Diffusion versus recrystallization processes in Rb-Sr geochronology: Isotopic relics in eclogite facies rocks, Western Gneiss Region, Norway

Rb-Sr and U-Pb isotopic data for granulite facies rocks, forming textural relics with respect to eclogite facies metamorphism in the Western Gneiss Region (WGR) of Norway, highlight the importance of textures and mineral reaction kinetics for the interpretation of geochronological data. Studied rocks from Bårdsholmen, southern WGR, were subjected to granulite facies metamorphism at 955 ± 3 Ma (U-Pb, zircon). Later on, they experienced a subduction-related, kinetically stranded eclogitization (T > 650 °C at ∼20 kbar) at 404 ± 2 Ma (Rb-Sr multimineral internal isochron data), followed by exhumation through amphibolite facies conditions. Full conversion of granulite to eclogite was restricted to zones of fluid infiltration and deformation. Despite the fact that metamorphic temperatures vastly exceeded the commonly assumed ‘closure temperature’ for Rb-Sr in submillimeter-sized biotite for several Ma during eclogite facies overprint, Sr-isotopic signatures of relic biotite have not been fully reset. Large biotite crystals nearly record their Sveconorwegian (Grenvillian) crystallization age. Sr signatures of other granulite facies phases (feldspar, pyroxenes, amphibole) remained unchanged, with the exception of apatite. The results imply that isotopic signatures much closer correspond to the P, T conditions of formation recorded by a dated phase and its paragenesis, than to a temperature history. In texturally well-equilibrated high-grade rocks which experienced no mineral reactions and remained devoid of free fluids during exhumation, like granulites or eclogites, isotopic resetting during cooling is either kinetically locked, or restricted to sluggish intermineral diffusion which demonstrably does not lead to full isotopic homogenization. In texturally unequilibrated rocks, textural relics are likely to represent isotopic relics. It is shown that for both high-grade rocks and for rocks with textural disequilibria, geologically meaningful isotopic ages based on isochron methods can only be derived from sub-assemblages in isotopic equilibrium, which have to be defined by analysis of all rock-forming minerals. Conventional two-point ‘mica ages’ for such rocks are a priori geochronologically uninterpretable, and valid multimineral isochron ages a priori do not record cooling but instead date recrystallization-inducing processes like fluid-rock interaction.