Multi-stage pseudomorphic replacement of garnet during polymetamorphism: 1. Microstructures and their interpretation

Metapelites from the southern aureole of the Vedrette di Ries tonalite (eastern Alps) were variably overprinted by contact and earlier regional metamorphic events during pre-Alpine and Alpine metamorphic cycles. In these rocks, starting from a primary garnet mica-schist (garnet stage), a complex sequence of transformations, affecting the site of the garnet, has been recognized. In the outermost part of the aureole, the primary garnet sites are occupied by nodules of kyanite (kyanite stage). Closer to the tonalite, kyanite is replaced by staurolite (staurolite stage), which in turn is pseudomorphed by muscovite (muscovite stage). The aggregates of kyanite do not overgrow garnet directly; they post-date a stage (fibrolite stage) represented by the pseudomorphic alteration of garnet into fibrolitic sillimanite plus biotite. A further sericite stage is likely to have occurred between the fibrolite and kyanite stages. Preservation of the sub-spherical garnet shape during all these transformations and persistence of mineralogical and textural relicts from earlier stages were favoured by the very low strain experienced by the rocks since the garnet stage. The textural sequence is in agreement with the metamorphic history of this part of the Austroalpine basement of the Eastern Alps: the garnet and fibrolite stages, and the coeval main foliation of the samples, are referred to the high-grade Hercynian metamorphism; the kyanite stage to the Eo-Alpine metamorphism; the staurolite and muscovite stages to the Oligocene contact metamorphism. It is suggested that kyanite growth as microgranular aggregates took place in polymetamorphic rocks where static, high- P /low- T  metamorphism overprinted high- T  assemblages that contained sillimanite or andalusite.     

吉林中部敖花村角闪辉长岩锆石U-Pb定年、Hf同位素和岩石地球化学特征

古太平洋板块的俯冲在欧亚大陆东缘的区域构造演化中发挥了重要作用,但其发生的时间尚不清楚。本文报道了吉林中部新发现的敖花村角闪辉长岩的锆石U-Pb年龄、Hf同位素组成和岩石地球化学数据。锆石U-Pb定年显示,角闪辉长岩形成于早侏罗世(180.3±2.3 Ma),锆石εHf(t)值高且均一(9.6～11.3)。岩石地球化学分析显示样品低Si和Al,高Fe、Mg和Ca,富集轻稀土和大离子亲石元素(如Rb、Ba、U、K和Sr),亏损重稀土和高场强元素(如Nb、Ta和Ti),具有弱Eu负异常(δEu=0.67～0.98)。岩石起源于板片流体交代的亏损岩石圈地幔,形成过程中分离结晶、地壳混染和堆晶作用不明显。结合东北地区东段早中生代火成岩组合及时空分布,认为古太平洋板块向欧亚大陆下的俯冲开始于早侏罗世,敖花村角闪辉长岩形成于与古太平洋俯冲密切相关的弧后环境。     

Transformation of two-pyroxene hornblende granulite to garnet granulite involving simultaneous melting and fracturing of the lower crust, Fiordland, New Zealand

Granulite facies gabbroic and dioritic gneisses in the Pembroke Valley, Milford Sound, New Zealand, are cut by vertical and planar garnet reaction zones in rectilinear patterns. In gabbroic gneiss, narrow dykes of anorthositic leucosome are surrounded by fine‐grained garnet granulite that replaced the host two‐pyroxene hornblende granulite at conditions of 750 °C and 14 kbar. Major and trace element whole‐rock geochemical data indicate that recrystallization was mostly isochemical. The anorthositic veins cut contacts between gabbroic gneiss and dioritic gneiss, but change in morphology at the contacts, from the anorthositic vein surrounded by a garnet granulite reaction zone in the gabbroic gneiss, to zones with a septum of coarse‐grained garnet surrounded by anorthositic leucosome in the dioritic gneiss. The dioritic gneiss also contains isolated garnet grains enclosed by leucosome, and short planar trains of garnet grains linked by leucosome. Partial melting of the dioritic gneiss, mostly controlled by hornblende breakdown at water‐undersaturated conditions, is inferred to have generated the leucosomes. The form of the leucosomes is consistent with melt segregation and transport aided by fracture propagation; limited retrogression suggests considerable melt escape. Dyking and melt escape from the dioritic gneiss are inferred to have propagated fractures into the gabbroic gneiss. The migrating melt scavenged water from the surrounding gabbroic gneiss and induced the limited replacement by garnet granulite.     

Ice-wedge Pseudomorphs Showing Climatic Change Since the Late Pleistocene in the Source Area of the Yellow River, Northeast Tibet

Introduction The Tibetan Plateau, located in west China, was uplifted during the Cenozoic and became the most youthful plateau in the world. Some researches have also shown that it started to develop into the cryosphere in the beginning of the Middle Pleistocene and became one of the three global cryospheres (two other cryospheres being the Artic and the Antarctic) (SHI et al. 1996). Because of the cryosphere development in the Tibetan Plateau, many periglacial and permafrost geomorpholog…     

Hornblende geothermometry of amphibolite layers of the Popple Hill gneiss, north-west Adirondack Lowlands, New York, USA

The exchange reaction tschermakite+2 diopside+2 quartz=tremolite+2 anorthite (HPCQ), in combination with the thermodynamic database TWQ (version 1.02, Berman, 1991), has been evaluated for its usefulness as a geothermometer. This reaction, which is both water conserving (independent of water fugacity) and which does not require the presence of garnet, is well suited for studying pyroxene‐bearing amphibolites. As an application of this geothermometer, we have re‐examined the amphibolites occurring in the Popple Hill gneiss of the Adirondack Lowlands of New York, USA, to better understand the magnitude of temperature variation preserved in the amphibolites themselves in this classic locality. At an assumed constant pressure of 7 kbar, the temperatures range from 619 to 682 °C from Edwards to Pierrepont and are uncorrelated with either distance along the strike of the region or with modal mineralogical variations. Hornblende exhibits a narrow compositional range suggesting that there has been little or no thermal gradient along the strike of the Lowlands. Temperatures recorded just north of Colton are, however, distinctly higher (694–758 °C). Although it is likely that the Popple Hill gneiss amphibolites experienced some effects of progressive metamorphism, particularly in the vicinity of Colton, the variations in modal mineralogy are most likely the result of such factors as local variations in the bulk chemistry of the protolith and in the fugacity of H₂O due to infiltration of diluting species (e.g. CO₂, CH₄), rather than a regional temperature variation. Temperatures recorded by the HPCQ geothermometer reported here are similar in magnitude and geographic trend to those reported for graphite–calcite carbon‐isotope thermometry by Kitchen & Valley (1995), suggesting that peak metamorphism in the Adirondack Lowlands involved laterally extensive and fairly uniform isotherms.     

内蒙石板井—小黄山与蛇绿岩相伴的变质岩及其演化

在内蒙古石板井－小黄山蛇绿岩带发现了具典型热变质特征的红柱石堇 青石角岩和以兰绿色角闪石、硬绿泥石、黑硬绿泥石等矿物代表的中高压区域变质角闪片岩。据变质作用时序和相拓朴图两个方面的研究,表明石板井和小黄山两地的变质岩属同一构造混杂岩,其中的变质岩先经过与火成作用有关的热变质作用,反又叠架了中高压变质作用,即经历过一反时钟PT轨迹。它的热高峰为620℃,压力高峰近0．65GPa。     

Solidification depth and crystallization age of the Shiaidani Granodiorite: Constraints to the average denudation rate of the Hida Range,central Japan

Solidification pressure and crystallization age of the ~5 Ma Shiaidani Granodiorite (Hida Mountain Range, central Japan) are determined based on Al-in-hornblende geobarometry and U–Pb zircon dating. Al-poor patchy replacements developed in amphiboles are common in this granite and petrographic study revealed that the replacements include chloritized biotite and albitic plagioclase. These are probably the hydrothermally recrystallized domains, and should not be used for solidification pressure estimates. Magmatic rim of amphibole is characterized by Si < 7.3 a.p.f.u. (Al_IV > 0.7 a.p.f.u.), and utilized in solidification pressure estimate that yielded 0.17–0.29 GPa. The solidification age of the granite is estimated as ~5.6–5.2 Ma using U–Pb zircon dating. From these data, the lower limit of an average denudation rate after ~5.6–5.2 Ma for the area where Shiaidani Granodiorite is exposed is estimated as 0.93–2.5 mm/year.     

Mineral chemistry and geothermobarometry of Moshirabad pluton,Qorveh, Kurdistan,western Iran

The Moshirabad pluton is located southwest of the Sanandaj–Sirjan Metamorphic Belt, Qorveh, western Iran. The pluton is composed of diorite, monzodiorite, quartz diorite, quartz monzodiorite, tonalite, granodiorite, granite, aplite, and pegmatite. In this study 31 samples from various rocks were chosen for whole‐rock analyses and 15 samples from different lithologies were chosen for mineral chemical studies. The compositions of minerals are used to describe the nature of magma and estimate the pressure and temperature at which the Moshirabad pluton was emplaced. Feldspar compositions are near the binary systems in which plagioclase compositions range from An₅ to An₅₃ and alkali‐feldspar compositions range from Or₉₁ to Or₉₇. Mafic minerals in the plutonic rocks are biotite and hornblende. Based on the composition of biotites and whole‐rock chemistry, the Moshirabad pluton formed from a calc‐alkaline magma. Amphiboles are calcic amphiboles (magnesio‐hornblende or edenite). Temperatures of crystallization, calculated with the hornblende–plagioclase thermometer, range 550–750°C. These temperatures indicate that plutonic rocks have undergone some retrogressive changes in their mineral compositions. Aluminum‐in‐hornblende geobarometry indicates that the Moshirabad pluton was emplaced at pressures of 2.3–6.0 kbar, equal to depths of 7–20 km, but with consideration of regional geology, lower pressures than the above pressure range are more probable. Alteration of amphiboles can be the reason for some overestimation of pressures.     

Zircon U–Pb ages of plutonic rocks in the southern Abukuma Mountains: Implications for Cretaceous geotectonic evolution of the Abukuma Belt

Plutonic rocks in the southern Abukuma Mountains include gabbro and diorite, fine‐grained diorite, hornblende–biotite granodiorite (Ishikawa, Samegawa, main part of Miyamoto and Tabito, Kamikimita and Irishiken Plutons), biotite granodiorite (the main part of Hanawa Pluton and the Torisone Pluton), medium‐ to coarse‐grained biotite granodiorite and leucogranite, based on the lithologies and geological relations. Zircon U–Pb ages of gabbroic rocks are 112.4 ±1.0 Ma (hornblende gabbro, Miyamoto Pluton), 109.0 ±1.1 Ma (hornblende gabbro, the Hanawa Pluton), 102.7 ±0.8 Ma (gabbronorite, Tabito Pluton) and 101.0 ±0.6 Ma (fine‐grained diorite). As for the hornblende–biotite granodiorite, zircon U–Pb ages are 104.2 ±0.7 Ma (Ishikawa Pluton), 112.6 ±1.0 Ma (Tabito Pluton), 105.2 ±0.8 Ma (Kamikimita Pluton) and 105.3±0.8 Ma (Irishiken Pluton). Also for the medium‐ to fine‐grained biotite granodiorite, zircon U–Pb ages are 106.5±0.9 Ma (Miyamoto Pluton), 105.1 ±1.0 Ma (Hanawa Pluton) and the medium‐ to coarse‐grained biotite granodiorite has zircon U–Pb age of 104.5 ±0.8 Ma. In the case of the leucogranite, U–Pb age of zircon is 100.6 ±0.9 Ma. These data indicate that the intrusion ages of gabbroic rocks and surrounding granitic rocks ranges from 113 to 101 Ma. Furthermore, K–Ar ages of biotite and or hornblende in the same rock samples were dated. Accordingly, it is clear that these rocks cooled down rapidly to 300 °C (Ar blocking temperature of biotite for K–Ar system) after their intrusion. These chronological data suggest that the Abukuma plutonic rocks in the southern Abukuma Mountains region uplifted rapidly around 107 to 100 Ma after their intrusion.     

Phase Equilibria of Hornblende‐Bearing Eclogite in the Western Dabie Mountain,Central China

The high-pressure (HP) eclogite in the western Dabie Mountain encloses numerous hornblendes, mostly barroisite. Opinions on the peak metamorphic P-T condition, PT path and mineral paragenesis of it are still in dispute. Generally, HP eclogite involves garnet, omphacite, hornblendes and quartz, with or without glaucophane, zoisite and phengite. The garnet has compositional zoning with XMg increase, XCa and XMn decrease from core to rim, which indicates a progressive metamorphism. The phase equilibria of the HP eclogite modeled by the P-T pseudosection method developed recently showed the following: (1) the growth zonation of garnet records a progressive metamorphic PT path from pre-peak condition of 1.9–2.1 GPa at 508°C–514°C to a peak one of 2.3–2.5 GPa at 528°C–531°C for the HP eclogite; (2) the peak mineral assemblage is garnet+omphacite+glaucophane+quartz±phengite, likely paragenetic with lawsonite; (3) the extensive hornblendes derive mainly from glaucophane, partial omphacite and even a little garnet due to the decompression with some heating during the post-peak stage, mostly representing the conditions of about 1.4–1.6 GPa and 580°C–640°C, and their growth is favored by the dehydration of lawsonite into zoisite or epidote, but most of the garnet, omphacite or phengite in the HP eclogite still preserve their compositions at peak condition, and they are not obviously equilibrious with the hornblendes.