scholarly journals The impact of the Pan-African-aged tectonothermal event on high-grade rocks at Mount Brown, East Antarctica

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaochun Liu ◽  
Bin Fu ◽  
Qiuli Li ◽  
Yue Zhao ◽  
Jian Liu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Granulite Facies ◽  
New Mineral ◽  
High Grade ◽  
Garnet Porphyroblasts ◽  
Granulite Facies Metamorphism ◽  
Rock Types ◽  
Pan African ◽  
Mineral Phases ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Tectonothermal Event

AbstractThis study presents monazite and rutile U–Pb and hornblende and biotite 40Ar/39Ar geochronological data for high-grade rocks of the eastern Grenville-aged Rayner orogen at Mount Brown in order to analyse the extent and degree of Pan-African-aged reworking. Monazite from paragneiss yields U–Pb ages of 910 Ma for larger granular grains and 670–630 Ma for smaller globular beads around garnet porphyroblasts or hosted by symplectites. Rutile from leucogneiss yields U–Pb ages of 520–515 Ma. Hornblende and biotite from different rock types yield 40Ar/39Ar plateau ages of 744 and 520–505 Ma, respectively. Combining these results with published zircon U–Pb age data suggests that granulite facies metamorphism occurred at 910 Ma, with a local low-temperature fluid flow event at 670–630 Ma and thermal reworking at 520–505 Ma. The older age of 744 Ma may reflect cooling or partial resetting of the hornblende 40Ar/39Ar system, indicating that Pan-African-aged reworking did not exceed temperatures much higher than the hornblende Ar closure temperature. These data also suggest that the complete isotopic resetting of some minerals may occur without the growth of new mineral phases, providing an example of the style of reworking that is likely to occur in polymetamorphic terranes.

Petrology and geochronology of cordierite bearing assemblages from the Wanni Complex – Sri Lanka

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nikolaus Lechner ◽  
Christoph Hauzenberger ◽  
Marcel Masten ◽  
Dominik Sorger ◽  
G.W.A. Rohan Fernando
Keyword(s):  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Rock Type ◽  
Granulite Facies ◽  
Granulite Facies Metamorphism ◽  
Pan African ◽  
Basement Rocks ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
The Common ◽  
Group 2 ◽  
Uht Metamorphism

<p>Based on differences in metamorphic grade and isotope model ages, the basement rocks of Sri Lanka can be subdivided from NW to SE into the Wanni Complex (WC), the Highland Complex (HC) and the Vijayan Complex (VC) (Milisenda et al. 1994). The UHT conditions of the HC were studied extensively and are well constrained whereas data from the WC and VC are less abundant. Only few recent petrological and geochemical work has been done especially along the WC–HC boundary which is still ill-defined (Kitano et al. 2018; Wanniarachchi & Akasaka 2016). Due to the common occurrence of migmatites, pyroxene bearing gneisses, and cordierite bearing metapelites/paragneisses, the WC clearly experienced granulite facies metamorphism. However, PT conditions are lower compared to the HC. In this study, U-Th-Pb monazite dating combined with a petrological study including phase equilibria modelling and thermobarometry was conducted focusing on cordierite bearing migmatic biotite gneisses located at the WC–HC boundary in the West of Sri Lanka. The HC underwent UHT metamorphism at 580-570Ma (Sajeev et al. 2010), the main metamorphic phase of the VC is dated with 580Ma. (Kröner et al., 2013). With U-Th-Pb monazite ages of around 530 Ma, the cordierite bearing assemblages from the WC are significantly younger (Wanniarachchi & Akasaka 2016). The predominantly felsic but also mafic peraluminous migmatic ortho- and paragneisses comprising the mineral assemblage cordierite + garnet + biotite + plagioclase + k-feldspar + quartz + ilmenite + magnetite + spinel + sillimanite ± orthopyroxene and contain monazite (+ zircon ± xenotime) as garnet inclusions (Group1) and in the matrix (Group2). Group1 monazite ages cluster around 575±5 Ma and 561±5 Ma whereas ages of Group 2 cluster at 550±3 and 527±3. Based on ages and textural occurrence of monazite we suggest that two thermal events at ca. 550-575 Ma and ca. 530-550 Ma are recorded in this rock type indicating a complex evolution during the late stage of the Pan-African orogeny. PT conditions range from 700–900°C and from 5–8 kbar with a decreasing north-south gradient. Further geochronological investigations are needed to relate either to the older or the younger overprint to the main metamorphic phase of the WC.</p><p>Kitano, I., Osanai, Y., Nakano, N., Adachi, T., & Fitzsimons, I. C. W. (2018). Journal of Asian Earth Sciences, 156, 122–144.</p><p>Kröner, A., Rojas-Agramonte, Y., Kehelpannala, K. V. W., Zack, T., Hegner, E., Geng, H. Y., … Barth, M. (2013). Precambrian Research, 234, 288–321. </p><p>Milisenda, C. C., Liewa, T. C., Hofmanna, A. W., & Köhler, H. (1994). Precambrian Research, 66(1–4), 95–110.</p><p>Sajeev, K., Williams, I. S., & Osanai, Y. (2010). Geology, 38(11), 971–974.</p><p>Wanniarachchi, D. N. S., & Akasaka, M. (2016). Journal of Mineralogical and Petrological Sciences, 111(5), 351–362.</p>

scholarly journals Microscopy and Microanalysis of Corona Textures in Eclogitic Greenschists from the Eastern Alps, Austria

2008 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 26-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Sturm
Keyword(s):  
High Temperature ◽  
Environmental Conditions ◽  
Eastern Alps ◽  
Tectonic Uplift ◽  
Metamorphic Rocks ◽  
New Mineral ◽  
High Grade ◽  
Mineral Phases ◽  
Mineral Matrix ◽  
Mineral Core

Metamorphic rocks formed under conditions of high temperature (>600°C) and high lithological pressure (>1 GPa) and being subject to a subsequent tectonic uplift commonly include a remarkable number of fascinating mineral textures. One type of these well known and extensively described high-grade metamorphic textures are the so-called corona structures or reaction rims which, by definition, are primarily based on metamorphic reactions that cause the formation of concentric layers of new mineral phases separating an older and unstable mineral core from a newer and equally unstable mineral matrix. In other words, corona structures in metamorphic rocks preserve evidence of changes in the environmental conditions (temperature, pressure, fugacity of H2O) experienced by the rock during its tectonometamorphic history.

Silicate, Oxide and Sulphide Trends in Neo-Archean Rocks from the Nilgiri Block, Southern India: the Role of Fluids During High-grade Metamorphism

2019 ◽  
Vol 60 (5) ◽  
pp. 1027-1062 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vinod O Samuel ◽  
Daniel E Harlov ◽  
Sanghoon Kwon ◽  
K Sajeev
Keyword(s):  
Granulite Facies ◽  
Southern India ◽  
Sulphide Mineral ◽  
High Grade ◽  
Regional Trend ◽  
Granulite Facies Metamorphism ◽  
Facies Metamorphism ◽  
High Grade Metamorphism ◽  
Specific Oxidation

Abstract The Nilgiri Block, southern India represents an exhumed section of lower, late Archean (2500 Ma) crust. The northern highlands of the Nilgiri Block are characterized by metagabbros with pyroxenite inlayers. A two-pyroxene granulite zone acts as a transition between the metagabbros and charnockites, which are exposed in the central and southern part of the Nilgiri highlands. Thermobarometry results indicate a SW–NE regional trend both in temperature (∼650–800°C) and in pressure (700–1100 MPa) over the Nilgiri highlands. In the charnockites, composite rutile–ilmenite grains are the dominant oxide assemblage. In the two-pyroxene granulites, hemo-ilmenite–magnetite is dominant with coexisting rutile–ilmenite composite grains in a few samples in the vicinity of the boundary with the charnockites. In the metagabbros, hemo-ilmenite–magnetite is the dominant oxide assemblage. The principal sulphide mineral in the charnockite is pyrrhotite with minor pyrite–chalcopyrite exsolution lamellae or blebs. In the two-pyroxene granulites and the metagabbros, the principal sulphide assemblage consists of discrete pyrite grains with magnetite rims and pyrite–pyrrhotite–chalcocopyrite associations. From these observations, a specific oxidation trend is seen. The northern granulite-facies metagabbros and two-pyroxene granulites of the Nilgiri highlands are highly oxidized compared with the charnockites from the central and southern regions. This higher oxidation state is proposed to be the result of highly oxidizing agents (probably as SO3) in low H2O activity grain boundary NaCl saline fluids with a dissolved CaSO4 component present during granulite-facies metamorphism of the metagabbros and two-pyroxene granulites. Eventually these agents became more reducing, owing to the inherent buffering of the original tonalite–granodiorite granitoids at the graphite–CO2 buffer, such that S took the form of H2S during the granulite-facies metamorphism of the charnockites. At the same time, these saline fluids were also responsible the solid-state conversion of biotite and amphibole to orthopyroxene and clinopyroxene in the metagabbro, two-pyroxene granulite, and charnockite.

SHRIMP U–Pb zircon geochronology of gneisses from the Gweta borehole, northeast Botswana: implications for the Palaeoproterozoic Magondi Belt in southern Africa

2001 ◽  
Vol 138 (3) ◽  
pp. 299-308 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. B. M. MAPEO ◽  
R. A. ARMSTRONG ◽  
A. B. KAMPUNZU
Keyword(s):  
Central Zone ◽  
Granulite Facies ◽  
Eastern Africa ◽  
High Grade ◽  
Zircon Geochronology ◽  
Granulite Facies Metamorphism ◽  
Grade Metamorphism ◽  
Facies Metamorphism ◽  
High Grade Metamorphism ◽  
Limpopo Belt

This paper presents new U–Pb zircon analyses from garnet–sillimanite paragneisses from the Gweta borehole in northeast Botswana. Concordant to near-concordant analyses of zircon from these rocks reveal a billion year history from 3015 ± 21 Ma for the oldest detrital grain measured, to the age of high-grade metamorphism, 2027 ± 8 Ma. The maximum age of sedimentation in the Magondi belt is constrained by the age of the youngest concordant detrital zircon at 2125 ± 6 Ma. This contrasts with the age of sedimentation in the Central Zone of the Limpopo belt which is Archaean. The comparison of our results with U–Pb zircon data from the Magondi belt in Zimbabwe suggests that the granulite-facies metamorphism in this belt extended between c. 2027–1960 Ma. Granulite-facies rocks with U–Pb zircon ages in this interval are also known in the Ubendian belt and lend support to the correlation of these two segments of Palaeoproterozoic belts in southern and central–eastern Africa. The granulite facies metamorphism in the Magondi belt is coeval with the high-grade metamorphism and granitoids documented further south in the Central Zone of the Limpopo Belt.

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