Prograde P–T path of kyanite eclogites from Junan in the Sulu ultrahigh-pressure province, eastern China

Kyanite-bearing ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) eclogites occur as blocks in orthogneisses at Yangzhuang, in the Junan area of the southwestern Sulu province, eastern China. Eclogites have variable bulk rock compositions, with Al₂O₃ = 16–27 wt%, FeO* + MgO = 6–22 wt% and CaO = 9–13 wt%. Major minerals are garnet, omphacite, phengitic white mica, zoisite, kyanite, rutile and an SiO₂ phase. Fe-rich staurolite (Mg ? Mg# = 0.24 ± 0.01) and paragonite–margarite aggregates are rarely included in the cores of prograde zoned garnet. Metamorphic conditions ranged from 520 to 650°C and <1.4 GPa at an early prograde stage, and mostly reached 660–830°C and 2.7–3.5 GPa at the peak UHP stage. The estimated dP/dT of the prograde P–T path is less than 0.25 GPa/100°C at earlier stages and increases to 0.7–1.4 GPa/100°C just before the UHP stage. The kink of the prograde P–T path closely resembles the steady-state P–T paths proposed, assuming a two-parameter brittle-plastic shear stress model. The estimated P–T path adequately explains the absence of prograde lawsonite and sodic amphibole and the common occurrence of coexisting zoisite, kyanite and sodic-calcic amphibole in the UHP eclogites throughout the Sulu province. Simple clockwise prograde P–T paths for Sulu UHP eclogites proposed in earlier studies should be carefully re-examined.