Low-pressure granulite facies metapelitic assemblages and corona textures from MacRobertson Land, east Antarctica: the importance of Fe2O3 and TiO2 in accounting for spinel-bearing assemblages

Low-pressure granulite facies metasedimentary gneisses exposed in MacRobertson Land, east Antarctica, include hercynitic spinel-bearing metapelitic gneisses. Peak metamorphic mineral assemblages include spinel + rutile + ilmenite + sillimanite + garnet, spinel + ilmenite + sillimanite + garnet + cordierite, ortho-pyroxene + magnetite + ilmenite + garnet, spinel + cordierite + biotite + ilmenite and orthopyroxene + cordierite + biotite, each with quartz, K-feldspar and melt. The presence of garnet + biotite- and cordierite + orthopyroxene-bearing assemblages implies crossing tie-lines in AFM projection for the K₂O-FeO-MgO-Al₂O₃-SiO₂-H₂O (KFMASH) system. This apparent contradiction, and the presence of spinel, rutile and ilmenite in the assemblages, is acounted for by using the KFMASH-TiO₂-O₂ system, i.e. AFM + TiO₂+ Fe₂O₃. We derive a petrogenetic grid for this system, applicable to low-pressure granulite facies metamorphic conditions. Retrograde assemblages are interpreted from corona textures on hercynitic spinel and Fe-Ti oxides. The relative positions of the peak and retrograde metamorphic assemblages on the petrogenetic grid suggest that corona development occurred during essentially isobaric cooling.     

Two-stage decompression in orthopyroxene–sillimanite granulites from Forefinger Point, Enderby Land, Antarctica: implications for the evolution of the Archaean Napier Complex

Magnesian metapelites of probable Archaean age from Forefinger Point, SW Enderby Land, East Antarctica, contain very-high-temperature granulite facies mineral assemblages, which include orthopyroxene (8–9.5 wt% Al₂O₃)–sillimanite ± garnet ± quartz ± K-feldspar, that formed at 10 ± 1.5 kbar and 950 ± 50°C. These assemblages are overprinted by symplectite and corona reaction textures involving sapphirine, orthopyroxene (6–7 wt% Al₂O₃), cordierite and sometimes spinel at the expense of porphyroblastic garnet or earlier orthopyroxene–sillimanite. These textures mainly pre-date the development of coarse biotite at the expense of initial mesoperthite, and the subsequent formation of orthopyroxene (4–6 wt% Al₂O₃)–cordierite–plagioclase rinds on late biotite.
The early reaction textures indicate a period of near-isothermal decompression at temperatures above 900°C. Decompression from 10 ± 1.5 kbar to 7–8 kbar was succeeded by biotite formation at significantly lower temperatures (800–850°C) and further decompression to 4.5 ± 1 kbar at 700–800°C.
The later parts of this P–T evolution can be ascribed to the overprinting and reworking of the Forefinger Point granulites by the Late-Proterozoic ( c . 1000 Ma) Rayner Complex metamorphism, but the age and timing of the early high-temperature decompression is not known. It is speculated that this initial decompression is of Archaean age and therefore records thinning of the crust of the Napier Complex following crustal thickening by tectonic or magmatic mechanisms and preceding the generally wellpreserved post-deformational near-isobaric cooling history of this terrain.     

Metapelitic granulites from Jetty Peninsula,east Antarctica: formation during a single event or by polymetamorphism?

Granulite facies metasedimentary gneiss exposed on Jetty Peninsula, east Antarctica, contains assemblages involving garnet-sillimanite-biotite-cordierite-spinel-ilmenite-rutile and garnet-orthopyroxene-cordierite-biotite, as well as quartz and K-feldspar. Peak assemblages involve garnet + sillimanite + ilmenite (±rutile) and garnet + orthopyroxene. P-T calculations suggest formation conditions of approximately 800d? C at 7-7.5 kbar. Cooling from peak conditions is suggested by biotite + garnet (±sillimanite) overprinting some peak assemblages. A subsequent increase in temperature is inferred from the formation of cordierite + garnet + biotite + ilmenite, garnet + sillimanite + cordierite + ilmenite and cordierite + orthopyroxene assemblages during D2. In slightly zincian bulk compositions, hercynitic spinel + cordierite + sillimanite constitutes the peak D2 assemblage. Average pressure calculations indicate peak pressures of 5.9 ±0.4 kbar at 700d? C for the cordierite-bearing D2 assemblages. Available radiometric data suggest that peak metamorphism occurred at c. 1000 Ma and D2 occurred after 940 ± 20 Ma. The following two possibilities exist for the metamorphic evolution. (1) The formation of the lower pressure cordierite-bearing assemblages is associated with a separate metamorphic event (M2), unrelated to the peak assemblage (M1), and the lower pressure assemblages have no relevance in terms of a single tectonothermal event. (2) The cordierite-bearing assemblages formed during a progression from peak conditions. In this case, the lower pressure assemblages reflect a broadly decompressional metamorphic evolution, during which temperatures fluctuated. Comparison with P-T paths from granulites of similar age in adjacent areas suggests that the second possibility should be preferred. The cooling interval between peak conditions and the development of cordierite-bearing coronas and symplectites suggests affinities with isobarically cooled granulites of similar age immediately to the west, and the low-P/high-T post-peak conditions are similar to the later stages of decompressional paths recognized in much of east Antarctica.     

浙西南八都杂岩早中生代泥质麻粒岩变质作用及构造意义

遂昌-大柘泥质麻粒岩出露于华夏地块东北部的浙西南八都杂岩中,该岩石保留了典型的减压反应结构.但其变质演化特点、变质作用时代及构造意义目前尚不明确.通过系统的岩相学、矿物化学和同位素年代学分析,结果表明遂昌-大柘泥质麻粒岩记录了4个阶段的变质矿物组合,其中早期进变质阶段M₁的矿物组合为石榴石+黑云母+石英;压力峰期变质阶段M₂的矿物组合为石榴石+铝绿泥石+金红石+蓝晶石+刚玉+黑云母+石英±十字石,该矿物组合可能预示着岩石曾经历了超高压变质作用过程;峰期变质阶段M₃的矿物组合为石榴石+黑云母+夕线石+石英±钾长石±斜长石±钛铁矿;峰后近等温降压M_4-1阶段的矿物组合为石榴石+黑云母+夕线石+堇青石+石英+钛铁矿±尖晶石±斜长石±钾长石;M_4-2阶段的矿物组合为石榴石+堇青石+夕线石+斜长石+黑云母+石英±钾长石.相平衡模拟结合传统地质温压计限定其峰期变质阶段的温压条件为T=780~810 ℃、P=8.0~9.2 kbar;峰期后近等温降压的M_4-1阶段的温压条件为T=780~860 ℃和P=5.7~6.0 kbar,M_4-2阶段的温压条件为T=~700 ℃和P=~4.4 kbar,具有典型的顺时针近等温减压型P-T轨迹特征.LA-ICP-MS U-Pb定年结果表明其麻粒岩相变质作用时代为233.5~238.9 Ma.变质作用历史说明浙西南地体可能卷入了古特提斯洋域内印支-华南-华北板块之间的俯冲-碰撞过程,并经历了早中生代的麻粒岩相变质作用后快速折返至地表.      

A calculated petrogenetic grid for the system K2O-FeO-MgO-Al2O3-SiO2-H2O, with particular reference to contact-metamorphosed pelites

A petrogenetic grid is presented for the system KFMASH (K₂O-FeO-MgO-Al₂O₃-SiO₂-H₂O), including biotite, muscovite, K-feldspar, chlorite, chloritoid, staurolite, cordierite, garnet, orthoamphibole, orthopyroxene, spinel, andalusite, sillimanite, kyanite, quartz and corundum with H₂O in excess, which was calculated using the computer program THERMOCALC and the Powell and Holland internally consistent thermodynamic dataset. By removing the normal constraint of having quartz in excess, both quartz-bearing and quartz-absent equilibria are shown. Quartz-absent equilibria are particularly relevant at high- T and low- P conditions, because of their common occurrence at these conditions. The calculated mineral assemblage and mineral compositional variations in terms of FeMg-1 and (Fe, Mg)SiAl_-2 exchange vectors are broadly compatible with observations on natural rocks, particularly when non-KFMASH components are taken into account.     

The muscovite-melt bathograd and low-P isograd suites in north-central Wopmay Orogen, Northwest Territories, Canada

In north-central Wopmay Orogen, syntectonic low-P(Buchan-type) suites of mineral isograds outline regional metamorphic temperature culminations that are associated, at the higher structural levels, with emplacement of early Proterozoic plutons in the west part of a deformed and eastward transported continental margin prism. The mapped isograds mark the first occurrence of biotite, staurolite, andalusite, sillimanite, sillimanite-K feldspar and K feldspar-plagioclase-quartz ± muscovite (granitic) pods in metapelites, with increasing proximity to the plutons.
Microprobe analyses and field observations have resulted in the formulation of reactions for the 'ideal'pelitic system K₂O-Na₂O-FeO-MgO-Al₂O₃-SiO₂-H₂O-Al₂O₃-SiO₂-H₂O, to account for the various mineral assemblages of each metamorphic zone. A P-T petrogenetic grid showing erosion surface P-T curves for the northern Wopmay Orogen pelites, compiled on the basis of the mapped isograds and the inferred reaction(s) for each metamorphic zone, documents a variation in exposed metamorphic pressure ranging between 2 and 4 kbar.
The configuration of a new bathograd, based on the invariant model reaction sillimanite + K feldspar + plagioclase + biotite + quartz + vapor ± muscovite + liquid and interpolated across three metamorphic suites, is consistent with a major regional structure culmination and with independently determined pressures obtained from anorthite-grossular-quartz-Al₂SiO₅ geobarometry. The positive correlation between the configuration of the bathograd and the structural and pressure culmination points to the pressure-dependence of anatectic-granitic-pod mineral associations.     

P-T grids for silica-undersaturated granulites in the systems MAS (n+ 4) and FMAS (n+ 3)-tools for the derivation of P-T paths of metamorphism

Abstract Considering the minerals cordierite (Cd), sapphirine (Sa), hypersthene (Hy), garnet (Ga), spinel (Sp), sillimanite (Si) and corundum (Co) in the system FeO-MgO-Al₂O₃-SiO₂ (FMAS), the stable invariant points are [Co], [Ga], [Cd] and [Sa]. Constraints imposed by experimental data for the system MAS indicate that under low P _H2o conditions the invariant points occur at high temperature (> 900° C) and intermediate pressure (7-10 kbar). This temperature is higher than that commonly advocated for granulite facies metamorphism. In granulites Fe-Mg exchange geothermometers may yield temperatures of 100–150° C below peak metamorphic conditions and evidence for peak temperatures is best preserved by relict high-temperature assemblages and by Al-rich cores in orthopyroxene. Application of the FMAS grid to some well-documented granulite occurrences introduces important constraints on their P-T histories. Rocks of different bulk compositions, occurring in close proximity in the field, may record distinct segments of their P-T paths. This applies particularly to rocks with evidence for reaction in the form of coronas, symplectites and zoned minerals. Consideration of curved reaction boundaries and _XMs isopleths may explain apparently contradictory results for the stability of cordierite obtained from low-temperature experiments and thermochemical calculations on the one hand and hightemperature experimental data on the other.     

Granulites and garnet–cordierite gneisses from Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica

Abstract The central sector of Mühlig-Hofmannfjellet (3°E/71°S) in western Dronning Maud Land (East Antarctic shield) is dominated by large intrusive bodies of predominantly orthopyroxene-bearing quartz syenites (charnockites). Metasedimentary rocks are rare; however, two distinct areas with banded gneiss–marble–quartzite sequences of sedimentary origin were found during the Norwegian Antarctic Research Expedition NARE 1989/90. Cordierite-bearing metapelitic gneisses from two different localities contain the characteristic mineral assemblage: cordierite + garnet + biotite + K-feldspar + plagioclase + quartz ± sillimanite ± spinel. Thermobarometry indicates equilibration conditions of about 650°C and 4 kbar. Associated orthopyroxene–garnet granulites, on the other hand, revealed pressures of about 8 kbar and temperatures of 750°C. The earlier granulite facies metamorphism is not well preserved in the cordierite gneisses as a result of excess K-feldspar combined with interaction with an H₂O-rich fluid phase, probably released by the cooling intrusives. These two features allowed the original high-grade K-feldspar + garnet assemblages to recrystallize as cordierite–biotite–sillimanite gneisses, completely re-equilibrating them. Phase relationships indicate that the younger metamorphic event occurred in the presence of a fluid phase that varied in composition between the lithologies.     

Orthopyroxene–sillimanite–sapphirine granulites from the Bamble granulite terrane, southern Norway

Silica-deficient sapphirine-bearing rocks occur as an enclave within granulite facies Proterozoic gneisses and migmatites near Grimstad in the Bamble sector of south-east Norway (Hasleholmen locality). The rocks contain peraluminous sapphirine, orthopyroxene, gedrite, anthophyllite, sillimanite, sapphirine, corundum, cordierite, spinel, quartz and biotite in a variety of assemblages. Feldspar is absent.
Fe²⁺/(Fe²⁺+ Mg) in the analysed minerals varies in the order: spinel > gedrite ≥ anthophyllite ≥ biotite > sapphirine>orthopyroxene > cordierite.
Characteristic pseudomorph textures indicate coexistence of orthopyroxene and sillimanite during early stages of the reaction history. Assemblages containing orthopyroxene-sillimanite-sapphirine-cordierite-corundum developed during a high-pressure phase of metamorphism and are consistent with equilibration pressures of about 9 kbar at temperatures of 750–800°C. Decompression towards medium-pressure granulite facies generated various sapphirine-bearing assemblages. The diagnostic assemblage of this stage is sapphirine-cordierite. Sapphirine occurs in characteristic symplectite textures. The major mineralogical changes can be described by the discontinuous FMAS reaction: orthopyroxene + sillimanite → sapphirine + cordierite + corundum.
The disequilibrium textures found in the Hasleholmen rocks are characteristic for reactions which have been in progress but then ceased before they run to completion. Textures such as reaction rims, symplectites, partial replacement, corrosion and dissolution of earlier minerals are characteristic of granulite facies rocks. They indicate that, despite relatively high temperatures (700–800° C), equilibrium domains were small and chemical communication and transport was hampered as a result of dry or H₂O-poor conditions.     

Reaction textures in calc-silicate granulites from the Bolingen Islands, Prydz Bay, East Antarctica: implications for the retrograde P–T path

Calc-silicate granulites from the Bolingen Islands, Prydz Bay, East Antarctica, exhibit a sequence of reaction textures that have been used to elucidate their retrograde P–T path. The highest temperature recorded in the calc-silicates is represented by the wollastonite- and scapolite-bearing assemblages which yield at least 760°C at 6 kbar based on experimental results. The calc-silicates have partially re-equilibrated at lower temperatures (down to 450°C) as evidenced by the successive reactions: (1) wollastonite + scapolite + calcite = garnet + CO₂, (2) wollastonite + CO₂= calcite + quartz, (3) wollastonite + plagioclase = garnet + quartz, (4) scapolite = plagioclase + calcite + quartz, (5) garnet + CO₂+ H₂O = epidote + calcite + quartz, and (6) clinopyroxene + CO₂+ H₂O = tremolite + calcite + quartz.
The reaction sequence observed indicates that a CO₂ was relatively low in the wollastonite-bearing rocks during peak metamorphic conditions, and may have been further lowered by local infiltration of H₂O from the surrounding migmatitic gneisses on cooling. Fluid activities in the Bolingen calc-silicates were probably locally variable during the granulite facies metamorphism, and large-scale CO₂ advection did not occur.
A retrograde P–T path, from the sillimanite stability field ( c. 760°C at 6 kbar) into the andalusite stability field ( c. 450°C at <3 kbar), is suggested by the occurrence of secondary andalusite in an adjacent cordierite–sillimanite gneiss in which sillimanite occurs as inclusions in cordierite.     

Cordierite-bearing schists and gneisses from Timor, eastern Indonesia: P-T conditions of metamorphism and tectonic implications

In the Boi Massif of Western Timor the Mutis Complex, which is equivalent to the Lolotoi Complex of East Timor, is composed of two lithostratigraphical components: various basement schists and gneisses; and the dismembered remnants of an ophiolite. Cordierite-bearing pelitic schists and gneisses carry an early mineral assemblage of biotite + garnet + plagioclase + Al-silicate, but contain no prograde muscovite; sillimanite occurs in a textural mode which suggests that it replaced and pseudomorphed kyanite at an early stage and some specimens of pelitic schist contain tiny kyanite relics in plagioclase. Textural relations between, and mineral chemistries of, ferro-magnesian phases in these pelitic chists and gneisses suggest that two discontinuous reactions and additional continuous compositional changes have been overstepped, possibly with concomitant anatexis, as a result of decrease in P_load during high temperature metamorphism. The simplified reactions are: garnet and/or biotite + sillimanite + quartz + cordierite + hercynite + ilmenite + excess components. P-T conditions during the development of the early mineral assemblage in the pelitic gneisses are estimated to have been P + 10 kbar and T > 750°C, based upon the plagioclase-garnet-Al-silicate-quartz geobarometer and the garnet-biotite geothermometer. P-T conditions during the subsequent development of cordierite-bearing mineral assemblages in the pelitic gneisses are estimated to have been P + 5 kbar and T + 700°C with X_H2O < 0.5, based upon the Fe content of cordierite occurring in the assemblage quartz + plagioclase + sillimanite + biotite + garnet + cordierite coexisting with melt. Final equilibration between some of the phases suggests that conditions dropped to P > 2.3 kbar and T > 600°C. A similar exhumation P-T path is suggested for the pelitic schists with early metamorphic conditions of P > 6.2 kbar and T > 745°C and subsequent development of cordierite under conditions in the range P = 3-4 kbar and T = 600-700°C. The tectonic implications of these P-T estimates are discussed and it is concluded that the P-T path followed by these rocks was caused by decompression during rifting and synmetamorphic ophiolite emplacement resulting from processes during the initiation and development of a convergent plate junction located in Southeast Asia during late Jurassic to Cretaceous time.     

Partial melting and decompression of the Thor-Odin dome, Shuswap metamorphic core complex, Canadian Cordillera

The Thor-Odin dome region of the Shuswap metamorphic core complex, British Columbia, contains migmatitic rocks exhumed from the deep mid-crust of the Cordilleran orogen. Extensive partial melting occurred during decompression of the structurally deepest rocks, and this decompression path is particularly well recorded by mafic boudins of silica-undersaturated, aluminous rocks. These mafic boudins contain the high-temperature assemblages gedrite+cordierite+spinel+corundum+kyanite/sillimanite±sapphirine±högbomite and gedrite+cordierite+spinel+corundum+kyanite/sillimanite+garnet±staurolite (relict)±anorthite. The boudins are interlayered with migmatitic metapelitic gneiss and orthogneiss in this region.

The mineral assemblages and reaction textures in these rocks record decompression from the kyanite zone (P>8–10 kbar) to the sillimanite–cordierite zone (P<5 kbar) at T750 °C, with maximum recorded temperatures of 800 °C. Evidence for high-temperature decompression includes the partial replacement of garnet by cordierite, the partial to complete replacement of kyanite by corundum+cordierite+spinel (hercynite)±sapphirine±högbomite symplectite, and the replacement of some kyanite grains by sillimanite. Kyanite partially replaced by sillimanite, and sillimanite with coronas of cordierite±spinel are also observed in the associated metapelitic rocks.

Partial melt from the surrounding migmatitic gneisses has invaded the mafic boudins. Cordierite reaction rims occur where minerals in the boudins interacted with leucocratic melt. When combined with existing structural and geochronologic data from migmatites and leucogranites in the region, these petrologic constraints suggest that high-temperature decompression was coeval with partial melting in the Thor-Odin dome. These data are used to evaluate the relationship between partial melting of the mid-crust and localized exhumation of deep, hot rocks by extensional and diapiric processes.     

Aluminous granulites from the Pulur complex, NE Turkey: a case of partial melting, efficient melt extraction and crystallisation

In the Pulur complex, NE Turkey, a heterogeneous rock sequence ranging from quartz-rich mesocratic gneisses to silica- and alkali-deficient, Fe-, Mg- and Al-rich melanocratic rocks is characterized by granulite-facies assemblages involving garnet, cordierite, sillimanite, ilmenite, ±spinel, ±plagioclase, ±quartz, ±biotite, ±corundum, rutile and monazite. Textural evidence for partial melting in the aluminous granulites, particularly leucosomes, is largely absent or strongly obliterated by a late-stage hydrothermal overprint. However, inclusion relations, high peak P–T conditions, the refractory modes, bulk and biotite compositions of the melanocratic rocks strongly support a model of partial melting. The melt was almost completely removed from the melanocratic rocks and crystallised within the adjacent mesocratic gneisses which are silica-rich, bear evidence of former feldspar and show a large range in major element concentrations as well as a negative correlation of most elements with SiO₂. Peak conditions are estimated to be ≥800 °C and 0.7–0.8 GPa. Subsequent near-isothermal decompression to 0.4–0.5 GPa at 800–730 °C is suggested by the formation of cordierite coronas and cordierite–spinel symplectites around garnet and in the matrix. Sm–Nd, Rb–Sr and ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar isotope data indicate peak conditions at 330 Ma and cooling below 300 °C at 310 Ma.     

Petrology of spinel granulites from Araku, Eastern Ghats, India, and a petrogenetic grid for sapphirine-free rocks in the system FMAS

Abstract Spinel-quartz-cordierite and spinel-quartz are found as relic prograde assemblages in Fe-rich granulites from the Araku area, Eastern Ghats belt, India. Subsequent reactions produced orthopyroxene + sillimanite in the former association and garnet + sillimanite in the latter. The first reaction is univariant in the FMAS system, but is trivariant in the present case because of the presence of Zn and Fe³⁺ in spinel. The second reaction also has high variance because of Zn and Fe³⁺, but also because of the presence of Ca in garnet. Thermobarometry shows that the metamorphic conditions were approximately 950° C and 8.5 kbar and the fo ₂ was near the NNO buffer. In Fe-rich bulk compositions and low- P -high- T conditions of metamorphism, two of the univariant reactions around the invariant point [Sa], namely (Sa, Hy) and (Sa, Cd), change topology due to reverse partitioning of Fe-Mg between coexisting garnet and spinel. An alternative partial petrogenetic grid in the system FMAS is constructed for such conditions and is applied satisfactorily to several sapphirine-free spinel granulites. It is shown that bulk composition ( X _Fe and Zn) exerts greater control on the stability of spinel + quartz than fo ₂. The effect of the presence of Zn and Fe³⁺ in spinel on the proposed grid is evaluated. Reaction textures in the Araku spinel granulites can be explained from the petrogenetic grid as due to near-isobaric cooling.     

浙西南遂昌—大柘地区八都岩群印支期变质变形序列

浙西南遂昌-大柘地区八都岩群在印支期变质事件影响下发生变质变形,通过详细野外调查和岩相学研究,可将其划分为3期变质变形序列：S₁变形期,NW向片麻理记录的残留紧闭褶皱,共生矿物组合为石榴子石变斑晶及其内部定向分布的包裹体矿物,石榴子石+黑云母+石英（泥质）和石榴子石+角闪石+斜长石+石英（长英质）;S₂变形期,区域性宽缓褶皱及NE向缓倾透入性片麻理,共生矿物组合为石榴子石变斑晶及定向分布的基质矿物,矽线石+石榴子石+黑云母+石英+斜长石±钾长石（泥质）和石榴子石+钾长石+斜长石+黑云母+石英（长英质）;S₃变形期,NE向陡倾透入性片麻理及韧脆性断裂大部分被花岗斑岩脉填充,共生矿物组合为石榴子石变斑晶及其周围退变矿物,石榴子石+矽线石+堇青石+斜长石+黑云母+石英±钾长石（泥质）和角闪石+斜长石+黑云母+钛铁矿（长英质）。结合前人研究成果,八都岩群印支期变质事件峰期变质程度达到麻粒岩相,显示顺时针近等温降压（ITD）型的p-T演化轨迹,S₁-S₃变质变形反映出从俯冲碰撞到快速折返冷却的演化过程,伴随S₃同期侵位的花岗斑岩锆石U-Pb定年结果,将该演化过程完成时间约束在229.7 Ma,可能是浙西南地区对印支期古特提斯洋域内印支-华南-华北板块之间俯冲-碰撞过程的响应。     

From granulites to eclogites in the Sesia zone (Italian Western Alps): a record of the opening and closure of the Piedmont ocean

The Sesia zone (Italian Western Alps) offers one of the best preserved examples of pre-Alpine basement reactivated, under eclogite facies conditions, during the Alpine orogenesis. A detailed mineralogical study of eclogitized acid and basic granulites, and related amphibolites, is presented. In these rare weak to undeformed rocks microstructural investigations allow three main metamorphic stages to be distinguished.
(a) A medium- to low- P granulite stage giving rise to the development of orthopyroxene + garnet + plagioclase + brown amphibole + ilmenite ± biotite in basic granulites and garnet + K-feldspar + plagioclase + cordierite + sillimanite + biotite + ilmenite in acid granulites.
(b) A post-granulite re-equilibration, associated with the development of shear zones, producing discrete amphibolitization of the basic granulites and widespread development of biotite + sillimanite + cordierite + spinel in the acid rocks.
(c) An eo-Alpine eclogite stage giving rise to the crystallization of high- P and low- T assemblages.
In an effort to quantify this evolution, independent well-calibrated thermobarometers were applied to basic and acid rocks. For the granulite event, P-T estimates are 7–9 kbar and 700–800° C, and for subsequent retrograde evolution, P-T was 4–5 kbar and 600° C. For the eo-Alpine eclogite metamorphism, pressure and temperature conditions were 14–16 kbar and 550° C.
The inferred P-T path is consistent with an uplift of continental crust produced by crustal thinning prior to the subduction of the continental rocks. In the light of the available geochronological constraints we propose to relate the pre-Alpine granulite and post-granulite retrograde evolution to the Permo-Jurassic extensional regime. The complex granulite-eclogite transition is thus regarded as a record of the opening and of the closure of the Piedmont ocean.     

Proterozoic anticlockwise P–T path of the Lewisian Complex of South Harris, Outer Hebrides, NW Scotland

The Leverburgh Belt and South Harris Igneous Complex in South Harris (northwest Scotland) experienced high-pressure granulite facies metamorphism during the Palaeoproterozoic. The metamorphic history has been determined from the following mineral textures and compositions observed in samples of pelitic, quartzofeldspathic and mafic gneisses, especially in pelitic gneisses from the Leverburgh Belt: (1) some coarse-grained garnet in the pelitic gneiss includes biotite and quartz in the inner core, sillimanite in the outer core, and is overgrown by kyanite at the rims; (2) garnet in the pelitic gneiss shows a progressive increase in grossular content from outer core to rims; (3) the Al^VI/Al^IV ratio of clinopyroxene from mafic gneiss increases from core to rim; (4) retrograde reaction coronas of cordierite and hercynite+cordierite are formed between garnet and kyanite, and orthopyroxene+cordierite and orthopyroxene+plagioclase reaction coronas develop between garnet and quartz; (5) a P–T path is deduced from inclusion assemblages in garnet and from staurolite breakdown reactions to produce garnet+sillimanite and garnet+sillimanite+hercynite with increasing temperature; and (6) in sheared and foliated rocks, hydrous minerals such as biotite, muscovite and hornblende form a foliation, modifying pre-existing textures. The inferred metamorphic history of the Leverburgh Belt is divided into four stages, as follows: (M1) prograde metamorphism with increasing temperature; (M2) prograde metamorphism with increasing pressure; (M3) retrograde decompressional metamorphism with decreasing pressure and temperature; and (M4) retrograde metamorphism accompanied by shearing. Peak P–T conditions of the M2 stage are 800±30 °C, 13–14 kbar. Pressure increasing from M1 to M2 suggests thrusting of continental crust over the South Harris belt during continent–continent collision. The inferred P–T path and tectonic history of the South Harris belt are different from those of the Lewisian of the mainland.     

Conditions of Archean granulite metamorphism in the Godthab-Fiskenaesset region, southern West Greenland

The Nordlandet peninsula (Akia terrane) and the Tasiusarsuaq terrane in southern West Greenland were metamorphosed to granulite facies at 3.0 and 2.8 Ga respectively. Temperatures of metamorphism are estimated using magnetite + ilmenite, garnet + orthopyroxene, garnet + clinopyroxene and garnet + biotite thermometers. Barometry has been carried out in the two terranes using eight different garnet barometers. A uniform set of activity models for all minerals, including the garnet activity model of Newton et al. (1986), is applied to each barometer in order to permit comparison. Pressure estimates using the different barometers are generally quite consistent (±1.5 kbar). Use of the Newton et al. (1986) garnet activity data results in pressures similar to those obtained using other garnet activity models.
Peak metamorphic conditions on the Nordlandet peninsula are estimated to have been 800 ± 50°C, 7.9 ± 1.0 kbar. Values of log f _O2 are estimated to have been 1.1 to 2.0 above the quartz + magnetite + fayalite buffer from assemblages of magnetite + ilmenite and quartz + magnetite + ferrosilite. Peak metamorphic conditions in the Tasiusarsuaq terrane are estimated to have been 780 ± 50°C, 8.9 ± 1.0 kbar. Estimates of f _H2O and f _CO2 using biotite, amphibile, grossular + anorthite and grossular + scapolite equilibria are low in both terranes. These results suggest that granulite metamorphism was fluid absent in both terranes, and that the metamorphism in the Akia terrane and possibly also in the Tasiusarsuaq terrane was initiated by the injection of large volumes of magma into the lower crust.     

Phase relations in andalusite-sillimanite type Fe-rich metapelites: Tono contact metamorphic aureole, northeast Japan

Mineral assemblages in metapelites of the contact aureole of the Tono granodiorite mass, northeast Japan, change systematically during progressive metamorphism along an isobaric path at 2-3 kbar. The bulk rock compositions of metapelites are aluminous with A' values on an AFM projection larger than that of the chlorite join. The metapelites commonly contain paragonite in the low-grade zone. With increasing temperatures, andalusite is formed by the breakdown of paragonite. The importance of pyrophyllite as a source of Al₂SiO₅ polymorphs is limited in typical pelitic rocks.
The most common type of metapelite in the study area has FeO/(FeO + MgO) = 0.5–0.6, and develops assemblages involving chlorite, andalusite, biotite, cordierite, K-feldspar, sillimanite and almandine, with paragenetic changes similar to other andalusite-sillimanite type aureoles. Rocks with FeO/(FeO + MgO) > 0.8 progressively develop chloritoid-bearing assemblages from Bt-Chl-Cld, And-Bt-Cld, to And-Bt at temperatures between the breakdown of paragonite and the appearance of cordierite in the more common pelitic rocks in the aureole. The paragenetic relations are explained by a KFMASH univariant reaction of Chl + Cld = And + Bt located to the low-temperature side of the formation of cordierite by the terminal equilibrium of chlorite. A P-T model depicting the relative stability of chloritoid and staurolite at low- and medium-pressure conditions, respectively, is proposed, based on the derived location of the Chl + Cld = And + Bt reaction combined with the theoretical phase relations among biotite, chlorite, chloritoid, garnet and staurolite.     

Partial melting during tectonic exhumation of a granulite terrane: an example from the Larsemann Hills, East Antarctica

Anatectic migmatites in medium- to low-pressure granulite facies metasediments exposed in the Larsemann Hills, East Antarctica, contain leucosomes with abundant quartz and plagioclase and minor interstitial K-feldspar, and assemblages of garnet–cordierite–spinel–ilmenite–sillimanite. Qualitative modelling in the system K₂O–FeO–MgO–Al₂O₃–SiO₂–H₂O–TiO₂–O₂, in conjunction with various P–T calculations indicate that the high-grade retrograde evolution of the terrane was dominated by decompression from peak conditions of c. 7 kbar at c. 800 °C to 4–5 kbar at c. 750 °C. Extensive partial melting during decompression involved the replacement of biotite by the assemblage cordierite–garnet–spinel within the leucosomes. These leucosomes represent the site of partial melt generation, the cordierite–garnet–spinel–ilmenite assemblage representing the solid products and excess reactants from the melting reaction. The extraction and accumulation of this decompression-generated melt led to the formation of syntectonic pegmatites and extensive granitic plutons. Leucosome development and terrane decompression proceeded during crustal transpression, synchronous with upper crustal extension, during a progressive Early Palaeozoic collisional event. Subsequent retrograde evolution was characterized by cooling, as indicated by the growth of biotite replacing spinel and garnet, thin mantles of cordierite replacing spinel and quartz within metapelites, and garnet replacing orthopyroxene and hornblende within metabasites. P–T calculations on late mylonites indicate lower grade conditions of formation of c. 3.5 kbar at c. 650 °C, consistent with the development of late cooling textures.