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Garnet Zone (garnet + zone)
Selected AbstractsThree metamorphic events recorded in a single garnet: Integrated phase modelling, in situ LA-ICPMS and SIMS geochronology from the Moine Supergroup, NW ScotlandJOURNAL OF METAMORPHIC GEOLOGY, Issue 3 2010K. A. CUTTS Abstract In situ LA-ICP-MS monazite geochronology from a garnet-bearing diatexite within the Moine Supergroup (Glenfinnan Group) NW Scotland records three temporally distinct metamorphic events within a single garnet porphyroblast. The initial growth of garnet occurred in the interval c. 825,780 Ma, as recorded by monazite inclusions located in the garnet core. Modelled P,T conditions based on the preserved garnet core composition indicate an initially comparatively high geothermal gradient regime and peak conditions of ,650 °C and 7 kbar. Monazite within a compositionally distinct second shell of garnet has an age of 724 ± 6 Ma. This is indistinguishable from a SIMS age of 725 ± 4 Ma obtained from metamorphic zircon in the sample, which is interpreted to record the timing of migmatization. This second stage of garnet growth occurred on a P,T path from ,6 kbar and 650 °C rising to ,9 kbar and 700 °C, with the peak conditions associated with partial melting. A third garnet zone which forms the rim contains monazite with an age of 464 ± 3 Ma. Monazite in the surrounding matrix has an age of 462 ± 2 Ma. This corresponds well with a U,Pb SIMS zircon age of 463 ± 4 Ma obtained from a deformed pegmatite that was emplaced during widespread folding and reworking of the migmatite fabric. The P,T conditions associated with the final phase of garnet growth were ,7 kbar and 650 °C. The monazite ages coupled with the phase relations modelled from this multistage garnet indicate that it records two Neoproterozoic tectonothermal events as well as the widespread Ordovician Grampian event associated with Caledonian orogenesis. Thus, this single garnet records much of the Neoproterozoic to Ordovician thermal history in NW Scotland, and highlights the long history of porphyroblast growth that can be revealed by in situ isotopic dating and associated P,T modelling. This approach has the potential to reveal much of the thermal architecture of Neoproterozoic events within the Moine Supergroup, despite intense Caledonian reworking, if suitable textural and mineralogical relationships can be indentified elsewhere. [source] Synchronous peak Barrovian metamorphism driven by syn-orogenic magmatism and fluid flow in southern Connecticut, USAJOURNAL OF METAMORPHIC GEOLOGY, Issue 5 2008P. J. LANCASTER Abstract Recent work in Barrovian metamorphic terranes has found that rocks experience peak metamorphic temperatures across several grades at similar times. This result is inconsistent with most geodynamic models of crustal over-thickening and conductive heating, wherein rocks which reach different metamorphic grades generally reach peak temperatures at different times. Instead, the presence of additional sources of heat and/or focusing mechanisms for heat transport, such as magmatic intrusions and/or advection by metamorphic fluids, may have contributed to the contemporaneous development of several different metamorphic zones. Here, we test the hypothesis of temporally focussed heating for the Wepawaug Schist, a Barrovian terrane in Connecticut, USA, using Sm,Nd ages of prograde garnet growth and U,Pb zircon crystallization ages of associated igneous rocks. Peak temperature in the biotite,garnet zone was dated (via Sm,Nd on garnet) at 378.9 ± 1.6 Ma (2,), whereas peak temperature in the highest grade staurolite,kyanite zone was dated (via Sm,Nd on garnet rims) at 379.9 ± 6.8 Ma (2,). These garnet ages suggest that peak metamorphism was pene-contemporaneous (within error) across these metamorphic grades. Ion microprobe U,Pb ages for zircon from igneous rocks hosted by the metapelites also indicate a period of syn-metamorphic peak igneous activity at 380.6 ± 4.7 Ma (2,), indistinguishable from the peak ages recorded by garnet. A 388.6 ± 2.1 Ma (2,) garnet core age from the staurolite,kyanite zone indicates an earlier episode of growth (coincident with ages from texturally early zircon and a previously published monazite age) along the prograde regional metamorphic T,t path. The timing of peak metamorphism and igneous activity, as well as the occurrence of extensive syn-metamorphic quartz vein systems and pegmatites, best supports the hypothesis that advective heating driven by magmas and fluids focussed major mineral growth into two distinct episodes: the first at c. 389 Ma, and the second, corresponding to the regionally synchronous peak metamorphism, at c. 380 Ma. [source] Progress of actinolite-forming reactions in mafic schists during retrograde metamorphism: an example from the Sanbagawa metamorphic belt in central Shikoku, JapanJOURNAL OF METAMORPHIC GEOLOGY, Issue 5 2005A. OKAMOTO Abstract Hydration reactions are direct evidence of fluid,rock interaction during regional metamorphism. In this study, hydration reactions to produce retrograde actinolite in mafic schists are investigated to evaluate the controlling factors on the reaction progress. Mafic schists in the Sanbagawa belt contain amphibole coexisting with epidote, chlorite, plagioclase and quartz. Amphibole typically shows two types of compositional zoning from core to rim: barroisite , hornblende , actinolite in the high-grade zone, and winchite , actinolite in the low-grade zone. Both types indicate that amphibole grew during the exhumation stage of the metamorphic belt. Microstructures of amphibole zoning and mass-balance relations suggest that: (1) the actinolite-forming reactions proceeded at the expense of the preexisting amphibole; and (2) the breakdown reaction of hornblende consumed more H2O fluid than that of winchite, when one mole of preexisting amphibole was reacted. Reaction progress is indicated by the volume fraction of actinolite to total amphibole, Yact, with the following details: (1) reaction proceeded homogeneously in each mafic layer; (2) the extent of the hornblende breakdown reaction is commonly low (Yact < 0.5), but it increases drastically in the high-grade part of the garnet zone (Yact,>,0.7); and (3) the extent of the winchite breakdown reaction is commonly high (Yact,>,0.7). Many microcracks are observed within hornblende, and the extent of hornblende breakdown reaction is correlated with the size reduction of the hornblende core. Brittle fracturing of hornblende may have enhanced retrograde reaction progress by increasing of influx of H2O and the surface area of hornblende. In contrast to high-grade rocks, the winchite breakdown reaction is well advanced in the low-grade rocks, where reaction progress is not associated with brittle fracturing of winchite. The high extent of the reaction in the low-grade rocks may be due to small size of winchite before the reaction. [source] Occurrence of calcite in Sanbagawa pelitic schists: implications for the formation of garnet, rutile, oligoclase, biotite and hornblendeJOURNAL OF METAMORPHIC GEOLOGY, Issue 2 2002A. Goto Abstract The frequency of occurrence of minerals in 1876 samples of Sanbagawa pelitic schist in central Shikoku is summarized on the basis of microscopic observation accompanied, in part, by use of an electron microprobe. All samples contain quartz, plagioclase, phengite, chlorite and graphite. More than 90% of samples contain clinozoisite, titanite and apatite. Garnet is present in 95% of samples from the garnet zone, and biotite is present in 64% of samples from the albite-biotite zone. Calcite is found in about 40% of samples of the pelitic schist collected from outcrop, but occurs in 95% of the pelitic schist from drill cores. Calcite was apparently ubiquitous in the pelitic schist during the Sanbagawa metamorphism, but must have been dissolved recently by the action of surface or ground water. The mineral assemblages of the Sanbagawa pelitic schist have to be analyzed in the system with excess calcite, quartz, albite (or oligoclase), clinozoisite, graphite and fluid that is composed mainly of H2O, CO2 and CH4. In the presence of calcite, reactions that produce garnet, rutile, oligoclase, biotite and hornblende, some of which define isograds of the metamorphic belt, should be written as mixed volatile equilibria that tend to take place at lower temperature than the dehydration reactions that have been proposed. The presence of calcite in pelitic schist suggests that fluid composition is a variable as important in determining mineral assemblages as pressure and temperature. Thus Ca-bearing phases must be taken into account to analyze the phase relations of calcite-bearing pelitic schist, even if CaO content of Sanbagawa pelitic schist is low. As calcite is a common phase, the mineral assemblages of the biotite zone pelitic schist may contravene the mineralogical phase rule and warrant further study. [source] Role of fluids in the metamorphism of the Alpine Fault Zone, New ZealandJOURNAL OF METAMORPHIC GEOLOGY, Issue 1 2001J. K. Vry Abstract Models of fluid/rock interaction in and adjacent to the Alpine Fault in the Hokitika area, South Island, New Zealand, were investigated using hydrogen and other stable isotope studies, together with field and petrographic observations. All analysed samples from the study area have similar whole-rock ,D values (,DWR = ,56 to ,30,, average = ,45,, n = 20), irrespective of rock type, degree of chloritization, location along the fault, or across-strike distance from the fault in the garnet zone. The green, chlorite-rich fault rocks, which probably formed from Australian Plate precursors, record nearly isothermal fluid/rock interaction with a schist-derived metamorphic fluid at high temperatures near 450,500°C (,D of water in equilibrium with the green fault rocks (,DH2O, green) ,,,18,; ,D of water in equilibrium with the greyschists and greyschist-derived mylonites (,DH2O, grey) , ,19, at 500°C; ,DH2O, green , ,17,; ,DH2O, grey , ,14, at 450°C). There is no indication of an influx of a meteoric or mantle-derived fluid in the Alpine Fault Zone in the study area. The Alpine Fault Zone at the surface shows little evidence of late-stage retrogression or veining, which might be attributed to down-temperature fluid flow. It is probable that prograde metamorphism in the root zone of the Southern Alps releases metamorphic fluids that at some region rise vertically rather than following the trace of the Alpine Fault up to the surface, owing to the combined effects of the fault, the disturbed isotherms under the Southern Alps, and the brittle,ductile transition. Such fluids could mix with meteoric fluids to deposit quartz-rich, possibly gold-bearing veins in the region c. 5,10 km back from the fault trace. These results and interpretations are consistent with interpretations of magnetotelluric data obtained in the South Island GeopHysical Transects (SIGHT) programme. [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] Oscillatory zoning in garnet from the Willsboro Wollastonite Skarn, Adirondack Mts, New York: a record of shallow hydrothermal processes preserved in a granulite facies terraneJOURNAL OF METAMORPHIC GEOLOGY, Issue 8 2003C. C. Clechenko Abstract Oscillatory zoning in low ,18O skarn garnet from the Willsboro wollastonite deposit, NE Adirondack Mts, NY, USA, preserves a record of the temporal evolution of mixing hydrothermal fluids from different sources. Garnet with oscillatory zoning are large (1,3 cm diameter) euhedral crystals that grew in formerly fluid filled cavities. They contain millimetre-scale oscillatory zoning of varying grossular,andradite composition (XAdr = 0.13,0.36). The ,18O values of the garnet zones vary from 0.80 to 6.26, VSMOW and correlate with XAdr. The shape, pattern and number of garnet zones varies from crystal to crystal, as does the magnitude of the correlated chemistry changes, suggesting fluid system variability, temporal and/or spatial, over the time of garnet growth. The zones of correlated Fe content and ,18O indicate that a high Fe3+/Al, high ,18O fluid mixed with a lower Fe3+/Al and ,18O fluid. The high ,18O, Fe enriched fluids were likely magmatic fluids expelled from crystallizing anorthosite. The low ,18O fluids were meteoric in origin. These are the first skarn garnet with oscillatory zoning reported from granulite facies rocks. Geochronologic, stable isotope, petrologic and field evidence indicates that the Adirondacks are a polymetamorphic terrane, where localized contact metamorphism around shallowly intruded anorthosite was followed by a regional granulite facies overprint. The growth of these garnet in equilibrium with meteoric and magmatic fluids indicates an origin in the shallow contact aureole of the anorthosite prior to regional metamorphism. The zoning was preserved due to the slow diffusion of oxygen and cations in the large garnet and protection from deformation and recrystallization in zones of low strain in thick, rigid, garnetite layers. The garnet provide new information about the hydrothermal system adjacent to the shallowly intruded massif anorthosite that predates regional metamorphism in this geologically complex, polymetamorphic terrane. [source] | ||||||||||