Origin of garnet in the basic granulites around Saltora,W. Bengal,India

Garnetiferous basic granulites occur, as parts of hornblende-pyroxene- and pyroxene granulites, in a Precambrian terrain around Saltora. The chemistry of the garnetiferous basic granulites is broadly similar to that of the hornblende-pyroxene granulites, their immediate precursors, but in detail they have distinctly higher Fe/Mg ratios. The compositions of the major mafic silicates of the garnetiferous varieties do not reflect higher pressures of formation: the Jd/Ts ratios in calcic pyroxenes are similar to those from the non-garnetiferous varieties, and the pyrope contents of garnets are low. Exchange equilibrium in respect of major elements was established among the mafic silicates in spite of garnets being late overprints. The orthopyroxene — calcic pyroxene pairs from the garnetiferous granulites show lower values of K _D(Mg-Fe) ^opx-cpx than those from the non-garnetiferous granulites, pointing to lower temperature of equilibration. The K _D(Mg-Fe) ^opx-hbl K _D(Mg-Fe) ^cpx-hbl relations show that the more magnesian triads equilibrated at lower temperatures; viewed against experimental data regarding the effect of Mg/Fe ratios on the appearance of garnets in basic rocks, formation of garnets by cooling is strongly indicated. Several intergrowth textures, especially garnet-ilmenite and garnet-quartz (±albite) symplectites, and modal relations argue in favour of composite reactions of the type hornblende+ quartz-→calcic pyroxene+garnet+albite+H₂O, which couple hornblende breakdown reactions with orthopyroxene+anorthite→garnet reactions. The approximate range of pressure and temperature conditions, estimated from experimental data, are 6–8.5 kb and 750–830° C. Since garnets formed by cooling in iron-rich granulites, the garnetiferous granulites do not represent higher pressure subfacies of the granulite facies.