The role of water,mixing processes and metamorphic fabric in the genesis of the Baume migmatites (Ardèche,France)

The Baume migmatites arose from melting of a high-grade metamorphic sequence comprising quartzofeld-spathic and biotite-plagioclase gneisses. Geochemical data and REE modelling suggest that melting occurred under open-system conditions and was caused mainly either by the infiltration along shears of an alkali-rich (K, Rb) aqueous fluid phase or by the injection along foliation planes of granitic magma; some leucosomes result from mixing between in situ partial melts and externally derived granitic materials. Melting appears to be almost independent of the paleosome composition but rather is dependent on the amount of introduced material, itself controlled by the metamorphic fabrics of parent gneisses and/or tectonic structures.