scholarly journals Partial melting due to breakdown of an epidote-group mineral during exhumation of ultrahigh-pressure eclogite: An example from the North-East Greenland Caledonides

2018 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wentao Cao ◽  
Jane A. Gilotti ◽  
Hans-Joachim Massonne ◽  
Simona Ferrando ◽  
Charles T. Foster
2006 ◽  
Vol 143 (4) ◽  
pp. 431-446 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. SARTINI-RIDEOUT ◽  
J. A. GILOTTI ◽  
W. C. McCLELLAND

The North-East Greenland eclogite province is divided into a western, central and eastern block by the sinistral Storstrømmen shear zone in the west and the dextral Germania Land deformation zone in the east. A family of steep, NNW-striking dextral mylonite zones in the Danmarkshavn area are geometrically and kinematically similar to the ductile Germania Land deformation zone, located 25 km to the east. Amphibolite facies deformation at Danmarkshavn is characterized by boudinage of eclogite bodies within quartzofeldspathic host gneisses, pegmatite emplacement into the boudin necks and subsequent deformation of pegmatites parallel to gneissosity, a widespread component of dextral shear within the gneisses, and localization of strain into 10–50 m thick dextral mylonite zones. The gneisses and concordant mylonite zones are cut by a swarm of weakly to undeformed, steeply dipping, E–W-striking pegmatitic dykes. Oscillatory-zoned zircon cores from two boudin neck pegmatites give weighted mean 206Pb/238U sensitive, high mass resolution ion microprobe (SHRIMP) ages of 376 ± 5 Ma and 343 ± 7 Ma. Cathodoluminescence images of these zircons reveal complex additional rims, with ages from ranging from c. 360 to 320 Ma. Oscillatory-zoned, prismatic zircons from two late, cross-cutting pegmatites yield weighted mean 206Pb/238U SHRIMP ages of 343 ± 5 Ma and 332 ± 3 Ma. Zircons from the boudin neck pegmatites record a prolonged growth history, marked by fluid influx, during amphibolite facies metamorphism beginning at c. 375 Ma. The cross-cutting pegmatites show that dextral deformation in the gneisses and ductile mylonite zones had stopped by c. 340 Ma. Ultrahigh-pressure metamorphism in the eastern block at 360 Ma requires that the Greenland Caledonides were in an overall contractional plate tectonic regime. This, combined with 20% steep amphibolite facies lineations in the eclogites, gneisses and mylonites suggests that dextral transpression may have been responsible for a first stage of eclogite exhumation between 370 and 340 Ma.


2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 405-425 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wentao Cao ◽  
Jane A. Gilotti ◽  
Hans-Joachim Massonne

Abstract. Metamorphic textures and a pressure–temperature (P–T) path of zoisite eclogite are presented to better understand the metamorphic evolution of the North-East Greenland eclogite province and this particular type of eclogite. The eclogite contained the mineral assemblage garnet, omphacite, kyanite, phengite, quartz and rutile at peak pressure. Partial melting occurred via breakdown of hydrous phases, paragonite, phengite and zoisite, based on (1) polymineralic inclusions of albite and K-feldspar with cusps into host garnet, (2) small euhedral garnet with straight boundaries against plagioclase, (3) cusps of plagioclase into surrounding phases (such as garnet), and (4) graphic intergrowth of plagioclase and amphibole next to anhedral zoisite grains. Isochemical phase equilibrium modeling of a melt-reintegrated composition, along with XNa-in-omphacite and Si-in-phengite isopleths, yields a peak pressure of 2.4±0.1 GPa at 830±30 ∘C. A peak temperature of 900±50 ∘C at 1.9±0.2 GPa is determined using the rim composition of small euhedral garnet, as predicted by modeling a crystallized melt pocket. Zoisite growth at the expense of kyanite suggests that the P–T path crossed the fields of zoisite growth at ∼1.9 GPa, 800–900 ∘C on the modeled phase diagram of the bulk rock. A point on the exhumation path at ∼1.3 GPa and 750 ∘C is derived from hornblende-plagioclase thermometry and Al-in-hornblende barometry. The study demonstrates that paragonite, phengite and zoisite could contribute to partial melting of eclogite at near-peak P and during exhumation.


1989 ◽  
Vol 145 ◽  
pp. 90-97
Author(s):  
N Henriksen ◽  
J.D Friderichsen ◽  
R.A Strachan ◽  
N.J Soper ◽  
A.K Higgins

The area between Grandjean Fjord and Bessel Fjord was the focus in 1988 of regional geological investigations and 1:500000 mapping during the North-East Greenland project (Henriksen, 1989). The greater part of the area forms part of the East Greenland Caledonides and can be divided into three distinct rock groups: infracrustal gneisses and granites of possibie Archaean or early Proterozoic origin; a metasedimentary sequence which has probably suffered both mid-Proterozoic and Caledonian migmatisation and metamorphism; and the late Proterozoic Eleonore Bay Group, a thick sedimentary sequence which has undergone amphibolite facies Caledonian metamorphism in its lower parts and is intruded by Caledonian granites. Aspects of the stratigraphy and sedimentology of the Eleonore Bay Group are described by Sønderholm et al. (1989); only the structures affecting the sequence are described here.


Author(s):  
Jørgen A. Bojesen-Koefoed ◽  
Morten Bjerager ◽  
H. Peter Nytoft ◽  
Henrik I. Petersen ◽  
Stefan Piasecki ◽  
...  

The marine, mudstone-dominated Hareelv Formation (Upper Jurassic) of Jameson Land, East Greenland is a representative of the widespread Kimmeridge Clay Formation equivalents, sensu lato, known from the greater North Atlantic region, western Siberia and basins off eastern Canada. These deposits constitute the most important petroleum source-rock succession of the region. The present study reports petroleum geochemical data from the 233.8 m thick succession penetrated by the fully cored Blokelv-1 borehole, and includes supplementary data from outcrop samples and other boreholes in Jameson Land. The succession consists of basinal mudstone intercalated with a significant proportion of gravity-flow sandstones, both in situ and remobilised as injectites. The mudstones are generally rich in organic carbon with values of TOC reaching nearly 19 wt% and high pyrolysis yields reaching values of S2 up to nearly 43 kg HC/ton. Hydrogen Indices are up to 363. The data presented herein demonstrate that weathering of abundant pyritic sulfur adversely affects the petroleum potential of the kerogen in outcrop samples. The succession is thermally immature to early mature, except where intrusions have locally heated adjacent mudstones. The documentation of rich gas/oil-prone Upper Jurassic successions in Jameson Land is important for the assessment of the regional petroleum potential, including the North-East Greenland continental shelf.


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