Mineralogy of New Caledonian metamorphic rocks

The chemistry and phase relations of calcic and sodic amphiboles in the Ouégoa blueschists are investigated. The first appearance of sodic amphiboles is controlled by bulkrock chemistry. Sodic amphibole appears first in weakly-metamorphosed pumpellyite metabasalts prior to the crystallization of lawsonite but does not crystallize in pelitic schists until the middle of the lawsonite zone; sodic amphibole continues as an apparently stable phase in rocks of all bulk compositions into, and throughout, the highest-grade rocks in the district. Calcic amphibole is widespread in metabasalts of the lawsonite and epidote zones and also occurs in metasediments of appropriate composition. Coexisting pairs of calcic and sodic amphiboles are common in metabasalts but they have also been found in some metasediments. A grunerite-riebeckite pair is described.Electron-probe analyses of 120 amphiboles from representative rock-types are presented in graphical form. Sodic amphiboles show an increased Mg/(Mg+Fe) ratio with increasing metamorphic grade. Sodic amphiboles in pelitic schists are ferroglaucophane in the lawsonite zone and crossite and glaucophane in the epidote zone. Sodic amphiboles in metabasalts are iron-rich crossites in weakly-metamorphosed rocks and more-magnesian crossites and glaucophanes in the lawsonite and epidote zones. The abrupt increase in Mg/(Mg+Fe) ratio in sodic amphiboles at the epidote isograd is attributed to the crystallization of epidote and almandine which take the place of lawsonite and spessartine of the lawsonite zone. Calcic amphiboles are fibrous actinolites in the lawsonite zone and grade with increasing Al and Na/Ca ratio into prismatic blue-green hornblendes (barroisites) in the upper epidote zone. In calcic amphiboles, increasing metamorphic grade effects the coupled substitution of (Na+Al) for (Ca+Mg) and a small increases in Fe/Mg ratio; octahedrally and tetrahedrally coordinated Al increases in an approximately 11 ratio. Both the calcic and the sodic amphiboles show an increase in A-site occupancy with increasing metamorphic grade. In two-amphibole assemblages Ti, Mn and K are concentrated in the calcic amphibole.The textural and chemical relations between coexisting calcic and sodic amphiboles are discussed. If the calcic and sodic amphiboles are an equilibrium pair then the data collected from the Ouégoa amphiboles gives a picture of a very asymmetric solvus in the system glaucophane-actinolite-hornblende, i.e. steep-sided to glaucophane and with a gentle slope to the calcic amphibole field; there is no indication of any termination of the solvus under the pressure-temperature conditions of crystallization of the Ouégoa schists.