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High-grade Rocks (high-grade + rock)
Selected AbstractsThermal evolution of the orogenic lower crust during exhumation within a thickened Moldanubian root of the Variscan belt of Central EuropeJOURNAL OF METAMORPHIC GEOLOGY, Issue 2 2006L. TAJ, MANOVá Abstract At the eastern margin of the Bohemian Massif (Variscan belt of Central Europe), large bodies of felsic granulite preserve mineral assemblages and structures developed during the early stages of exhumation of the orogenic lower continental crust within the Moldanubian orogenic root. The development of an early steep fabric is associated with east,west-oriented compression and vertical extrusion of the high-grade rocks into higher crustal levels. The high-pressure mineral assemblage Grt-Ky-Kfs-Pl-Qtz-Liq corresponds to metamorphic pressures of ,18 kbar at ,850 °C, which are minimum estimates, whereas crystallization of biotite occurred at 13 kbar and ,790 °C during decompression with slight cooling. The late stages of the granulite exhumation were associated with lateral spreading of associated high-grade rocks over a middle crustal unit at ,4 kbar and ,700 °C, as estimated from accompanying cordierite-bearing gneisses. The internal structure of a contemporaneously intruded syenite is coherent with late structures developed in felsic granulites and surrounding gneisses, and the magma only locally explored the early subvertical fabric of the felsic granulite during emplacement. Consequently, the emplacement age of the syenite provides an independent constraint on the timing of the final stages of exhumation and allows calculation of exhumation and cooling rates, which for this part of the Variscan orogenic root are 2.9,3.5 mm yr,1 and 7,9.4 °C Myr,1, respectively. The final part of the temperature evolution shows very rapid cooling, which is interpreted as the result of juxtaposition of hot high-grade rocks with a cold upper-crustal lid. [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] Reactive flow of mixed CO2,H2O fluid and progress of calc-silicate reactions in contact metamorphic aureoles: insights from two-dimensional numerical modellingJOURNAL OF METAMORPHIC GEOLOGY, Issue 7 2003X. Cui Abstract Previous models of hydrodynamics in contact metamorphic aureoles assumed flow of aqueous fluids, whereas CO2 and other species are also common fluid components in contact metamorphic aureoles. We investigated flow of mixed CO2,H2O fluid and kinetically controlled progress of calc-silicate reactions using a two-dimensional, finite-element model constrained by the geological relations in the Notch Peak aureole, Utah. Results show that CO2 strongly affects fluid-flow patterns in contact aureoles. Infiltration of magmatic water into a homogeneous aureole containing CO2,H2O sedimentary fluid facilitates upward, thermally driven flow in the inner aureole and causes downward flow of the relatively dense CO2 -poor fluid in the outer aureole. Metamorphic CO2 -rich fluid tends to promote upward flow in the inner aureole and the progress of devolatilization reactions causes local fluid expulsion at reacting fronts. We also tracked the temporal evolution of P-T-XCO2conditions of calc-silicate reactions. The progress of low- to medium-grade (phlogopite- to diopside-forming) reactions is mainly driven by heat as the CO2 concentration and fluid pressure and temperature increase simultaneously. In contrast, the progress of the high-grade wollastonite-forming reaction is mainly driven by infiltration of chemically out-of-equilibrium, CO2 -poor fluid during late-stage heating and early cooling of the inner aureole and thus it is significantly enhanced when magmatic water is involved. CO2 -rich fluid dominates in the inner aureole during early heating, whereas CO2 -poor fluid prevails at or after peak temperature is reached. Low-grade metamorphic rocks are predicted to record the presence of CO2 -rich fluid, and high-grade rocks reflect the presence of CO2 -poor fluid, consistent with geological observations in many calc-silicate aureoles. The distribution of mineral assemblages predicted by our model matches those observed in the Notch Peak aureole. [source] Orthopyroxene,sillimanite,quartz assemblages: distribution, petrology, quantitative P,T,X constraints and P,T pathsJOURNAL OF METAMORPHIC GEOLOGY, Issue 5 2003D. E. Kelsey Abstract Granulite facies magnesian metapelites commonly preserve a wide array of mineral assemblages and reaction textures that are useful for deciphering the metamorphic evolution of a terrane. Quantitative pressure, temperature and bulk composition constraints on the development and preservation of characteristic peak granulite facies mineral assemblages such as orthopyroxene + sillimanite + quartz are assessed with reference to calculated phase diagrams. In NCKFMASH and its chemical subsystems, peak assemblages form mainly in high-variance fields, and most mineral assemblage changes reflect multivariant equilibria. The rarity of orthopyroxene,sillimanite,quartz-bearing assemblages in granulite facies rocks reflects the need for bulk rock XMg of greater than approximately 0.60,0.65, with pressures and temperatures exceeding c. 8 kbar and 850 °C, respectively. Cordierite coronas mantling peak minerals such as orthopyroxene, sillimanite and quartz have historically been used to infer isothermal decompression P,T paths in ultrahigh-temperature granulite facies terranes. However, a potentially wide range of P,T paths from a given peak metamorphic condition facilitate retrograde cordierite growth after orthopyroxene + sillimanite + quartz, indicating that an individual mineral reaction texture is unable to uniquely define a P,T vector. Therefore, the interpretation of P,T paths in high-grade rocks as isothermal decompression or isobaric cooling may be overly simplistic. Integration of quantitative data from different mineral reaction textures in rocks with varying bulk composition will provide the strongest constraints on a P,T path, and in turn on tectonic models derived from these paths. [source] Drainage patterns and tectonic forcing: a model study for the Swiss AlpsBASIN RESEARCH, Issue 2 2001A. Kühni ABSTRACT A linear surface process model is used to examine the effect of different patterns of rock uplift on the evolution of the drainage network of the Swiss Alps. An asymmetric pattern of tectonic forcing simulates a phase of rapid retrothrusting in the south of the Swiss Alps (,Lepontine'-type uplift). A domal pattern of tectonic forcing in the north of the model orogen simulates the phase of the formation of the ,Aar massif', an external basement uplift in the frontal part of the orogenic wedge (,Aar'-type uplift). Model runs using the ,Lepontine'-type uplift pattern result in a model mountain chain with a water divide in the zone of maximum uplift and orogen-normal rivers. Model runs examining the effect of ,Lepontine'-type uplift followed by ,Aar'-type uplift show that the initially formed orogen-normal river system and the water divide are both very stable and hardly affected by the additional uplift. This indifference to changes in tectonic forcing is mainly due to the requirement of a high model erosion capacity for the river systems in order to reproduce the exhumation data (high-grade rocks in the south of the Swiss Alps point to removal of a wedge-shaped nappe stack with a maximum thickness of about 25 km). The model behaviour is in agreement with the ancestral drainage pattern of the Alps in Oligocene and Miocene times and with the modern pattern observed in the Coast Range of British Columbia; in both cases river incision occurred across a zone of rapid uplift in the lower course of the rivers. The model behaviour does not, however, explain the modern drainage pattern in the Alps with its orogen-parallel rivers. When the model system is forced to develop two locally independent main water divides (simultaneous ,Lepontine'- and ,Aar'-type uplift), a zone of reduced erosional potential forms between the two divides. As a consequence, the divides approach each other and eventually merge. The new water divide remains fixed in space independent of the two persisting uplift maxima. The model results suggest that spatial and temporal changes in tectonic forcing alone cannot produce the change from the orogen-normal drainage pattern of the Swiss Alps in Oligocene,Miocene times to the orogen-parallel drainage observed in the Swiss Alps today. [source] | ||||||||||