UHT Metamorphism Peaking Above 1100 °C with Slow Cooling: Insights from Pelitic Granulites in the Jining Complex, North China Craton
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Abstract The peak temperature and duration of ultrahigh-temperature (UHT) metamorphism are critical to identify and understand its tectonic environment. The UHT metamorphism of the Jining complex in the Khondalite Belt, North China Craton is controversial on the peak temperature, time and tectonic setting. A representative sapphirine-bearing granulite sample is selected from the classic Tianpishan outcrop for addressing the metamorphic evolution and timing. The rock is markedly heterogeneous on centimetre scale and can be divided into melanocratic domains rich in sillimanite (MD-s) or rich in orthopyroxene (MD-o), and leucocratic domains (LD). On the basis of detailed petrographic analyses and phase equilibria modelling using THERMOCALC, all three types of domains record peak temperatures of 1120–1140 °C and a series of post-peak cooling stages at 0·8–0·9 GPa to the fluid-absent solidus (∼890 °C), followed by sub-solidus decompression. The peak temperature for MD-s is constrained by the coexistence of sillimanite-I + sapphirine + spinel + quartz, where sillimanite-I contains densely exsolved aciculae of hematite, yielding reintegrated Fe2O3 contents up to 2·1–2·3 wt %. The post-peak cooling evolution involves the sequential appearance of K-feldspar, sillimanite-II + garnet, orthopyroxene and biotite, where sillimanite-II is exsolution-free and contains variable Fe2O3 contents of 1·3–1·8 wt %. The peak temperature for MD-o is constrained by the sapphirine + orthopyroxene assemblage, where orthopyroxene has a maximum AlIV of 0·22 (Al2O3 = 9·5 wt %) in the core. The cooling evolution involves the sequential appearance of K-feldspar, garnet and biotite, and the decreasing AlIV (0·22→0·17) from core to rim in orthopyroxene. The peak temperature for LD is constrained by the inferred K-feldspar-absent assemblage and the maximum anorthite content of 0·11 in K-feldspar. The cooling evolution involves the crystallization of segregated melts, exsolution of supra-solvus ternary feldspars and growth of biotite. The Al in orthopyroxene, Fe2O3 in sillimanite and anorthite in K-feldspar are good indicators for constraining extreme UHT conditions although they depend differently on bulk-rock compositions. In-situ SHRIMP U–Pb dating of metamorphic zircon indicates that the UHT metamorphism may have occurred at >1·94 Ga and the cooling under UHT conditions lasted over 40 Ma. The extreme UHT metamorphism in the Jining complex is interpreted to be triggered by the advective heating of intraplate hyperthermal mafic magmas together with a plume-related hot mantle upwelling, following an orogenic crustal thickening event.Keywords:
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An example of cordierite-bearing gneiss that is part of a high-grade gneiss-migmatite sequence is described from the Hatch Plain in the Read Mountains of the Shackleton Range, Antarctica, for the first time. The cordieritebearing rocks eonstitute the more melanosomic portions of the metatectic and migmatitic rocks that are associated with relict granulite facies rocks such as enderbitic granulite and enderbitic garnet granulite. The predominant mineral assemblage in the eordierite-bearing rocks is chemically homogeneous eordierite (X 0.61) and biotite (Xo 0.47), strongly zoned garnot (X 0.18-0.11), silli;llanite, K-feldspar (Or:'.94Ab5.,sAn06)' plagioclase (An28)~ and quartz. Inclusions of sillimanite and biotite relics in both gamet and cordierite indicate that garnet and cordierite were produced by the coupled, discontinuous reaction
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ABSTRACT 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. Fe 2+ /(Fe 2+ + 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 H 2 O‐poor conditions.
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Kyanite and andalusite are newly found in migmatized pelitic granulites from the Kerala Khondalite Belt, Southern India. Anhedral tiny grains of kyanite included within altered cordierite were interpreted as possible remnants of prograde metamorphism of the granulites within the kyanite stability field. Andalusite shows two distinct modes of occurrence; some are of magmatic origin and others are formed as partial replacement products of alkali-feldspar and plagioclase mainly in leucosomes. Our data put new constraints not only on the P-T path followed by the granulites but also on the correlation between the Gondwana fragments. The Kerala Khondalite Belt is closely correlated with the Southwestern Group (southwestern part of the Highland Complex) in Sri Lanka.
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The Bakhuis belt, one of the major granulite-facies domains in the Guiana Shield, consists of a core of banded rocks of the charnockite suite, metamorphosed and migmatized under granulite-facies conditions. Pelitic gneiss intercalations locally show sapphirine-quartz and orthopyroxene-sillimanite-quartz assemblages, with up to 10% Al2O3 in the orthopyroxene. These assemblages point to ultrahigh-temperature (UHT) metamorphism. P-T conditions are difficult to deduce, because the assemblages contain Fe3+ in sapphirine and sillimanite, and do not contain coeval garnet, but spinel, Feand Fe-Ti oxides instead. P-T conditions for the peak UHT metamorphism are estimated to have been 950 °C and 8.5-9 kb. An assemblage of impure corundum associated with quartz may also have formed during the UHT metamorphism. Unravelling the assemblages indicates a counterclockwise P-T path from an early cordierite-sillimanite assemblage via a subsequent sapphirine-quartz assemblage to the peak metamorphic assemblage orthopyroxene-sillimanitequartz. Retrogressive assemblages show an isobaric to near isobaric cooling path for the UHT occurrence. Single zircon Pb-evaporation and whole rock Sm-Nd dating were carried out on the Bakhuis granulites. Three zircons from a garnet-sillimanite-bearing gneiss yielded an age of 2072 ± 4 Ma, but a fourth grain provided increasing ages up to 2.10 Ga. An enderbitic granulite gave zircon ages in the range of 2.15-2.09 Ga. Zircons from a garnet-bearing gneiss defined an age of 2055 ± 3 Ma, while those from a garnet-bearing pegmatite layer gave ages ranging between 2085 Ma and 2058 Ma. A mylonitic orthopyroxene-bearing granite (a true charnockite) furnished a Pb-Pb zircon age of 2065 ± 2 Ma this is the first indication that the high-grade metamorphism was (at least locally) associated with melting and production of magmatic charnockite. Zircons from two samples of a discordant recrystallized basic dyke yielded ages of 2060 ± 4 Ma and 2056 ± 4 Ma, respectively. A discordant sheared pegmatite vein provided an age of 2059 ± 3 Ma. In conclusion, the 2072–2055 Ma ages are interpreted as the age of granulite metamorphism in the Bakhuis Mountains, and ages older than 2.07 Ga, and up to 2.15 Ga, are considered to reflect an inherited component from the early Transamazonian protoliths of the granulite. TDM model ages for the Bakhuis samples range from 2.40 to 2.19 Ga. These data, together with positive to slightly 175 GEOLOGIE DE LA FRANCE, N° 2-3-4, 2003 GEOLOGY OF FRANCE AND SURROUNDING AREAS, N° 2-3-4, 2003 The Bakhuis ultrahigh-temperature granulite belt (Suriname): I. petrological and geochronological evidence for a counterclockwise P-T path at 2.07-2.05 Ga La ceinture de granulites d’ultra-haute temperature des Monts Bakhuis (Suriname) : I. mise en evidence d’un chemin P-T anti-horaire a 2,07-2,05 Ga Geologie de la France, 2003, n° 2-3-4, 175-205, 12 fig., 6 tabl. Mots cles : Roche metamorphique, Facies granulite, Condition pression temperature, Datation, Pb-Pb, Sm-Nd, Zircon, Roche totale, Paleoproterozoique, Suriname, Bouclier guyanais.
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Biotite can act as a mineral catalyst that accelerates sillimanite-forming reactions in many high-grade pelites. In this process, biotite is replaced by sillimanite in one area while it is precipitated by local reactions in other areas of a rock. This mechanism develops because of the constraints imposed on material transport to and from growing sillimanite by minerals in the surrounding matrix. Textural evidence for biotite replacement is generally easily identified, but that for biotite-producing reactions is usually subtle. Failure to recognize the biotite-producing reactions can result in erroneous conclusions regarding the role of metasomatism in the formation of sillimanite. Models based on irreversible thermodynamics show that this type of reacdon mechanism can develop where sillimanite grows under conditions that are isochemical at the hand-specimen scale.
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The Bakhuis Granulite Belt, approx. 30 x 100 km, transects the large Paleoproterozoic greenstone belt along the north-eastern coast of South America. Part of the Granulite belt witnessed typical Ultrahigh-Temperature Metamorphism (UHTM). A metapelite area in the NE of the belt shows assemblages characteristic of UHTM: aluminous (up to 10 wt.%) orthopyroxene + sillimanite +/- sapphirine. Leucosomes commonly show mesoperthite or K-rich antiperthite. Ternary feldspar thermometry indicates a peak temperature of 1000-1050°C and pressure is estimated to have been around 9 kbar. Metapelites elsewhere in the belt lack mineral assemblages characteristic of UHTM. However, feldspar thermometry for these metapelites as well as for mesoperthite granulites indicates that peak temperatures were 900°C or higher throughout the belt and locally reached 1000-1050°C. It is, therefore, concluded that the other parts of the belt also witnessed UHTM, despite their lack of typical UHTM assemblages.
Study of peak assemblages in metapelites in these parts is hampered by varying, but usually considerable retrograde metamorphism. The main mafic mineral in metapelites is coarse Mg-rich cordierite, accompanied by coarse sillimanite. Widespread occurrence of cordierite + sillimanite in metapelites is unusual for UHTM, the more so as UHTM assemblages are commonly formed at the expense of cordierite-bearing assemblages. In a small part of the metapelites cordierite is accompanied by coarse aluminous (up to 9 wt.%) orthopyroxene. Associated cordierite and orthopyroxene appear to have formed in equilibrium with each other. Only the presence of aluminous orthopyroxene (as well as the presence of mesoperthite) is typical for UHTM, but is limited to a small part of the metapelites. Peak P-T conditions for the cordierite-bearing part of the belt are estimated to have been similar to those in the NE area with its characteristic UHTM assemblages. Primary and secondary fluid inclusions in UHT quartz blebs in orthopyroxene consist of pure CO2 and have a high density. Raman spectroscopy indicated a considerable CO2 content in cordierite. Estimated from their birefringence, the CO2 content of most cordierites is in the range of 1-2 wt.% CO2. This corresponds to a substantial filling of the cordierite channels with CO2 and for the higher levels possibly near-saturation with CO2 according to the model of Harley and Thompson for the maximum level of CO2 in cordierite. Thermodynamic data for CO2-rich cordierite are poorly known. However, a high level of CO2 in cordierite has been considered to lead to a substantial expansion of its stability field, also into the field of UHTM, at T > 900°C. This is, therefore, assumed to be the explanation for the unusual, widespread occurrence of cordierite in the UHTM belt.
A small part of the metapelite samples shows cordierite of a high birefringence, twice that of quartz. SIMS analysis of such cordierite showed 3.0 wt.% CO2, the highest level known from nature. The level is far too high to have formed at UHTM conditions according to the model of Harley and Thompson and would be possible only at conditions such as 700°C and 10 kbar. It is assumed that locally the CO2 level of cordierite changed after UHTM, by taking up additional CO2. Secondary fluid CO2 inclusions in UHT quartz have a higher density than the primary inclusions, indicating a near-isobaric cooling path down to 700-750°C. In these conditions cordierite probably could steadily re-equilibrate at decreasing temperature while taking up more and more CO2, up to 3 wt.% around 700°C.
The heat source for the UHTM in the Bakhuis Granulite belt is considered to be asthenospheric upwelling or mafic underplating, but mafic magmatism of identical age to the UHTM has not yet been found. One mafic intrusion was found to be around 20 Ma older than the UHTM, whereas in the SW of the belt numerous mafic intrusions formed around 70 Ma after UHTM.
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