Fluorine and chlorine behaviour during progressive dehydration melting: Consequences for granite geochemistry and metallogeny

Dehydration melting of biotite is the main control on crustal differentiation in the mid to lower continental crust because this reaction produces the most voluminous and most mobile granitic melts. Biotite breaks down over a broad temperature interval, so the partitioning behaviour of elements between biotite and melt is likely to vary. It has been hypothesized that fluorine may stabilize biotite to higher melting temperatures because biotite is typically F‐rich in ultra‐high temperature (UHT) metamorphic rocks. If true, F would be an important influence on crustal differentiation because not only would it broaden the temperature range of melting but also elevated F concentration decreases melt viscosity. Furthermore, ligand partitioning between biotite and melt may be an important influence on the metallogeny of magmas. This study used electron microprobe analysis of biotite in rocks from the Ballachulish and Rogaland metamorphic aureoles to investigate the concentration of F and Cl in biotite heated to 600–1,000°C. Results show a broad increase in biotite F content (up to 5.04% F) with temperature until 850–920°C, beyond which F content decreases (<2.5% F). Chlorine concentrations in biotite are consistently lower (<1% Cl), and show a progressive decrease after the onset of partial melting. It was found that Mg content, and the processes that control Mg distribution, are most strongly correlated with F and Cl concentration in biotite. Calculations based on these results indicate that F‐enriched biotite could be a significant source of F for continental crust‐derived melts. Generation of a hot, F‐rich melt at UHT conditions could be important for transporting lower crustal metals to the upper crust.     

喜马拉雅碰撞造山带新生代地壳深熔作用与淡色花岗岩

自从印度-欧亚大陆碰撞以来,伴随着构造演化和温度-压力-成分(P-T-X)的变化,喜马拉雅造山带中下地壳变质岩发生不同类型的部分熔融反应,形成性质各异的过铝质花岗岩。这些花岗岩在形成时代、矿物组成、全岩元素和放射性同位素地球化学特征上都表现出巨大的差异性。始新世构造岩浆作用形成高Sr/Y二云母花岗岩和演化程度较高的淡色花岗岩和淡色花岗玢岩,它们具有相似的Sr-Nd同位素组成,是碰撞早期增厚下地壳部分熔融的产物。渐新世淡色花岗岩主要为演化程度较高的淡色花岗岩,可能指示了喜马拉雅造山带的快速剥露作用起始于渐新世。早中新世以来的淡色花岗岩是喜马拉雅造山带淡色花岗岩的主体,是变泥质岩部分熔融的产物,包含两类部分熔融作用——水致白云母部分熔融作用(A类)和白云母脱水熔融作用(B类)。这两类部分熔融作用形成的花岗质熔体在元素和同位素地球化学特征上都表现出明显的差异性,主要受控于两类部分熔融作用过程中主要造岩矿物和副矿物的溶解行为。这些不同期次的地壳深熔作用都伴随着高分异淡色花岗岩,伴随着关键金属元素(Nb、Ta、Sn、Be等)的富集,是未来矿产勘探的重要靶区。新的观测结果表明:在碰撞造山带中,花岗岩岩石学和地球化学性质的变化是深部地壳物质对构造过程响应的结果,是深入理解碰撞造山带深部地壳物理和化学行为的重要岩石探针。     

Infiltration-driven dehydration and anatexis in granulite facies metagabbro, Grenville Province, Ontario, Canada

Dark hornblende + garnet-rich, quartz-absent metagabbro boudins from the Seguin subdomain, Ontario Grenville Province, are transected by anastomosing light-coloured veins rich in orthopyroxene, clinopyroxene, plagioclase and sometimes quartz. The veins vary in texture from fine-grained diffuse veins and patches that overprint the metagabbro, to coarse tonalitic leucosomes with sharp borders. The diffuse veins and patches are suggestive of channellized subsolidus dehydration of the metagabbro, while the tonalitic leucosomes are suggestive of local internally-derived anatexis. All vein types grade smoothly into each other, with the tonalitic leucosomes being the latest.
Relative to the host metagabbro, the veins have higher Si, Na, Ba & Sr, lower Fe, Mg, Ca & Ti, and similar Al. The coarser veins are enriched in K. Plagioclase becomes steadily enriched in Na in the transition from host metagabbro (An₄₇) to the veins (An₃₅), and in the coarsest veins it is antiperthitic. Differences in composition of the other minerals between host metagabbro and vein are minor. Pressure–temperature estimates are scattered, but indicate a minimum temperature during vein formation of 700°C at about 8 kbar.
Mass balance constraints indicate that the veins formed from the metagabbro in an open system. The transecting veins are interpreted to represent pathways of Si + Na + Ba + Sr ± K ± Al-enriched, low a _H2O fluids that metasomatized the host metagabbro to form the anhydrous veins. An initial period of localized solid-state dehydration of the metagabbro, represented by the diffuse veins, was followed by a transition to localized anatexis, represented by the tonalitic leucosomes. The change to anatexis may have been due to the addition of K to the infiltrating fluid. The source and delivery mechanism of the fluids is unknown.     

Incomplete reaction of plagioclase in experimental dehydration melting of amphibolite

Dehydration melting of a hornblende‐plagioclase mixture of amphibolitic composition was investigated at 1000°C and at 800 MPa and 1200 MPa. At 1200 MPa the reaction products are garnet, clinopyroxene, melt and relatively Ab‐rich plagioclase (An₄₇). At 800 MPa the products are orthopyroxene, clinopyroxene, magnetite, amphibole (pargasite) and An‐rich plagioclase (An₇₅). The melts are rich in plagioclase components (especially in Ab) and, when compared to tonalites, relatively poor in silica. The grainsize of the starting materials was ≤?5 μm in the 800 MPa and ≤?10 μm in the 1200 MPa runs. All run products show unchanged plagioclase cores, which are the remnants of a very sluggish reaction assumed to be controlled by dissolution/precipitation processes at the plagioclase grain boundaries. The results indicate that only local equilibrium could have been obtained in recent investigations on dehydration melting experiments in plagioclase‐bearing systems. The results also suggest that plagioclase compositions once formed may persist for a very long time, even in hot magma chambers, if the prevailing water activity is low.     

Wet or dry? The difficulty of identifying the presence of water during crustal melting

Partial melting of continental crust and evolution of granitic magmas are inseparably linked to the availability of H₂O. In the absence of a free aqueous fluid, melting takes place at relatively high temperatures by dehydration of hydrous minerals, whereas in its presence, melting temperatures are lowered, and melting need not involve hydrous minerals. With the exception of anatexis in water‐saturated environments where anhydrous peritectic minerals are absent, there is no reliable indicator that clearly identifies the presence of a free aqueous fluid during anatexis. Production of Ab‐rich magmas or changes in LILE ratios, such as an increase in Sr and decrease in Rb indicating increased involvement of plagioclase, are rough guidelines to the presence of aqueous fluids. Nevertheless, all indicators have caveats and cannot be unequivocally applied, allowing for the persistence of a bias in the literature towards dehydration melting. Investigation of mineral equilibria modelling of three metasedimentary protoliths of the Kangaroo Island migmatites in South Australia, shows that the main indicator for the presence of small volumes of excess water under upper amphibolite to lower granulite facies conditions (660–750°C) is the melt volume produced. Melt composition, modal content or chemical composition of peritectic minerals such as cordierite, sillimanite or garnet are relatively insensitive to the presence of free water. However, the mobility of melt during open system behaviour makes it difficult to determine the melt volume produced. We therefore argue that the presence of small volumes of excess water might be much more common than so far inferred, with large impact on the buffering of crustal temperatures and fertility, and therefore rheology of the continental crust.     

Geological context of crustal anatexis and granitic magmatism in the northeastern Glenelg River Complex,western Victoria

The Cambro‐Ordovician Glenelg River Complex in the Harrow district, western Victoria, consists of extensive granitic rocks associated with a migmatitic metasedimentary envelope. Metasedimentary rocks comprise amphibolite facies massive‐laminated quartzo‐feldspathic schists and layered gneisses with minor sillimanite‐bearing horizons. Intercalated are stromatic and nebulitic migmatites of granitic and tonalitic character; textural evidence suggests that both varieties developed by in situ partial melting. Ranging from adamellite to leucotonalite, granitic rocks contain abundant magmatic muscovite, commonly with garnet and sillimanite, and exhibit generally unrecrystallised igneous textures. Heterogeneous structurally concordant plutons transitional to migmatites and more uniform intrusive phases are delineated with both types hosting diverse metasedimentary enclaves, micaceous selvages and schlieren; a gneissic foliation of variable intensity is defined by the latter. These petrographic attributes are consistent with derivation of plutons by anatexis of a peraluminous metasedimentary protolith. The schlieric foliation is not tectonically imposed, but rather directly inherited from the migmatitic precursor, compositional variations within which are preserved by the layered Schofield Adamellite. The most mafic granitic body (Tuloona Granodiorite) also has igneous microgranular enclaves indicating a more complex petrogenesis. Metasedimentary rocks experienced five episodes of folding, the latest involving macroscopic open warps. This is analogous to the structural history elucidated elsewhere in the Glenelg River Complex, by inference a coherent tectonic entity whose present metamorphic and stratigraphic configuration might be governed by F₅ folding. Structures within migmatites intimate that partial melting proceeded throughout the deformational history and peaked syn‐D₄ to pre‐D₅, whilst temperatures had waned to sub‐biotite grade in the southwestern Glenelg River Complex. Granitic rocks were generated during this anatectic culmination and were therefore emplaced late in the orogenic history relative to other syntectonic phases of the Glenelg River Complex.     

白云母／二云母花岗岩形成与陆内俯冲作用

讨论了白云母／二云母花岗岩的机成机制及其与陆内俯冲作用的成生联系。以高喜马拉雅地区为例，从地质学、岩石学、地球化学、实验岩石学和地球物理学等多方位论述了白云母花岗岩形成过程的主要约束，提出并论证了一个比较合理的陆内俯冲带热结构与白云母／二云母花岗岩形成的成因模型，通过分析，得出了一个重要的新结论：白云母花岗岩的形成是陆内俯冲作用的结果。     

一个新的花岗岩成因分类:基于变质岩深熔作用理论与大数据的证据

花岗岩目前的ISMA分类不是一个系统的分类,花岗岩分类可能需要从花岗岩的起源来考虑。花岗岩源自变质岩,可能是来自地幔或玄武质岩浆底侵带来的热导致的下地壳底部发生部分熔融的熔体形成的。因此,花岗岩与变质岩源岩有成因联系和因果关系,变质岩为母,花岗岩为子。根据埃达克岩与残留相平衡的理论,埃达克岩形成于斜长石消失线之上。那么,出现在石榴石出现线之上的是什么花岗岩呢?出现在石榴石出现线之下的又是什么花岗岩呢?本文即尝试从这个思路来探讨花岗岩的分类,并采用大数据方法予以佐证,得到的初步结果可以将花岗岩分为3类:(1)位于斜长石消失线之上的为高Sr低Y型花岗岩(高压,代表加厚的地壳);(2)位于斜长石消失线与石榴石出现线之间的为低Sr低Y类型花岗岩(中压,代表正常厚度的地壳);(3)位于石榴石出现线之下的为高Y型花岗岩(低压,代表减薄的地壳)。大数据研究的结果支持上述分类,给出的地球化学标志大体是:Sr含量为400×10^-6,Y含量为(20~35)×10^-6。     

Generation of Muscovite/ Two-Mica Granil and Intracontinental Subduction

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Microstructural and geochemical studies of Higher Himalayan Leucogranite: implications for geodynamic evolution of Tertiary Leucogranite in the Eastern Himalaya

The Higher Himalayan Leucogranites (HHLG) intruded into the high grade rocks of the Higher Himalayan Crystallines (HHC) in Arunachal Himalaya of the Eastern Himalaya, yield distinctive field data, petrography, microstructures, geochemical and mineral chemistry data. The Arunachal HHLG are characterized by the presence of two micas; normative corundum; high contents of SiO₂ (67–78 wt.%), Al₂O₃ (13–18 wt.%), A/CNK (0.98–1.44) and Rb (154–412 ppm); low contents of CaO (0.33–1.91 wt.%) and Sr (19–171 ppm), and a high ratio of FeO_(tot)/MgO in biotite (2.54–4.82). These distinctive features, along with their strong depletion in high field strength elements (HFSE), suggest their affinity to peraluminous S‐type granite generated by the partial melting of crustal material. Geothermobarometric estimations and mineral assemblages of the HHC metapelites confirm that the HHLG were probably generated in the middle crust (~20 km) and the produced melts intruded the HHC in the form of sills/dykes. Microstructurally, the HHLG shows high temperature deformation features including chessboard extinction in quartz and cuspate/lobate grain boundaries between quartz and feldspars (plagioclase and K‐feldspar). The deformation microstructures suggest that the HHLG was deformed under early high temperature ductile deformation conditions. These fabrics were subsequently superimposed by later brittle deformation features associated with decreasing temperatures during the exhumation of the HHLG towards shallow structural levels at the time of Himalayan orogeny. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

藏南定结地区早中新世淡色花岗岩的形成机制及其构造动力学意义

定结日玛那穹窿位于高喜马拉雅带中段,由花岗片麻岩、变泥质岩、变基性岩及大量淡色花岗岩等组成,经历了角闪岩-麻粒岩相变质作用。为厘定淡色花岗岩的形成机制以及与高级变质岩的关系,我们对淡色花岗岩和高级变质岩进行了全岩元素和Sr和Nd同位素组成和SHRIMP锆石U-Pb地质年代学测试。全岩元素和Sr-Nd同位素测试结果揭示淡色花岗岩具有以下特征:(1)高SiO₂ (>72%),高Al₂O₃ (>12%)和高A/CNK比值 (>1.0);(2)高Rb,低Sr,高Rb/Sr比值(>1.0);(3)高∑REE和明显的负Eu异常;(4)高Sr同位素初始比值(0.7621~0.8846)和低ε_Nd(t)值(-13.0~-20.2)。淡色花岗岩的高Rb/Sr比值和Sr-Nd同位素系统特征表明其形成机制为主要为白云母脱水部分熔融作用,源区为由花岗片麻岩和变泥质岩组成的混合源区。SHRIMP锆石U-Pb年代学研究揭示出定结地区淡色花岗岩具有21.0±0.7Ma和15.8±0.1Ma 2期年龄,花岗片麻岩的锆石变质增生边年龄为22.2±1.4Ma,与该区的榴辉岩退变质年龄一致。这些数据共同表明,花岗片麻岩和 变泥质岩在22~21Ma发生高级变质和深熔作用,形成早期淡色花岗岩岩浆,在~16Ma进一步深熔,形成晚期淡色花岗岩岩浆。     

Impact-induced melting of Archean granulites in the Vredefort Dome, South Africa. I: anatexis of metapelitic granulites

Mid‐crustal Archean pelitic granulites in the Vredefort Dome experienced a static, low‐P granulite facies overprint associated with the formation of the dome by meteorite impact at 2.02 Ga. Heating and exhumation were virtually instantaneous, with the main source of heat being provided by energy released from nonadiabatic decay of the impact shock wave. Maximum temperatures within a radius of a few kilometres of the centre of the structure exceeded 900 °C and locally even exceeded 1350 °C. This led to comprehensive melting of the precursor Archean granulite assemblages (Grt + Bt + Qtz + Pl + Ksp ± Crd ± Opx ± Sil) followed by peritectic crystallization of aluminous alkali feldspar+Crd + Spl ± Crn ± Sil parageneses and the segregation of small, evolved, biotite leucogranite bodies. However, at a distance of c. 6 km from the centre pre‐impact rock features are largely preserved, although partial replacement of garnet by symplectitic coronas of Crd + Opx ± Spl ± Pl and biotite by orthopyroxene indicate that peak temperatures approached 775 ± 50 °C. Thin interstitial moats of K‐feldspar are closely associated with the orthopyroxene coronas; they are interpreted as the remnants of low‐proportion partial melts generated by biotite breakdown. Both the textures and mineral compositional data support reduced equilibration volumes in these rocks, which reflect rapid isobaric cooling following shock heating and exhumation. The high temperatures and strong lateral thermal gradient are consistent with the modelled impact‐induced isotherm pattern for a 200–300 km diameter impact crater.     

Diverse signatures of deformation, pressure-temperature and anatexis in the Rayagada sector of the Eastern Ghats granulite terrane

The granulites and granitoids around Rayagada in the north central part of the Eastern Ghats belt display structural and petrological differences when compared to similar rocks from Chilka and Jenapore in the northern Eastern Ghats. The impress of F₁ deformation is almost erased while that ofF ₃ is muted. The metapelites have a restricted chemical range and are non-migmatitic. There are two varieties of leptynitic granitoids, one of which is interlayered with yet another S-type granite containing cordierite. The maximum recorded temperature from geothermometers is 780‡C, but the magnitude of pressure is comparatively low, the highest value being 6.3 kbar. Another distinctive feature of the pressuretemperature record is the absence of evidence of decompression in the lower realms of pressure and temperature. Metamorphic reactions that could be identified indicate cooling, a noteworthy reaction being the sillimanite to andalusite transformation. Integration of data from pressure-temperature sensors suggest cooling at two pressures, 6 and 5 kbar. The generation of two types of granitoids from metapelites is interpreted to be due to intersection with solidus curves for pelitic and graywacke-like compositions, constrained by recent experiments, at 6 and 5 kbar. The first melting occurred on a prograde path while the second one was due to increase in temperature during exhumation at tectonic rates. Thus inspite of a broad similarity in the geodynamic scenario across the northern part of the Eastern Ghat belt, differences in exhumation rates and in style of melting were responsible for producing different signatures in the Rayagada granulite terrane.     

Muscovite dehydration melting in Si-rich metapelites: microstructural evidence from trondhjemitic migmatites,Roded, Southern Israel

Making a distinction between partial melting and subsolidus segregation in amphibolite facies migmatites is difficult. The only significant melting reactions at lowpressures, either vapour saturated or muscovite dehydration melting, do not produce melanocratic peritectic phases. If protoliths are Si-rich and K-poor, then peritectic sillimanite and K-feldspar will form in scarce amounts, and may be lost by retrograde rehydration. The Roded migmatites of southern Israel (northernmost Arabian Nubian Shield) formed at P = 4.5 ± 1 kbar and T ≤ 700 °C and include Si-rich, K-poor paragneissic paleosome and trondhjemitic leucosomes. The lack of K-feldspar in leucosomes was taken as evidence for the non-anatectic origin of the Roded migmatites (Gutkin and Eyal, Isr J Earth Sci 47:117, 1998). It is shown here that although the Roded migmatites experienced significant post-peak deformation and recrystallization, microstructural evidence for partial melting is retained. Based on these microstructures, coupled with pseudosection modelling, indicators of anatexis in retrograded migmatites are established. Phase diagram modelling of neosomes shows the onset of muscovite dehydration melting at 4.5 kbar and 660 °C, forming peritectic sillimanite and K-feldspar. Adjacent non-melted paleosomes lack muscovite and would thus not melt by this reaction. Vapour saturation was not attained, as it would have formed cordierite that does not exist. Furthermore, vapour saturation would not allow peritectic K-feldspar to form, however K-feldspar is ubiquitous in melanosomes. Direct petrographic evidence for anatexis is rare and includes euhedral plagioclase phenocrysts in leucosomes and quartz-filled embayments in corroded plagioclase at leucosome-melanosome interfaces. In deformed and recrystallized rocks muscovite dehydration melting is inferred by: (1) lenticular K-feldspar enclosed by biotite in melanosomes, (2) abundant myrmekite in leucosomes, (3) muscovite–quartz symplectites after sillimanite in melanosomes and associated with myrmekite in leucosomes. While peritectic K-feldspar formed in melanosomes by muscovite dehydration melting reaction, K-feldspar crystallizing from granitic melt in adjacent leucosome was myrmekitized. Excess potassium was used in rehydration of sillimanite to muscovite.     

淡色花岗岩的岩石学和地球化学特征及其成因

淡色花岗岩(leucogranite)是一类高铝高硅碱的酸性侵入岩,主要地球化学特征是:SiO2≥72%,Al2O3≥14%,Na2O+K2O~8.5%,富Rb,亏损Th、Ba、Sr,稀土总量较一般花岗岩低(∑REE=(40~120)×10-6),且表现为中等分异的轻稀土弱富集型,一般具有Eu负异常;Sr-Nd-Pb-O同位素指示其岩浆明显的陆壳来源。淡色花岗岩主要发育于陆壳(俯冲)碰撞加厚带,由逆冲折返的俯冲板片变沉积岩部分经过脱水熔融产生。淡色花岗岩可划分为三种不同的岩石类型:(1)二云母型淡色花岗岩,由变泥质岩(或变硬砂岩)在中地壳水平经黑云母(和/或白云母)脱水熔融产生;(2)电气石型淡色花岗岩,由变泥质岩在较低温度下经白云母脱水熔融产生;(3)石榴子石型淡色花岗岩,由长英质下地壳经黑云母脱水熔融产生。源区残留独居石、磷灰石等富REE矿物是淡色花岗岩亏损REE、Th等元素的原因。源岩为变泥质岩及源区残留钾长石是淡色花岗岩亏损Sr、Ba的主要原因。     

喜马拉雅造山带新生代花岗岩中两类石榴石的地球化学特征及其在地壳深熔作用中的意义

在喜马拉雅碰撞造山带中,石榴石是变泥质岩的主要造岩矿物,也是花岗岩或淡色体的重要副矿物,保存了有关地壳深熔作用的关键信息,是揭示大型碰撞造山带中-下地壳物质的物理和化学行为的重要载体。在喜马拉雅造山带内,新生代花岗质岩石(淡色花岗岩和混合岩中的淡色体)含两类石榴石,大多数为岩浆型石榴石,自形-半自形,不含包裹体,但淡色体中含有港湾状的混合型石榴石。岩浆型石榴石具有以下地球化学特征:(1)从核部到边部,显示了典型的"振荡型"生长环带;(2)富集HREE,亏损LREE,从核部到边部,Hf、Y和HREE含量降低;(3)显著的Eu负异常;(4)相对于源岩中变质石榴石,Mn和Zn的含量显著增高。岩相学和地球化学特征都表明:变泥质岩熔融形成的熔体(淡色体)捕获了源岩的变质石榴石,熔体与石榴石反应导致大部分元素的特征被改变,只在核部保留了源岩的部分信息。同时,在花岗质熔体结晶过程中,形成少量的岩浆型石榴石。这些石榴石摄取了熔体中大量的Zn,浓度显著升高,在斜长石和锆石同步分离结晶作用的共同影响下,石榴石中Eu为明显负异常,Hf、Y和HREE浓度从核部到边部逐渐降低。上述数据和结果表明,花岗岩中石榴石的矿物化学特征记录了精细的有关花岗岩岩浆演化的重要信息。     

Liquid compositions from low-pressure experimental melting of pelitic rock from Morton Pass, Wyoming, USA

Low‐pressure crystal‐liquid equilibria in pelitic compositions are important in the formation of low‐pressure, high‐temperature migmatites and in the crystallization of peraluminous leucogranites and S‐type granites and their volcanic equivalents. This paper provides data from vapour‐present melting of cordierite‐bearing pelitic assemblages and augments published data from vapour‐present and vapour‐absent melting of peraluminous compositions, much of which is at higher pressures. Starting material for the experiments was a pelitic rock from Morton Pass, Wyoming, with the major assemblage quartz‐K feldspar‐biotite‐cordierite, approximately in the system KFMASH. A greater range in starting materials was obtained by addition of quartz and sillimanite to aliquots of this rock. Sixty‐one experiments were carried out in cold‐seal apparatus at pressures of 1–3.5 kbar (particularly 2 kbar) and temperatures from 700 to 840 °C, with and without the addition of water. In the vapour‐present liquidus relations at 2 kbar near the beginning of melting, the sequence of reactions with increasing temperature is: Qtz + Kfs + Crd + Sil + Spl + V = L; Qtz + Kfs + Crd + Spl + Ilm + V = Bt + L; and Qtz + Bt + V = Crd + Opx + Ilm + L. Vapour‐absent melting starts at about 800 °C with a reaction of the form Qtz + Bt = Kfs + Crd + Opx + Ilm + L. Between approximately 1–3 kbar the congruent melting reaction is biotite‐absent, and biotite is produced by incongruent melting, in contrast to higher‐pressure equilibria. Low pressure melts from pelitic compositions are dominated by Qtz‐Kfs‐Crd. Glasses at 820–840 °C have calculated modes of approximately Qtz₄₂Kfs₄₆Crd₁₂. Granites or granitic leucosomes with more than 10–15% cordierite should be suspected of containing residual cordierite. The low‐pressure glasses are quite similar to the higher‐pressure glasses from the literature. However, X_Mg increases from about 0.1–0.3 with increasing pressure from 1 to 10 kbar, and the low‐temperature low‐pressure glasses are the most Fe‐rich of all the experimental glasses from pelitic compositions.     

Equilibrium vs. disequilibrium melting relations in theHigher Himalayan Crystalline (HHC) pelitic migmatites,Sikkim Himalaya

Higher Himalayan Crystalline (HHC) complex of the Sikkim Himalaya predominantly consists of high-grade pelitic migmatites. In this study, reaction textures, mineral/bulk rare earth elements (REE), trace element partition coefficients and trace element zoning profiles in garnet are used to demonstrate a complex petrogenetic process during crustal anatexis. With the help of equilibrium REE and trace element partitioning model, it is shown that strong enrichment of Effective Bulk Composition (EBC) is responsible for the zoning in garnet in these rocks. The data strongly support disequilibrium element partitioning and suggest that the anatectic melts associated with mafic selvedges are likely produced by disequilibrium melting because of fast melt segregation process.     

Dehydration and anatexis of UHP metagranite during continental collision in the Sulu orogen

Dehydration and anatexis of ultrahigh‐pressure (UHP) metamorphic rocks during continental collision are two key processes that have great bearing on the physicochemical properties of deeply subducted continental crust at mantle depths. Determining the time and P–T conditions at which such events take place is needed to understand subduction‐zone tectonism. A combined petrological and zirconological study of UHP metagranite from the Sulu orogen reveals differential behaviours of dehydration and anatexis between two samples from the same UHP slice. The zircon mantle domains in one sample record eclogite facies dehydration metamorphism at 236 ± 5 Ma during subduction, exhibiting low REE contents, steep MREE–HREE patterns without negative Eu anomalies, low Th, Nb and Ta contents, low temperatures of 651–750 °C and inclusions of quartz, apatite and jadeite. A second mantle domain records high‐T anatexis at 223 ± 3 Ma during exhumation, showing high REE contents, steeper MREE–HREE patterns with marked negative Eu anomalies, high Hf, Nb, Ta, Th and U contents, high temperatures of 698–879 °C and multiphase solid inclusions of albite + muscovite + quartz. In contrast, in a second sample, one zircon mantle domain records limited hydration anatexis at 237 ± 3 Ma during subduction, exhibiting high REE contents, steep MREE–HREE patterns with marked negative Eu anomalies, high Hf, Nb, Ta, Th and U contents, medium temperatures of 601–717 °C and multiphase solid inclusions of albite + muscovite + hydrohalite. A second mantle domain in this sample records a low‐T dehydration metamorphism throughout the whole continental collision in the Triassic, showing low REE contents, steep MREE–HREE patterns with weakly negative Eu anomalies, low Th, Nb and Ta contents, low temperatures of 524–669 °C and anhydrite + gas inclusions. Garnet, phengite and allanite/epidote in these two samples also exhibit different variations in texture and major‐trace element compositions, in accordance with the zircon records. The distinct P–T–t paths for these two samples suggest separate processes of dehydration and anatexis, which are ascribed to the different geothermal gradients at different positions inside the same crustal slice during continental subduction‐zone metamorphism. Therefore, the subducting continental crust underwent variable extents of dehydration and anatexis in response to the change in subduction‐zone P–T conditions.     

Five generations of monazite in Langtang gneisses: implications for chronology of the Himalayan metamorphic core

Monazite grains from Greater Himalayan Sequence gneisses, Langtang valley, Nepal, were chemically mapped and then dated in situ via Th–Pb ion‐microprobe analysis. Correlation of ages and chemistry reveals at least five different generations of monazite, ranging from c. 9 to >300 Ma. Petrological models of monazite chemistry provide a link between these generations and the thermal evolution of these rocks, yielding an age for the melting of Greater Himalayan rocks within the Main Central Thrust sheet (c. 16 Ma), and for the timing of thrust sheet emplacement that are younger than commonly viewed. Chemical characterization of monazite is vital prior to chronological microanalysis, and many ages previously reported for monazite from the Greater Himalayan Sequence are interpretationally ambiguous.