P-T-X Relationships Deduced from Corona Textures in Sapphirine--Spinel--Quartz Assemblages from Paderu, Southern India

The sapphirine (Sa)-spinel (Sp)-quartz (Qz)-bearing rocks fromPaderu occur as lenticular enclaves within the Precambrian khondalite-charnockiteterrane of southern India. In addition these rocks contain orthopyroxene(Opx), sillimanite (Sill), garnet (Gt), cordierite (Cd), biotite,potash feldspar (Kf), plagioclase, and symplectites of Cd-Kf-Qz-Opx.The symplectites may have formed from the breakdown of osumilite.Grain contacts of sapphirine and spinel with quartz are rarelyobserved and the incompatibility with quartz during later stagesis displayed by the development of several types of polymineralicreaction coronas. The coronas in the different rock types A,B, etc. are (minerals listed from core to rim of corona): (A-1) sapphirine-bearing rock type without spinel: Sa-Sill-Opx,Sa-Sill-Cd, Sa-Cd-Opx (A-2) sapphirine and spinel-bearing: Sp-Sa-Sill-Opx-Qz, Sp-Sa-Sill,Sp-Sa-Opx, Sp-Sill-Opx, Sp-Sa-Sill-Gt-Qz, Sa-Sill-Opx, Sp-Sa-Sill-Opx,Sa-Sill-Opx-Gt, Sp-Sa-Opx-Gt, Sp-Sa-Sill-Gt; and (B) spinel-bearingbut sapphirine free: Sp-Sill-Opx, Sp-Sill-Gt, Sp-Cd. Commonlythe coronas in the rock type A 2 and B also contain ilmeno-hematite?corundumin the core in association with spinel. These rock types alsoprovide textural evidence for later crystallization of Cd, Cd+ Sa, and Gt + Qz from Opx+Sill?Qz and Gt+Sill+Qz. Sapphirine is aluminous (near 7(Mg, Fe²⁺)O?9(Al, Fe³⁺)₂O₃?3SiO₂)and contains up to 12?2 wt. per cent iron as FeO. Orthopyroxeneis also aluminous, containing up to 10?4 wt. per cent Al₂O₃.Sapphirine and spinel have relatively high contents of Fe₂O₃.X_Mg in the Fe-Mg minerals increases from rock type B to A2 toA1. A sequence of reactions has been deduced from coronas and otherreaction textures, and from the phase compatibility relationsin the FeO-MgO-Al₂O₃-SiO₂-H₂O system. The P-T-X relationshipsfrom geothermobarometry and petrogenetic grids, viz. µ_Fe2O3vs. µ_FeO and µ_H2O vs. µ_Fe2O3, suggest: (1)a retrograde, mildly decompressive trajectory from 900?60?C/65?0?7kb (core) to 760?50?C/5 ? 0?6 kb (rim); and (2) the observedmineralogy of the coronas and reactions deduced from them aredependent on the relative FeO, Fe₂O₃, and H₂O contents of therocks (µ_FeO3, µ_Fe2O3), and µ_H2O).