Prograde garnet-bearing ultramafic rocks from the Tromsø Nappe, northern Scandinavian Caledonides

Garnet-bearing peridotitic rocks closely associated with eclogite within the Tromsø Nappe of the northern Scandinavian Caledonides show good evidence for prograde metamorphism. Early stages are recognized as inclusions of hornblende and chlorite in the cores of large garnet poikiloblasts. Closer to the garnet rim, clinopyroxene and Cr-poor spinel appear as additional inclusion phases. Four suites of spinel inclusions can be distinguished based on optical properties and chemical composition. The innermost suite (suite 1) has the lowest Cr# and highest Mg#. Further rimward, the spinel inclusions gradually change in composition, with increasing Cr# and decreasing Mg#. Spinel is rare in the matrix, but locally chromitic spinel occurs as larger grains. Garnet poikiloblasts are rimmed by a kelyphite zone consisting of Hbl + Cr-poor Spl or Opx ± Cpx + Cr-poor Spl, and locally an inner zone of Na-rich Hbl + Chl. Matrix assemblage in the garnet-bearing peridotitic rocks is Hbl + Chl + Cpx + Ol ± Cr-rich spinel, defining a strong foliation wrapping around garnets and associated kelyphites. Thin layers of garnet-orthopyroxenite and garnet–hornblende–zoisite–chlorite rocks are presumably coeval with the matrix foliation of the peridotitic rocks.

In dunitic to harzburgitic compositions large undulatory grains of Ol + Opx ± Chl + Spl apparently define the maximum-P conditions. This assemblage is succeeded by a recrystallized assemblage of Ol ± Tlc ± Mgs, which in turn is overgrown by strain-free poikiloblasts of orthopyroxene, indicating a temperature increase. This is postdated by Tlc + Ath ± Mgs, and finally serpentine.

P–T estimates for the inclusion suites of clinopyroxene and spinel in garnet clearly indicate garnet growth and spinel consumption in a regime of increasing P. The inner suite (suite 1) apparently was in equilibrium with garnet, clinopyroxene and olivine at 1.40 GPa, 675 °C, whereas included spinel with maximum Cr# (suite 4) indicate 2.40 GPa at 740 °C. Grt + Opx from garnet-orthopyroxenite give 1.5–1.9 GPa at 740–770 °C, and Grt + Hbl + Zo + Chl from a zoisite-rich rock give 1.75 ± 0.25 GPa at 740 ± 30 °C, interpreted to represent recrystallization during uplift. In dunitic to harzburgitic compositions, early Ol + Opx ± Chl + Spl is succeeded by Ol ± Tlc ± Mgs, which in turn is overgrown by neoblasts of strain-free orthopyroxene, indicating temperature increase. This is postdated by Tlc + Ath ± Mgs, and finally serpentine.

The ultramafic rocks in the Tromsø Nappe were locally strongly hydrated before subduction along with associated eclogites and metasedimentary rocks during the early (Ordovician) stages of the Caledonian orogeny.     

Formation of baotite - a Cl-rich silicate - together with fluorapatite and F-rich hydrous silicates in the Kval?ya lamproite dyke, North Norway

Baotite occurs as a late phase in the Kval?ya lamproite dyke and in the fenitized granite adjacent to the dyke, suggesting that baotite formed during reactions between rock and fluids derived from a volatile-rich lamproitic magma. Most of the analyzed grains of baotite from the Kval?ya lamproite show compositions close to the ideal Nb-free end-member Ba₄Ti₈Si₄O₂₈Cl. Compilation of all published baotite analyses suggests that the major compositional variations of baotite occur between the Nb-free end member Ba₄Ti₈Si₄O₂₈Cl, and a Nb-rich end member Ba₄Ti₂Fe2⁺ ₂Nb₄Si₄O₂₈Cl. However, a Pb-bearing baotite, showing significant concentrations of Ca, Sr, Pb and K, and approximately 3 Ba p.f.u., was also identified from the Kval?ya lamproite. Euhedral fluorapatite formed as an early phase during crystallization of the lamproite magma, while anhedral REE-rich fluorapatite overgrowths on the euhedral grains formed during reactions with the late magmatic fluid. Fluorapatite contains up to 1.2?F p.f.u., but only traces of Cl. Other F-rich, but Cl-poor minerals of the lamproite include fluoro-potassic-magnesio-arfvedsonite, fluoro-phlogopite, and yangzhumingite. The presence of baotite together with a range of high-F, but low-Cl mineral phases suggests that the minerals formed in equilibrium with a high-F, Cl-bearing hydrous fluid. The high Cl-content of baotite demonstrates that Cl is strongly partitioned into this mineral in the presence of a Cl-bearing F-rich hydrous fluid. We suggest that a combination of high a_Si, a_Ti, a_Ba, and f_O2, but low a_Ca of the fluid enabled baotite formation.