In-situ migmatite and hybrid diatexite at Mt Stafford, central Australia

Metasedimentary gneisses show a rapid change in grade within a 10-km-wide low- P /high- T  regional aureole at Mt Stafford, Arunta Block, central Australia. Migmatites occur in all but the lowermost of five metamorphic zones, which are characterized by: (1) muscovite–quartz schist; (2) andalusite–cordierite–K-feldspar granofels with small melt segregations; (3) spinel–sillimanite–cordierite–K-feldspar migmatite; (4) garnet–orthopyroxene–cordierite migmatite and minor diatexite; and (5) biotite–cordierite–plagioclase diatexite that shows a transition to granite. A subsolidus unit comprising interbedded sandstone and siltstone is equivalent to bedded migmatite , the main rock type in Zones 2–4. Mesoscopic textures and migmatite classification of this unit vary with grade. In Zone 2, metatexite is developed in siltstone layers that are separated by quartz-rich, unmelted metapsammite layers. Melt segregation was less efficient in Zones 3 and 4, where the dominant migmatite layering is a modified bedding. High proportions of melt were present in Zone 4, in which schlieren migmatite is transitional between bedded migmatite and metapelite-sourced diatexite. The preservation of sedimentary structures and coexistence of melt reactants and products in Zone 4 metapelite imply that melting proceeded in situ without substantial migration of melt. Zone 5 biotite–cordierite–plagioclase diatexite carries rafts of bedded migmatite with strongly resorbed edges, as well as large K-feldspar and quartz augen. This unit of comparatively Ca-rich migmatites is inferred to have been formed by the mixing of locally derived and injected granitic melt.