HT/LP metamorphic zoning in the eastern Voronezh Crystalline Massif: Age and parameters of metamorphism and its geodynamic environment

The Vorontsovskii terrane of the Eastern Sarmatian orogen underwent HT/LP metamorphism at temperatures of 430–750°C and pressures of 3–5 kbar. The TIMS monazite age of this metamorphism is 2067 ± 9 Ma and corresponds to the most probable age range (2050–2080 Ma) when large volumes of mafic and granitoid intrusions were emplaced. The time spans of the magmatic activity and metamorphic event are closely similar, which suggests that the melts could have served as sources of metamorphic heat. However, geological data on the relations between the metamorphic zones and magmatic bodies (the largest of the mafic, diorite, and granitoid intrusions are hosted in zones of low-temperature metamorphism) and the occurrence of relict metamorphic mineral assemblages and crystallization foliation in metapelite xenoliths in these intrusions suggest that the intrusions were emplaced after the metamorphism. The most probable reason for the HT/LP metamorphism was an increase in the heat flux in the course of viscous deformations and folding in the warm lithosphere of the young Paleoproterozoic Vorontsovskii terrane during collision processes.