Synmetamorphic High-Density Carbonic Fluids in the Lower Crust: Evidence from the Nilgiri Granulites, Southern India

High-density CO² inclusions occur abundantly in granulite fadesrocks (age of metamorphism 2–5b.y.) of the Nilgiri massif,southern India. The chronology of carbonic inclusions in thewidespread enderbitic granulites studied in relation to thedevelopment of micro-textures and mineral assemblages indicatesthat randomly oriented, negative-crystal-shaped CO² inclusions(4–20 µim) in garnet and quartz grains (qtz I) armouredby garnet entrap syn-peak-metamorphic pore fluids. The moreabundant trail-bound CO₂ inclusions in the deformed, polygonized,and partially recrystallized matrix quartz grains (qtz II andIII) and plagioclase grains were formed in connection with astage of compressional deformation and subsequent annealingrelated to the development of the late-Proterozoic Bhavani shearzone. These inclusions resulted from local re-equilibrationof the former peak-granulitic carbonic inclusions and re-entrapmentof released fluids. The presence of pure CO₂ in all the inclusionsis confirmed by microthermometric data and laser-excited Ramanmicrospectrome-try. Temperatures of homogenization (liquid phase)are in the range of 50 to +20C, and the corresponding CO₂ densitiesare between 1.154 and 0–807 g/cm3. Mineralogical thermobarometry on the enderbitic granulites documentsa continuous gradient of near-peak metamorphic conditions from750C, 9–10 kb in the northern part to 73OC, 7 kb inthe southwestern part of the Nilgiri massif. Uniform P, Testimates(600–650 C, 6–7 kb) for late coronitic garnet +quartz assemblages in enderbites and metadolerites indicatethat differential uplift of the massif to mid-crustal levelswas accomplished before late compressional deformation. In conformity,carbonic inclusions in quartz II and III are characterized byuniformly high density (1.154–1.08 g/cm3). In contrast,early carbonic inclusions in garnet and quartz I preserve thedensity contrast reflecting the regional P, T gradient duringnear-peak metamorphic fluid entrapment. The fluid inclusionsys-tematics indicate ‘near-isochoric’ uplift ofthe northern high-P domain, but near-isobaric cooling of thesouthwestern low-P domain. The carbonic fluids are thought tohave been derived either from internal sources during dehydration-meltingprocesses or from freezing synmetamorphic intrusives into thelower crust.     

Arrested charnockite formation at Kottavattam, southern India

Abstract At Kottavattam, southern Kerala (India), late Proterozoic homogeneous leptynitic garnet–biotite gneisses of granitic composition have been transformed on a decimetric scale into coarse-grained massive charnockite sensu stricto along a set of conjugate fractures transecting the gneissic foliation. Charnockitization post-dates the polyphase deformation, regional high-grade metamorphism and anatexis, and evidently occurred at a late stage of the Pan-African tectonothermal history. Geothermobarometric and fluid inclusion data document textural and chemical equilibration of the gneiss and charnockite assemblages at similar P_lith–T conditions (650–700°C, 5–6 kbar) in the presence of carbonic fluids internally buffered by reaction with graphite and opaque mineral phases (X_CO2= 0.7–0.6; X_H2O= 0.2–0.3; X_N2= 0.1; log f_O2= -17.5). Mineralogical zonation indicates that charnockitization of the leptynitic gneiss involved first the breakdown of biotite and oxidation of graphite in narrow, outward-migrating transition zones adjacent to the gneiss, followed by the breakdown of garnet and the neoblastesis of hypersthene in the central charnockite zone. Compared to the host gneiss, the charnockite shows higher concentrations of K, Na, Sr, Ba and Zn and lower concentrations of Mg, Fe, Ti, V, Y, Zr and the HREE, with a complementary pattern in the narrow transition zones of biotite breakdown. The P_lith–T–X_H2O data and chemical zonation patterns indicate charnockitization through subsolidus-dehydration reaction in an open system. Subsequent residence of the carbonic fluids in the charnockite resulted in low-grade alteration causing modification of the syn-charnockitic elemental distribution patterns and the properties of entrapped fluids. We favour an internally controlled process of arrested charnockitization in which, during near-isothermal uplift, the release of carbonic fluids from decrepitating inclusions in the host gneiss into simultaneously developing fracture zones led to a change in the fluid regime from ‘fluid-absent’in the gneiss to ‘fluid-present’in the fracture zones and to the development of an initial fluid-pressure gradient, triggering the dehydration reaction.