<p>Over the recent years, Raman elastic barometry has been developed as an additional method <span>to calculate</span> metamorphic conditions in natural systems. A major advantage of Raman elastic barometry is that it does not depend on thermodynamic databases and classic geobarometry methods <span>but</span> relies on mechanical calculations. As a consequence, Raman elastic barometry offers an independent method for estimating the pressure conditions <span>that prevailed at the</span> <span>time of entrapment</span> of mineral<span>s</span> du<span>ring</span> growth of their host<span>s</span>.</p><p>The di<span>fference between</span> the pressure calculated <span>using</span> elastic geobarometry and <span>that calculated by phase</span> equilibria methods has recently <span>been employed to</span> <span>estimate</span> the extent of metamorphic reaction overstepping in natural systems. <span>Quantification of</span> the <span>latter however implicitly assumes that the rheology</span> of the inclusion-host system <span>is perfectly</span> elastic. This assumption may no<span>t</span> hold at high temperatures, where viscous creep of minerals takes place.</p><p>The amount of viscous relaxation of <span>a host-inclusion</span> system is a path<span>-</span>dependent quantity which mostly depends on the temperature-time (T-t) path <span>followed</span>. <span>Here</span>, we present examples of visco-elastic relaxation of mineral inclusions and calculate the apparent reaction overstepping which results by assuming that the mechanical system is purely elastic. <span>Our modelling shows</span> that host-inclusion systems <span>that</span> experienced large peak temperatures for long period<span>s</span> of time will retain inclusion residual pressures that <span>cann</span>ot be simply related to the growth of the<span>ir hosts</span> and should <span>therefore not</span> be used for reaction overstepping calculations.</p>
The Pressure‐Temperature‐time‐deformation history of the Beni Mzala unit (Upper Sebtides, Rif belt, Morocco): Refining the Alpine tectono‐metamorphic evolution of the Alboran Domain of the Western Mediterranean