Quantifying Barrovian metamorphism in the Danba Structural Culmination of eastern Tibet
O M WellerM R St-OngeDavid J. WatersN M RaynerM. P. SearleSun‐Lin ChungRichard M. PalinYuan-Hsi LeeXiwei Xu
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Abstract The Danba Structural Culmination is a tectonic window into the late Triassic to early Jurassic Songpan‐Garzê Fold Belt of eastern Tibet, which exposes an oblique section through a complete Barrovian‐type metamorphic sequence. Systematic analysis of a suite of metapelites from this locality has enabled a general study of Barrovian metamorphism, and provided new insights into the early thermotectonic history of the Tibetan plateau. The suite was used to create a detailed petrographic framework, from which four samples ranging from staurolite to sillimanite grade were selected for thermobarometry and geochronology. Pseudosection analysis was applied to calculate P – T path segments and determine peak conditions between staurolite grade at ∼5.2 kbar and 580 °C and sillimanite grade at ∼6.0 kbar and 670 °C. In situ U–Pb monazite geochronology reveals that staurolite‐grade conditions were reached at 191.5 ± 2.4 Ma, kyanite‐grade conditions were attained at 184.2 ± 1.5 Ma, and sillimanite‐grade conditions continued until 179.4 ± 1.6 Ma. Integration of the results has provided constraints on the evolution of metamorphism in the region, including a partial reconstruction of the regional metamorphic field gradient. Several key features of Barrovian metamorphism are documented, including nested P – T paths and a polychronic field gradient. In addition, several atypical features are noted, such as P – T path segments having similar slopes to the metamorphic field gradient, and T max and P max being reached simultaneously in some samples. These features are attributed to the effects of slow tectonic burial, which allows for thermal relaxation during compression. While nested, clockwise P – T – t loops provide a useful framework for Barrovian metamorphism, this study shows that the effects of slow burial can telescope this model in P – T space. Finally, the study demonstrates that eastern Tibet experienced a significant phase of crustal thickening during the Mesozoic, reinforcing the notion that the plateau may have a long history of uplift and growth.Keywords:
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Abstract The distribution and textural features of staurolite–Al 2 SiO 5 mineral assemblages do not agree with predictions of current equilibrium phase diagrams. In contrast to abundant examples of Barrovian staurolite–kyanite–sillimanite sequences and Buchan‐type staurolite–andalusite–sillimanite sequences, there are few examples of staurolite–sillimanite sequences with neither kyanite nor andalusite anywhere in the sequence, despite the wide (~2.5 kbar) pressure interval in which they are predicted. Textural features of staurolite–kyanite or staurolite–andalusite mineral assemblages commonly imply no reaction relationship between the two minerals, at odds with the predicted first development (in a prograde sense) of kyanite or andalusite at the expense of staurolite in current phase diagrams. In a number of prograde sequences, the incoming of staurolite and either kyanite, in Barrovian sequences, or andalusite, in Buchan‐type sequences, is coincident or nearly so, rather than kyanite or andalusite developing upgrade of a significant staurolite zone as predicted. The width of zones of coexisting staurolite and either kyanite, in Barrovian sequences, or andalusite, in Buchan‐type sequences, is much wider than predicted in equilibrium phase diagrams, and staurolite commonly persists upgrade until its demise in the sillimanite zone. We argue that disequilibrium processes provide the best explanation for these mismatches. We suggest that kyanite (or andalusite) may develop independently and approximately contemporaneously with staurolite by metastable chlorite‐consuming reactions that occur at lower P–T conditions than the thermodynamically predicted staurolite‐to‐kyanite/andalusite reaction, a process that involves only modest overstepping (<15°C) of the stable chlorite‐to‐staurolite reaction and which is favoured, in the case of kyanite, by advantageous nucleation kinetics. If so, the pressure difference between Barrovian kyanite‐bearing sequences and Buchan andalusite‐bearing sequences could be ~1 kbar or less, in better agreement with the natural record. The unusual width of coexistence of staurolite and Al 2 SiO 5 minerals, in particular kyanite and andalusite, can be accounted for by a combination of lack of thermodynamic driving force for conversion of staurolite to kyanite or andalusite, sluggish dissolution of staurolite, and possibly the absence of a fluid phase to catalyse reaction. This study represents an example of how kinetic controls on metamorphic mineral assemblage development have to be considered in regional as well as contact metamorphism.
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Connemara pelites show progressive metamorphism from staurolite to upper sillimanite zones and possess low Mg/(Fe + Mg) values, typically 0.30 to 0.35 from about 100 analyses. As a consequence of their composition, many sillimanite zone pelites lack both muscovite and K-feldspar. Staurolite, garnet, biotite, muscovite, feldspars and iron ores have been microprobe analysed in 48 samples. Assemblages, textures and mineral compositions indicate that metamorphism followed a sequence of continuous and discontinuous reactions with systematic variations in mineral Mg/(Mg + Fe) as predicted by theory. Contrary to some common assumptions, most reaction takes place along divariant equilibria; univariant reactions are seldom reached because reactants such as chlorite or muscovite are first consumed along divariant curves. Pelite petrogenetic grids showing univariant curves can only indicate limits to natural assemblages; they typically do not show which reactions have actually taken place. Physical conditions of metamorphism have been calculated by a variety of means; temperatures range from 550° for the staurolite zone to 650° for the upper silimanite zone, with the first appearance of sillimanite near 580°. An early kyanite-staurolite metamorphism at pressures above about 5 kb was followed by a steepening of the thermal gradient leading to regional cordierite and andalusite. This was probably accompanied by uplift with pressures of around 4 kb for roeks near the sillimanite-in isograd.
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High-grade metamorphic rocks in the Burke area include staurolite-, andalusite-staurolite-, sillimanite-andalusite-staurolite-, sillimanite-garnet-staurolite-, sillimanite-garnet-potash feldspar (rare)-, kyanite-sillimanite-staurolite-, and kyanite-sillimanite-andalusite-staurolite-bearing assemblages. These rocks are interpreted as having been formed from low-grade schist and phyllite under load conditions higher than those characterizing normal hornfels aureoles. The various assemblages indicate the metamorphic trends produced as a result of increasing temperature. The one occurrence of a kyanite-sillimanite-andalusite-bearing assemblage suggests that these polymorphs were probably formed under closely similar conditions during thermal metamorphism but not necessarily simultaneously. Change of temperature is easier to envisage than change of pressure during the crystallization of this assemblage. Temperature and pressure conditions must have hovered near to the assumed triple point of the alumino-silicates.
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Metamorphic reactions related to isograds derived from aluminum silicate-bearing pelitic schists were studied in an area of Grenville Province adjacent to Southern Province rocks near Sudbury, Ontario. Progressing from the northwest to southeast of the area, the meaningful hand-drawn isograds are: (1) sillimanite first occurrence, (2) the last occurrence of staurolite when associated with the entire assemblage, (3) K-feldspar first occurrence, (4) staurolite last occurrence as inclusions in garnet, (5) muscovite last occurrence, and (6) kyanite last occurrence. Whole-rock chemical analysis of 14 representative pelitic schist hand specimens in the area were collected and used to show that metamorphic factors, and not chemical differences, were responsible for the metamorphic isograds. The entire area lies thermally above the melting of rocks of granitic composition. Breakdown curves of the minerals related to the isograds have been used to imply a gradient of 670 °C to 750 °C and 6.3 to 7.3 kilobars, across the area, but the equations for these breakdowns are not entirely substantiated by the modal abundance and textural data.To a first approximation, the rocks may be considered homochemical, but many deviations (due partly to metasomatic change) from this exist. The ionic breakdown of kyanite to muscovite has been shown and an explanation as to why muscovite selectively replaces kyanite and not sillimanite is given. The breakdown of muscovite at the higher grades has been inferred to form K-feldspar, but not sillimanite. Near the kyanite isograd, textures showing the thermal breakdown of kyanite (left over after the partial ionic breakdown of the mineral) to sillimanite are shown. The rocks must have had at least K and possibly Fe added metasomatically to account for the textures shown. From generalized modal abundance surfaces (trend surface analysis), general equations representing the difference in modal abundance of minerals across various isograds were determined and from these, specific equations explaining the breakdown of a particular mineral at its isograd were derived. The most significant of these reactions is the first staurolite isograd, where it is inferred to breakdown in the following way, in the area studied:[Formula: see text]The dissolved Al and Si forms the fibrolite (sillimanite) lenses common in adjacent pelitic rocks
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Monazite laser ablation–split-stream inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry (LASS) was used to date monazite in situ in Barrovian-type micaschists of the Moravian zone in the Thaya window, Bohemian Massif. Petrography and garnet zoning combined with pseudosection modelling show that rocks from staurolite–chlorite, staurolite, kyanite and kyanite–sillimanite zones record burial in the S1 fabric under a moderate geothermal gradient from 4–4·5 kbar and ∼530–540°C to 5 kbar and 570°C, 6–7 kbar and 600–640°C, 7·5–8 kbar and 630–650°C, and 8 kbar and 650°C, respectively. In the kyanite and kyanite–sillimanite zones, garnet rim chemistry and local syntectonic replacement of garnet by sillimanite–biotite aggregates point to re-equilibration at 5·5–6 kbar and 630–650°C in the S2 fabric. Heterogeneously developed retrograde shear zones (S3) are marked by widespread chloritization, but minor chlorite is present in the studied samples. Monazite abundance and size increase with metamorphic grade from 5 µm in the staurolite–chlorite zone to >100 µm in the kyanite and kyanite–sillimanite zones. Irrespective of the monazite-forming reaction, this is interpreted as the onset of limited prograde monazite growth at staurolite grade, and continued prograde monazite growth after the kyanite-in reaction, compatible with conditions of about 5·5 kbar and 570°C and 7·5 kbar and 630°C from pseudosection modelling. Monazite is zoned, showing embayments and sharp boundaries between zones, with low Y in the staurolite zone, high-Y cores and low-Y rims in the kyanite zone, and high-Y cores, a low-Y mantle and a high-Y rim in the sillimanite zone. The 207Pb-corrected 238U/206Pb ages from three samples range from 344 ± 7 to 330 ± 7 Ma, irrespective of metamorphic grade. The dates from monazite inclusions are interpreted as the ages of the staurolite- and kyanite-in reactions along the prograde path at 340 and 337 ± 7 Ma, respectively. The monazite in the matrix (and some inclusions) is interpreted as dating the prograde crystallization at (340–337) ± 7 Ma within the S1 fabric, and then being affected by recrystallization at or down to 332 ± 7 Ma in the S2 and S3 fabrics. The two groups of data, for 340–337 and 332 Ma, are significantly different when only their in-run uncertainties (±1–3 Myr) are compared and indicate a 9 ± 3 Myr period of monazite (re)crystallization. A systematic increase in heavy rare earth element (HREE) content with decreasing monazite age from 344 to 335 Ma is correlated with growth on the prograde P–T path; the drop in HREE of monazite at 335–328 Ma is assigned to recrystallization. The presence of chlorite even in the least retrogressed samples witnesses limited external fluid availability on the retrograde P–T path. Migration of this fluid was probably responsible for heterogeneous fluid-assisted recrystallization and resetting of original prograde monazite, even where included in garnet, staurolite or kyanite. It is suggested that the rocks passed the chlorite-in reaction on the retrograde path at 332 ± 7 Ma. The timing of burial in the Thaya window, a deformed part of the underthrust Brunia microcontinent, was coeval with exhumation of granulites and migmatites of the Moldanubian orogenic root at c. 340 Ma.
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Regionally metamorphosed, muscovite-bearing quartzites from Sivrihisar, Turkey, contain coexisting andalusite, kyanite, and sillimanite. Kyanite is the most abundant polymorph and defines a lineation along with prismatic sillimanite, andalusite, staurolite, and elongate quartz. Andalusite is the most Fe-rich of the polymorphs (0.9-1.6 wt% Fe2O3, compared with 0.6-0.9 wt% for kyanite and sillimanite), and was ductilely deformed. Staurolite has partially pseudomorphed kyanite, and occurs intergrown with sillimanite. Garnet occurs in some metaquartzites and interlayered mica schists. Mica schists lack Al2SiO5 polymorphs. Porphyroblasts in mica schists are chloritoid, chloritoid + staurolite ± garnet, or staurolite ± garnet with inclusions of chloritoid and staurolite.
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