ALBERT

Notes: The In Ouzzal granulitic unit (IOGU) consists predominantly of felsic orthogneisses most of which correspond to granitoids emplaced during the Archaean, plus metasediments, including olivine-spinel marbles, of late Archaean age. All units were metamorphosed at granulite facies during the Eburnean (2 Ga). The stable isotope signature of the marbles (δ13C=–0.8 to –4.2‰/PDB; δ18O = 7.9 to 18.9‰/SMOW) does not record a massive streaming of C-bearing fluids during metamorphism. Most of the isotopic variation in the marbles is explained in terms of pregranulitic features. Metasomatic transformation of granulites into layered potassic syenitic rocks and emplacement of carbonate veins and breccias occurred during retrogressive granulite facies conditions. The chemistry of these rocks is comparable with that of fenites and carbonatites with high contents of (L)REEs, Th, U, F, C, Ba and Sr but, with respect to these elements, a relative depletion in Nb, Ta, Hf, Zr and Ti. The isotopic compositions of Nd (ɛNd(T)=–6.3 to –9.9), of Sr (87Sr/86Sr(T)= 0.7093–0.7104), and the O isotopic composition of metasomatic clinopyroxene (δ18O = 6.9 to 8‰), all indicate that the fluid had a strong crustal imprint. On the basis of the C isotope ratios (δ13C =–3.5 to –9.7‰), the fluid responsible for the crystallization of carbonates and metasomatic alteration is thought to be derived from the mantle, presumably through degassing of mantle-derived magmas at depth. Intense interaction with the crust during the upward flow of the fluid may explain its chemical and isotopic signatures. The zones of metasomatic alteration in the In Ouzzal granulites may be the deep-seated equivalents of the zones of channelled circulation of carbonated fluids described at shallower levels in the crust.

Notes: The In Ouzzal Al–Mg granulites are found within sedimentary units deposited after 2.7 Ga, the whole association being metamorphosed under extreme temperature conditions (c. 1000 °C) at 2 Ga. The Al–Mg granulites are interlayered with other metasediments, including metapelites, quartzites and magnetite-bearing quartzites, forsterite-spinel marbles, and a few meta-igneous rocks (mainly pyroxenites). They do not occur at a specific position in the sedimentary suite, and they do not reflect any particular structural control.The major and trace element compositions of Al–Mg granulites (especially the high Cr, Ni, Co contents) show that their peculiar ‘refractory’ chemistry is more compatible with premetamorphic sedimentary characteristics rather than with metasomatic, metamorphic or partial melting processes. Sedimentary admixtures of a common mature detrital component coming from the weathering of the local acidic igneous crustal protoliths (normal pelitic component) with an extremely immature component derived from reworking of basic/ultrabasic lithologies (Al–Mg–Cr–Co–Ni–rich chloritic component) is consistent with the geochemistry of such rocks.As in other instances, the quartz-garnet oxygen isotopic thermometer here records an apparent temperature close to the peak metamorphism (c. 1000 °C). Although the persistence of pre-existing δ18O variations on a small scale during the metamorphism does not support a major pervasive fluid flow during metamorphism, it does not rule out the presence of syn- to post-metamorphic CO2. The low δ18O (c.+ 5 to + 6‰) of the most typical Al–Mg granulites indicate that the ‘chloritic component’ in these rocks was derived from hydrothermally altered mafic/ultramafic protoliths rather than dominantly from palaeosols. It is suggested that the presence of such Al–Mg–Cr–Co–Ni–rich sediments is indirect evidence for the presence of greenstone belts in the local crust of the In Ouzzal at 2.6–2.7 Ga.

Notes: In the W Hoggar (Algeria), the major transcurrent N–S East Ouzzal shear zone (EOSZ) hosts several world-class gold deposits over a 100-km length. The late Pan-African EOSZ separates two contrasting Precambrian domains: the Archaean In Ouzzal block to the west (orthogneisses with subordinate metasediments, reworked and granulitized in the c. 2 Ga Eburnean event) and a Middle Proterozoic block to the east (again orthogneisses and metasediments, involved in the c. 600 Ma Pan-African event).The EOSZ is a mylonite belt, 1–3 km wide, with a 50-m-wide ultramylonite belt hosting numerous quartz veins and lenses (giant hydrothermal quartz system) associated with a quartz-sericite-pyrite-carbonate (beresite) alteration. These hydrothermal events occurred under ductile (evolving towards brittle) conditions, between 500 and 300 MPa, at 500–300°C, with aqueous-carbonic fluids derived both from underlying devolatilized metamorphic rocks and a mantle source, as recorded by stable (C, O) isotope data. No gold mineralization was associated with these typical mesothermal events.Following a pressure drop (to 130 MPa), related to the inception of extensional tectonics, the EOSZ was later percolated by a new set of hydrothermal fluids, evolved from basinal waters that deeply penetrated into the In Ouzzal basement. These fluids were Ca-bearing brines (up to 25% wt. eq. NaCl), characterized by high δD (-9 to + 18‰ range), mobilized by the thermal energy released by the late Pan-African granite magmatism (Taourirt granites).As demonstrated by Pb isotope data, the brines leached Au from the In Ouzzal granulites (which contain 3 ppb Au). Fluid inclusion studies indicate that gold was deposited from these brines in the EOSZ at a depth of c. 5 km, due to mixing and cooling with descending diluted fluids.

Notes: Petrographical and mineral chemical data are given for the eclogites which occur in the garnet-kyanite micaschists of the Penninic Dora-Maira Massif between Brossasco, Isasca and Martiniana (Italian Western Alps) and for a sodic whiteschist associated with the pyrope-coesite whiteschists of Martiniana. The Brossasco-Isasca (BI) eclogites are fine grained, foliated and often mica-rich rocks with a strong preferred orientation of omphacite crystals and white micas. Porphyroblasts of hornblende are common in some varieties, whilst zoisite and kyanite occur occasionally in pale green varieties associated with leucocratic layers with quartz, jadeite and garnet. These features differentiate the BI eclogites from the eclogites that occur in other continental units of the Western Alps, which all belong to type C. Garnet, sodic pyroxene and glaucophane are the major minerals in the sodic whiteschist.Sodic pyroxene in the eclogites is an omphacite often close to Jd50Di50, with very little acmite and virtually no AlIV, and impure jadeite in the leucocratic layers and in the sodic whiteschist. Garnet is almandine with 20–30 mol. % for each of the pyrope and grossular components in the eclogites and a pyrope-rich variety in the sodic whiteschist. White mica is a variably substituted phengite, and paragonite apparently only occurs as a replacement product of kyanite. Amphibole is hornblende in the eclogites, but the most magnesian glaucophane yet described in the sodic whiteschist. Quartz pseudomorphs of coesite were found occasionally in a few pyroxenes and garnets.The P-T conditions during the VHP event are constrained in the eclogites by reactions which define a field ranging from 27–28 kbar to 35 kbar and from 680 to 750° C. These temperatures are consistent with the results of garnet-pyroxene and garnet-phengite geothermometry which suggest that the eclogites may have equilibrated at around 700° C. In the sodic whiteschist pressures ranging from 29 to 35 kbar can be deduced from the stability of the jadeite-pyrope garnet-glaucophane compatibility. As in the eclogites water activity must have been low. Such conditions are close to the P-T values estimated for the early Alpine recrystallization of the pyrope-coesite rock and, like petrographical and mineralogical features, set aside the BI eclogites from the other eclogites of the Western Alps, instead indicating a close similarity to some of the eclogite bodies occurring in the Adula nappe of the Central Alps. An important corollary is that glaucophane stability, at least in Na- and Mg-rich compositions and under very high pressures, may extend up to 700° C, in agreement with the HT stability limit suggested by experimental studies.

Notes: Abstract A deerite-bearing rock occurs at the boundary between quartzite and metabasites within the ‘schistes lustrés’of eastern Corsica. It contains the typomorphic assemblage pyroxene, blue amphibole, hematite and magnetite. Pyroxene shows homogeneous composition close to the aegirine end-member and blue amphibole is zoned from crossite core to riebeckite rim. The bulk chemical analysis of the rock is remarkable by its very high iron content and the presence of an unusually large amount of Zn which is concentrated in both deerite and amphibole. Electron microprobe analyses of the Corsican deerite are compared with those published in the literature; as shown by deerite from the Fransciscan iron formation, the principal substitution for Fe2+ is Mn whereas the amount of substitution for Fe3+ is low. In the system SiO2-FeO-Fe2O3-Al2O3-Na2O-MgO-H2O the typomorphic paragenesis can be described by an univariant reaction interpreted as the result of a pressure decrease. P-T conditions of metamorphism, previously estimated to be 8 kbar and 300°C, are in good agreement with present knowledge of the deerite stability field. The occurrence of hematite and magnetite in equilibrium permits an estimation of the oxygen fugacity (log fo2= -29.41 bar). Oxidation conditions are higher than those previously mentioned in the literature for similar assemblages.