The paragenetic relationships between sillimanite, andalusite, kyanite, chlorite, cordierite, biotite, garnet and staurolite in the Early Proterozoic Puolankajärvi Formation (PjF), together with mineral compositions, are used to construct a partial petrogenetic grid for metapelites with significant Mn content (MnO = 0.1–0.5%) by adding a six‐phase invariant point over the garnet‐absent invariant point for Mn‐free AMF‐phases. The grid and textural relations of the PjF are used to construct part of the P–T –deformation path for the PjF. Relatively short deformation pulses and associated flow of oxidizing fluid along shear zones were responsible for the paragenetic and compositional changes during cooling and decompression at 600–500°C and 6.0–2.5 kbar. Oxidation led to decreased Fe 2+ and further stressed the importance of Mn (increased Mn/divalent cations). A tectonothermal evolution of the Kainuu Schist Belt is presented which includes crustal thinning and steepening of a previously established thermal gradient. This was followed by thrusting and folding of the isotherms into a thermal antiform on the western side of the belt.
The amphibolite facies Puolankajärvi Formation (PjF) occupies the western margin of the Early Proterozoic Kainuu Schist Belt (KSB) of northern Finland. The lower and middle parts of the PjF consist of turbiditic psammites and pelites and tempestitic semipelites. This report concentrates on the pelitic lithologies which include quartz–two‐mica–plagioclase schists with variable amounts of garnet, staurolite, andalusite and biotite porphyroblasts as well as sillimanite and cordierite segregations. The KSB forms a major north–south‐trending synclinorium between two Archaean blocks. It contains both autochthonous and allochthonous units and is cut by faults and shear zones. The PjF lies on the western side of the KSB and is probably allochthonous. The formation has undergone six major deformation phases (D 1 , D 2 , D 3a , D 3b , D 4 and D 5 ). During D 3a ‐D 5 the maximum principal stress (σ 1 ) changed in a clockwise direction from south‐west to north‐east. Between D 2 and D 3 the intermediate principal stress (σ 2 ) changed from horizontal to vertical and the interval between D 2 and D 3 marks a transition from thrust to strike‐slip tectonics. Relict structures in the porphyroblasts indicate the following mineral growth–deformation evolution in the PjF. (1) Throughout the PjF there was a successive crystallization of garnet (syn‐D 1 ), poryphyroblastic biotite (inter‐D 3/4 ) and staurolite (inter‐D 3/4 ) during the pre‐D 4 stage. (2) A syn‐D 4 ‐inter‐D 4/5 crystallization of kyanite, sillimanite (fibrolite), porphyroblastic tourmaline, magnetite, rutile, cordierite and muscovite–biotite–plagioclase pseudomorphs after staurolite was most localized at and near D 4 shear zones. (3) A syn‐ to post‐D 5 generation of andalusite, ilmenohematite and sheet silicates after staurolite and after cordierite occurred near D 5 faults. The evolution outlined here permits the relative dating of the PjF parageneses, which is used in the second part of the study (Tuisku & Laajoki, 1990), and, together with the knowledge of the pressure–temperature conditions during various growth events, makes it possible to compile pressure–temperature–deformation paths for the PjF.
The Central Lapland Greenstone belt comprises rift-related metavolcanic and metasedimentary rocks representing one of the largest supracrustal belts in the Baltic Shield. The Sodankylä area in the central part of the belt represents a complex thrust duplex within a nappe overlying Belomorian Archaean basement and autocthonous Luirojoki calc-silicate rocks. Here, an early D 1 schistosity is axial planar to at least three coaxial generations of southward-verging, subhorizontal, E–W-plunging D 1 folds associated with major southwards thrusting. D 2 is represented by broad, map-scale, upright, NE-trending folds in the south and crenulations in the north. Staurolite-grade metamorphism represented by post-tectonic andalusite + staurolite + kyanite assemblages occurred after D 2 folding. Later D 3 deformation was limited to local NW-trending folds and sinistral faults. The internal nappe-like structure of the Central Lapland Greenstone belt suggests that it represents the foreland of a large collisional complex cored by the Lapland Granulite belt.
