–658°C was determined, which is typical of low-temperature ultrahigh-pressure metamorphism. The comparison of the geological characteristics of the Bangbing glaucophane eclogites and the Mengku lawsonite-bearing retrograde eclogites indicates that two suites of eclogites may have formed from significantly different depths or localities to create the tectonic mélange in a subduction channel during subduction of the Triassic Changning-Menglian Ocean. The discovery of the Bangbing glaucophane eclogites may represent a new oceanic HP/UHP metamorphic belt in the Changning-Menglian suture zone.©2021 China Geology Editorial Office.     

Calculated phase equilibria for MORB compositions: a reappraisal of the metamorphic evolution of lawsonite eclogite

Pseudosections calculated with thermocalc predict that lawsonite‐bearing assemblages, including lawsonite eclogite, will be common for subducted oceanic crust that experiences cool, fluid‐saturated conditions. For glaucophane–lawsonite eclogite facies conditions (500–600 °C and 18–28 kbar), MORB compositions are predicted in the NCKMnFMASHO system to contain glaucophane, garnet, omphacite, lawsonite, phengite and quartz, with chlorite at lower temperature and talc at higher temperature. In these assemblages, the pyrope content in garnet is mostly controlled by variations in temperature, and grossular content is strongly controlled by pressure. The silica content in phengite increases linearly with pressure. As the P–T conditions for these given isopleths are only subtly affected by common variations in bulk‐rock compositions, the P–T pseudosections potentially present a robust geothermobarometric method for natural glaucophane‐bearing eclogites. Thermobarometric results recovered both by isopleth and conventional approaches indicate that most natural glaucophane–lawsonite eclogites (Type‐L) and glaucophane–epidote eclogites (Type‐E) record similar peak P–T conditions within the lawsonite stability field. Decompression from conditions appropriate for lawsonite stability should result in epidote‐bearing assemblages through dehydration reactions controlled by lawsonite + omphacite = glaucophane + epidote + H₂O. Lawsonite and omphacite breakdown will be accompanied by the release of a large amount of bound fluid, such that eclogite assemblages are variably recrystallized to glaucophane‐rich blueschist. Calculated pseudosections indicate that eclogite assemblages form most readily in Ca‐rich rocks and blueschist assemblages most readily in Ca‐poor rocks. This distinction in bulk‐rock composition can account for the co‐existence of low‐T eclogite and blueschist in high‐pressure terranes.     

Interdependence of deformation, fluid infiltration and reaction progress recorded in eclogitic metagranitoids (Sesia Zone, Western Alps)

The effects of high-strain deformation and fluid infiltration during Alpine eclogite facies metamorphism have been studied across ductile shear zones in relatively undeformed metagranitoids at Monte Mucrone (Sesia Zone, Western Alps, Italy). Microfabrics together with bulk rock and stable isotope data indicate that the mineralogical and chemical variations are related to the degree of deformation, rather than to changes in P-T conditions or tectonic position. Transformation of meta-quartz diorite to recrystallized eclogitic mylonites involved the breakdown of biotite and plagioclase and required the influx of H₂O. Bulk-rock geochemical data show that ductile deformation to form eclogitic mylonites involved an increase in volume with a weight percent gain in H₂O and Si and variable loss of K, Na, Ca and Al. δ¹⁸O changes systematically across ductile shear zones into the undeformed country rocks. Constant values in shear zone centres indicate advection parallel to the shear zone and within 10 cm of the mylonites. A dominant component of diffusive oxygen exchange perpendicular to the shear zones produced isotopic fronts, evident from a gradual increase in δ¹⁸O values to the reference values of the country rocks. The degree of isotopic shift within the shear zones reflects increasing deformation and degree of reaction progress. Multiple phases of Alpine deformation and mineral growth are recognized in the Monte Mucrone metagranitoids, and in some cases, eclogite facies shear zones were reactivated under greenschist facies conditions. The results of this study suggest that high-strain deformation provided pathways for both synkinematic and post-kinematic metamorphic fluids which were necessary for complete reactions. Relict igneous fabrics, as well as the presence of corona textures around biotite and pseudomorphs after primary igneous plagioclase in the least deformed rocks, indicate a paucity of hydrous fluids and support the conclusion that fluid movement was channelled rather than pervasive.     

Oxygen and hydrogen isotope compositions of eclogites and associated rocks from the Eastern Sesia zone (Western Alps,Italy)

Oxygen and hydrogen isotope analyses have been made of mineral separates from eclogites, glaucophanites and glaucophane schists from the eastern Sesia zone (Italian Western Alps). Regularities in (1) hydrogen isotope compositions, (2) order of ¹⁸O enrichment among coexisting minerals, and (3) ¹⁸O (quartz-rutile) and ¹⁸O (quartz-phengite) imply attainment of a high degree of isotopic equilibrium. However, some scattering of ¹⁸O values of individual minerals indicates that the eclogitic assemblage did not form in the presence of a thoroughly pervasive fluid. Minerals from an eclogitic lens enclosed in marble have ¹⁸O values distinctly different from those measured in the other rocks. The ¹⁸O values are high in comparison with other type C eclogites of the world, and it is proposed that the fluid present during the high pressure metamorphism has to a large extent been inherited from the precursor rocks of amphibolite facies.An average formation temperature of 540 ° C is inferred from the oxygen isotope fractionations between quartz and rutile and between quartz and white mica. This temperature is in accordance with petrologic considerations and implies subduction of the precursor rocks into the upper mantle to achieve the high pressures required.     

Pressure–temperature evolution of lawsonite eclogite in Sivrihisar; Tavşanlı Zone–Turkey

The Cretaceous blueschist belt, Tavşanlı Zone, representing the subducted and exhumed northern continental margin of the Anatolide–Tauride platform is exposed in Western Anatolia. The Sivrihisar area east of Tavşanlı is made up of tectonic units consisting of i) metaclastics and conformably overlying massive marbles (coherent blueschist unit), ii) blueschist-eclogite unit, iii) marble–calcschist intercalation and iv) metaperidotite slab. The metaclastics are composed of jadeite–lawsonite–glaucophane and jadeite–glaucophane–chloritoid schists, phengite phyllites, and calcschists with glaucophane–lawsonite metabasite layers. The blueschist-eclogite unit representing strongly sheared, deeply buried and imbricated tectonic slices of accreted uppermost levels of the oceanic crust with minor metamorphosed serpentinite bodies consists of lawsonite-bearing eclogitic metabasites (approximately 90% of the field), lawsonite eclogites, metagabbros, serpentinites, pelagic marbles, omphacite–glaucophane–lawsonite metapelites and metacherts. The mineral assemblage of the lawsonite eclogite (garnet + omphacite > 70%) is omphacite, garnet, lawsonite, glaucophane, phengite and rutile. Lawsonite eclogite lenses are enclosed by garnet–lawsonite blueschist envelopes.Textural evidence from lawsonite eclogites and country rocks reveals that they did not leave the stability field of lawsonite during subduction and exhumation. The widespread preservation of lawsonite in eclogitic metabasites and eclogites can be attributed to rapid subduction and subsequent exhumation in a low geothermal gradient of the oceanic crust material without experiencing a thermal relaxation. Peak P–T conditions of lawsonite eclogites are estimated at 24 ± 1 kbar and 460 ± 25 °C. These P–T conditions indicate a remarkably low geotherm of 6.2 °C/km corresponding to a burial depth of 74 km.     

Sm-Nd Isotope Tracer Study of UHP Metamorphic Rocks: Implications for Continental Subduction and Collisional Tectonics

Sm-Nd isotope tracer techniques are powerful tools in identification of the protolith nature of UHP and HP rocks and can be used to constrain modeling of tectonic processes of continental collision. UHP rocks may have diverse origins, and not all of them carry the same significance for subduction of continental blocks. In this paper, Sm-Nd isotopic data are compiled for UHP and HP rocks, mostly represented by eclogites and garnet peridotites, from the Alpine, Hercynian (Variscan), and Caledonian belts of western Europe; the Pan-African belts of northern Africa; and the Ross belt of Antarctica. These data then are compared with the isotopic characteristics of the UHP rocks from the Dabie orogen of central China. Except for the coesite-bearing quartzitic metasediments of Dora-Maira (Western Alps), which are clearly of continental origin, all HP and UHP rocks (eclogites and ultramafic rocks) from the Alpine, Hercynian, and Pan-African belts have oceanic affinities with the characteristic positive ε_Nd(T) values (= metamorphic initial ¹⁴³Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd ratios). They represent segments of oceanic lithosphere that were subducted, underwent eclogite-facies metamorphism, and later were tectonically transported into orogenic zones during continental collisions. By contrast, the majority of UHP rocks from the European Caledonide and the Dabie orogen have negative ε_ND(T) values, indicating continental affinity. This suggests that these mafic and ultramafic rocks have had a long crustal residence time and that their UHP metamorphism is indicative of subduction of ancient and cold continental blocks, as represented by some Precambrian gneiss terranes containing mafic components including greenschists, amphibolites, or basic granulites.

In the Dabie orogen, none of the UHP eclogites analyzed thus far have shown oceanic affinity; thus they do not represent subducted Tethys Ocean crust. The preservation of ultrahigh ε_ND(0) values (+170 to +260) in eclogites of very low Nd concentrations (average 0.5 ppm) from the Weihai region and of the extraordinarily low δ¹⁸O in many eclogites and gneisses, the general absence of syntectonic granites in the Dabie Shan, and the available age data obtained by different techniques all point to a rapid rate of exhumation and the absence of a pervasive aqueous fluid phase during the entire process of subduction and exhumation of the Dabie UHP terrane.     

Kyanite eclogites

Prior experimental work has shown that in the laboratory the mineralogy of eclogites is sensitive to the ratio of CaO ∶ MgO ∶ FeO and that the reaction pyroxene + kyanite?garnet + quartz proceeds to the right at high pressures in rocks rich in magnesium and to the left in rocks rich in calcium and iron. Typical basalts crystallized at high pressure never contain kyanite. The chemistry and mineralogy of a large number of naturally occurring eclogites show they belong to three classes.

1. Kyanite-free magmatic eclogites, rich in magnesium, from:
2. kimberlites
3. dunites and serpentinites.
4. Kyanite-bearing eclogites and grosspydites rich in CaO and low in FeO with intermediate MgO from:
5. kimberlites
6. gneisses.
7. Kyanite-free eclogites of metamorphic origin rich in iron with low magnesium and intermediate amounts of calcium from:
8. glaucophane schists
9. gneisses.

     

Multistage metamorphism and deformation in high‐pressure metabasites of the northern Adula Nappe Complex (Central Alps,Switzerland)

Metabasites from the northern Adula Nappe Complex (ANC) display a complex microstructural evolution recording episodes of deformation and metamorphic re‐equilibration that were obliterated in the surrounding phengite‐bearing schists. Pre‐D1 and D1 deformation episodes are preserved as mineral inclusions within garnet cores of some amphibole‐bearing eclogites and record high‐temperature greenschist‐/amphibolite‐facies conditions. D2 produced an eclogite‐facies foliation which developed at 580 ± 70°C and 19 ± 3 kbar. D3 was a composite deformation episode which can be divided into three sub‐episodes D3m, D3a and D3b which occurred as the metamorphism evolved from post‐eclogitic high‐pressure and low‐temperature conditions through to amphibolite‐facies conditions at 590 ± 30°C and 11.7 ± 1.3 kbar. The D3 deformation episode was responsible for the development of the S3 regional‐scale foliation in the surrounding schists, whilst D4 caused the development of an S4 greenschist foliation. The composite nature of the D3 episode indicates that rocks of the northern ANC experienced a protracted post‐eclogitic structural reworking and that the current structure of this part of the Alps is a late‐Alpine feature. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Pressure–temperature conditions and retrograde paths of eclogites, garnet–glaucophane rocks and schists from South Sulawesi, Indonesia

High-pressure metamorphic rocks exposed in the Bantimala area, c . 40  km north-east of Ujung Pandang, were formed as a Cretaceous subduction complex with fault-bounded slices of melange, chert, basalt, turbidite, shallow-marine sedimentary rocks and ultrabasic rocks. Eclogites, garnet–glaucophane rocks and schists of the Bantimala complex have estimated peak temperatures of T  =580–630 °C at 18  kbar and T  =590–640 °C at 24  kbar, using the garnet–clinopyroxene geothermometer. The garnet–omphacite–phengite equilibrium is used to estimate pressures. The distribution coefficient K _D1=[( X _pyr)³( X _grs)⁶/( X _di)⁶]/[(Al/Mg)_M2,wm (Al/Si)_T2,wm]³ among omphacite, garnet and phengite is a good index for metamorphic pressures. The K _D1values of the Bantimala eclogites were compared with those of eclogites with reliable P–T  estimates. This comparison suggests that peak pressures of the Bantimala eclogites were P =18–24  kbar at T  =580–640 °C. These results are consistent with the P–T  range calculated using garnet–rutile–epidote–quartz and lawsonite–omphacite–glaucophane–epidote equilibria.     

大别山超高压变质带中牛凸岭地区低温-高压榴辉岩的发现及其意义

依据时南大别超高压带腹地的榴辉岩野外地质调查、岩相学和热力学的研究表明,南大别腹地--牛凸岭地区榴辉岩属于低温高压榴辉岩,并未经历超高压变质作用.该地区榴辉岩的共生围岩主要为片岩、片麻岩和斜长角闪岩,石榴石多为自形-半自形,内含大量的早期矿物包体,峰期变质温压条件分别为:T=360～520℃;P=1.3～2.4GPa.对比南大别超高压榴辉岩形成的变质条件,两者压力差可达0.7GPa,约20km厚的地壳深度缺失.结合构造分析牛凸岭单元更类似于桐城-源潭铺高压块体,推测其属于构造上层部位岩片.     

Prograde transformations of amphibolites into eclogites and eclogite-like rocks in the low-pressure field of the eclogite facies (by the example of the Belomorian Mobile Belt)

Plagioclase-bearing garnet-omphacite (Grt-Omp) eclogites and garnet-augite eclogite-like (Grt-Aug) schists from the amphibolite and gneiss beds of the Belomorian Mobile Belt have been studied. They are spread over a large area. In most of the studied objects, these rocks have preserved primary concordant relations with the host amphibolite and gneiss strata; they are not disturbed by late tectonic processes and are not genetically related to tectonic-melange zones. Their protoliths were amphibolite lenses in gneisses or large mafic zones composed of amphibolites. The Grt-Omp eclogites formed in the low-pressure field of the eclogite facies (P = 12.5-13.0 kbar, T = 600-630 °C), and the eclogite-like Grt-Aug rocks, at the boundary between the amphibolite and eclogite facies (P = 9.6-11.1 kbar, T = 630-700 °C), under the intense impact of metamorphic fluid on the amphibolites. The compositional evolution of the rock-forming minerals during the formation of Grt-Omp eclogites and eclogite-like Grt-Aug rocks followed the same scheme. The petrographic diversity of apoamphibolite rocks (Grt-Omp eclogites and Grt-Aug schists) might be due to the difference both in the bulk composition of the metabasic protolith and in the ratios of CaO and Na₂O activities in the metamorphic fluid. The relatively low content of CaO leads to the formation of Grt-Omp paragenesis in eclogites. Higher CaO contents give rise to eclogite-like Grt-Aug rocks containing jadeite-poor clinopyroxene.     

Paleoproterozoic eclogites in the salma area,Northwestern Belomorian Mobile Belt: Composition and isotopic geochronologic characteristics of minerals and metamorphic age

The paper represents results of a comprehensive geochemical and isotopic-geochemical (SIMS) study of eclogites from the northwestern part of the Belomorian Belt (Salma eclogites). A detailed fieldwork was carried out at the quarry of the Kuru-Vaara deposit of ceramic pegmatite in the northwestern part of the study area, in which tonalite-trondhjemite gneisses include bodies and blocks of eclogite and Grt-Aug eclogite-like clinopyroxenite and are cut across by numerous pegmatite veins. The least altered types of the Grt-Cpx rocks selected for our further research included: (1) widespread massive homogeneous fine-grained Grt-Omp eclogite that replaced gabbro and contained symplectites of Pl + low-Na-Cpx around omphacite and Pl-Hbl kelyphite rims around Grt; and (2) coarse-grained eclogite-like Grt-Hbl-Aug clinopyroxenite beds up to 20 cm thick in the central parts of high-Mg metaultrabasites, which are mostly tremolite-actinolite schists. The REE patterns of garnet, clinopyroxene, and amphibole from the eclogites confirm that they crystallized simultaneously, under a high pressure, and in the absence of plagioclase. Local U-Pb dates of the zircons and their geochemistry are at variance with the earlier hypothesis that the eclogite metamorphism occurred in the Archean. The eclogites and Grt-Hbl-Aug clinopyroxenite were determined to contain zircons of Svecofennian age (approximately 1900 Ma), which show all geochemical characteristics of classic eclogitic zircons and occur either as individual crystals or as rims around Archean magmatic zircons from the primary gabbroids.