Journal of Metamorphic Geology最新文献

The 3D microstructure and compositional zoning of garnet populations in micaschists from the Kolvik and Bekkarfjord nappes indicate the quasi-equilibration of their major components across the rock matrices during interface-controlled, size-independent garnet growth. There is microstructural evidence for foliation-parallel, small-scale resorption of garnet rims in the Kolvik Nappe, influencing the metamorphic peak conditions obtained from thermodynamic modelling. The local chemical compositions of rims less affected by resorption indicate a peak temperature of ~630°C, which is ~40°C higher than the temperature obtained from resorbed rims of the largest garnet crystal. Using a diffusion geospeedometry approach that considers the geometry of the compositional zoning of the garnet population, as well as the higher, more realistic peak temperature, a duration of 1 to 4.9 Myr is obtained for garnet growth in the Kolvik Nappe. This is approximately 1 order of magnitude faster than duration estimates obtained when using the apparent, lower temperature estimated from the resorbed garnet rims. Concomitantly to garnet growth in the Kolvik Nappe, garnet overgrowths formed in the Bekkarfjord Nappe for circa 2.5 Myr at metamorphic peak temperatures of ~560°C. The garnet growth durations obtained here are comparable with the uncertainty on the Lu–Hf garnet–whole rock isochron ages of 419.9 ± 2.4 Ma and 423.0 ± 1.9 Ma, previously obtained for these rocks. These results provide new insight into the timescales of repeated Barrovian-type metamorphic events experienced by the lower nappes of the Kalak Nappe Complex during the Caledonian Orogeny in Arctic Norway. This study emphasizes the importance of microstructural and chemical characterization of garnet populations in assessing metamorphic crystallization mechanisms and the extent of equilibration of garnet-forming components during prograde metamorphism. Moreover, our results provide means for reducing the uncertainty on metamorphic durations obtained via diffusion geospeedometry and, so, contributing to our understanding of geological timescales and processes.

Granulites and eclogites are useful for revealing the thermal and tectonic evolution of orogens. Early Palaeozoic granulites and associated eclogites in the East Kunlun Orogenic Belt (EKOB) display contrasting metamorphic age. Such asynchronous granulite–eclogite associations have rarely been reported, and the geological significance of their existence remains to be further explored. In this study, petrological and geochronological techniques were used to investigate two felsic and two mafic granulites collected from the Qingshuiquan area in the eastern section of the EKOB. These rocks record similar P–T paths, which are characterized by a peak stage within suprasolidus and high-pressure (HP) granulite facies conditions (750–832°C and 10.1–12.0 kbar), followed by an initial decompression and cooling stage to subsolidus conditions (600–748°C and 6.5–8.6 kbar), and then a stage of further retrogression under greenschist facies conditions. The protoliths to these granulites are of volcanic and sedimentary origin and suggested to be a component of the continental basement unit. Metamorphic P–T paths indicate that these rocks experienced peak metamorphism at a depth of ~40 km, then cooling and uplift to a depth of ~25 km, and eventually experienced low-grade retrogression at shallow crustal levels. Cathodoluminescence images and compositional data demonstrate that the zircons in these rocks are of metamorphic origin and they crystallized at or near peak conditions. SIMS U–Pb dating of representative zircon grains yield concordant metamorphic ages of c. 490–520 Ma, with a peak value of 505 Ma on the probability density curve. These ages are similar to other 480–530 Ma ages typically retrieved from EKOB granulites and associated rocks, and are markedly older than the 400–450 Ma ages retrieved from eclogites and their host rocks. The HP granulites and eclogites of the EKOB do not show overprinting relationships. Such asynchronous characteristics imply that the two rock types formed in distinct tectonic settings and at different stages of a protracted subduction–collision process. The studied granulites are suggested to have formed in the root of a continental arc during a stage of Proto-Tethys Ocean subduction. The formation of the eclogites could be attributed to subsequent deep continental subduction.

Granulites from the Narryer Terrane in the northern Yilgarn Craton, Australia, record evidence for high to ultrahigh thermal gradients during the Meso–Neoarchean. U–Pb zircon ages reflect a complex history of high-grade, prolonged and poly-phase metamorphism, with evidence for several thermal pulses at ca. 2745–2725, ca. 2690–2660, and ca. 2650–2610 Ma. Forward phase equilibrium modeling on rocks with varying bulk compositions and mineral assemblages suggests that peak temperatures reached 880–920°C at pressures of 5.5–6 kbar at ca. 2690–2665 Ma, followed by near-isobaric cooling. These new P–T results also indicate that these rocks experienced some of the hottest thermal gradient regimes in the metamorphic record (≥150°C/kbar). Based on P–T models, U–Pb ages, and geochemical constraints, our data suggest that the geodynamic setting for the formation of this unusual thermal regime is ultimately tied to cratonization of the Yilgarn Craton. Previous models have inferred that ultrahigh thermal gradients and coeval large-scale anatexis in the Narryer Terrane were primarily generated by mantle-driven processes, despite most of the lithological, isotopic, and geochemical observations being at odds with the expected geological expression of large-scale mantle upwelling. We re-evaluate the mechanisms for high-grade metamorphism in the Narryer terrane and propose that long-lived high crustal temperatures between ca. 2690 Ma and 2610 Ma were instead facilitated by elevated radiogenic heat production in thickened, highly differentiated ancient crust. Mantle-derived magma input and new crustal addition may not be the only drivers for high- to ultrahigh-temperature metamorphism and stabilization of ancient crustal blocks.

A suite of slate samples collected along a 2 km transect crossing the Lishan fault in central Taiwan were evaluated to assess the role of ductile deformation in natural graphitization at lower greenschist facies metamorphic conditions. The process of natural aromatization, or graphitization, of an organic precursor is well established as a thermally driven process; however, experimental studies have shown that the energy provided by deformation can substantially reduce the activation energy required for graphitization. This study provides a natural example of deformation-induced graphitization. A strain gradient approaching the Lishan fault was established by scanning electron microscope imaging and X-ray diffraction analysis of phyllosilicates and quartz that showed an increase in the strength of slaty cleavage development via dissolution-precipitation processes. Thermal conditions were constrained to be near isothermal using calcite-dolomite geothermometry. Raman spectroscopic results from carbonaceous material, including D1-full width-at-half-maximum (FWHM), G-FWHM, Raman band separation (RBS), and a lesser-known vibrational mode B_2g-FWHM, showed robust linear trends across the same sampling transect. However, the G-FWHM parameter showed a trend opposite of that expected from thermally driven graphitization. The Raman results are interpreted to reflect a strain-driven reduction in graphite crystallite size (decrease in G-FWHM) but improvement in structural ordering in individual coherent domains. A multiple linear regression with an R² value of 0.92 predicts the graphite D1-FWHM values from the XRD-derived ratio of muscovite populations and muscovite microstrain, demonstrating the concomitant recrystallization of silicates and carbonaceous material across the strain gradient, despite the disparate processes accommodating the deformation. This study demonstrates the role of deformation in natural graphitization and provides a new perspective on the use of graphite as a geothermometer in strongly deformed greenschist facies rocks.

Mabel Creek Ridge, in the northern Gawler Craton, is a granulite-facies domain recording early Mesoproterozoic metamorphism, flanked by less metamorphosed rocks and dissected by crustal-scale divergent structures. The nature of early Mesoproterozoic events is poorly understood due to the lack of basement outcrop. Calculated metamorphic phase diagrams and geochronology are used to decipher the tectonic regime of a potential gneiss dome. Pressure–temperature (P–T) modelling of metapelites from five drill holes across Mabel Creek Ridge suggests it has experienced conditions of ~6.4–7.4 kbar and 800–850°C and the growth of suprasolidus cordierite after garnet indicates subsequent decompression. In situ U–Pb monazite and Lu–Hf garnet geochronology constrains the granulite-facies metamorphism of Mabel Creek Ridge to ca. 1600–1560 Ma. In contrast, drill hole GOMA DH4 located to the north of Mabel Creek Ridge records conditions of 2.2–5.4 kbar and 710–740°C at ca. 1520 Ma, with no evidence for 1600–1560 Ma metamorphism. Our new P–T pseudosection results and geochronology data from Mabel Creek Ridge and adjacent crust, coupled with the regional seismic and airborne magnetic data, reveal that Mabel Creek Ridge represents a record of early Mesoproterozoic extension in the Gawler Craton, during which thermally perturbed lower crustal rocks were exhumed within a gneiss dome. Early Mesoproterozoic extension took place within a complex geodynamic regime resulting from the interplay between final Nuna convergence along the margin of northeast Australia at ca. 1600 Ma and subduction to the southwest at ca. 1630–1610 Ma.

Ultrahigh-temperature (UHT) granulites, a prominent feature of Paleoproterozoic orogenic belts, preserve a record of geodynamic processes during the Precambrian (Archean–Paleoproterozoic). Quantitative pressure–temperature–time (P–T–t) paths of these UHT granulites can constrain the tectonic processes and metamorphic evolution in such a tectonic regime. Here, UHT mafic granulites with a high-pressure (HP) prograde path are first reported in the Diebusige Complex in the Alxa Block, western part of the Khondalite Belt (KB), North China Craton (NCC). The detailed petrographic studies show that two mafic granulite samples preserve corona textures around relict garnet or garnet pseudomorphs (completely replaced by plagioclase), and a third mafic granulite sample has a relatively simple mineralogy with a granoblastic-polygonal texture. These mafic granulites have similar peak (T_max) assemblages of clinopyroxene + orthopyroxene + plagioclase + ilmenite ± garnet ± amphibole ± quartz + melt. Phase equilibrium modelling and Ti-in-amphibole and rare earth element (REE)-based thermometries all constrain similar peak conditions of ~880–950°C/~8.5–10 kbar implying an ~100°C/kbar apparent geothermal gradient for these mafic granulites. Based on the corona textures or pseudomorphs of garnet and mineral assemblages, we identified a P_max (~14 kbar) prograde stage before the T_max stage. Thus, a clockwise P–T path with heating and decompression followed by near-isobaric cooling (IBC) is recorded from these UHT mafic granulites. In addition, zircon and apatite SHRIMP or LA–ICP–MS U–Pb dating yields an age interval of ~1.81–1.7 Ga, which is interpreted as representing the cooling time from ~900–800°C to ~575°C at the middle-upper crustal levels (<25 km deep) for these mafic granulites, with an ~1.5–2.5°C/Myr cooling rate. The new P–T–t path of these rocks includes high-pressure prograde, UHT peak, and slow cooling retrograde processes, which implicates a post-collisional tectonic setting for UHT metamorphism in the KB and the processes of collision, exhumation, and cooling of the KB.

The ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) eclogites from the Kaghan Valley in Pakistan, which formed by the deep subduction of the Indian plate beneath the Asian plate in the Eocene, contain complex metamorphic vein systems (including both isolated veins and vein networks), with mineral assemblages of epidote + quartz + kyanite + phengite ± omphacite ± garnet. The investigations on the Kaghan UHP eclogite-vein systems provide important insights into the mechanism and timing of metamorphic dehydration, fluid flow, and fluid–rock interaction in the deeply subducted Indian continental slab as well as the chemical characteristics of slab-derived, aqueous fluids. Abundant lawsonite pseudomorphs, characterized by prismatic aggregates of epidote, kyanite, and quartz porphyroblasts, are first recognized in the Kaghan eclogites. This observation, in combination with the occurrence of coesite pseudomorphs in epidote porphyroblasts as well as the coexistence of epidote and coesite in the eclogite zircon, indicates the previous existence of UHP lawsonite in these eclogites. Petrological studies and phase equilibrium modelling reveal clockwise P–T trajectories for the Kaghan eclogites that are featured by prograde vectors in lawsonite-stability regions with peak conditions of 3.0–3.4 GPa/650–690°C, followed by isothermal decompression and lawsonite breakdown under UHP conditions during the initial exhumation stage. The results of metamorphic evolution, together with in situ epidote and bulk Sr isotopic analyses, indicate that the fluids responsible for vein systems are most likely derived from the breakdown of UHP lawsonite in the eclogites. SIMS U–Pb dating of metamorphic zircons from the eclogites, integrated with the Raman analysis of inclusions in zircons, indicates that the UHP dehydration of eclogites occurred at 46.4 ± 1.2 and 46.8 ± 0.9 Ma. Analyses of hydrothermal zircons from the veins yielded slightly younger ages of 44.7 ± 1.0 and 44.9 ± 1.4 Ma, which represent the timing of fluid flow and/or vein crystallization during exhumation of the UHP rocks. Mass-balance calculation results, in combination with the vein compositions, show that the fluid flow and fluid-eclogite interaction led to the transfer of Si, Al, Ca, K, and incompatible trace elements from the eclogites into the fluids, from which the vein systems crystallized. This study indicates cold deep subduction of Indian continental crust along low geothermal gradients (6–7°C/km). The UHP fluid liberation and channelized fluid flow occurred during the initial exhumation of the cold Indian slab and are expected to induce the transfer of H₂O and incompatible trace elements from the Indian slab to the Asian lithosphere, which potentially contributes to the formation of post-collisional magmas. Moreover, we suggest that metamorphic vein systems in UHP lawsonite eclogites offer important constraints on the occurrence and timing of fast slab exhumation in continental subduction-collis