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Petrology, mineralogy, and P–T path of calc-silicate granulites and fassaite-marbles from the Paleoproterozoic Gour Oumelalen area (Central Hoggar, Algeria)

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Abstract

The Gour Oumelalen area exposes Paleoproterozoic (1.9 Ga) marbles and calc-silicate granulites. Some marbles show a specific mineralogy characterized by the presence of a highly aluminous clinopyroxene with Al2O3 content exceeding16 wt%. This clinopyroxene shows a marked zoning with a hedenbergitic core rimmed by fassaite. Phase relations are expressed by spectacular reaction textures in calc-silicate granulites as Opx + Cpx + Pl + H2O  == > Grt + Qtz ± Am and Cpx + Ilm + Pl ± Mt = > Grt + Qtz + Spn. In olivine-bearing marbles, clinopyroxene and dolomite occur around olivine and calcite. According to thermodynamic modeling in the Na2O–CaO–FeO–MgO–Al2O3–SiO2–H2O–TiO2–Fe2O3 (NCFMASHTO) system, the first stage of metamorphism is located at 800 °C and 6–7 kbar, which is followed by an increase in pressure at 9–10 kbar and 800 °C and an isobaric cooling at 680 °C. The deduced anticlockwise P–T path is consistent with a granulitic metamorphism occurring in an active continental margin context.

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Acknowledgments

We sincerely thank Jean-Paul Liégeois and anonymous reviewers for their constructive reviews and for improving the manuscript. Abdullah M. Al-Amri and Federico Rossetti are thanked for their editorial handling. This work is a contribution to the project PHC TASSILI «Imagerie et Modélisation géologique et géophysique du Hoggar: Implications géodynamiques et Métallogéniques» and PNR program «Ressource en Terres Rares des Carbonatites d’Ihouhaouène et Recherche de Nouveaux Indices au Hoggar».

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Boureghda, N., Ouzegane, K., Bendaoud, A. et al. Petrology, mineralogy, and P–T path of calc-silicate granulites and fassaite-marbles from the Paleoproterozoic Gour Oumelalen area (Central Hoggar, Algeria) . Arab J Geosci 9, 492 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-016-2460-4

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