Widespread 18O depletion in some precambrian granulites of Australia

In the Strangways Range a broad tract of lower Proterozoic mafic and silicic granulites with δ ¹⁸O = 0.1 to 7.3% is depleted in ¹⁸O on average by 2–47% compared with high-grade gneisses and granitoids of Canada and other shields. The Fraser Range mafic granulites (δ¹⁸O ~ 7.2%) are enriched with respect to unaltered sea-floor basalts (~5.7%).In some rocks depletion in ¹⁸O could be related to dehydration during granulite-facies metamorphism and removal of the resultant products of partial melting. In other rocks pre-granulite reaction between heated seawater and hot basic intrusives seems to be a plausible mechanism of depletion in ¹⁸O. A direct correlation between depletion in ¹⁸O and the abundance of brown granulite hornblende suggests that ¹⁸O-depleted water was present in certain mafic rocks before the onset of granulite metamorphism, whereas in others brown hornblende was introduced during a phase of the granulite facies metamorphism itself.