Mineral inclusions are ubiquitous in metamorphic rocks and elastic models for host‐inclusion pairs have become frequently used tools for investigating pressure–temperature (
Quartz‐in‐garnet elastic geobarometry (QuiG) pressures in rocks from two Barrovian metamorphic terranes in the western US Cordilleran hinterland exceed pressures determined using chemical thermodynamics by 3–4 kbar. For this study, 135 quartz inclusions from the Funeral Mountains, California, were analysed using QuiG in five garnets from three locations representing metamorphic grades of upper greenschist, lower amphibolite, and middle amphibolite facies. From a second Barrovian terrane, the Wood Hills in northeastern Nevada, 125 quartz inclusions were analysed using QuiG in 14 garnets from a single rock sample metamorphosed to middle amphibolite facies. Pressures determined for rocks in the Funeral Mountains using QuiG and methods rooted in equilibrium thermodynamics yielded consistent pressure differences between locations, but QuiG pressures are higher. Similarly, QuiG pressures determined for rocks in the Wood Hills are higher than pressures determined by equilibrium thermodynamic approaches. Possible explanations for the pressure differences include garnet compositions not reflecting equilibrium, sources of error in thermodynamic calculations such as thermodynamic data or a‐X models, or an unknown source of systematic error that causes QuiG to overestimate pressures of entrapment. To test Raman spectroscopy's ability to reproduce inclusion pressures, pressures were calculated using Raman spectroscopy and synchrotron X‐ray diffraction, which yielded consistent pressures and support the use of the single mode‐shift of the 464 cm−1band of quartz for geobarometry, which simplifies the method by assuming hydrostatic compression of quartz. These results are compared with pressures obtained using Grüneisen tensors and show consistency between these different approaches.
more » « less- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10368229
- Publisher / Repository:
- Wiley-Blackwell
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Metamorphic Geology
- Volume:
- 40
- Issue:
- 6
- ISSN:
- 0263-4929
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- p. 1067-1086
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Abstract P–T ) conditions of mineral entrapment. Inclusions can retain remnant pressures () that are relatable to their entrapment P–T conditions using an isotropic elastic model andP–T–V equations of state for host and inclusion minerals. Elastic models are used to constrainP–T curves, known as isomekes, which represent the possible inclusion entrapment conditions. However, isomekes require a temperature estimate for use as a thermobarometer. Previous studies obtained temperature estimates from thermometric methods external of the host‐inclusion system. In this study, we present the firstP–T estimates of quartz inclusion entrapment by integrating the quartz‐in‐garnet elastic model with titanium concentration measurements of inclusions and a Ti‐in‐quartz solubility model (QuiG‐TiQ). QuiG‐TiQ was used to determine entrapmentP–T conditions of quartz inclusions in garnet from a quartzofeldspathic gneiss from Goodenough Island, part of the (ultra)high‐pressure terrane of Papua New Guinea. Raman spectroscopic measurements of the 128, 206, and 464 cm−1bands of quartz were used to calculate inclusion pressures using hydrostatic pressure calibrations (), a volume strain calculation ( ), and elastic tensor calculation ( ), that account for deviatoric stress. values calculated from the 128, 206, and 464 cm−1bands’ hydrostatic calibrations are significantly different from one another with values of 1.8 ± 0.1, 2.0 ± 0.1, and 2.5 ± 0.1 kbar, respectively. We quantified elastic anisotropy using the 128, 206 and 464 cm−1Raman band frequencies of quartz inclusions and stRAinMAN software (Angel, Murri, Mihailova, & Alvaro, 2019, 234 :129–140). The amount of elastic anisotropy in quartz inclusions varied by ~230%. A subset of inclusions with nearly isotropic strains gives an averageand of 2.5 ± 0.2 and 2.6 ± 0.2 kbar, respectively. Depending on the sign and magnitude, inclusions with large anisotropic strains respectively overestimate or underestimate inclusion pressures and are significantly different (<3.8 kbar) from the inclusions that have nearly isotropic strains. Titanium concentrations were measured in quartz inclusions exposed at the surface of the garnet. The average Ti‐in‐quartz isopleth (19 ± 1 ppm [2 σ ]) intersects the average QuiG isomeke at 10.2 ± 0.3 kbar and 601 ± 6°C, which are interpreted as theP–T conditions of quartzofeldspathic gneiss garnet growth and entrapment of quartz inclusions. TheP–T intersection point of QuiG and Ti‐in‐quartz univariant curves represents mechanical and chemical equilibrium during crystallization of garnet, quartz, and rutile. These three minerals are common in many bulk rock compositions that crystallize over a wide range ofP–T conditions thus permitting application of QuiG‐TiQ to many metamorphic rocks. -
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Rock recycling within the forearcs of subduction zones involves subduction of sediments and hydrated lithosphere into the upper mantle, exhumation of rocks to the surface, and erosion to form new sediment. The compositions of, and inclusions within detrital minerals revealed by electron microprobe analysis and Raman spectroscopy preserve petrogenetic clues that can be related to transit through the rock cycle. We report the discovery of the ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) indicator mineral coesite as inclusions in detrital garnet from a modern placer deposit in the actively exhuming Late Miocene–Recent high- and ultrahigh-pressure ((U)HP) metamorphic terrane of eastern Papua New Guinea. Garnet compositions indicate the coesite-bearing detrital garnets are sourced from felsic protoliths. Carbonate, graphite, and CO2inclusions also provide observational constraints for geochemical cycling of carbon and volatiles during subduction. Additional discoveries include polyphase inclusions of metastable polymorphs of SiO2(cristobalite) and K-feldspar (kokchetavite) that we interpret as rapidly cooled former melt inclusions. Application of elastic thermobarometry on coexisting quartz and zircon inclusions in six detrital garnets indicates elastic equilibration during exhumation at granulite and amphibolite facies conditions. The garnet placer deposit preserves a record of the complete rock cycle, operative on <10-My geologic timescales, including subduction of sedimentary protoliths to UHP conditions, rapid exhumation, surface uplift, and erosion. Detrital garnet geochemistry and inclusion suites from both modern sediments and stratigraphic sections can be used to decipher the petrologic evolution of plate boundary zones and reveal recycling processes throughout Earth’s history.
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Abstract A comparative analysis of Raman shifts of quartz inclusions in garnet was made along two traverses across the Connecticut Valley Trough (CVT) in western New England, USA, to examine the regional trends of quartz inclusion in garnet (QuiG) Raman barometry pressure results and to compare this method with conventional thermobarometry and the method of intersecting garnet core isopleths. Overall, Raman shifts of quartz inclusions ranged from 1·2 to 3·5 cm–1 over all field areas and displayed a south to north decrease, matching the overall decrease in mapped metamorphic grade. Raman shifts of quartz inclusions typically did not show systematic variation with respect to their radial position within a garnet crystal, and indicate that garnet probably grew at nearly isothermal and isobaric pressure–temperature (P–T) conditions. The P–T conditions inferred from conventional thermobarometry were in the range of ∼500–575 °C and ∼7·4–10·3 kbar over the sample suite and are in good agreement with previous published thermobarometry throughout the CVT. These P–T results are broadly consistent with QuiG barometry and also suggest that garnet grew isothermally and isobarically at near peak P–T conditions. However, P–T conditions and P–T paths inferred using either garnet core thermobarometry or garnet core intersecting isopleths yield results that are internally inconsistent and generally disagree with the pressure results from QuiG barometry. Garnet core isopleth intersections consistently plotted between the nominal garnet-in curve on mineral assemblage diagrams and the P–T conditions constrained by QuiG isomekes for the majority of the sample suite. Additionally, most samples’ P–T results from QuiG barometry and rim thermobarometry show marked disagreement from those derived from garnet core thermobarometry, compared with the minority that showed agreement within uncertainty. Pressures calculated from QuiG barometry ranged from 8·5 to 9·5 kbar along the traverses in western Massachusetts (MA) and central Vermont (VT) and from 6·5 to 7·5 kbar in northern VT indicating an increase in peak burial of 3–6 km from north to south. Along the western end of the central VT traverse, there are differences in measured Raman shifts and inferred peak pressures of up to 1 kbar across the Richardson Memorial Contact (RMC), indicating a possible fault contact with minor post-peak metamorphic shortening of up to ∼3 km. In contrast, along an east–west traverse in the vicinity of the Goshen Dome, MA, there was little observed variation in Raman shifts across the contact. By contrast, QuiG barometry clearly indicates significant discontinuities in peak pressure east of the Strafford Dome in central VT. This supports the interpretation that post-peak metamorphic shortening was necessary to juxtapose upper staurolite–kyanite zone rocks next to lower garnet zone pelites. Overall, it is concluded that garnet core thermobarometry and garnet core isopleths may provide unreliable results for the P–T conditions of garnet nucleation and inferred P–T paths during garnet growth unless independently verified. The consistency of QuiG results with rim thermobarometry indicates that peak metamorphic conditions previously reported for the CVT using garnet rim thermobarometry are robust and that variation in QuiG barometry results is a valuable tool to analyze structural features within a metamorphic terrane.more » « less
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Abstract Garnet–kyanite–staurolite assemblages with large, late porphyroblasts of amphibole form garbenschists in Ordovician volcaniclastic rocks lying immediately south of the Pearya terrane on northernmost Ellesmere Island, Canada. The schist, which together with carbonate olistoliths makes up the Petersen Bay Assemblage (PBA), displays a series of parallel isograds that mark an increase in metamorphic grade over a distance of 10 km towards the contact with Pearya; however, a steep, brittle Cenozoic strike-slip fault with an unknown amount displacement disturbs the earlier accretionary relationship. The late amphibole growth, probably due to fluid ingress, is clear evidence of disequilibrium conditions in the garbenschist. In order to recover the P–T history of the schists, we construct isochemical phase equilibrium models for a nearby garnet–mica schist that escaped the fluid event and compare the results to quartz inclusion in garnet (QuiG) barometry for a garbenschist and the metapelitic garnet schist. Quartz inclusions are confined to garnet cores and the QuiG results, combined with Ti-in-biotite and garnet–biotite thermometry, delineate a prograde path from 480 to 600°C and 0.7 to 0.9 GPa. This path agrees with growth zoning in garnet deduced from X-ray maps of the spessartine component in garnet. The peak conditions obtained from pseudosection modelling using effective bulk composition and the intersection of garnet rim with matrix biotite and white mica isopleths in the metapelite are 665°C at ≤0.85 GPa. Three generations of monazite (I, II and III) were identified by textural characterization, geochemical composition (REE and Y concentrations) and U–Pb ages measured by ion microprobe. Monazite I occurs in the matrix and as inclusions in garnet rims and grew at peak P–T conditions at 397 ± 2 Ma (2σ) from the breakdown of allanite. Monazite II forms overgrowths on matrix Monazite I grains that are oriented parallel to the main schistosity and yield ages of 385 ± 2 Ma. Monazite III, found only in the garbenschist, is 374 ± 6 Ma, which is interpreted as the time of amphibole growth during fluid infiltration at lower temperature and pressure on a clockwise P–T path that remained in the kyanite stability field. These results point to a relatively short (≈12 Myr) Barrovian metamorphic event that affected the schists of the PBA. An obvious heat source is lacking in the adjacent Pearya terrane, but we speculate it was large Devonian plutons—similar to the 390 ± 10 Ma Cape Woods granite located 40 km across strike from the fault—that have been excised by strike-slip. Arc fragments that are correlative to the PBA are low grade; they never saw the heat and were not directly involved in Pearya accretion.more » « less
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Abstract High‐pressure rocks from the island of Ios in the Greek Cyclades were examined to resolve the P–T conditions reached during subduction of the two distinct lithotectonic units that are separated by the South Cycladic Shear Zone (SCSZ)—the footwall complex composed of Hercynian basement gneisses, schists and amphibolites, and the hangingwall complex composed of blueschists and eclogites. A combination of elastic tensor quartz inclusion in garnet (QuiG) barometry and Zr‐in‐rutile (ZiR) trace element thermometry was used to constrain minimum garnet growth conditions. Garnet from the hangingwall (blueschist) unit record formation pressures that range from 1.5 to 1.9 GPa and garnet from the footwall basement complex record garnet formation pressures of 1.65–2.05 GPa. ZiR thermometry on rutile inclusions within garnet establishes the minimum temperature for garnet formation to be ~480–500°C. That is, there is no evidence in the QuiG and ZiR results that the rocks of the blueschist hangingwall and basement experienced different metamorphic histories during subduction. This is the first reported observation of blueschist facies metamorphism in the Hercynian basement complex. A model is proposed in which initial subduction occurred along a relatively shallow P–T trajectory of ~11°C/km and then transitioned to a steeper, nearly isothermal trajectory at a depth of ~45 km reaching similar peak metamorphic conditions of ~500–525°C at 2.0 GPa for all samples. Such a change in the subduction path could be accomplished by either an increase in the rate of subduction or an increase in the angle of the subduction zone. The present juxtaposition of samples with contrasting mineral assemblages and garnet growth histories is interpreted to have arisen from differences in bulk compositions and variations in the preservation of high‐pressure prograde mineral assemblages during exhumation. The existence of similar P–T conditions and prograde paths in the two units does not require that the rocks were all metamorphosed at the same time and that the SCSZ experienced little movement. Rather, it is suggested that the two units experienced prograde and peak metamorphism at different times and were subsequently juxtaposed along the SCSZ.
