ALBERT

Notes: Abstract The Pennine rocks exposed in the south-east Tauern Window, Austria, contain mineral assemblages which crystallized in the mid-Tertiary ‘late Alpine’regional metamorphism. The pressure and temperature conditions at the thermal peak of this event have been estimated for rocks at four different structural levels using a variety of published and thermochemically derived geobarometers and geothermometers. The results are:(a) In the garnet+chlorite zone, 2–5 km structurally above the staurolite+biotite isograd: T= 490.50°C, P= 7° 1 kbar;(b) Within 0.5 km of the staurolite+biotite isograd: T= 560±300C, P=7.1 kbar;(c) In the staurolite+biotite zone, c. 2.5 km structurally below the staurolite+biotite isograd: T= 610±30°C, P=7.6±1.2 kbar;(d) In the staurolite+biotite zone, 3–4 km structurally below the staurolite+biotite isograd: T= 630±40°C, P= 6.6±1.2 kbar.The pressure estimates imply that the total thickness of overburden above the basement-cover interface in the mid-Tertiary was c. 26.4 km. This overburden can only be accounted for by the Austro-Alpine units currently exposed in the vicinity of the Tauern Window, if the Altkristallin (the ‘Middle Austro-Alpine’nappe) was itself buried beneath an ‘Upper Austro-Alpine’nappe or nappe-pile which was 7.4 km thick at that time.The occurrence of epidote + margarite + quartz pseudomorphs after lawsonite in garnet, indicates that part of the Mesozoic Pennine cover sequence in the south-east Tauern experienced blueschist-facies conditions (T〈450°C, P〈12 kbar) in early Alpine times. Evidence from the central Tauern is used to argue that the blueschist-facies imprint post-dated the main phase of tectonic thickening (D1A) and was thus a direct consequence of continental collision.Combined oxygen-isotope and fluid-inclusion studies on late-stage veins, thought to have been at lithostatic pressure and in thermal equilibrium with their host rocks during formation, suggest that they crystallized from aqueous fluids at 1.1±0.4 kbar and 420.20°C.Early Alpine, late Alpine and vein-formation P–T constraints have been used to construct a P–T path for the base of the Mesozoic cover sequence in the south-east Tauern Window. The prograde part of the P–T path, between early and late Alpine metamorphic imprints, is unlikely to have been a smooth curve and may well have had a low dP/dT overall; the decompression (presumably due to erosion) which occurred immediately before the thermal peak and possibly also earlier in the Tertiary, was probably partly or completely cancelled by the effects of early- to mid-Tertiary (D2A) tectonic thickening. The thermal peak of metamorphism was followed by a phase of almost isothermal decompression, which implies a period of rapid uplift in the middle Tertiary.The peak metamorphic P–T estimates are compared with the solutions of England's (1978) one-dimensional conductive thermal model of the Eastern Alps, and are shown to be consistent with the idea that the late Alpine metamorphism was caused by tectonic burial of the Pennine Zone beneath the Austro-Alpine nappes in the absence of extraneous heat sources, such as large intrusions, at depth.

Notes: An occurrence of quartz-eclogite is described from the Inner Schieferhülle unit of the Pennine Basement Complex in the SE Tauern Window, Austria.Field relations strongly suggest a pre-Alpine age for the primary eclogitic mineral assemblage (garnet + omphacite + quartz + rutile). This implies that there was no connection between the formation of these eclogites and the late Cretaceous and Tertiary tectonic evolution of the Eastern Alps. The quartz-eclogite mineral assemblage crystallized under conditions of 620 ± 100°C and at pressures in excess of 12 kbar, and suffered amphibolitic overprinting of Alpine and possibly Hercynian age.A four-stage polymetamorphic history is proposed for the Inner Schieferhülle:

Notes: The S.W. Nabitah Mobile Belt, Saudi Arabia, contains a Proterozoic island-arc complex. In the Qadda area, the metavolcanic-dominated supracrustal sequence records amphibolite facies regional metamorphism of high-T , low-P type. Calcsilicate rocks and aluminous dolomitic marbles within the supracrustal sequence have been studied in detail to refine estimates of peak metamorphic P–T  conditions and assess the role of fluids during prograde and retrograde metamorphism.Fluid-independent thermobarometers (including the calcite–dolomite thermometer and P-sensitive equilibria involving grossular, wollastonite, anorthite, meionite, quartz and calcite) yield peak P–T  conditions of c. 650–660 °C, 4 kbar, both higher than previous estimates, giving a revised average thermal gradient of c. 45 °C km–1.The close match between the peak temperatures implied by calcite–dolomite thermometry and those recorded by univariant devolatilization equilibria suggests that the calcareous rocks were fluid-bearing during late-prograde and peak metamorphic stages. These fluids were essentially binary H2O–CO2 mixtures with low NaCl and HF concentrations. Most were H2O-rich, with XCO2 between 0.02 and 0.2, but values of c. 0.6 are recorded by two samples. High modal abundances of the solid products of decarbonation reactions (e.g. c. 10–50% wollastonite) in many of the rocks that record low-XCO2 equilibrium fluids implies infiltration of significant quantities of externally derived aqueous fluid during late-prograde metamorphism, but not enough to exhaust the buffering capacity of the rocks. Calculated minimum time-integrated fluid-to-rock ratios of five wollastonite-bearing calcsilicate rocks range from 0.7±0.22 to 1.39±0.46 (1σ); those of six marbles range from c. 0 to 4±1.4. The latter variation occurs on a metre-scale, implying focusing of fluid flow. Diopside-rich rocks record fluid-to-rock ratios of up to 88±48. Penetrative wollastonite lineations indicate a temporal link between infiltration and distributed ductile deformation. Infiltrating fluids were probably derived both from the prograde dehydration of adjacent metabasalts and metatuffs and from crystallization of voluminous pretectonic granitoid intrusions. In general, fluid-to-rock ratios deduced for the metavolcanic-dominated Qadda area are similar to those recorded by rocks in the metasediment-dominated terrane of N. New England.The occurrence of post-tectonic retrograde hydration textures in both carbonate-bearing and carbonate-free rocks otherwise lacking hydrous minerals testifies to infiltration of aqueous fluids during retrograde metamorphism in the absence of penetrative deformation. Minimum fluid-to-rock ratios calculated for secondary grossular reaction rims in some calcsilicates are c. 0.04. Later patchy hydration of scapolite probably utilized static, pore-filling fluids remaining after the early retrograde infiltration.

Notes: A sequence of prograde isograds is recognized within the Dalradian Inzie Head gneisses where pelitic compositions have undergone variable degrees of partial melting via incongruent melting reactions consuming biotite. Three leucosome types are identified. At the lowest grades, granitic leucosomes containing porphyroblasts of cordierite (CRD-melt) are abundant. At intermediate grades, CRD-melt mingles with garnetiferous leucosomes (GT-melt). At the highest grades, CRD-melt coexists with orthopyroxene-bearing leucosomes (OPX-melt), while garnet is conspicuously absent. The prograde metamorphic field gradient is constrained to pressures of 2–3 kbar below the CRD-melt isograd, and no greater than 4.5 kbar at the highest grade around Inzie Head.A petrogenetic grid, calculated using thermocalc, is presented for the K2O–FeO–MgO–Al2O3–SiO2–H2O (KFMASH) system for the phases orthopyroxene, garnet, cordierite, biotite, sillimanite, H2O and melt with quartz and K-feldspar in excess. For the implied field gradient, the reaction sequence predicted by the grid is consistent with the successive prograde development of each leucosome type. Compatibility diagrams suggest that, as anatexis proceeded, bulk compositions may have been displaced towards higher MgO content by the removal of (relatively) ferroan granitic leucosome. An isobaric (P = 4 kbar) T–aH2O diagram shows that premigmatization fluids must have been water-rich (aH2O 〉 0.85) and suggests that, following the formation of small volumes of CRD-melt, the system became fluid-absent and melting reactions buffered aH2O to lower values as temperatures rose. GT- and OPX-melt formed by fluid-absent melting reactions, but a maximum of 7–11% CRD-melt fraction can be generated under fluid-absent conditions, much less than the large volumes observed in the field. There is strong evidence that the CRD-melt leucosomes could not have been derived by buoyantly aided upwards migration from levels beneath the migmatites. Their formation therefore required a significant influx of H2O-rich fluid, but in a quantity insufficient to have exhausted the buffering capacity of the solid assemblage plus melt. Fluid : rock ratios cannot have exceeded 1 : 30. The fluid was channelled through a regionally extensive shear zone network following melt-induced failure. Such an influx of fluid at such depths has obvious consequences for localized crustal magma production and possibly for cordierite-bearing granitoids in general.

Notes: Abstract Existing geochronological data are reviewed and new Rb-Sr, K-Ar and 39Ar–40Ar ages are presented, including a suite of 33 mica ages from a 20 km north–south tunnel section. These data are discussed in relation to the thermal history from the overthrusting of the Autroalpine nappes c. 65 Myr ago to the present. The earliest phase of metamorphism, involving lawsonite crystallization, is associated with emplacement of these nappes. Subsequently, temperatures in the rocks beneath rose, at a mean rate of 3–6°C/Myr, until the climax of metamorphism.At high structural levels, published data indicate an age 〉 35 Myr for the metamorphic climax. In contrast, a new 39Ar–40Ar step-heating age of 23.8 ± 0.8 Myr on amphibole, from near the base of Peripheral Schieferhülle, closely approximates the age of metamorphism and provides the first clear indication that the climax of metamorphism occurred later at deeper structure levels. Following the climax, near-isothermal uplift and erosion reduced pressure to c. 1 kbar before white mica closure at 19 Myr; this implies uplift at 〉3 mm/yr.Along the tunnel section, white mica K-Ar ages vary systematically from 24 Myr to 16.5 Myr with position relative to a late 4 km amplitude dome whereas biotite Rb-Sr ages are uniform at 16.5 Myr across the whole profile; doming is thus dated at 16.5 Myr with transient uplift rates 〉5 mm/yr. At other times uplift rates were 〈1 mm/yr.

Notes: Sequential reaction textures in Archaean garnet-corundum-sapphirine granulites from the Central Zone of the Limpopo Belt document a progression from early, coarse-grained, high-pressure (P 〉 9.5 kbar) granulite-facies assemblages (M1) to late, low-pressure (P 〈6 kbar) granulite-facies sub-assemblages (M2).The stable M1 assemblage was garnet (57% pyrope; Mg/(Mg + Fe) = 62) + sapphirine + corundum + gedrite + phlogopite + rutile. Late-M1 boron-free kornerupine grew at the expense of garnet and corundum, and coexisted with garnet, sapphirine and gedrite. Partial or complete breakdown of coarse garnet and kornerupine during M2 resulted in the development of pseudomorphs and coronas consisting of fine-grained symplectic intergrowths of cordierite, gedrite and sapphirine (later, spinel).The majority of reaction textures can be explained in terms of a stable reaction sequence, and a model time-sequence of mineral facies can be constructed. When compared with a qualitative petrogenetic grid of (Fe, Mg)-discontinuous reactions in the FMASH multisystem sapphirine-garnet-corundum-spinel-cordierite-gedrite-kornerupine, the facies-sequence indicates decompression at essentially constant T assuming constant a(H2O).Exhumation of M1 corundum inclusions during M2 breakdown of kornerupine resulted in production of metastable spinel by a disequilibrium reaction with gedrite. A second disequilibrium reaction of the spinel with cordierite produced sapphirine. The operation of such reaction while pressure was decreasing (the opposite dP from that implied by the texture if assumed to be the product of an equilibrium reaction) has serious implications for the use of reaction textures in the construction of P-T vectors.Garnet-biotite thermometry on garnet interiors and phlogopite inclusions in corundum yields temperatures of ca. 850°C for the M1 stage. A minimum late-M1 pressure of ca. 7 kbar is indicated by the former association of kornerupine and corundum. Relict M1 kyanites reported by other workers indicate a minumum early-M1 pressure of 9.5 kbar, implying metamorphism at depths of at least 33 km (probably 〈inlineGraphic alt="geqslant R: gt-or-equal, slanted" extraInfo="nonStandardEntity" href="urn:x-wiley:02634929:JMG383:ges" location="ges.gif"/〉 38km). The high-pressure granulite-facies metamorphism was followed by an almost isothermal pressure decrease of 〉 5 kbar, indicative of rapid uplift. The P-T path is interpreted as the product of a single metamorphic cycle which probably took place in response to tectonic thickening of the crust. Such a process contrasts with the extensional origin recently proposed for isobarically cooled granulite-facies terranes.

Notes: Abstract A natural example of phengite that had undergone partial thermal decomposition at a pressure of about 0.5 kbar and a temperature of about 680° C in a contact aureole was exmined in the transmission electron microscope (TEM). Partially pseudomorphed phengites were found to consist of combinations of phengite, biotite, K-feldspar, mullite, sillimanite, spinel and cordierite. Different areas within individual, partially pseudomorphed, phengite grains show various degrees of reaction and different reaction products; the cores are the least reacted and the margins have reacted most. In the cores the assemblage Al-, Mg-enriched phengite+biotite +K-feldspar+mullite±spinel has formed, whereas the assemblage K-feldspar+mullite+sillimanite+spinel +biotite+cordierite has formed at the edges. According to our thermodynamic calculations, the breakdown of phengite should have produced cordierite+spinel +corundum+K-feldspar in regions isolated from the influx of SiO2 and cordierite+andalusite+quartz+K-feldspar in regions near the edge of the grains that were essentially saturated with SiO2. Chemical equilibrium was not achieved in any part of the partially pseudomorphed phengites on a micron scale or larger. Breakdown theoretically should have been complete by about 550° C; the reaction temperature was overstepped by at least 130° C for 20–25 years. The variations in the degree and type of reaction are probably due partly to the availability of suitable nucleation sites in different regions, partly to the need to remove H2O from reaction sites and partly to the influence of SiO2, which diffused into the grains during metamorphism. The presence of SiO2 lowers the equilibrium temperatures. Thus there is a higher driving force for breakdown near the grain boundaries than in the cores. Most of the products show an orientation relationship with the parent phengite and have consistent habit planes; they have their closest-packed planes and closest-packed directions parallel to one another and to those of phengite. Such relationships minimize the strain and surface energies at nucleation and favour most rapid nucleation and growth of the reaction products. The great structural similarity of biotite to phengite resulted in its having the highest rate of nucleation and growth of any product and it occurred in all areas of the phengite pseudomorphs studied. Mullite and sillimanite were produced metastably. Mullite has more rapid nucleation kinetics than other aluminosilicates because it is structurally disordered. Sillimanite formed rather than andalusite in regions of the partially pseudomorphed phengites where the reaction reached an advanced stage, because the reaction from phengite to andalusite requires an energetically unfavourable change in aluminium co-ordination state.