The cordierite‐bearing anatectic rocks of the higher Himalayan crystallines (eastern Nepal): low‐pressure anatexis,melt productivity,melt loss and the preservation of cordierite

Cordierite‐bearing anatectic rocks inform our understanding of low‐pressure anatectic processes in the continental crust. This article focuses on cordierite‐bearing lithologies occurring at the upper structural levels of the Higher Himalayan Crystallines (eastern Nepal Himalaya). Three cordierite‐bearing gneisses from different geological transects (from Mt Everest to Kangchenjunga) have been studied, in which cordierite is spectacularly well preserved. The three samples differ in terms of bulk composition likely reflecting different sedimentary protoliths, although they all consist of quartz, alkali feldspar, plagioclase, biotite, cordierite and sillimanite in different modal percentages. Analysis of the microstructures related to melt production and/or melt consumption allows the distinction to be made between peritectic and cotectic cordierite. The melt productivity of different prograde assemblages (from two‐mica metapelite/metagreywacke to biotite‐metapelite) has been investigated at low‐pressure conditions, evaluating the effects of muscovite v. biotite dehydration melting on both mineral assemblages and microstructures. The results of the thermodynamic modelling suggest that the mode and type of the micaceous minerals in the prograde assemblage is a very important parameter controlling the melt productivity at low‐pressure conditions, the two‐mica protoliths being significantly more fertile at any given temperature than biotite gneisses over the same temperature interval. Furthermore, the cordierite preservation is promoted by melt crystallization at a dry solidus and by exhumation along P‐T paths with a peculiar dP/dT slope of about 15–18 bar °C^?1. Overall, our results provide a key for the interpretation of cordierite petrogenesis in migmatites from any low‐P regional anatectic terrane. The cordierite‐bearing migmatites may well represent the source rocks for the Miocene andalusite‐bearing leucogranites occurring at the upper structural levels of the Himalayan belt, and low‐P isobaric heating rather than decompression melting may be the triggering process of this peculiar peraluminous magmatism.     

The P–T path of the ultra-high pressure Lago Di Cignana and adjoining high-pressure meta-ophiolitic units: insights into the evolution of the subducting Tethyan slab

The Lago di Cignana ultra‐high‐pressure unit (LCU), which consists of coesite–eclogite facies metabasics and metasediments, preserves the most deeply subducted oceanic rocks worldwide. New constraints on the prograde and early retrograde evolution of this ultra‐high pressure unit and adjoining units provide important insights into the evolution of the Piemontese–Ligurian palaeo‐subduction zone, active in Paleocene–Eocene times. In the LCU, a first prograde metamorphic assemblage, consisting of omphacite + Ca‐amphibole + epidote + rare biotite + ilmenite, formed during burial at estimated P < 1.7 GPa and 350 < T < 480 °C. Similar metamorphic conditions of 400 < T < 650 °C and 1.0 < P < 1.7 GPa have been estimated for the meta‐ophiolitic rocks juxtaposed to the LCU. The prograde assemblage is partially re‐equilibrated into the peak assemblage garnet + omphacite + Na‐amphibole + lawsonite + coesite + rutile, whose conditions were estimated at 590 < T < 605 °C and P > 3.2 GPa. The prograde path was characterized by a gradual decrease in the thermal gradient from ～9–10 to ～5–6 °C km^?1. This variation is interpreted as the evidence of an increase in the rate of subduction of the Piemonte–Ligurian oceanic slab in the Eocene. Accretion of the Piemontese oceanic rocks to the Alpine orogen and thermal relaxation were probably related to the arrival of more buoyant continental crust at the subduction zone. Subsequent deformation of the orogenic wedge is responsible for the present position of the LCU, sandwiched between two tectonic slices of meta‐ophiolites, named the Lower and Upper Units, which experienced peak pressures of 2.7–2.8 and <2.4 GPa respectively.     

Metamorphic evolution of non‐equilibrated granulitized eclogite from Punta de li Tulchi (Variscan Sardinia) determined through texturally controlled thermodynamic modelling

The metamorphic evolution of a granulitized eclogite from Punta de li Tulchi, NE Sardinia, Italy, reconstructed utilizing a combined microstructural (symplectitic, coronitic and kelyphytic features) and thermodynamic approach, involved a complex metamorphic history with equilibrium attained only at a domainal scale. Microstructural analysis and mineral zoning allow recognition of reactants and products involved in successive balanced mineral reactions. The P–T conditions at which each microstructure was formed are constrained by calculating isochemical phase diagrams (pseudosections) for the composition of effectively reacting domains. A pre‐symplectite stage developed during prograde metamorphism under conditions ranging from 660–680 °C, 1.6–1.8 GPa to 660–700 °C at 1.7–2.1 GPa. Pseudosections calculated for subsequent clinopyroxene + plagioclase and orthopyroxene + plagioclase symplectitic coronae using the composition of effectively reacting microdomains suggest temperature in excess of 800 °C and pressures of 1.0–1.3 GPa. Modelling the development of later plagioclase + amphibole coronae around garnet during decompression yields conditions of 730–830 °C and 0.8–1.1 GPa. H₂O (wt%) isomodes indicate that the granulitized eclogites were H₂O‐undersaturated at peak‐P conditions and during most of the subsequent heating and decompression. This allowed the preservation of prograde garnet zoning in spite of the strong granulite facies overprint. The P–T evolution of Punta de li Tulchi granulitized eclogite is very similar in shape to that registered by other NE Sardinia retrogressed eclogites thus suggesting a common tectonic scenario for their evolution.     

When epitaxy controls garnet growth

Within a mica schist from the coesite-bearing Brossasco-Isasca Unit (Western Alps), microstructural analysis shows that Alpine garnet grains are aligned with the crenulated foliation. Garnet crystallographic orientation was analysed with electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD): the obtained crystallographic dispersion patterns and distribution patterns of misorientation axes suggest a strong parallelism of {110} garnet planes with a 56°W-dipping foliation. The data are interpreted as evidence for an epitaxial growth of garnet upon (001) biotite planes, sometime during and/or after dispersion of the biotite/garnet crystals from their initially foliation-parallel orientation by rotation about the Alpine crenulation axis. This interpretation is based on the comparison of the measured EBSD data with: (i) theoretical dispersion trajectories of garnet crystallographic data, (ii) numerically modelled pole figures, and (iii) numerically modelled misorientation axis distribution patterns. Our data suggest that epitaxial growth of garnet upon biotite is allowed by distortion of the pseudohexagonal basal oxygen ring structure on (001) biotite surfaces, and that distortion is driven by introduction of missing ions. Our data further suggest that the spatial distribution of precursor phases influences the distribution patterns of garnet within mica schists.     

Multistage Metamorphic Evolution and P-T-t Path of High-T Eclogite from the North Dabie Complex Zone during Continental Subduction and Exhumation

正Objective High-T eclogites from the North Dabie complex zone(NDZ),central China underwent a complex metamorphic evolution involved in ultrahigh-pressure(UHP)and highpressure eclogite-facies metamorphism,and subsequent     

Impure marbles from the UHP Brossasco-Isasca Unit (Dora-Maira Massif, western Alps): evidence for Alpine equilibration in the diamond stability field and evaluation of the X(CO2) fluid evolution

Two impure ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) marbles, a calcite marble with the peak assemblage Grt + Phe + Cpx + Rt + (Arg) and a dolomite marble with the peak assemblage Crn + Chl + Rt + Dol (±Arg), from the same lens from the polymetamorphic complex of the Brossasco-Isasca Unit (BIU) (southern Dora-Maira Massif) have been petrologically investigated and modelled by calculating P – T phase-diagram projections for H₂O–CO₂ mixed-volatile systems. Thermobarometric data obtained from the calcite marble suggest Alpine peak conditions in the diamond stability field (4.0 GPa at 730 °C), and allow reconstruction of the earlier portion of the Alpine retrograde P – T path, which is characterized by a significant decompression coupled with a moderate and continuous cooling to 650 °C at 2.50 GPa. The modelled fluid compositions at peak conditions point to 0.025 ≤  X (CO₂) ≤ 0.10 and X (CO₂) ≤ 0.0012 in the calcite marble and dolomite marble, respectively, suggesting fluid heterogeneity at the local scale and an internally buffered fluid evolution of the studied impure marbles. The lack of micro-diamond in the BIU marbles is explained by the very-low X (CO₂) values, which favoured relatively high f O₂-conditions, preventing the formation of diamond at the UHP peak metamorphic conditions.     

Coexistence of lawsonite‐bearing eclogite and blueschist: phase equilibria modelling of Alpine Corsica metabasalts and petrological evolution of subducting slabs

In Alpine Corsica (France), deeply subducted metabasalts are well preserved as lawsonite‐bearing eclogite (Law‐Ecl), occurrence of which is restricted to ～10 localities worldwide. The Corsican Law‐Ecl, consisting of omphacite + lawsonite + garnet + phengite + titanite, occurs as both single undeformed metabasaltic pillows surrounded by lawsonite blueschist (Law‐Bs), and carbonate‐bearing eclogitic veins. Law‐Bs are found as variably deformed metabasaltic pillows locally cross‐cut by eclogitic veins and consist of glaucophane + actinolite + lawsonite + garnet + phengite + titanite. Field evidence and microstructures reveal that both Law‐Ecl and Law‐Bs are stable at the metamorphic peak in the lawsonite‐eclogite stability field. Isochemical phase diagrams (pseudosections) calculated for representative Law‐Ecl and Law‐Bs samples indicate that both lithologies equilibrated at the same conditions of ～520 ± 20 °C and 2.3 ± 0.1 GPa. Therefore, the coexistence at the same peak metamorphic conditions of Law‐Ecl and Law‐Bs implies that different portions of deeply subducted oceanic crust may store significantly different H₂O contents, depending on bulk‐rock chemical composition. In addition, thermodynamic modelling of phase equilibria indicates that the occurring progressive dehydration reactions, which are significantly depending on bulk‐rock chemical composition, strongly influence rock densification and eclogite formation in subducting slabs.     

华北板块东南缘五河杂岩的麻粒岩相变质、部分熔融与交代作用

华北板块东南缘五河杂岩属于前寒武纪变质基底,出露于蚌埠及相邻地区,主要由变质的镁铁质和长英质火成岩以及表壳岩系组成,并伴生有古元古代片麻状花岗岩和中生代花岗岩类,构成了"蚌埠隆起"。五河杂岩中主要有石榴斜长角闪岩/榴闪岩、石榴麻粒岩、异剥钙榴岩、石榴斜长角闪片麻岩、花岗片麻岩、云母片岩、大理岩和变质砂岩等岩石类型。这些不同类型的变质岩具有类似的峰期变质矿物,如石榴子石、单斜辉石、斜长石、金红石和石英等;结合其锆石U-Pb年龄,表明它们共同经历了古元古代高压麻粒岩相变质作用。石榴斜长角闪岩的石榴子石包体中存在钾长石+斜长石+石英+黑云母等矿物交生体,指示早期花岗质熔体的存在,证明五河杂岩在古元代变质过程中发生了部分熔融作用。此外,部分变基性岩中存在方解石、绿帘石和绿泥石等蚀变矿物,沿石榴子石的裂隙中分布有钾长石+斜长石+石英+黑云母+角闪石等矿物,表明它们经历了含碳酸盐的熔/流体交代作用以及绿帘石化和绿泥石化作用等。遭受过古元古代含碳酸盐的熔/流体交代作用的变基性岩表现为高放射成因Pb同位素组成,而未遭受含碳酸盐的熔/流体交代作用的变基性岩则表现为典型华北板块前寒武纪麻粒岩地体和下地壳包体岩石的低放射成因Pb同位素组成。     

Cosmic evolution of the biogenic elements and compounds

Summary This paper traces the evolution of the biogenic elements H, C, N, O, P and S from their creation by cosmic nucleosynthesis to their inclusion in living systems on the surface of the Earth. Evidence for the presence of significant prebiotic molecules in interstellar clouds and in primitive meteorites is reviewed. The possible relevance of this discovery to the origin of life on Earth is assessed in the light of evidence suggesting that such molecules could not easily be synthesized in a primitive CO₂-dominated terrestrial atmosphere.