Phase Equilibria in Three Assemblages of Kyanite-Zone Pelitic Schists, Lincoln Mountain Quadrangle, Central Vermont

Petrologic and geologic arguments suggested that a close approachto chemical equilibrium at a single temperature and pressuremight be found in the rocks near Mt. Grant in central Vermont.An area 2,800 feet by 4,000 feet was selected and studied indetail. The major assemblages are: kyanite-chloritoid-chlorite-quartz-muscovite-paragonite-rutile;garnet-chloritoid-chlorite-quartz-muscovite-paragonite-ilmenite;and garnet-chlorite-biotite-quartz-muscovite-albite-ilmenite.All minerals were separated from a primary sample for each ofthese assemblages and purified, complete gravimetric and spectrographicanalyses performed, and optical properties, X-ray properties,and densities measured. Chlorite, garnet, and chloritoid orbiotite were separated from an additional nine samples of theseassemblages and spectrographic and partial gravimetric analysesperformed. Distribution coefficients of each mineral pair for Mg/Fe andMn/Fe+ Mg and for the minor elements are similar in nearly everysample for a given assemblage. Distribution coefficients forgarnet-chlorite differ in the two assemblages which containthis pair; this difference is attributed to the difference inAl-content of the chlorite from the two assemblages. The smallrange of distribution coefficients, despite a wide range inthe relative proportions of the ferromagnesian phases, is convincingevidence that an equilibrium partition of the major and minorcations between the phases in each sample had been attainedand that the equilibration temperature was the same for eachsample. The coexistence of kyanite+muscovite+quartz and comparison ofthe composition of coexistent Ca-free muscovite and paragoniteand of O¹⁸/O¹⁰ ratios for coexistent quartz and magnetite withexperimental values indicate that these rocks formed at P_s 11 kb, T 550? C, and aH₂o low enough (Pe(H₂o) sufficiently lessthan P_s) to depress the pyrophyllite breakdown temperature byabout 40? C. The cations and the ao₂ are equilibrated locally(within each sample), but all the samples have equilibratedto a common O¹⁸/O¹⁶ ratio. A possible explanation is that afluid medium had sufficient oxygen in H₂O to control the O¹⁸/O¹⁶ratio of the rock and its phases, but that the rock system hadsufficient buffer capacity to control the ao₂ of the fluid.