The Stability of Chloritoid Below 10 kb PH2o

The stability of chloritoid, FeAl₂SiO₆H₂O, was investigatedat fluid pressures less than 10 kb. At oxygen fugacities definedby the Ni-NiO buffer, chloritoid reacts to Fe-cordierite andhercynite spinel at 550 and 575 °C at 1 and 2 kb fluid pressure.At pressures between 2.5 and 3.5 kb the assemblage aluminousferro-anthophyllite, staurolite and hercynite spinel appears.The breakdown of chloritoid to this assemblage takes place at625, 650, and 675 °C at 5.5, 7.0, and 8.7 kb, respectively.The aluminous ferro-anthophyllite assemblage is stable onlyover 50 °C, reacting with increasing temperature to almandine,staurolite, and hercynite spinel. Under the QFM buffer, thesame equilibria are displaced to higher temperatures and thealuminous ferro-anthophyllite bearing field is further restrictedwith respect to temperature. The 7 Å chamosite assemblage,previously considered to be the metastable equivalent of chloritoidat low pressures, is shown to be unstable and chloritoid canbe synthesized at pressures as low as 1 kb. An analysis of the equilibria and related experimental datapermits the construction of a schematic P-T grid which outlinesthe stability limits of several important mineral assemblagesin this system. Although the experimental and natural systemsare not strictly analogous, there is an excellent degree ofcorrespondence between the defined upper limit of chloritoidstability and previous estimates of the facies boundaries itserves to define.