Abstract
Fe–Mg staurolite is a typical and widespread mineral of medium-temperature high-alumina metapelites, whereas magnesian staurolite is only relatively rarely found in metamorphosed mafic rocks (metabasites). The most significant factors controlling staurolite stability in metabasites were identified by thermodynamic modeling and analysis of the common features of the mineral-forming processes. In contrast to staurolite in low- and medium-pressure metapelites, staurolite in metabasites is stable at medium- and high-pressure metamorphism. An increase in the proportion of carbon dioxide in the water–carbon dioxide fluid shifts the staurolite-forming mineral reactions to lower temperatures and higher pressures. Al, Fe, Mg, and Ca are the major components of rocks that are critically important for the formation of magnesian staurolite in these rocks, and the contents and ratios of these components are of crucial importance for the stability of staurolite in metabasites. To understand the processes forming the mineral in metabasites, it is instrumental to subdivide metabasites into subgroups of predominantly magnesian, ferruginous–magnesian, and ferruginous protoliths. With regard to this subdivision, three petrochemical modules are proposed in the form of ratios of major components: MgO/CaO, CaO/FM, and Al2O3/FM, based on which it is possible to predict the stability of staurolite in mafic rocks at appropriate P–T parameters of metamorphism.
Notes
FM = FeOt + MgO.
Mineral symbols are according to (Whitney and Evans, 2010).
p.f.u. is the number of ions per formula unit.
The coupled variations in the XMg of the minerals are discussed in more detail below.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors thank the reviewers I.I. Likhanov and K.A. Savko for the careful reviews of the manuscript and recommendations that led us to improve and append it.
Funding
This study was carried out under a government-financed research project for the Institute of Precambrian Geology and Geochronology, Russian Academy of Sciences and was supported by Grant FMUW-2022-0002 from the Ministry of Science and Education of the Russian Federation.
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Borisova, E.B., Baltybaev, S.K. & Connolly, J.A. Staurolite in Metabasites: P–T–X Parameters and the Ratios of Major Components as Criteria of Staurolite Stability. Petrology 30 (Suppl 1), S53–S71 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0869591123010034
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S0869591123010034