Oxygen Fugacity and Water Activity during Thermal Peak and Retrogression of Granulites around the Sarvapuram Area, Karimnagar Granulite Terrane, Andhra Pradesh, India

The investigated area around Sarvapuram represents a part of the Karimnagar granulite terrane of the Eastern Dharwar Craton, India. Garnet–bearing gneiss is hosted as enclaves, pods within granite gneiss and charnockite. It is largely made up of garnet, orthopyroxene, cordierite, biotite, plagioclase, K–feldspar, sillimanite and quartz. The peak metamorphic stage is represented by the equilibrium mineral assemblage i.e. garnet, orthopyroxene, cordierite, biotite, plagioclase, sillimanite and quartz. Breakdown of the garnet as well as preservation of the orthopyroxene–cordierite symplectite, formation of cordierite with the consumption of the garnet + sillimanite + quartz represents the decompressional event. The thermobarometric calculations suggest a retrograde P–T path with a substantial decompression of c. 3.0 kbar. The water activity(XH2 O) conditions obtained with the win TWQ program for core and symplectite compositions from garnet–bearing gneiss are 0.07–0.14 and 0.11–0.16 respectively. The quantitative estimation of oxygen fugacity in garnet–bearing gneiss reveal log f O2 values ranging from-11.38 to-14.05. This high oxidation state could be one of the reasons that account for the absence of graphite in these rocks.

Paleoproterozoic emplacement and Cambrian ultrahigh-temperature metamorphism of a layered magmatic intrusion from the Central Madurai Block,southern India:From Columbia to Gondwana

The Madurai Block in the Southern Granulite Terrane(SGT)of Peninsular India is one of the largest crustal blocks within the Neoproterozoic Gondwana assembly.This block is composed of three sub-blocks:the Neoarchean Northern Madurai block,Paleoproterozoic Central Madurai block and the dominantly Neoproterozoic Southern Madurai Block.The margins of these blocks are well-known for the occurrence of ultrahigh-temperature(UHT)granulite facies rocks mostly represented by Mg-Al metasediments.Here we report a dismembered layered mafic–ultramafic intrusion occurring in association with Mg-Al granulites from the classic locality of Ganguvarpatti in the Central Madurai Block.The major rock types of the layered intrusion include spinel orthopyroxenite,garnet-bearing gabbro,gabbro and gabbroic anorthosite showing rhythmic stratification and cumulate texture.The orthopyroxene-cordierite granulite from the associated Mg-Al layer is composed of spinel,cordierite and orthopyroxene.The pyroxene in both rock units is high-Al orthopyroxene formed under UHT metamorphic conditions.Conventional thermobarometry yields near-peak metamorphic conditions of 9.5–10 kbar pressure and a minimum temperature of 980℃.We computed P–T pseudosections and contoured for the compositional as well as modal isopleths of the major mineral phases,which yield temperature above 1000℃.FMAS petrogenetic grid,Al-in-orthopyroxene isopleth,conventional thermobarometry and calculated pseudosection reveal a clockwise pressure–temperature(P–T)path and near isothermal decompression.The U–Pb data on zircon grains from the layered magmatic suite indicate emplacement of the protolith at ca.2.0 Ga and the metamorphic overgrowths yield weighted ^(206)Pb/^(238)U mean ages ca.520 Ma.Monazite from the garnet-bearing gabbro and Opx-Crd granulite yielded ^(206)Pb/^(238)U weighted mean ages of ca.532 Ma and 523 Ma marking the timing of metamorphism.We correlate the layered intrusion to a Paleoproterozoic suprasubduction zone setting,defining the Ganguvarpatti area as part of a collisional suture assembling the Northern and Central Madurai Blocks.The Paleoproterozoic magmatism and late Neoproterozoic-Cambrian UHT metamorphism can be linked to the tectonics of the Columbia and Gondwana supercontinents.

Variscan terrane of deep-crustal granulite facies in Yushugou area, southern Tianshan

The Yushugou terrane of deepcrustal granulite facies in southern Tianshan consists of two parts, granulite and metaperidotite. The whole terrane is a metamorphism of (high-pressure) grunulite facies, and typical mineral associations are: Gt-Cpx-P1-Tit-Ilm (±Qz) (silica-saturated and oversaturated mafic rocks), Gt-Ky (pseudomorph)-P1-Ru-Ilm± Qz (metapelitic rocks) and Spi-Opx-Cpx-01 (meta-ultramafic rocks). The peak-stage P-T conditions are 795— 964°, 0.97—1.42 GPa, which are obtained with mineral chemistry, assemblage analyses and P-T estimation. The Sm-Nd isochron age of peak-stage metamorphic minerals is (315 ± 3.62) Ma. All of these indicate that the terrane is a deep-crustal body, which subducts to the depth of 40—50 km in the middle late-Paleozoic, undergoing metamorphism of (high-pressure) granulite facies, and exhumed again to the surface by tectonic uplifting.