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Notes: The High Himalayan Crystalline Sequence in north-central Nepal is a 15-km-thick pile of metasediments that is bound by the Main Central Thrust to the south and a normal fault to the north. The Langtang section through the metasediments shows an apparent inversion of metamorphic isograds with high-P, kyanite-grade rocks exposed beneath low-P, sillimanite-grade rocks. Textural evidence confirms that the observed inversion is a result of a polyphase metamorphic history and phase equilibria studies indicate that thermal decoupling has occurred within a mechanically coherent section of crust. Rocks now exposed at the base of the High Himalayan thrust sheet underwent Barrovian regional metamorphism (M1) prior to 34 Ma in the early stages of the Himalayan orogeny, recording metamorphic conditions of T= 710 ± 30° C, P= 9 ± 1 kbar. After the activation of the Main Central Thrust, which emplaced these metapelites southwards onto the lower grade Lesser Himalayan formations, the upper part of the thrust sheet was overprinted by a second heating event (M2), resulting in sillimanite-grade metamorphism and anatexis of metapelites at T= 760 ± 30° C, P= 5.8 ± 0.4 kbar between 17 and 20 Ma. Crustally derived, leucogranite magmas have been emplaced into low-grade Tethyan sediments on the hangingwall of the normal fault that bounds the northern limit of the metapelitic sequence.The cause of the selective heating of the upper section of the metasediments during M2 cannot be reconciled with either post-thrusting thermal relaxation or advection models. The cause of M2 remains problematical but it is suggested that heat focusing has occurred at the top of the High Himalayan Crystalline Sequence as a result of movement on the normal fault blanketing metapelites of high heat productivity with low-grade sediments of low thermal conductivity. This model implies that the normal fault was active before M2, consistent with decompression textures that formed during, or shortly after, sillimanite-grade metamorphism.

Notes: Abstract Incipient charnockite formation within amphibolite facies gneisses is observed in South India and Sri Lanka both as isolated sheets, associated with brittle fracture, and as patches forming interconnected networks. For each mode of formation, closely spaced drilled samples across charnockite/gneiss boundaries have been obtained and δ13C and CO2 abundances determined from fluid inclusions by stepped-heating mass spectrometry.Isolated sheets of charnockite (c.50 mm wide) within biotite–garnet gneiss at Kalanjur (Kerala, South India) have developed on either side of a fracture zone. Phase equilibria indicate low-pressure charnockite formation at pressures of 3.4 ± 1.0 kbar and temperatures of about 700°C (for XH2O= 0.2). Fluid inclusions from the charnockite are characterized by δ13C values of −8% and from the gneiss, 2 m from the charnockite, by values of −15%. The large CO2 abundances and relatively heavy carbon-isotope signature of the charnockite can be traced into the gneiss over a distance of at least 280 mm from the centre of the charnockite, whereas the reaction front has moved only 30 mm. This suggests that fluid advection has driven the carbon-isotope front through the rock more rapidly than the reaction front. The carbon-front/reaction-front separation at Kalanjur is significantly larger than the value determined from a graphite-bearing incipient charnockite nearby, consistent with the predictions of one-dimensional advection models.Incipient charnockites from Kurunegala (Sri Lanka) have developed as a patchy network within hornblende–biotite gneiss. CO2 abundances rise to a peak near one limb of the charnockite, and isotopic values vary from δ13C of c.−5.5% in the gneiss to −9.5% in the charnockite. The shift to lighter values in the charnockite can be ascribed to the formation of a CO2-saturated partial melt in response to influx of an isotopically light carbonic fluid.Thus, incipient charnockites from the high-grade terranes of South India and Sri Lanka reflect a range of mechanisms. At shallower structural levels non-pervasive CO2 influxed along zones of brittle fracture, possibly associated with the intrusion of charnockitic dykes. At deeper levels, in situ melting occurred under conditions of ductile deformation, leading to the development of patchy charnockites.

Notes: Quantitative modelling of oxygen exchange by diffusion during slow cooling has been compared to the observed oxygen isotope distributions from high-grade metamorphic and granitic rocks of the High Himalayan Crystallines, Langtang Valley, central Nepal, in order to investigate the effect of retrograde diffusional exchange on the preservation of high-temperature, oxygen isotope systematics.Modelled fractionations, using water-present diffusion data reported in the literature, predict quartz-mica fractionations to be much larger than those at peak metamorphic and igneous conditions due to low closure temperatures for micas. Quartz-feldspar fractionations may be less than those at peak conditions, and in some samples may even be slightly negative.The observed oxygen isotope fractionations in the metamorphic rocks are small and largely appear to record equilibrations close to peak conditions determined by other methods. Hence these rocks clearly do not conform to predictions of fluid-present diffusional retrograde exchange. It is suggested that their retrograde history was therefore within an anhydrous closed system in which diffusion was slow and hence mineral closure temperatures were high. The granitic rocks record rather larger quartz-biotite fractionations, approaching those predicted by the diffusion modelling. However, quartz-feldspar fractionations are large and hence, although significant retrograde exchange has clearly occurred, simple diffusion alone is not sufficient to explain the observed data and open-system exchange may be required. The presence of fluids during the retrograde history of this part of the section is supported by petrographic evidence.The different retrograde oxygen exchange histories recorded between the regional metamorphic and magmatic regimes of the Langtang section would appear to support the importance of water on the kinetics of such exchange, and suggests that in its absence, diffusional exchange may become insignificant, allowing oxygen isotope thermometry to record meaningful high-temperature data.

Notes: Granulite facies anorthosites on Holsenøy Island in the Bergen Arcs region of western Norway are transected by shear zones 0.1–100 m wide characterized by eclogite facies assemblages. Eclogite formation is related to influx of fluid along the shears at temperatures of c. 700d̀C and pressures in excess of 1.7 GPa. Combined carbon and nitrogen stable isotope, 40Ar/36Ar, trace-element and petrological data have been used to determine the nature and distribution of fluids across the anorthosite-eclogite transition.A metre-wide drilled section traverses the eclogitic centre of the shear into undeformed granulite facies garnet-clinopyroxene anorthosite. Clinozoisite occurs along grain boundaries and microcracks in undeformed anorthosite up to 1 m from the centre of the shear and clinozoisite increases in abundance as the edge of the shear zone is approached. The eclogite-granulite transition, marked by the appearance of sodic pyroxene and loss of albite, occurs within the most highly sheared section of the traverse. The jadeite-in reaction coincides with increased paragonite activity in mica. The separation between paragonite and clinozoisite reaction fronts can be semiquantitatively modelled assuming advective fluid flow perpendicular to the shear zone. The inner section of the traverse (0.25 m wide) is marked by retrogressive replacement of omphacite by plagioclase + paragonite accompanied by veins of quartz-phengite-plagioclase.C-N-Ar characteristics of fluid inclusions in garnet show that fluids associated with precursor granulite, eclogite and retrogressed eclogite are isotopically distinct. The granulite-eclogite transition coincides with a marked change in CO2 abundance and δ13C (〈36ppm, δ13C=-2% in the granulite; 〈180 ppm, δ13C=-10% in the eclogite). The distribution of Ar indicates mixing between influxed fluid (40Ar/36Ar 〉 25 times 103) and pre-existing Ar in the granulite (40Ar/36Ar 〈 8 times 103). δ15N values decrease from +6% in the anorthosite to +3% within the eclogite shear. The central zone of retrogressed eclogite post-dates shearing and is characterised by substantial enrichment of Si, K, Ba and Rb. Fluids are CO2-rich (δ13C ∼ -5%) with variable N2 and Ar abundances and isotopic compositions.Both Ar and H2O have penetrated the underformed granulite fabric more than 0.5m beyond the granulite/eclogite transition during eclogite formation. Argon isotopes show a mixing profile consistent with diffusion through an interconnecting H2O-rich fluid network. In contrast, a carbon-isotope front coincides with the deformation boundary layer, indicating that the underformed anorthosite was impervious to CO2-rich fluids. This is consistent with the high dihedral angle of carbonic fluids, and may be interpreted in terms of evolving fluid compositions within the shear zone.

Notes: Abstract Field evidence and fluid inclusion studies on South Indian incipient charnockites suggest that charnockite formation occurred during a decompressional brittle regime following the ‘peak’ of metamorphism and regional deformation. The most abundant type of inclusions in quartz and garnet grains in these charnockites contain high-density carbonic fluids, although lower-density fluids occur in younger arrays of inclusions. Discrete fluid inclusion generations optically are observed to decrepitate over well-defined temperature intervals, and quantitative measurements of CO2 abundance released from these inclusions by stepped thermal decrepitation show up to a four-fold increase (by volume) in the incipient charnockites relative to the adjacent gneisses from which they are derived. Studies based on optical thermometry, visual decrepitation and stepped-heating inclusion release together indicate that entrapment of carbonic fluids coincided with charnockite formation. We confirm that an influx of carbon dioxide-rich fluids is associated with the amphibolite-granulite transition, as recorded by the incipient charnockites, the remnants of which are commonly preserved as the earliest generation of high-density fluid inclusions.

Notes: Abstract The presence or absence of a vapour phase during incongruent-melt reactions of muscovite and biotite together with the composition of the protolith determines the trace-element characteristics of the resulting melt, provided that equilibrium melting occurs for those phases that host the tracc elements of interest. For granitic melts, Rb, Sr and Ba provide critical constraints on the conditions that prevailed during melting, whereas REE are primarily controlled by accessory phase behaviour. Mass-balance constraints for eutectic granites that are formed by the incongruent melting of muscovite in pelites indicate that melting in the presence of a vapour phase will result in a large melt fraction, and deplete the restite in feldspar. Hence the melt will be characterized by low Rb/Sr and high Sr/Ba ratios. In contrast, vapour-absent melting will result in a smaller melt fraction, and an increase in the restitic feldspar. Consequently high Rb/Sr and low Sr/Ba ratios are predicted. Vapour-absent melting will also enhance the negative Eu anomaly in the melt. Granites that result from the incongruent melting of biotite in the source will be characterized by higher Rb concentrations than those that result from the incongruent melting of muscovite. The Himalayan leucogranites provide an example of unfractionated, crustally derived eutectic melts that are enriched in Rb but depleted in Sr and Ba relative to their metasedimentary protoliths. These compositions may be generated by the incongruent melting of muscovite as a low melt fraction (F∼0.1) from a pelitic source under vapour-absent conditions.