Three-dimensional quantitative textural analysis of metamorphic rocks using high-resolution computed X-ray tomography: Part II. Application to natural samples

Three-dimensional quantitative textural analysis coupled with numerical modelling has been used to assess the dominant mechanisms governing crystallization of garnet porphyroblasts in rocks from diverse regional metamorphic environments. In every case, spatial dispositions, crystal size distributions, and compositional zoning patterns of porphyroblasts indicate the dominance of diffusion-controlled nucleation and growth mechanisms.
Nine samples from three geological areas were studied: a suite of semi-pelitic rocks from the Picuris Mountains, New Mexico (USA); a suite of mafic samples from the Llano Uplift, Texas (USA); and a kyanite schist from Mica Dam, British Columbia (Canada). The semi-pelitic suite exhibits post-deformational garnet growth, whereas garnet in the mafic suite and in the kyanite schist grew synkinematically in rocks displaying weak and strong penetrative fabrics, respectively.
For each sample, the centres and radii of thousands of garnet crystals were located and measured in three dimensions, using images produced by high-resolution computed X-ray tomography. Statistical measures of the degree of ordering and clustering of nucleation sites, and estimates of crystal isolation for each porphyroblast, were then computed from the measured spatial dispositions. These measures can be reproduced in simple numerical models only by diffusion-controlled nucleation and growth mechanisms. Normalized radius-rate relations computed from compositional zoning patterns in the garnets require thermally accelerated diffusion-controlled growth, providing independent confirmation of the conclusions based on textural analysis. The unexpected similarity of results from all samples indicates that diffusion-controlled nucleation and growth mechanisms may govern porphyroblast crystallization in many metamorphic regimes.