ALBERT

Notizen: Abstract A petrogenetic grid and related diagrams derived from KFMASH-system experiments demonstrate that osumilite is stable in relatively magnesian bulk rock compositions (XMg 〉 0.6) at temperatures in excess of 875° C and pressures less than 11 kbar. The experiments, involving the dehydration melting of biotite in synthetic metapelites, were conducted in the range 850–1000° C. Both the mineral assemblages and phase compositions reported from well-documented natural examples of osumilite-bearing rocks are reproduced by the experiments at P-T conditions similar to those previously estimated for these occurrences. Peak metamorphic P-T conditions can be reliably inferred from distinctive osumilite-bearing assemblages identified in the phase diagrams, thereby avoiding the problems of diffusional re-equilibration that often prohibits conventional geothermobarometry from recovering peak conditions. Integration of the experimental data with recent independent experiments, after correcting the latter for an underestimated friction correction, allows extension of the petrogenetic grid to higher temperatures. The extended grid is applied to assess and refine the metamorphic history of the Napier Complex, East Antarctica: the high-P stability limit for osumilite in the Napier Complex is 9–10 kbar, the prograde P-T-t path is not necessarily anticlockwise and isobaric cooling in the Scott and Tula mountains occurred, respectively, at pressures greater and less than reactions in the range 8–9 kbar. The stability range for osumilite predicted by the KFMASH-system petrogenetic grid overlaps many more metamorphic terranes than osumilite is found in. Whilst osumilite is not distinctive in thin section and is prone to retrogression, it is possible that carbon dioxide present in the natural system stabilizes cordierite at the expense of osumilite.

Notizen: Distinctive lithological associations and geological relationships, and initial geochronological results indicate the presence of an areally extensive region of reworked Archaean basement containing polymetamorphic granulites in the Rauer Group, East Antarctica.Structurally early metapelites from within this reworked region preserve complex and varied metamorphic histories which largely pre-date and bear no relation to a Late Proterozoic metamorphism generally recognized in this part of East Antarctica. In particular, magnesian metapelite rafts from Long Point record extreme peak P–T conditions of 10–12 kbar and 100–1050°C, and an initial decompression to 8 kbar at temperatures of greater than 900°C. Initial garnet–orthopyroxene–sillimanite assemblages contain the most magnesian (and pyrope-rich) garnets (XMg= 0.71) yet found in granulite facies rocks. A high-temperature decompressional P–T history is consistent with reaction textures in which the phase assemblages produced through garnet breakdown vary systematically with the initial garnet XMg composition, reflecting the intersection of different divariant reactions in rocks of varied composition as pressures decreased. This history is thought to relate to Archaean events, whereas a lower-temperature (c. 750–800°C) decompression to 5 kbar reflects Late Proterozoic reworking of these relict assemblages.The major Late Proterozoic (c. 1000 Ma) granulite facies metamorphism is recorded in a suite of younger Fe-rich metapelites and associated paragneisses in which syn- to post-deformational decompression, through 2–4 kbar from maximum recorded P–T conditions of 7–9 kbar and 800–850°C, is constrained by geothermobarometry and reaction textures. This P–T evolution is thought to reflect rapid tectonic collapse of crust previously thickened through collision.

Notizen: Highly magnesian and aluminous migmatitic gneisses from Mather Peninsula in the Rauer Group, Eastern Antarctica, preserve ultrahigh temperature (UHT) metamorphic assemblages that include orthopyroxene+sillimanite±quartz, garnet+sillimanite±quartz and garnet+orthopyroxene±sillimanite. Garnet that ranges up to XMg of 71.5 coexists with aluminous orthopyroxene that shows zoning from cores with 7.5–8.5 wt% Al2O3 to rims with up to 10.6 wt% Al2O3 adjacent to garnet. Peak P–T  conditions of 1050 °C and 12 kbar are retrieved from Fe–Mg–Al thermobarometry involving garnet and orthopyroxene, in very good agreement with independent constraints from petrogenetic grids in FeO–MgO–Al2O3–SiO2 and related chemical systems. Sapphirine, orthopyroxene and cordierite form extensive symplectites and coronas on the early phases. The specific reaction textures and assemblages involving these secondary phases correlate with initial garnet XMg , with apparent higher-pressure reaction products occurring on the more magnesian garnet, and are interpreted to result from an initial phase of ultrahigh temperature near-isothermal decompression (UHT-ITD) from 12 to 8 kbar at temperatures in excess of 950 °C. Later textures that involved biotite formation and then partial breakdown, along with garnet relics, to symplectites of orthopyroxene+cordierite or cordierite+spinel may reflect hydration through back-reaction with crystallizing melts on cooling below 900–850 °C, followed by ITD from 7 to 8 kbar to c. 5 kbar at temperatures of 750–850 °C. The tectonic significance of this P–T  history is ambiguous as the Rauer Group records the effects of Archean tectonothermal events as well as high-grade events at 1000 and 530 Ma. Late-stage biotite formation and subsequent ITD can be correlated with the P–T  history preserved in the Proterozoic components of the Rauer Group and hence with either 1000 or 530 Ma collisional orogenesis. However, whether the preceding UHT-ITD history reflects a temporally unrelated event (e.g. Archean) or is simply an early stage of either the late-Proterozoic or Pan-African tectonism, as recently deduced for similar UHT rocks from other areas of the East Antarctica, remains uncertain.

Notizen: Ultrahigh-temperature quartz-sapphirine granulite xenoliths in the post-Karoo Lace kimberlite, South Africa, comprise mainly quartz, sapphirine, garnet and sillimanite, with rarer orthopyroxene, antiperthite, corundum and zinc-bearing spinel; constant accessories are rutile, graphite and sulphides. Comparison with assemblages in the experimentally determined FMAS and KFMASH grids indicates initial equilibration at 〉1040 °C and 9–11 kbar. Corona assemblages involving garnet, sillimanite and minor cordierite developed on a near-isobaric cooling P–T  path as both temperature and, to a lesser extent, pressures decreased. Garnet-orthopyroxene Fe-Mg exchange thermometers record temperatures of only 830–916 °C. These estimates do not indicate the peak metamorphic conditions but instead reflect the importance of post-peak Fe-Mg exchange during cooling. Correction of mineral Fe-Mg compositions for this exhange using a convergence approach of Fitzsimons & Harley (1994) leads to retrieved P–T  estimates from garnet-orthopyroxene thermobarometry (c. 1000 °C and 10.5±0.7 kbar) that are consistent with the petrogenetic grid constraints. U-Pb dating of a single zircon grain gives an age of 2590±83 Ma, interpreted as the age of the metamorphic event. Protolith major and trace element chemistries of the xenoliths differ from sapphirine-quartzites typical of the Napier Complex (Antarctica) but are comparable to less siliceous, high Cr and Ni, sapphirine granulites reported from several ultrahigh temperature granulite terranes.

Notizen: The role of volatiles in the stabilization of the lower (granulite facies) crust is contentious. Opposing models invoke infiltration of CO2-rich fluids or generally vapour-absent conditions during granulite facies metamorphism. Stable isotope and petrological studies of granulite facies metacarbonates can provide constraints on these models. In this study data are presented from metre-scale forsteritic marble boudins within Archaean intermediate to felsic orthogneisses from the Rauer Group, East Antarctica.Forsteritic marble layers and associated calcsilicates preserve a range of 13C- and 18O-depleted calcite isotope values (δ13C= -9.9 to -3.0% PDB, δ18O = 4.0 to 12.1% SMOW). A coupled trend of 13C and 18O depletion (∼2%, ∼5%, respectively) from core to rim across one marble layer is inconsistent with pervasive CO2 infiltration during granulite facies metamorphism, but does indicate localized fluid-rock interaction. At another locality, more pervasive fluid infiltration has resulted in calcite having uniformly low, carbonatite-like δ18O and δ13C values. A favoured mechanism for the low δ18O and δ13C values of the marbles is infiltration by fluids that were derived from, or equilibrated with, a magmatic source. It is likely that this fluid-rock interaction occurred prior to high-grade metamorphism; other fluid-rock histories are not, however, ruled out by the available data. Coupled trends of 13C and 18O depletion are modified to even lower values by the superposed development of small-scale metasomatic reaction zones between marbles and internally folded mafic (?) interlayers. The timing of development of these layers is uncertain, but may be related to Archaean high-temperature (〉1000d̀C) granulite facies metamorphism.

Notizen: The Okiep Copper District, part of the 1.2–1.0 Ga high-grade terrane in western Namaqualand, is composed of a mid-Proterozoic supracrustal sequence and several pre- to post-orogenic intrusive suites affected by two high-grade events (M2a/M2b, M3) of Kibaran and one low-grade event (M4) of Pan-African age. Peak assemblages in quartz-bearing pelites are characterized either by garnet+cordierite coexisting with sillimanite/biotite, or by biotite+sillimanite±garnet; a difference controlled by bulk composition and variation in water activities (0.1–0.7) during dehydration melting. Maximum P–T conditions were reached during M2a coevally with the major deformational event (D2a) and are estimated at 750–820 °C and 5–6 kbar. A counterclockwise P–T  path is indicated by regionally occurring pseudomorphs of sillimanite after andalusite and by prograde reaction textures preserved as relics in M2a porphyroblasts. Two stages of retrograde metamorphism are distinguished: M2a garnet+cordierite-bearing assemblages were retrogressed to biotite+sillimanite+quartz (M2b) along discontinuous foliation planes and shear zones (D2b). Retrograde M3 corona assemblages formed at similar P–T  conditions (580–660 °C and 5.8±0.5 kbar) to the M2b assemblages but M3 crystallization postdates penetrative D2 deformation, intrusion of 1.06 Ga granitoids and formation of associated W–Mo deposits. It is concluded that: (a) Kibaran high-grade metamorphism in the Okiep Copper District is thermally punctuated and (b) reaction textures documenting apparent isobaric cooling of this low-P high-T  terrane must be interpreted with caution.

Notizen: Magnesian metapelites of probable Archaean age from Forefinger Point, SW Enderby Land, East Antarctica, contain very-high-temperature granulite facies mineral assemblages, which include orthopyroxene (8–9.5 wt% Al2O3)–sillimanite ± garnet ± quartz ± K-feldspar, that formed at 10 ± 1.5 kbar and 950 ± 50°C. These assemblages are overprinted by symplectite and corona reaction textures involving sapphirine, orthopyroxene (6–7 wt% Al2O3), cordierite and sometimes spinel at the expense of porphyroblastic garnet or earlier orthopyroxene–sillimanite. These textures mainly pre-date the development of coarse biotite at the expense of initial mesoperthite, and the subsequent formation of orthopyroxene (4–6 wt% Al2O3)–cordierite–plagioclase rinds on late biotite.The early reaction textures indicate a period of near-isothermal decompression at temperatures above 900°C. Decompression from 10 ± 1.5 kbar to 7–8 kbar was succeeded by biotite formation at significantly lower temperatures (800–850°C) and further decompression to 4.5 ± 1 kbar at 700–800°C.The later parts of this P–T evolution can be ascribed to the overprinting and reworking of the Forefinger Point granulites by the Late-Proterozoic (c. 1000 Ma) Rayner Complex metamorphism, but the age and timing of the early high-temperature decompression is not known. It is speculated that this initial decompression is of Archaean age and therefore records thinning of the crust of the Napier Complex following crustal thickening by tectonic or magmatic mechanisms and preceding the generally wellpreserved post-deformational near-isobaric cooling history of this terrain.

Notizen: Calc-silicate boudins within Proterozoic granulite facies gneisses of the northern Prince Charles Mountains, East Antarctica, preserve a number of reaction textures including garnet coronas between calcite and scapolite; garnet-quartz coronas between scapolite and wollastonite and between plagioclase and wollastonite; calcite-quartz intergrowths in wollastonite; and calcite-plagioclase symplectites in scapolite. These textures have been modelled using petrogenetic grids for reactions in the CaO-Al2,O3-SiO2-CO2 system, but with reduced mineral activities to account for additional components in real mineral compositions. Such fixed-composition reduced-activity grids are strictly valid only at the point in P-T-aCO2 space where an assemblage last equilibrated, and do not show the true positions of reactions away from this point because mineral compositions change with reaction progress. In this case, however, mineral compositions close to end-member values and low extents of reaction progress mean that compositional change was limited and the grids are good approximations to true pseudosections over the entire P-T-aco2 range of interest.The grids show that the textures are consistent with near-isobaric cooling from about 850 to 700d̀ C at 7 kbar, a P-T path compatible with thermobarometric studies of other lithologies from the area. Phase relationships indicate that CO2 activities were buffered by the local mineral assemblage during peak and retrograde metamorphism, either under fluid-absent conditions or within a non-pervasive fluid phase. Previous studies of garnet coronas in scapolite-wollastonite calc-silicates have used qualitative grids based on limited experimental data to invoke garnet growth during water infiltration at high temperature, but the grids used here show that garnet coronas can form on cooling, without any need for water influx.

Notizen: Several aspects of the petrogenesis of low-pressure granulite facies rocks from the Reynolds Range (central Australia) are contentious, including: (a) the shape of the retrograde P–T –time path, and whether it is an artefact of repeated thermal events at different P–T  conditions; (b) the type of regional metamorphism; and (c) the causes of metamorphism. Granulite facies rocks from the Reynolds Range Group experienced three major periods of mineralogical equilibration. Metapelitic rocks underwent dehydration-melting reactions to form migmatites under peak M2 P–T  conditions of c. 5.0–5.3 kbar and c. 750–800 °C. Metapsammitic rocks that did not melt during M2 show spectacular garnet–orthopyroxene intergrowths that developed at c. 3.5–3.7 kbar and c. 700–750 °C after penetrative regional deformation, but prior to amphibolite facies rehydration in discrete strike-parallel zones. Rehydration occurred within the sillimanite stability field at P–T conditions close to the granite solidus (c. 3.2–3.4 kbar and 650–700 °C). Subsequently the terrane cooled into the andalusite stability field. Geochronological constraints suggest that: (a) peak-M2 conditions were reached at c. 1594 Ma; (b) the garnet–orthopyroxene intergrowths in unmelted metapsammites probably developed between c. 1594 Ma and c. 1586 Ma; and (c) upper amphibolite facies rehydration occurred between c. 1586 Ma and 1568 Ma. The lack of petrological evidence for multiple dehydration and rehydration of the rocks suggests that the three episodes of mineralogical recrystallization can be linked to yield a single continuous retrograde P–T–t path of minor initial decompression (c. 1.5 kbar) from the M2 peak, followed by cooling (c. 100 °C) to the granite solidus over a period of c. 26 Ma. Late kyanite-bearing shear zones that dissect the terrane are unrelated to this event and formed during the c. 300–400 Ma Alice Springs Orogeny. The shape of the P–T–t path and the duration of M2 metamorphism suggests that advective heating was not the major cause of high-grade metamorphism, and that some other, longer lived heat source, such as the burial of anomalously radiogenic, pre-tectonic granites, is required.