Abstract
In upper amphibolite-facies Skagit Gneiss, certain rocks, usually carrying hornblende, display post-kinematic breakdown of almandine-rich garnets to symplectite consisting of plagioclase plus biotite and/or hornblende. Other almandine-rich garnets, widespread in hornblende-free schists and gneisses, remained stable to the end of the metamorphic cycle. Analysed garnets with symplectite coronas have 14 to 30 mol.% grandite. A set of garnets free of such coronas have 6 to 9% grandite and contain relatively more pyrope.
In all symplectite-bearing rocks selected for mineral analyses, symplectite plagioclase is more calcic than the earlier main-fabric plagioclase. Fe and Mn are higher, and Mg and Ti lower, in symplectite than in main-fabric biotite and hornblende, except where late re-equilibration has been locally accomplished. Main-fabric biotite, hornblende, and cummingtonite partly preserve a record of original element partitioning between these phases and garnet, indicating that equilibrium was approached during the essentially syn-kinematic main stage of the metamorphism. Between the main-stage phases and their post-kinematic symplectite counterparts, equilibrium has rarely been attained, despite high T and presence of H2O. Instead, there are sequences of arrested chemical exchanges and of highly incomplete attainments of successive equilibria. The principles revealed by this study are thought to be more broadly applicable to questions of equilibrium vs. disequilibrium in regional-metamorphic sequences.
Combined with petrographic-petrologic data, the mineral analyses permit one to calculate model equations that quantitatively describe symplectite-forming reactions, including the amounts of materials added to and removed from garnets transformed into symplectites. Na, K, minor Ba, H2O, and part of the Ti present were added; major portions of the garnets' Fe and of their subordinate Mn were removed. Transfers of Mg, Al, and Si during symplectite formation were minor, if any. Source and disposal of added and removed substances are discussed. The mass balance of symplectite formation ranges from significant losses in all hornblende-bearing reactions examined to minor gains in some only-biotite-bearing reactions. Δ V is positive for all reactions examined and ranges from a few per cent for subordinate only-hornblende-bearing symplectites to somewhat over 50% for certain only-biotite-bearing symplectites; intermediate values are obtained for symplectites carrying both hornblende and biotite.
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Misch, P., Onyeagocha, A.C. Symplectite breakdown of Ca-rich almandines in upper amphibolite-facies Skagit Gneiss, North Cascades, Washington. Contr. Mineral. and Petrol. 54, 189–224 (1976). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00371006
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00371006