Palaeoproterozoic evolution of the Challenger Au deposit, South Australia, from monazite geochronology

Monazite in granulite facies metatexite migmatites (Christie Gneiss) hosting the Challenger Au deposit, South Australia, records a series of growth and resorption stages over a c. 60 Myr period between 2470 and 2410 Ma. A combination of electron microprobe X‐ray mapping and in situ ion‐microprobe dating was used to delineate and date five compositional domains. The oldest prograde metamorphic components are preserved in granoblastic gneisses surrounding the deposit, and as small high‐Y cores in large monazite grains in Au‐bearing migmatites. In metatexite leucosomes, these cores were partially resorbed prior to the growth of large high‐Th monazite domains that crystallized during partial melting and stromatic migmatite development at c. 2443 Ma. Subsequent heating to biotite dehydration conditions (c. 850 °C at 7 kbar) caused further partial melting roughly 10–15 Myr later, giving rise to c. 2428 Ma domains surrounding partly resorbed 2443 Ma grains that were entrained in the higher‐temperature melts. This period of partial melting coincided with isoclinal folding culminating in dextral transpression and represents the most likely window for remobilization of Au‐bearing polymetallic sulphide melts into low‐strain domains. Localized reaction of residual melt with the granulite facies assemblage during cooling gave rise to narrow high‐Y rims dated at 2414 ± 7 Ma. Although monazite from unmineralized granoblastic gneisses and migmatitic ore zones display the same range of U‐Pb dates, monazite in migmatites displays a higher overall Ca + Th + U content, indicating that compositional heterogeneities between ore zones and host rocks developed prior to 2470 Ma, perhaps a consequence of the hydrothermal alteration inferred to have accompanied gold mineralization.     

云开造山带强过铝深熔花岗岩地球化学、年代学及构造背景

云开造山带条带—眼球状(环斑)深熔花岗岩(含紫苏花岗岩)地球化学和年代学的研究表明,绝大多数花岗岩的A／ CNK>1．1,CaO／Na2O=0．62-1．61(平均0．94,大于0．3),Al2O3／TiO=16．6-60．6(平均23．68),高场强元素Ta、Nb、Zr 亏损,具大陆边缘俯冲-碰撞造山带后碰撞构造环境强过铝(SP)高钾钙碱性-钙碱性花岗岩的特征,紫苏花岗岩和片麻状含榴黑云二长花岗岩Al2O3／TiO(平均17．82)明显低于条带-眼球状(环斑)黑云二长花岗岩Al2O3／TiO(平均29．55),显示其形成温度更高,并具A型花岗岩的演化特征．而且从高钾钙碱性条带-眼球状(环斑)黑云二长花岗岩到钙碱性紫苏花岗岩、片麻状含榴黑云二长花岗岩,形成时代由(465±10)Ma、(467±10)Ma变为(435±11)Ma、(413±8)Ma,表明扬子板块与华夏板块在加里东期发生了洋—陆俯冲—碰撞造山和后碰撞的伸展—拆沉—底侵岩浆岩作用,并且后期又经历了海西—印支期挤压抬升和伸展揭顶作用的改造,这也为华南存在加里东期扬子板块向华夏板块的洋-陆俯冲-碰撞造山提供了重要证据．     

变质锆石成因的岩相学研究——高级变质岩U-Pb年龄解释的基本依据

岩相学在研究高级变质岩 (含深熔片麻岩 )的锆石中起着重要的作用 ,其内容主要包括锆石的形貌和表面特征 ,锆石在岩石中的赋存状态 ,与主晶的关系和内部结构等方面。基于大别山地区的一些榴辉岩相岩石、麻粒岩相岩石和片麻状花岗质岩石中锆石的研究 ,阐述了继承锆石、变质锆石、深熔锆石、变质增生、深熔增生和后期流体改造的基本岩相学特征。结合大别山地区的 4个实例 ,说明了高级变质岩中锆石的岩相学研究方法和步骤 ,并初步提出了高级变质岩锆石U -Pb年龄解释的岩相学标志。     

High-temperature 'clockwise'P-T paths and melting in the development of regional migmatites: an example from southern Brittany, France

The Southern Brittany Migmatite Belt (SBMB), which evolved through the metamorphic peak between c. 400 Ma and c. . 370 Ma ago, consists of a heterogeneous suite of high-grade gneisses and anatectic migmatites, both metatexites and diatexites. Rare garnet-cordierite gneiss layers record evidence of an early prograde P-T path. In these rocks, growth-zoned garnet cores and a sequence of included mineral assemblages in garnet, from core to rim, of Qtz + Ilm + Ky, Pl + Ky + St + Rt + Bt and Pl + Sil + St + Rt + Bt constrain a prograde evolution during which the reactions Ilm + Ky + Qtz→ Aim + Rt, Ms + Chl→ St + Bt + Qtz + V and St + Qtz→ Grt + Sil + V were crossed. Parts of this prograde evolution are preserved as inclusion assemblages in garnet in all other rock types. In all rock types, garnet has reverse zoned rims, and garnet replacement by cordierite and/or biotite and plagioclase suggests the following reactions have occurred: Grt + Sil + Qtz→ Crd → Hc ± Ilm, Bt + Sil + Qtz → Crd ± Hc → Ilm → Kfs + V and (Na + Ca + K + Ti) + Grt → Bt + Pl + Qtz. Microstructural analysis of reaction textures in conjunction with a petrogenetic grid has enabled the construction of a tightly constrained 'clockwise' P–T path for the SBMB. The high-temperature part of the path has a steep dT/dP slope characteristic of near isothermal decompression. It is proposed that the P-T path followed by the SBMB is the result of the inversion, by overthrusting, of a back-arc basin and that such a tectonic setting may be applicable to other high-temperature migmatite terranes. The near isothermal decompression is at least partly driven by the upward (diapiric) movement of the diatexite/anatectic granite core of the SBMB.     

鄂东北大别杂岩中深熔混合岩存在的地质地球化学证据

基于地质地球化学研究结果提出识别大别杂岩中深熔混合岩的证据：①浅色体粗大可横切面理，伴有复杂褶皱，帮助发育；②浅色体和古成体中斜长石牌号有明显差异；③矿物成分和组合指示曾达到深熔条件；④浅色体中富含Ａｌ２Ｏ３、Ｆｅ２Ｏ３、ＴｉＯ２和不活动、不相容元素，如ＬＲＥＥ、Ｔｈ、Ｈｆ、Ｚｒ。最结合混合岩矿物空间分布和质量平衡研究结果得出结论：大别核心杂岩中混合岩的主导成因机制是深熔。     

Relationships between deformation and partial melting in the Palmer migmatites,South Australia

The migmatites of the Palmer area, in the core of the Mt Lofty Ranges metamorphic belt, are considered to have formed by partial melting of quartzo‐feldspathic schists and gneisses, rather than by metamorphic segregation as formerly suggested. Large‐ and small‐scale tectonic structures indicate that the Cambrian Kanmantoo Group rocks in the Palmer area have undergone three deformations during the Delamerian Orogeny and that these are similar to those described elsewhere in the Mt Lofty Ranges. The relationships of the migmatitic veins to these structures indicate that some partial melt was present during a large part of the structural history: some veins formed before and after the first folding event, and some formed during or after the third folding event even though the metamorphic grade appears to have been waning in areas more distant from the highest grade ore. The early onset of partial melting is consistent with previously reported evidence that thermal activity in the belt began before penetrative deformation.     

The inception and growth of leucosomes: microstructure at the start of melt segregation in migmatites

The beginning stages of melt segregation and the formation of leucosomes are rarely preserved in migmatites. Most arrays of leucosomes record a more advanced stage where flow dominates over segregation. However, the early stages in the formation of leucosomes and the segregation of melt are preserved in a partially melted meta‐argillite from the metatexite zone (>800 °C) of the contact aureole around the Duluth Complex, Minnesota. The rock contains 2.4 modal% leucosome in a matrix consisting of 40.5% in situ neosome and 57.1% cordierite + plagioclase framework. The domainal microstructure in the matrix is a pre‐anatectic feature resulting from the bulk composition. Terminal chlorite reactions produced a large volume of cordierite which, with plagioclase, formed a framework that enclosed patches of biotite + quartz + plagioclase ± K‐feldspar. Upon melting, these fertile domains became patches of in situ neosome. Plagioclase in the neosome is less sodic than in the leucosome, hence segregation of melt occurred during crystallization, not melting. Segregation was delayed because the cordierite + plagioclase framework was strong enough to resist dilatation and compaction until after crystallization started. The leucosomes are small (i.e. they are microleucosomes) and display a systematic progression in morphology as length and aspect ratio increase from ~1 to 19 mm and from ~2.5 to >30 respectively. Small equant micropores form first, and in places these coalesce into small (~1 mm, aspect ratio ~2.5), isolated, blunt‐ended, elliptical microleucosomes. In the next stage, micropores develop ahead of, and at ~45° to the left and right of the blunt tip of a microleucosome; one of these develops into an elliptical leucosome and an en echelon array of either a left‐ or right‐stepping elliptical microleucosome forms. Each elliptical microleucosome in the en echelon arrays is separated by a bridge of matrix. Next, microleucosomes of greater length (>4 mm) and aspect ratio (>5) form when the bridges of cordierite + plagioclase matrix rupture and the elliptical microleucosomes link together to form a zigzag‐shaped microleucosome. Finally, still longer microleucosomes with greater aspect ratios (~30) are formed by the joining of zigzag arrays. Such a progression is characteristic of the way ductile fractures grow. The segregation of melt was driven by the pressure gradient between the dilatant fracture and an adjacent in situ neosome, which drew melt to the growing fracture, thereby creating a microleucosome. The microleucosomes are filled arrays of ductile fractures. Melt was contiguous only between microleucosomes and adjacent patches of in situ neosome. The length‐scale of segregation was ~5 mm, the size of a typical patch of in situ neosome, and restricted by the surrounding impermeable cordierite + plagioclase framework. The melt in the microleucosome was the most fractionated and the last to crystallize. All microleucosomes contain entrained minerals as a consequence of their mechanism of growth. Rupture of the bridges resulted in the entrainment of pre‐anatectic phases. However, microleucosomes that cross patches of in situ neosome are also contaminated with peritectic phases that were transported with the melt.     

Anatectic record and contrasting P–T paths of aluminous gneisses from the central Grenville Province

Anatectic aluminous gneisses, some derived from sedimentary rocks of broadly pelitic composition and others from hydrothermally altered felsic volcanic rocks, are exposed in the mid‐P and high‐P segments of the hinterland in the central Grenville Province. These gneisses consist dominantly of garnet, biotite, K‐feldspar, plagioclase and quartz, with sillimanite or kyanite, and display microstructural evidence of anatexis by fluid‐absent reactions consuming muscovite and/or biotite. Melt‐related microstructures, such as inter‐granular films and/or interstitial quartz or feldspar enclosing relict phases, are most abundant in the metasedimentary samples. Despite anatexis at granulite facies conditions, the hydrothermally altered rocks preserve earlier features attributed to the circulation of hydrothermal fluids, such as sillimanite seams, dismembered quartz veins and garnet‐rich aluminous nodules in a K‐feldspar‐dominated matrix. Microstructural and mineral chemical data, integrated with P–T pseudosections calculated with thermocalc for the metasedimentary rocks, permit qualitative constraints on the P–T paths. Data from a high‐P kyanite‐bearing sample are consistent with a steep prograde P–T path up to ~14.5 kbar and 860–900 °C, followed by decompression with minor cooling to the solidus at ~11 kbar and 870 °C. This pressure‐dominated P–T path is similar to those inferred in other parts of the high‐P segment in the central Grenville Province. In contrast, the P–T path predicted from a mid‐P sillimanite‐bearing paragneiss has a strong temperature gradient with P–T of ~9.5 kbar and 850 °C at the thermal peak, and a retrograde portion down to ~8 kbar and 820 °C. In a broad sense, these two contrasting P–T patterns are consistent with predictions of thermo‐mechanical modelling of large hot orogens in which P–T paths with strong pressure gradients exhume deeper rocks in the orogenic flanks, whereas P–T paths with strong temperature gradients in the orogenic core reflect protracted lateral transport of ductile crust beneath a plateau.     

A method for modelling mass balance in partial melting and anatectic leucosome segregation

A method is proposed for adjusting the mass balance to characterize quantitatively the behaviour of minerals in anatexis. The method is based on an unconstrained simple mixing model that can be expressed as: where B , A ₀, and A _1-n, are compositional vectors of segregate, source rock and source minerals, respectively. The most important concepts are: (1) degree of partial fusion: F^MM= 1/a₀; (2) mineral fractionation index: and (3) plagioclase differentiation index: . For a given mineral, the MFI values have the following meaning: (a) MFI <0: residual phase originated, at least partly, as a product of incongruent melting; (b) 0 > MFI <1: preferential retention in the residue; (c) MFI= 1: identical modal fraction in source and melt; (d) a₀ > MFI > 1: preferential incorporation into the segregate, and (e) MFI > a₀: external contribution to the anatectic system defined by a₀ A ₀. To test the method and illustrate its use, it was applied to two real problems of partial melting in the Peña Negra Anatectic Complex (Central Spain). The first is a very simple case of segregation of a diktyonitic neosome from an orthogneiss through partial melting located in vertical shear zones. This process is characterized by: (1) F^MM= 0.51; (2) active incorporation of K-feldspar, plagioclase and biotite into the segregate; (3) disequilibrium melting of plagioclase; (4) residual behaviour of quartz and ilmenite. The second case concerns the formation of a cordierite-bearing granite from granodioritoid diatexites through an anatectic process, whose most salient characteristics are: (1) F^MM= 0.45; (2) incongruent melting of biotite; (3) residual behaviour of plagioclase, which melted with a PDI of 1.22; (4) preferential incorporation of quartz into the segregate; (5) total extraction of K-feldspar from the residue.     

Formation of the Shuswap metamorphic core complex during late-orogenic collapse of the Canadian Cordillera: Role of ductile thinning and partial melting of the mid-to lower crust

Abstract

The early Tertiary evolution of the Shuswap metamorphic core complex is characterised by low-angle crustal detachments and nearly isothermal decompression followed by rapid cooling of rocks in the footwall of the detachments. Previous work as well as our own observations suggest that Paleogene late-orogenic extension produced the main tectonic features of the region. Furthermore, structural analysis of the migmatites and published geochronological data indicate that partial melting of the mid- to lower crust was coeval with extension in the upper crustal levels, suggesting that these two processes are linked genetically. Consequently, we propose that the formation of the Shuswap metamorphic core complex corresponds to late-orogenic gravitational collapse of the Canadian Cordillera accommodated by normal faulting of the brittle upper crust and by ductile thinning of the mid- to lower crust. The initiation and amplification of extension during the Paleocene in the Shuswap metamorphic core complex are tentatively related to partial melting of the thickened crust which caused drastic mechanical weakening of the crust.