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Notes: Grandite garnet-rich calcsilicate rocks from the Lower Calcsilicate Unit of the regionally metamorphosed Reynolds Range Group (central Australia) crop out along a strike-parallel section in which a transition zone from M22 amphibolite to granulite facies rocks is exposed. Across this transition the grandite-rich layers do not show systematic changes in mineral assemblages, compositions and modes, or stable isotope compositions. These layers are deformed by F22 folds that are associated with the peak of regional low-pressure/high-temperature metamorphism. Therefore, the grandite-rich layers appear to pre-date regional metamorphism and to have acted as closed chemical systems during prograde M22 metamorphism.Mineral assemblages in the grandite-rich layers are consistent with their formation through the infiltration of oxidized, water-rich fluids (Xco2 〈 0.1–0.3; log fo2 -16 to -14). The stable isotope values of calcite (Δ13C=-4.2 to -0.8%0 PDB; Δ18O = 10.5–14.0%0 V-SMOW) and bulk-silicate fractions (Δ18O = 6.1 to 10.8%) of the grandite-rich layers are most consistent with the infiltrating fluid being from a magmatic source. It is most likely that fluid infiltration occurred during the pre-M22 contact metamorphism (M21) that affected much of the Reynolds Range Group. The preservation of these assemblages is probably due to their high variance and little pervasive fluid-rock interaction having occurred during M22.The clinopyroxene- and feldspar-rich calcsilicate rocks that host the grandite-rich layers contain poikiloblastic grandite garnet that formed during prograde M22 metamorphism. Thin marbles that locally occur with the grandite-rich layers contain a third garnet generation that is post- or late M22. This grossular-rich garnet occurs in coronas around calcite, plagioclase, clinopyroxene, wollastonite and scapolite. These coronas are consistent with cooling and/or compression. However, because the marble assemblages are themselves overprinted by M21 grandite-rich layers the development of coronal garnet does not reflect a continuous P-T-t path. Rather, it more probably reflects the partial re-equilibration of M21 contact metamorphic assemblages to post-M22 conditions.

Notes: During the Alice Springs Orogeny, deformation at Ormiston Gorge, central Australia, occurred under lower- to middle-greenschist facies conditions. Dolomites of the Bitter Springs Formation and quartzites. metagreywackes, and metapelites of the Heavitree Quartzite contain abundant early-, syn-, and post-tectonic veins. However, though vein densities locally approach 15%, the distribution of veins and the oxygen isotope geochemistry of wallrocks and veins suggest that fluid movement was on a local scale. The Heavitree Quartzite contains quartz veins that, even along the main thrust plane, have similar δ18O values (13.5–16.9%o) to those of their wallrocks (13.6–16.9%o), with Δ18O(vein-wallrock) values of -0.6 to 0.4%o. In contrast, the Bitter Springs Formation contains predominantly dolomite veins that have δ18O values of 23.4 to 27.7%o. These differences are observed even at the boundary between the Heavitree and Bitter Springs rocks, implying that significant fluid exchange between these rocks has not occurred, or that fluid flow was channelled through areas outside those sampled for this study. By contrast with the Heavitree Quartzite, δ18O values of wallrocks in individual samples of the Bitter Springs Formation are significantly higher (23.3–29.1%o) than those of the veins, with δ18O(vein-wallrock) values up to -4%o (average of -2.1%o). These systematic differences in δ18O values most likely result from oxygen isotope fractionation caused by fluid immiscibility or disequilibrium dissolution. Smaller differences in δ13C values between some dolomite veins and wallrocks [δ13C(vein-wallrock) up to -1.9%o, average of -0.5%o] are also explained by these processes. This study indicates that large volumes of veins may be produced by repeated fracturing and fluid migration within particular rock units, without involving large volumes of externally derived fluids.

Notes: Centimetre- to decimetre-wide quartz+calcite veins in schistes lustrés from Alpine Corsica were formed during exhumation at 30–40 Ma following blueschist facies metamorphism. The δ18O and δ13C values of the veins overlap those of the host schistes lustrés, and the δ18O values of the veins are much higher than those of other rocks on Corsica. These data suggest that the vein-forming fluids were derived from the schistes lustrés. Fluids were probably generated by reactions that broke down carpholite, lawsonite, chlorite and white mica at 300–350 °C during decompression between c. 1400 and 800 MPa. However, the δ18O values of the veins are locally several per mil higher than expected given those of their host rocks. The magnitude of oxygen isotope disequilibrium between the veins and the host rock is inversely proportional to the δ18O value of the host rock. Additionally, calcite in some schists is in isotopic equilibrium with calcite in adjacent veins, but not with the silicate fraction of the schists. Locally, the schists are calcite bearing only within 1–20 cm of the veins. The vein-forming fluids may have been preferentially derived from calcite-bearing, high-δ18O rocks that are common within the schistes lustrés and that locally contain abundant (〉15%) veins. If the fluids were unable to completely isotopically equilibrate with the rocks, due to relatively rapid flow at moderate temperatures or being confined to fractures, they could form veins with higher δ18O values than those of the surrounding rocks. Alteration of the host rocks was probably inhibited by isolation of the fluid in ‘quartz-armoured’ veins. Overall, the veins represent a metre- to hectometre-scale fluid-flow system confined to within the schistes lustrés unit, with little input from external sources. This fluid-flow system is one of several that operated in the western Alps during exhumation following high-pressure metamorphism.

Notes: The Mallee Bore area in the northern Harts Range of central Australia underwent high-temperature, medium-to high-pressure granulite facies metamorphism. Individual geothermometers and geobarometers and average P-T calculations using the program Thermocalc suggest that peak metamorphic conditions were 705–810C and 8–12 kbar. Partial melting of both metasedimentary and meta-igneous rocks, forming garnet-bearing restites, occurred under peak metamorphic conditions. Comparison with partial melting experiments suggests that vapour-absent melting in metabasic and metapelitic rocks with compositions close to those of rocks in the Mallee Bore area occurs at 800–875C and 〉9–10 kbar. The lower temperatures obtained from geothermometry imply that mineral compositions were reset during cooling. Following the metamorphic peak, the rocks underwent local mylonitization at 680–730C and 5.8–7.7 kbar. After mylonitization ceased, garnet retrogressed locally to biotite, which was probably caused by fluids exsolving from crystallizing melts. These three events are interpreted as different stages of a single, continuous, clockwise P-T path. The metamorphism at Mallee Bore probably occurred during the 1745–1730 Ma Late Strangways Orogeny, and the area escaped significant crustal reworking during the Anmatjira and Alice Springs events that locally reached amphibolite facies conditions elsewhere in the Harts Ranges.

Notes: One-dimensional advection-dispersion models predict that characteristic δ18O vs. distance and δ18O vs. δ13C profiles should be produced during isothermal metamorphic fluid flow under equilibrium conditions. However, the patterns of isotopic resetting in rocks that have experienced fluid flow are often different from the predictions. Two-dimensional advection-dispersion simulations in systems with simple geometries suggest that such differences may be as a result of fluid channelling and need not indicate disequilibrium, high dispersivities, or polythermal flow. The patterns of isotopic resetting are a function of: (1) the permeability contrast between more permeable layers (‘channels’) and less permeable layers (‘matrix’); (2) the width and spacing of the channels; (3) the width and spacing of discrete fractures; and (4) the orientation of the pressure gradient with respect to layering. In fractured systems, the efficiency of isotopic transport depends on the fracture aperture and the permeability of the surrounding rock. Resetting initially occurs along and immediately adjacent to the fractures, but with time isotopic resetting because of flow through the rock as a whole increases in importance. Application of the one-dimensional advection-dispersion equations to metamorphic fluid flow systems may yield incorrect estimates of fluid fluxes, intrinsic permeabilities, dispersivities, and permeability contrasts unless fluid flow occurred through zones of high permeability that were separated by relatively impermeable layers.

Notes: The Lewisian of Tiree, north-west Scotland, underwent granulite facies metamorphism prior to 2.4 Ga. The temperatures and pressures estimated from garnet–clinopyroxene, garnet–orthopyroxene, hornblende–plagioclase and garnet–biotite geothermometers and clinopyroxene–plagioclase–garnet–quartz and orthopyroxene–plagioclase–garnet–quartz geobarometers are 810 ± 50° C and 10.5 ± 1.5 kbar. The imprecision of pressure estimates stems largely from uncertainties in garnet activity models. Calculations of blocking temperatures for Fe–Mg interdiffusion in clinopyroxene and garnet suggest that these temperatures and pressures represent only slightly reset peak-metamorphic conditions.Down-temperature re-equilibration resulted in chemical zoning over the outer 50–100 μm of the mafic minerals. P–T paths calculated from this mineralogical zoning suggest nearly isobaric cooling. However, the growth of late sillimanite in metapelites requires that the retrograde P–T path had a significant decompression component, suggesting that the mineralogical zonation does not define the retrograde P–T path. The discrepancy between the P–T path calculated from mineralogical zonation and that implied by mineral reactions probably results from the net-transfer geobarometry reactions closing at higher temperatures than the exchange geothermometers.The Tiree rocks have a similar history to the mainland Scourian complex. Granulite facies metamorphism accompanied by partial melting occurred prior to the intrusion of the Scourie dykes at c. 2.4 Ga, and the rocks underwent retrogression both prior to and after dyke emplacement. However, peak metamorphic temperatures and pressures on Tiree were lower than those recorded in the Scourian complex, and the Tiree rocks may have been at a different crustal level at that time.

Notes: Abstract Partial melting of tonalitic gneisses in the 2.7 Ga Badcallian granulite facies metamorphic episode in the Scourian complex of north-west Scotland produced a suite of granitic to trondhjemitic liquids. On cooling and excavation of the complex, these melts underwent fractional crystallization and the residual liquids eventually became water saturated. Comparison with experimental data suggests that water saturation would have occurred in these melts at around 620–700°C. From the retrograde P–T-time path followed by the complex it is estimated that H2O-dominated fluids were exsolved from these melts at c. 2.5 Ga. It is proposed that these fluids were the cause of the 2.5 Ga Inverian retrogression of the Scourian complex and that water-saturated melts formed during the crystallization of the leucogneisses were intruded as a suite of pegmatites. The timing of pegmatite intrusion is consistent with this proposition as are the temperature estimates, timing, distribution and nature of the Inverian phase of metamorphism. It is likely that the crystallization of melts is an important process in bringing about hydrous retrogressive metamorphic episodes in a number of other basement terrains, such as West Greenland and Australia.

Notes: One-dimensional fluid advection-dispersion models predict differences in the patterns of mineralogical and oxygen isotope resetting during up- and down-temperature metamorphic fluid flow that may, in theory, be used to determine the fluid flow direction with respect to the palaeotemperature gradient. Under equilibrium conditions, down-temperature fluid flow is predicted to produce sharp reaction fronts that separate rocks with isobarically divariant mineral assemblages. In contrast, up-temperature fluid flow may produce extensive zones of isobarically univariant mineral assemblages without sharp reaction fronts. However, during contact metamorphism, mineral reaction rates are probably relatively slow compared with fluid velocities and distended reaction fronts may also form during down-temperature fluid flow. In addition, uncertainties in the timing of fluid flow with respect to the thermal peak of metamorphism and the increase in the variance of mineral assemblages due to solid solutions introduce uncertainties in determining fluid flow directions. Equilibrium down-temperature flow of magmatic fluids in contact aureoles is also predicted to produce sharp δ18O fronts, whereas up-temperature flow of fluids derived by metamorphic devolatilization may produce gradational δ18O vs. distance profiles. However, if fluids are channelled, significant kinematic dispersion occurs, or isotopic equilibrium is not maintained, the patterns of isotopic resetting may be difficult to interpret. The one-dimensional models provide a framework in which to study fluid-rock interaction; however, when some of the complexities inherent in fluid flow systems are taken into account, they may not uniquely distinguish between up- and down-temperature fluid flow. It is probably not possible to determine the fluid flow direction using any single criterion and a range of data is required.

Notes: Abstract Rare layers of an aluminous, muscovite-rich rock from the Lewisian Complex at Stoer, North-West Scotland, display evidence which suggests that the rock has undergone local partial melting to form quartz-bearing veins and a corundum-bearing restite. The assemblages observed in these rocks match those predicted by modelling in the system KAlO2-NaAlO2-Al2O3-SiO2-H2O (KNASH) where certain bulk compositions melt peritectically to give corundum-bearing restites and quartz-normative melts. Study of the model system shows that the observed parageneses could have formed from a range of bulk compositions with a variety of possible values of aH2O which could have been internally or externally buffered. The KNASH petrogenetic grid, together with another in the system CaO-Na2O-FeO-Al2O3-SiO2-H2O (CNFASH), allows the P–T path of the rocks to be delineated and an estimate to be made of the conditions at the peak of metamorphism as 〉 11 kbar and 900-925°C. This estimate is in agreement with P–T estimates using thermobarometric methods on adjacent lithologies: The activity of H2O in the system throughout metamorphism is calculated to have been 〉0.3.