The importance of iron speciation (Fe+2/Fe+3) in determining mineral assemblages: an example from the high‐grade aluminous metapelites of southeastern Madagascar

Metapelitic granulites from the Anosyen domain of southeastern Madagascar are exposed in three intercalated formations: the Amparihy, Bakika and Ihosy formations. Although mineralogically distinct from each other, the rocks from these formations show very similar bulk‐rock compositions when measured on a Fe_T basis. The preserved mineral assemblages thus do not reflect differences in the ratios of the main rock‐forming oxides (i.e. Al₂O₃:Fe_T:MgO), but instead reflect variations in the pre‐metamorphic oxidation state of the protolith rocks. These differences in oxidation state are manifested via differences in iron speciation – either Fe⁺² or Fe⁺³. The relatively reduced rocks of the Amparihy Formation preserve the assemblage bi–sp–sill–g–cd, which contrasts markedly with the mostly garnet and spinel‐absent bi–cd–sill–mt assemblages preserved in the strongly oxidized rocks of the Ihosy Formation. Compositionally intermediate rocks of the Bakika Formation are garnet bearing, but sillimanite‐absent, and contain the assemblage sp–g–cd–mag. Modelling of these rocks in the Na₂O–CaO–K₂O–FeO–MgO–Al₂O₃–SiO₂–H₂O–TiO₂–O system suggests that they evolved along a heating and cooling P–T path with only limited decompression accompanying cooling on the retrograde path. Peak temperatures and pressures of ～880–920 °C and 6–6.5 kbar are inferred for the majority of the Anosyen domain, with slightly lower peak temperatures (～840 °C) estimated in the extreme northwest of the area. The high‐temperature and relatively low‐pressure nature of metamorphism suggests high geothermal gradients existed during orogenesis, which in southern Madagascar is related to the amalgamation of Gondwana (580–520 Ma). Although metamorphic temperatures may have been augmented via thermal advection from the emplacement of the syn‐ to post‐tectonic Ambalavao suite, the high geothermal gradients nevertheless suggest thin and consequently hot lithosphere existed prior to orogenesis.