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Greenschist Facies (greenschist + facy)
Terms modified by Greenschist Facies Selected AbstractsReaction localization and softening of texturally hardened mylonites in a reactivated fault zone, central ArgentinaJOURNAL OF METAMORPHIC GEOLOGY, Issue 6 2005S. J. WHITMEYER Abstract The Tres Arboles ductile fault zone in the Eastern Sierras Pampeanas, central Argentina, experienced multiple ductile deformation and faulting events that involved a variety of textural and reaction hardening and softening processes. Much of the fault zone is characterized by a (D2) ultramylonite, composed of fine-grained biotite + plagioclase, that lacks a well-defined preferred orientation. The D2 fabric consists of a strong network of intergrown and interlocking grains that show little textural evidence for dislocation or dissolution creep. These ultramylonites contain gneissic rock fragments and porphyroclasts of plagioclase, sillimanite and garnet inherited from the gneissic and migmatitic protolith (D1) of the hangingwall. The assemblage of garnet + sillimanite + biotite suggests that D1-related fabrics developed under upper amphibolite facies conditions, and the persistence of biotite + garnet + sillimanite + plagioclase suggests that the ultramylonite of D2 developed under middle amphibolite facies conditions. Greenschist facies, mylonitic shear bands (D3) locally overprint D2 ultramylonites. Fine-grained folia of muscovite + chlorite ± biotite truncate earlier biotite + plagioclase textures, and coarser-grained muscovite partially replaces relic sillimanite grains. Anorthite content of shear band (D3) plagioclase is c. An30, distinct from D1 and D2 plagioclase (c. An35). The anorthite content of D3 plagioclase is consistent with a pervasive grain boundary fluid that facilitated partial replacement of plagioclase by muscovite. Biotite is partially replaced by muscovite and/or chlorite, particularly in areas of inferred high strain. Quartz precipitated in porphyroclast pressure shadows and ribbons that help define the mylonitic fabric. All D3 reactions require the introduction of H+ and/or H2O, indicating an open system, and typically result in a volume decrease. Syntectonic D3 muscovite + quartz + chlorite preferentially grew in an orientation favourable for strain localization, which produced a strong textural softening. Strain localization occurred only where reactions progressed with the infiltration of aqueous fluids, on a scale of hundreds of micrometre. Local fracturing and microseismicity may have induced reactivation of the fault zone and the initial introduction of fluids. However, the predominant greenschist facies deformation (D3) along discrete shear bands was primarily a consequence of the localization of replacement reactions in a partially open system. [source] Anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility and petrofabric studies in the Garhwal synform, Outer Lesser Himalaya: Evidence of pop-up klippenISLAND ARC, Issue 3 2009Upasana Devrani Abstract Geological field, petrographic, and anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility studies help in understanding the evolutionary history of the Garhwal synform that lies in the western Outer Lesser Himalaya. Orientations of the magnetic susceptibility axes reveal large variations at short distances as a result of superimposed deformation, and predominant stress conditions favorable for normal faulting. Rocks forming the outer limbs of the Garhwal Synform are metamorphosed up to the lower greenschist facies. The metamorphic grade increases to chlorite zone in the inner limb and the core is characterized by chlorite,biotite to garnet zones. The different grades of metamorphism are separated by thrusts and the structure is described as a pop-up klippen. [source] Middle Archean ocean ridge hydrothermal metamorphism and alteration recorded in the Cleaverville area, Pilbara Craton, Western AustraliaJOURNAL OF METAMORPHIC GEOLOGY, Issue 7 2007T. SHIBUYA Abstract A hydrothermally metamorphosed greenstone complex, capped by bedded cherts and banded iron formations (BIFs), is exposed in the Cleaverville area, Pilbara Craton, Western Australia. It has been interpreted as an accretionary complex characterized by both a duplex structure and an oceanic plate stratigraphy, and is shown to represent a 3.2 Ga upper oceanic crust. Three metamorphic zones are identified in the basaltic greenstones. The metamorphic grade increases from sub-greenschist facies (zones A and B) to greenschist facies (zone C) under low-pressure conditions. The boundaries between three mineral zones are subparallel to the bedding plane of overlying chert/BIF, and metamorphic temperature increases stratigraphically downward. The zones correspond to the thermal structure of ocean-floor metamorphism, at a mid-ocean ridge. The uppermost greenstone in the study area is more pervasively altered and carbonatized than the modern upper oceanic crust. This indicates the enrichment of CO2 in the metamorphic fluid by which widespread formation of carbonate occurred, compared with a narrow stability region of Ca-Al silicates. It is, therefore, suggested that the Archean hydrothermal alteration played a more important role in fixation of CO2 than present-day ocean-ridge hydrothermal alteration, as an interaction between sea water and oceanic crust. [source] A counter-clockwise P,T path for the Voltri Massif eclogites (Ligurian Alps, Italy)JOURNAL OF METAMORPHIC GEOLOGY, Issue 7 2005G. VIGNAROLI Abstract Integrated petrological and structural investigations of eclogites from the eclogite zone of the Voltri Massif (Ligurian Alps) have been used to reconstruct a complete Alpine P,T deformation path from burial by subduction to subsequent exhumation. The early metamorphic evolution of the eclogites has been unravelled by correlating garnet zonation trends with the chemical variations in inclusions found in the different garnet domains. Garnet in massive eclogites displays typical growth zoning, whereas garnet in foliated eclogites shows rim-ward resorption, likely related to re-equilibration during retrogressive evolution. Garnet inclusions are distinctly different from core to rim, consisting primarily of Ca-, Na/Ca-amphibole, epidote, paragonite and talc in garnet cores and of clinopyroxene ± talc in the outer garnet domains. Quantitative thermobarometry on the inclusion assemblages in the garnet cores defines an initial greenschist-to-amphibolite facies metamorphic stage (M1 stage) at c. 450,500 °C and 5,8 kbar. Coexistence of omphacite + talc + katophorite inclusion assemblage in the outer garnet domains indicate c. 550 °C and 20 kbar, conditions which were considered as minimum P,T estimates for the M2 eclogitic stage. The early phase of retrograde reactions is polyphase and equilibrated under epidote,blueschist facies (M3 stage), characterized by the development of composite reaction textures (garnet necklaces and fluid-assisted Na-amphibole-bearing symplectites) produced at the expense of the primary M2 garnet-clinopyroxene assemblage. The blueschist retrogression is contemporaneous with the development of a penetrative deformation (D3) that resulted in a non-coaxial fabric, with dominant top-to-the-N sense of shear during rock exhumation. All of that is overprinted by a texturally late amphibolite/greenschist facies assemblages (M4 & M5 stages), which are not associated with a penetrative structural fabric. The combined P,T deformation data are consistent with an overall counter-clockwise path, from the greenschist/amphibolite, through the eclogite, the blueschist to the greenschist facies. These new results provide insights into the dynamic evolution of the Tertiary oceanic subduction processes leading to the building up of the Alpine orogen and the mechanisms involved in the exhumation of its high-pressure roots. [source] Hydrothermal alteration, fluid flow and volume change in shear zones: the layered mafic,ultramafic Kettara intrusion (Jebilet Massif, Variscan belt, Morocco)JOURNAL OF METAMORPHIC GEOLOGY, Issue 1 2004A. Essaifi Abstract During emplacement and cooling, the layered mafic,ultramafic Kettara intrusion (Jebilet, Morocco) underwent coeval effects of deformation and pervasive fluid infiltration at the scale of the intrusion. In the zones not affected by deformation, primary minerals (olivine, plagioclase, clinopyroxene) were partially or totally altered into Ca-amphibole, Mg-chlorite and CaAl-silicates. In the zones of active deformation (centimetre-scale shear zones), focused fluid flow transformed the metacumulates (peridotites and leucogabbros) into ultramylonites where insoluble primary minerals (ilmenite, spinel and apatite) persist in a Ca-amphibole-rich matrix. Mass-balance calculations indicate that shearing was accompanied by up to 200% volume gain; the ultramylonites being enriched in Si, Ca, Mg, and Fe, and depleted in Na and K. The gains in Ca and Mg and losses in Na and K are consistent with fluid flow in the direction of increasing temperature. When the intrusion had cooled to temperatures prevailing in the country rock (lower greenschist facies), deformation was still active along the shear zones. Intense intragranular fracturing in the shear zone walls and subsequent fluid infiltration allowed shear zones to thicken to metre-scale shear zones with time. The inner parts of the shear zones were transformed into chlorite-rich ultramylonites. In the shear zone walls, muscovite crystallized at the expense of Ca,Al silicates, while calcite and quartz were deposited in ,en echelon' veins. Mass-balance calculations indicate that formation of the chlorite-rich shear zones was accompanied by up to 60% volume loss near the centre of the shear zones; the ultramylonites being enriched in Fe and depleted in Si, Ca, Mg, Na and K while the shear zones walls are enriched in K and depleted in Ca and Si. The alteration observed in, and adjacent to the chlorite shear zones is consistent with an upward migrating regional fluid which flows laterally into the shear zone walls. Isotopic (Sr, O) signatures inferred for the fluid indicate it was deeply equilibrated with host lithologies. [source] Sub-ophiolite metamorphic rocks from NW Anatolia, TurkeyJOURNAL OF METAMORPHIC GEOLOGY, Issue 5 2000Önen The metamorphic rocks from near Kütahya in north-west Anatolia record different stages in the history of closure of the Neo-Tethyan ,zmir,Ankara,Erzincan ocean. Sub-ophiolite metamorphic rocks within the Tav,anl, zone are a tectonically composite sequence of quartz,mica schists, amphibole schists, amphibolites and garnet amphibolites. They show increasing metamorphic grade towards the base of the ophiolite. A first metamorphic event, typical of sub-ophiolite metamorphic sole rocks, was characterized by high-grade assemblages, and followed by retrograde metamorphism. A second event was marked by a medium-to high-pressure overprint of the first-stage metamorphic assemblages with assemblages indicating a transition between the blueschist and greenschist facies. The chemistry of the sub-ophiolite metamorphic rocks indicates an ocean island basalt origin, and Ar,Ar dating indicates a high temperature metamorphic event at 93±2 Ma. Counter-clockwise P,T,t paths recorded by the sub-ophiolite metamorphic rocks are interpreted to result from intra-oceanic thrusting during the closure of the ,zmir, Ankara,Erzincan ocean, initiating subduction, which formed the high-temperature assemblages. Further subduction then produced the widespread blueschists of the Tav,anl, zone during the Late Cretaceous. Later cold thrusting obducted the ophiolite (with the metamorphic sole welded to its base), ophiolitic melanges and blueschists onto the Anatolide passive margin in the latest Cretaceous. All these events pre-date the final Anatolide,Pontide continent,continent collision. [source] Reactions leading to the formation and breakdown of stilpnomelane in the Otago Schist, New ZealandJOURNAL OF METAMORPHIC GEOLOGY, Issue 4 2000G. Li Semi-pelitic rocks ranging in grade from the prehnite,pumpellyite to the greenschist facies from south-eastern Otago, New Zealand, have been investigated in order to evaluate the reactions leading to formation and breakdown of stilpnomelane. Detrital grains of mica and chlorite along with fine-grained authigenic illite and chlorite occur in lower-grade rocks with compactional fabric parallel to bedding. At higher grades, detrital grains have undergone dissolution, and metamorphic phyllosilicates have crystallized with preferred orientation (sub)parallel to bedding, leading to slaty cleavage. Stilpnomelane is found in metapelites of the pumpellyite,actinolite facies and the chlorite zone of the greenschist facies, but only rarely in the biotite zone of the greenschist facies. Illite or phengite is ubiquitous, whereas chlorite occurs only rarely with stilpnomelane upgrade of the pumpellyite-out isograd. Chemical and textural relationships suggest that stilpnomelane formed from chlorite, phengite, quartz, K-feldspar and iron oxides. Stilpnomelane was produced by grain-boundary replacement of chlorite and by precipitation from solution, overprinting earlier textures. Some relict 14 Å chlorite layers are observed by TEM to be in the process of transforming to 12 Å stilpnomelane layers. The AEM analyses show that Fe is strongly partitioned over Mg into stilpnomelane relative to chlorite (KD,2.5) and into chlorite relative to phengite (KD,1.9). Modified A,FM diagrams, projected from the measured phengite composition rather than from ideal KAl3Si3O10(OH)2, are used to elucidate reactions among chlorite, stilpnomelane, phengite and biotite. In addition to pressure, temperature and bulk rock composition, the stilpnomelane-in isograd is controlled by variations in K, Fe3+/Fe2+, O/OH and H2O contents, and the locus of the isograd is expected to vary in rocks of different oxidation states and permeabilities. Biotite, quartz and less phengitic muscovite form from stilpnomelane, chlorite and phengite in the biotite zone. Projection of bulk rock compositions from phengite, NaAlO2, SiO2 and H2O reveals that they lie close to the polyhedra defined by the A,FM minerals and albite. Other extended A,FM diagrams, such as one projected from phengite, NaAlO2, CaAl2O4, SiO2 and H2O, may prove useful in the evaluation of other low-grade assemblages. [source] Geology, Wall-rock Alteration and Vein Paragenesis of the Bilimoia Gold Deposit, Kainantu Metallogenic Region, Papua New GuineaRESOURCE GEOLOGY, Issue 3 2007Joseph Onglo Espi Abstract The Bilimoia deposit (2.23 Mt, 24 g/t Au), located in the eastern Central Mobile Belt of mainland Papua New Guinea, is composed of fault-hosted, NW,NNW-trending Irumafimpa,Kora and Judd,Upper Kora Au-quartz veins hosted by Middle,Late Triassic basement that was metamorphosed to medium-grade greenschist facies between Middle,Late Triassic and Early,Middle Jurassic. Mineralizing fluids were introduced during crustal thickening, rapid uplift, change of plate motions from oblique to orthogonal compression, active faulting and S3 and S4 events in an S1,S4 deformation sequence. The Bilimoia deposit is spatially and temporally related to I-type, early intermediate to felsic and late mafic intrusions emplaced in Late Miocene (9,7 Ma). Hydrothermal alteration and associated mineralization is divided into 10 main paragenetic stages: (1) chlorite,epidote-selvaged quartz,calcite,specularite vein; (2) local quartz,illite,pyrite alteration; (3) quartz,sericite,mariposite,fuchsite,pyrite wall-rock alteration that delimits the bounding shears; (4) finely banded, colloform-, crustiform- and cockade-textured and drusy quartz ± early wolframite ± late adularia; (5) hematite; (6) pyrite; (7) quartz ± amethyst-base metal sulfides; (8) quartz,chalcopyrite,bornite,Sn and Cu sulfides,Au tellurides and Te ± Bi ± Ag ± Cu ± Pb phases; (9) Fe ± Mn carbonates; and (10) supergene overprint. Fluid inclusions in stage 4 are characterized by low salinity (0.9,5.4 wt% NaCl equivalent), aqueous,carbonic fluids with total homogenization temperatures ranging from 210 to 330°C. Some of the inclusions that homogenized between 285 and 330°C host coexisting liquid- and vapor-rich (including carbonic) phases, suggesting phase separation. Fluid inclusions in quartz intergrown with wolframite have low salinity (0.9,1.2 wt% NaCl equivalent), aqueous,carbonic fluids at 240,260°C, defining the latter's depositional conditions. The ore fluids were derived from oxidized magmatic source initially contaminated by reduced basement rocks. Wall-rock alteration and involvement of circulating meteoric waters were dominant during the first three stages and early part of stage 4. Stage 5 hematite was deposited as a result of stage 4 phase separation or entrainment of oxygenated groundwater. Gold is associated with Te- and Bi-bearing minerals and mostly precipitated as gold-tellurides during stage 8. Gold deposition occurred below 350°C due to a change in the sulfidation and oxidation state of the fluids, depressurization and decreasing temperature and activities of sulfur and tellurium. Bisulfides are considered to be the main Au-transporting complexes. The Bilimoia deposit has affinities that are similar to many gold systems termed epizonal orogenic and intrusion-related. The current data allow us to classify the Bilimoia deposit as a fault-controlled, metamorphic-hosted, intrusion-related mesothermal to low sulfidation epithermal quartz,Au,Te,Bi vein system. [source] Orogenic Gold Mineralization in the Qolqoleh Deposit, Northwestern IranRESOURCE GEOLOGY, Issue 3 2007Farhang Aliyari Abstract The Qolqoleh gold deposit is located in the northwestern part of the Sanandai-Sirjan Zone, northwest of Iran. Gold mineralization in the Qolqoleh deposit is almost entirely confined to a series of steeply dipping ductile,brittle shear zones generated during Late Cretaceous,Tertiary continental collision between the Afro-Arabian and the Iranian microcontinent. The host rocks are Mesozoic volcano-sedimentary sequences consisting of felsic to mafic metavolcanics, which are metamorphosed to greenschist facies, sericite and chlorite schists. The gold orebodies were found within strong ductile deformation to late brittle deformation. Ore-controlling structure is NE,SW-trending oblique thrust with vergence toward south ductile,brittle shear zone. The highly strained host rocks show a combination of mylonitic and cataclastic microstructures, including crystal,plastic deformation and grain size reduction by recrystalization of quartz and mica. The gold orebodies are composed of Au-bearing highly deformed and altered mylonitic host rocks and cross-cutting Au- and sulfide-bearing quartz veins. Approximately half of the mineralization is in the form of dissemination in the mylonite and the remainder was clearly emplaced as a result of brittle deformation in quartz,sulfide microfractures, microveins and veins. Only low volumes of gold concentration was introduced during ductile deformation, whereas, during the evident brittle deformation phase, competence contrasts allowed fracturing to focus on the quartz,sericite domain boundaries of the mylonitic foliation, thus permitting the introduction of auriferous fluid to create disseminated and cross-cutting Au-quartz veins. According to mineral assemblages and alteration intensity, hydrothermal alteration could be divided into three zones: silicification and sulfidation zone (major ore body); sericite and carbonate alteration zone; and sericite,chlorite alteration zone that may be taken to imply wall-rock interaction with near neutral fluids (pH 5,6). Silicified and sulfide alteration zone is observed in the inner parts of alteration zones. High gold grades belong to silicified highly deformed mylonitic and ultramylonitic domains and silicified sulfide-bearing microveins. Based on paragenetic relationships, three main stages of mineralization are recognized in the Qolqoleh gold deposit. Stage I encompasses deposition of large volumes of milky quartz and pyrite. Stage II includes gray and buck quartz, pyrite and minor calcite, sphalerite, subordinate chalcopyrite and gold ores. Stage III consists of comb quartz and calcite, magnetite, sphalerite, chalcopyrite, arsenopyrite, pyrrhotite and gold ores. Studies on regional geology, ore geology and ore-forming stages have proved that the Qolqoleh deposit was formed in the compression,extension stage during the Late Cretaceous,Tertiary continental collision in a ductile,brittle shear zone, and is characterized by orogenic gold deposits. [source] Alteration Patterns Related to Hydrothermal Gold Mineralizaition in Meta-andesites at Dungash Area, Eastern Desert, EgyptRESOURCE GEOLOGY, Issue 1 2001Hossam A. Helba Abstract: The hydrothermal alteration patterns associating with the gold prospect hosted by metavolcanics in the Dungash area, Eastern Desert of Egypt, were investigated in order to assign their relationship to mineralization. The metavolcanics of andesitic composition are generated by regional metamorphism of greenschist facies superimposed by hydrothermal activity. Epidote and chlorite are metamorphic minerals, whereas sericite, carbonates, and chlorite are hydrothermal alteration minerals. The auriferous quartz vein is of NEE-SWW trend and cuts mainly the andesitic metavolcanics, but sometimes extends to the neighbouring metapyroclastics and metasediments. Quartz-sericite, sericite, carbonate-sericite, and chlorite-sericite constitute four distinctive alteration zones which extend outwards from the mineralized quartz vein. The quartz-sericite and sericite zones are characterized by high contents of SiO2, K2O, Rb, and As, the carbonate-sericite zone is by high contents of CaO, Au, Cu, Cr, Ni, and Y, and the chlorite-sericite zone is by high contents of MgO, Na2O, Zn, Ba, and Co. Gold and sulphide minerals are relatively more abundant in the carbonate-sericite zone followed by the sericite one. The geochemistry of the alteration system was investigated using volume-composition and mass balance calculations. The volume factors obtained for the different alteration zones, mentioned above (being 1.64, 1.19, 1.17, and 1.07, respectively), indicate that replacement had taken place with a volume gain. The mass balance calculations revealed addition of SiO2, K2O, As, Cu, Rb, Ba, Ni, and Y to the system as a whole and subtraction of Fe2O3 from the system. Initial high aK+ and aH+ for the invading fluids is suggested. As the fluids migrated into wallrocks, they became more concentrated in Mg, Ca, and Na with increasing activities of CO2 and S. The calculated loss-gain data are in agreement with the microscopic observations. Breakdown of ferromagnesian minerals and feldspars in the quartz-sericite, sericite, and chlorite-sericite zones accompanied by loss in Mg, Fe, Ca, and Na under acidic conditions and low CO2/H2O ratio may obstruct the formation of carbonates and sulphides, and the precipitation of gold in these zones. The role of metamorphic fluids in the area is expected to be restricted to the liberation of Au and some associated elements from their hosts. [source] 40Ar/39Ar Dating of Deformation Events and Reconstruction of Exhumation of Ultrahigh-Pressure Metamorphic Rocks in Donghai, East ChinaACTA GEOLOGICA SINICA (ENGLISH EDITION), Issue 2 2003LI Jinyi Abstract Recent investigations reveal that the ultrahigh-pressure metamorphic (UHPM) rocks in the Donghai region of East China underwent ductile and transitional ductile-brittle structural events during their exhumation. The earlier ductile deformation took place under the condition of amphibolite facies and the later transitional ductile-brittle deformation under the condition of greenschist facies. The hanging walls moved southeastward during both of these two events. The 40Ar/39Ar dating of muscovites from muscovite-plagioclase schists in the Haizhou phosphorous mine, which are structurally overlain by UHPM rocks, yields a plateau age of 218.0±2.9 Ma and isochron age of 219.8Ma, indicating that the earlier event of the ampibolite-facies deformation probably took place about 220 Ma ago. The 40Ar/39Ar dating of oriented amphiboles parallel to the movement direction of the hanging wall on a decollement plane yields a plateau age of 213.1 ± 0.3 Ma and isochron age of 213.4±4.1 Ma, probably representing the age of the later event. The dating of pegmatitic biotites and K-feldspars near the decollement plane from the eastern Fangshan area yield plateau ages of 203.4±0.3 Ma, 203.6±0.4 Ma and 204.8±2.2 Ma, and isochron ages of 204.0±2.0 Ma, 200.6±3.1 Ma and 204.0±5.0 Ma, respectively, implying that the rocks in the studied area had not been cooled down to closing temperature of the dated biotites and K-feldspars until the beginning of the Jurassic (about 204 Ma). The integration of these data with previous chronological ages on the ultrahigh-pressure metamorphism lead to a new inference on the exhumation of the UHPM rocks. The UHPM rocks in the area were exhumed at the rate of 3,4 km/Ma from the mantle (about 80,100 km below the earth's surface at about 240 Ma) to the lower crust (at the depth of about 20-30km at 220 Ma), and at the rate of 1,2 km/Ma to the middle crust (at the depth of about 15 km at 213 Ma), and then at the rate of less than 1 km/Ma to the upper crust about 10 km deep at about 204 Ma. [source] A Petrographic and Mineralogical Study of Volcanic Rocks from the Mayaxueshan Area, North Qilian Fold Belt, NW ChinaACTA GEOLOGICA SINICA (ENGLISH EDITION), Issue 1 2002HSU Ta-Wei Abstract, The Ordovician volcanic rocks in the Mayaxueshan area have been pervasively altered or metamorphosed and contain abundant secondary minerals such as albite, chlorite, epidote, prehnite, pumpellyite, actinolite, titanite, quartz, and/or calcite. They were denoted as spilites or spilitic rocks in terms of their petrographic features and mineral assemblages. The metamorphic grades of the volcanic rocks are equivalent to that of the intercalated metaclastic rocks. This indicates that both the spilitic volcanic rocks and metaclastic rocks in the Mayaxueshan area have formed as a result of Caledonian regional metamorphism. We suggest that the previously denoted spilitic rocks or altered volcanic rocks should be re-denoted as metabasalts or metabasaltic rocks. The metamorphic grade of the volcanic rocks increases with their age: prehnite-pumpellyite facies for the upper part of the Middle Ordovician volcanic rocks, prehnite-pumpellyite to lower greenschist facies for the lower part of the Middle Ordovician volcanic rocks, and lower greenschist facies for the Lower Ordovician volcanic rocks. The P-T conditions are estimated as T = 240 , 290°C and P = 1.5 , 4.5 kbar for the lower part of the Middle Ordovician rocks, and T = , 300°C for the Lower Ordovician rocks. The variations of mineral assemblages occurring at different domains of the volcanic rocks were controlled by the variations of the effective bulk composition in those domains during metamorphism. The geochemical characteristics of Mg-Al chromite in the Mayaxueshan volcanic rocks are consistent with an origin of island arc environment. [source] Metamorphism of the Basement of the Qilian Fold Belt in the Minhe-Ledu Area, Qinghai Province, NW ChinaACTA GEOLOGICA SINICA (ENGLISH EDITION), Issue 1 2002TSAI Chinglang Abstract, The basement of the central Qilian fold belt exposed along the Minhe-Ledu highway consists of psammitic schists, metabasitic rocks, and crystalline limestone. Migmatitic rocks occur sporadically among psammitic schist and metabasitic rocks. The mineral assemblage of psammitic schist is muscovite + biotite + feldspar + quartz ± tourmaline ± titanite ± sillimanite and that of metabasitic rocks is amphibole + plagioclase + biotite ± apatite ± magnetite ± pyroxene ± garnet ± quartz. The migmatitic rock consists of leucosome and restite of various volume proportions; the former consists of muscovite + alkaline feldspar + quartz ± garnet ± plagioclase while the latter is either fragments of psammitic schist or those of metabasitic rock. The crystalline limestone consists of calcite that has been partly replaced by olivine. The olivine was subsequently altered to serpentine. Weak deformations as indicated by cleavages and fractures were imposed prominently on the psammitic schists, occasionally on metabasitic rocks, but not on migmatitic rocks. The basement experienced metamorphism up to temperature 606,778°C and pressure 4.8,6.1 kbar (0.48,0.61 GPa), equivalent to amphibolite-granulite facies. The peak of the metamorphism is marked by a migmatization which occurred at several localities along the studied route 587-535 Ma ago. The basement also recorded a retrograde metamorphism of greenschist facies, during which biotite, garnet, amphibole, and pyroxene were partly altered to chlorite. [source] | ||||||||||