Migmatites from Grenville, Quebec: metamorphic P-T-X conditions in transitional amphibolite/granulite-facies rocks

Migmatitic rocks near Grenville, Quebec, preserve features indicative of reactions at the onset of granulite facies metamorphism. In this area, metapelites and metacarbonates of the classic Grenville Series are spatially associated with granitic gneiss and metabasite, and flank a Paleozoic, Fe-rich syenite stock. Near this intrusion, the metapelite is diatexitic and nearly devoid of biotite, indicating the involvement of biotite during melting in the contact aureole of this intrusion. Outside of the contact aureole, metapelites and associated rocks contain biotite and are metatexitic. These features suggest two episodes of migmatization, the earlier predating the syenite, the later, synchronous with this intrusion.

Hornblende-rich metabasites near the syenite contain a two-part neosome consisting of coarse-grained leucosome veins and patches that are enclosed by fine-grained, pyroxene-rich envelopes. Migmatization is attributed to dehydration melting in the presence of CO₂-rich fluids possibly derived from nearby carbonate rocks prior to and/or during emplacement of the syenite. The occurrence of isolated mafic clots in the mesosome and rarity of melanosome seams on leucosomes suggest that some melts were mobile on an outcrop scale. These observations suggest that the leucosomes formed by the segregation of melts, which, coupled with CO₂ flux, dehydrated the wallrock along narrow margins, forming the pyroxene-rich neosomes. Back-reaction with residual fluids led to the local scapolitization of plagioclase and the concomitant formation of coronal garnet on pyroxene in neosomes. Thermobarometry of corona structures within the contact aureole generates diffusional Mg-Fe blocking temperatures ( 550 °C at 5.5 kbar). Extrapolated up-temperature, P-sensitive equilibria for the coronas yield similar pressures (8–9 kbar) as texturally-equilibrated assemblages for which high temperatures ( 750 ± 50 °C; X_CO2 = 0.90−0.95) were determined for rocks sampled inside and outside of the contact aureole. This suggests that the Grenville migmatites had not been substantially decompressed by the time that the syenite was emplaced.