Post-kinematic recovery of fractured cordierite in the lower amphibolite facies: the significance of intra-crystal cation diffusion for retrograde partial mineral breakdown

Brittle intra-crystal fracturing during a micro-seismic event under amphibolite facies P–T conditions (ca. 4.5 kbar, 555°C) formed micro-shear zones and brittle fragments in cordierite from migmatites of the Ordovician Sierras Pampeanas (NW Argentina). During post-seismic static recovery and coarsening of crystal fragments, primary cordierite (X_Mg?=?0.65) underwent partial breakdown within the fractured and subsequently recovered and recrystallized part of primary cordierite. Post-kinematic partial primary cordierite breakdown results in the formation of secondary sillimanite, magnetite, staurolite, quartz, and secondary cordierite (X_Mg?=?0.70–0.80) within a ca. 300–500 μm thick alteration zone. Secondary cordierite, volumetrically the most important secondary phase, essentially forms by iron and magnesium diffusion and substitution. All other secondary phases form by nucleation. The retrograde breakdown occurred under near-isochemical conditions with only limited influx of hydrothermal fluids containing minor zinc, potassium, silica, and excess oxygen. The observed modal composition of the alteration zone is similar to results of thermodynamic modeling of primary cordierite breakdown, using multiphase equilibria software. This indicates that the observed reaction reflects conditions of, or close to, thermodynamic equilibrium. Although fluid was present during, and may have been an important factor contributing to, partial mineral breakdown, we consider post-kinematic recovery and recrystallization, effected by a combination of cation diffusion and elimination of dislocations, as the key process facilitating retrograde metamorphism and the generation of the secondary mineral assemblage in (near-) equilibrium modes.