Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Reconstruction of the metamorphic P–T path from the garnet zoning in aluminous schists from the Tsogt Block, Mongolian Altai

  • Published:
Petrology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The paper presents original authors’ data on aluminous schists in the Tsogt tectonic plate in the Southern Altai Metamorphic Belt. The nappe includes a medium-temperature/medium-pressure zonal metamorphic complex, whose metamorphic grade varies from the greenschist to epidote-amphibolite facies. The garnet and garnet–staurolite schists contain three garnet generations of different composition and morphology. The P–T metamorphic parameters estimated by mineralogical geothermometers and geobarometers and by numerical modeling with the PERPLEX 668 software provide evidence of two successive metamorphic episodes: high-gradient (of the andalusite–sillimanite type, geothermal gradient approximately 40–50°/km) and low-gradient (kyanite–sillimanite type, geothermal gradient approximately 27°/km). The P-T parameters of the older episode are T = 545–575°C and P = 3.1–3.7 kbar. Metamorphism during the younger episode was zonal, and its peak parameters were T = 560–565°C, P = 6.4–7.2 kbar for the garnet zone and T = 585–615°C, P = 7.1–7.8 kbar for the staurolite zone. The metamorphism evolved according to a clockwise P–T path: the pressure increased during the first episode at a practically constant temperature, and then during the second episode, the temperature increased at a nearly constant pressure. Such trends are typical of metamorphism related to collisional tectonic settings and may be explained by crustal thickening due to overthrusting. The regional crustal thickening reached at least 15–18 km.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Aranovich, L.Ya., Mineral’nye ravnovesiya mnogokomponentnykh tverdykh rastvorov (Mineral Equilibria of Multicomponent Solid Solutions), Moscow: Nauka, 1991.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ayres, M. and Vance, D., A comparative study of diffusion profiles in Himalayan and Dalradian garnets: constraints on diffusion data and the relative duration of the metamorphic events, Contrib. Mineral. Petrol., 1997, vol. 128, pp. 66–80.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Badarch, G., Cunningham, W.D., and Windley, B.F., A new terrane subdivision for Mongolia: implications for Phanerozoic crustal growth of central Asia, J. Asian Earth Sci., 2002, vol. 21, pp. 87–110.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bibikova, E.V., Kirnozova, T.I., Kozakov, I.K., et al., Polymetamorphic complexes of the southern slope of Mongolian Altai: results of U-Pb dating, Geotektonika, 1992, no. 2, pp. 104–112.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burenjargal, U., Okamoto, A., and Meguro, Y., An exhumation pressure–temperature path and fluid activities during metamorphism in the Tseel terrane, SWMongolia: constraints from aluminosilicate-bearing quartz veins and garnet zonings in metapelites, J. Asian Earth Sci., 2012, vol. 54–55, pp. 214–229.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burenjargal, U., Okamoto, A., Kuwatani, T., et al., Thermal evolution of the Tseel terrane, SWMongolia and its relation to granitoid intrusions in the central Asian Orogenic Belt, J. Metamorph. Geol., 2014, vol. 32, pp. 765–790.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burg, J.-P. and Gerya, T., The role of viscous heating in Barrovian metamorphism of collisional orogens: thermomechanical models and application to the Lepontine Dome in the central Alps, J. Metamorph. Geol., 2005, vol. 23, pp. 75–95.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Caddick, M., Konopasek, J., and Thompson, A.B., Preservation of garnet growth zoning and the duration of prograde metamorphism, J. Petrol., 2010, vol. 51, pp. 2327–2347.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Caddick, M.J. and Kohn, M.J., Garnet: witness to the evolution of destructive plate boundaries, Elements, 2013, vol. 9, pp. 427–432.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carlson, W.D., The significance of intergranular diffusion to the mechanism and kinetics of porphyroblast crystallization, Contrib. Mineral. Petrol., 1989, vol. 103, pp. 1–24.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carlson, W.D., Scales of disequilibrium and rates of equilibrium during metamorphism, Am. Mineral., 2001, vol. 87, pp. 185–200.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chakraborty, S. and Ganguly, J., Cation diffusion in aluminosilicate garnets: experimental determination in spessartine–almandine diffusion couples, evaluation of effective binary, diffusion coefficients, and applications, Contrib. Mineral. Petrol., 1992, vol. 111, pp. 74–86.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chatterjee, N.D. and Johannes, W.S., Thermal stability and standard thermodynamic properties of synthetic 2M1-muscovite, KAl2Al3Si3O10(OH)2, Contrib. Mineral. Petrol., 1974, vol. 48, pp. 89–114.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Connolly, J.A.D., Multivariable phase diagrams: an algorithm based on generalized thermodynamics, Am. J. Sci., 1990, vol. 290, pp. 666–718.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Connolly, J.A.D., The geodynamic equation of state: what and how, Geochem., Geophys., Geosyst., 2009, vol. 10, p. 10.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Didenko, A.N., Mossakovskii, A.A., Pecherskii, D.M., et al., Geodynamics of the Paleozoic oceans in Central Asia, Geol. Geofiz., 1994, vol. 35, nos. 7–8, pp. 59–75.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dohmen, R. and Chakraborty, S., Mechanism and kinetics of element and isotopic exchange mediated by a fluid phase, Am. Mineral., 2003, vol. 88, pp. 1251–1270.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • England, P.C. and Thompson, A.B., Pressure temperature time paths of regional metamorphism 1. Heat transfer during the evolution of regions of thickened continental crust, J. Petrol., 1984, vol. 25, pp. 894–928.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Evans, T.P., A method for calculating effective bulk composition modification due to crystal fractionation in garnetbearing schist: implications for isopleth thermobarometry, J. Metamorph. Geol., 2004, vol. 22, pp. 547–557.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Florence, F.P. and Spear, F.S., Effects of diffusional modification of garnet growth zoning on P–t path calculations, Contrib. Mineral. Petrol., 1991, vol. 107, pp. 487–500.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gerya, T.V., Perchuk, L.L., van Reenen, D.D., and Smit, C.A., Two-dimensional numerical modeling of pressure–temperature–time paths for the exhumation of some granulite facies terrains in the Precambrian, J. Geodynam., 2000, vol. 29, pp. 17–35.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Herron, M.M., Geochemical classification of terrigenous sands and shales from core or log date, J. Sed. Petrol., 1988, vol. 58, pp. 820–829.

    Google Scholar 

  • Holdaway, M.J., Application of new experimental and garnet Margules data to the garnet–biotite geothermometer, Am. Mineral., 2000, vol. 85, pp. 881–889.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holland, T.J.B. and Powell, R., An internally consistent thermodynamic data set for phases of petrological interest, J. Metamorph. Geol., 1998, vol. 16, pp. 309–343.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jamieson, R.A., Beaumont, C., Nguyen, M.H., and Lee, B., Interaction of metamorphism, deformation, and exhumation in large convergent orogens, J. Metamorph. Geol., 2002, vol. 20, pp. 9–24.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jiang, Y., Sun, M., Kröner, A., et al., The high-grade Tseel terrane in SWMongolia: an Early Paleozoic arc system or a Precambrian sliver?, Lithos, 2012, vol. 142–143, pp. 95–115.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kim, H.S. and Bell, T.H., Combining compositional zoning and foliation intersection axes (FIAs) in garnet to quantitatively determine early P–T–t paths in multiply deformed and metamorphosed schists: north central Massachusetts, USA, Contrib. Mineral. Petrol., 2005, vol. 149, pp. 141–163.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kohn, M.J., Geochemical zoning in metamorphic minerals, in Treatise on Geochemistry. Vol. 3. The Crust, Rudnick, R., Ed., Oxford: Elsevier–Pergamon, 2005, vol. 3, pp. 229–261.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kozakov, I.K., Dokembriiskie infrastrukturnye kompleksy Mongolii (Precambrian Infrastructural Complexes in Mongolia), Leningrad: Nauka, 1986.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kozakov, I.K., Kovach, V.P., Bibikova, E.V., et al., Age and sources of granitoids in the junction zone of the Caledonides and Hercynides in southwestern Mongolia: geodynamic implications, Petrology, 2007, vol. 15, no. 2, pp. 126–150.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kozakov, I.K., Didienko, A.N., Azimov, P.Ya., et al., Geodynamic settings and formation conditions of crystalline complexes in the South Altai and South Gobi metamorphic belts, Geotectonics, 2011, vol. 45, no. 3, pp. 174–194.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kröner, A., Windley, B.F., Badarch, G., et al., Accretionary growth and crust formation in the Central Asian Orogenic Belt and comparison with the Arabian–Nubian shield, in 4-D Framework of Continental Crust, Hatcher, R.D., Carlson, M.P., McBride, J.H., Martínez Cátalan J.R., Eds., Geol. Soc. Am. Mem. 2007, vol. 200, pp. 181–209.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Le Breton, N. and Thompson, A.B., Fluid-absent (dehydration) melting of biotite in metapelites in the early stages of crustal anatexis, Contrib. Mineral. Petrol., 1988, vol. 99, pp. 226–237.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li, P., Sun, M., Rosenbaum, G., et al., Structural evolution of the Irtysh shear zone (northwestern China) and implications for the amalgamation of arc systems in the Central Asian Orogenic Belt, J. Struct. Geol., 2015. doi 10.1016/j.jsg.2015.08.008

    Google Scholar 

  • Likhanov, I.I., Reverdatto, V.V., Kozlov, P.S., et al., Three metamorphic events in the Precambrian P–T–t history of the Transangarian Yenisey Ridge recorded in garnet grains in metapelites, Petrology, 2013, vol. 21, no. 6, pp. 561–578.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Menard, T. and Spear, F.S., Metamorphism of calcic pelitic schists, Strafford Dome, Vermont: compositional zoning and reaction history, J. Petrol., 1993, vol. 34, pp. 977–1005.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mossakovskii, A.A., Ruzhentsev, S.V., Samygin, S.G., and Kheraskova, T.N., Central Asian Fold Belt: geodynamic evolution and history of formation, Geotektonika, 1993, no. 6, pp. 3–32.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nakano, N., Osanai, Y., Satish-Kumar, M., et al., Paleozoic subduction–accretion–closure histories in the West Mongolian segment of the Paleo-Asian ocean: evidence from pressure–temperature–time–protolith evolution of high-Mg and -Al gneisses in the Altai mountains, J. Geol., 2014, vol. 122, pp. 283–308.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nakano, N., Osanai, Y., Owada, M., et al., Multiple growth of garnet, sillimanite/kyanite and monazite during amphibolite facies metamorphism: implications for the P–T–t and tectonic evolution of the western Altai Range, Mongolia, J. Metamorph. Geol., 2015, vol. 33, no. 9, pp. 909–1046.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Newton, R.C., Charlu, T.V., and Kleppa, O.J., Thermochemistry of the high structural state plagioclases, Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta, 1980, vol. 44, pp. 933–941.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pattison, D.R.M., Stability of andalusite and sillimanite and the Al2SiO5 triple point: constraints from the Ballachulish aureole, Scot. J. Geol., 1992, vol. 100, pp. 423–446.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pattison, D.R.M., Instability of Al2SiO5 “triple point” assemblages in muscovite + biotite + quartz-bearing metapelites, with implications, Am. Mineral., 2001, vol. 86, pp. 1414–1422.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Perchuk, L.L., Aranovich, L.Ya., Podlesskii, K.K., et al., Precambrian granulites of the Aldan Shield, eastern Siberia, USSR, J. Metamorph. Geol., 1985, vol. 3, pp. 265–310.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Polyansky, O.P., Sukhorukov, V.P., Travin, A.V., et al., Tectonic interpretation of the thermochronological data and P-T conditions of rock metamorphism in the Bodonchin Zone complex (Mongolian Altai), Russ. Geol. Geophys., 2011, vol. 52, no. 9, pp. 991–1006.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Polyansky, O.P., Babichev, A.V., Sukhorukov, V.P., et al., A thermotectonic numerical model of collisional metamorphism in the Mongolian Altai, Dokl. Earth Sci., 2015, vol. 465, no. 2, pp. 1–5.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ruzhentsev, S.V. and Pospelov, I.I., South-Mongolian Variscan fold system, Geotektonika, 1992, no. 5, pp. 45–62.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schmalholz, S.M. and Podladchikov, Y.Y., Tectonic overpressure in weak crustal–scale shear zones and implications for the exhumation of high-pressure rocks, Geophys. Res. Lett., 2013, vol. 40, pp. 1984–1988. doi 10.1002/grl.50417

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Selverstone, J., Petrological constraints on imbrication, metamorphism and uplift in the SWTauern Window, Eastern Alps, Tectonics, 1985, vol. 4, pp. 687–704.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sengör, A.M.C., Natal’in, B.A., and Burtman, V.S., Evolution of the Altaid tectonic collage and Paleozoic crustal grows in Eurasia, Nature, 1993, vol. 34, no. 6435, pp. 299–307.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Spear, F.S., Metamorphic Phase Equilibria and Pressure–Temperature–Time Paths, Mineral. Soc. Am. Monogr, Washington: Book Crafters, 1993.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stowell, H.H., Taylor, D.L., Tinkham, D.L., et al., Contact metamorphic P–T–t paths from Sm–Nd garnet ages, phase equilibria modelling and thermobarometry: garnet ledge, south-eastern Alaska, USA, J. Metamorph. Geol., 2001, vol. 19, pp. 645–660.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sukhorukov, V.P., Composition and conditions of formation of andalusite-kyanite-sillimanite pegmatoid segregations in metamorphic rocks of the Tsel Block, Mongolian Altay, Russ. Geol. Geophys., 2007, vol. 48, no. 6, pp. 617–622.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tajcmanova, L., Connolly, J.A.D., and Cesare, B., Thermodynamic model for titanium and ferric iron solution in biotite, J. Metamorph. Geol., 2009, vol. 27, pp. 153–165.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tomurtogoo, O., A new tectonic scheme of the Paleozoic in Mongolia, Mongol. Geoscient., 1997, vol. 3, pp. 12–17.

    Google Scholar 

  • Warren, C.J., Beaumont, C., and Jamieson, R.A., Modelling tectonic styles and ultra-high pressure (UHP) rock exhumation during the transition from oceanic subduction to continental collision, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 2008, vol. 267, pp. 129–145.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Werner, C.D., Saxonian granulites—a contribution to the geochemical diagnosis of original rocks in high-metamorphic complexes, Cerlands Beitr. Geophys., 1987, vol. 96, pp. 271–290.

    Google Scholar 

  • Windley, B.F., Alexeiev, D., Xiao, W.J., et al., Tectonic models for accretion of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt, J. Geol. Soc., 2007, vol. 164, pp. 31–47.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wu, C.M., Zhang, J., and Ren, L.D., Empirical garnet–biotite–plagioclase–quartz (GBPQ) geobarometry in medium to high-grade metapelites, J. Petrol., 2004, vol. 45, no. 9, pp. 1907–1921.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Xiao, W., Windley, B.F., Badarch, G., et al., Paleozoic accretionary and convergent tectonics of the southern Altaids: implications for the growth of Central Asia, J. Geol. Soc. London, 2004, vol. 161, pp. 339–342.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zeh, A., Millar, I.L., and Horstwood, M.S.A., Polymetamorphism in the NEShackleton Range, Antarctica: constraints from petrology and U-Pb, Sm-Nd, Rb-Sr TIMS and in-situ U-Pb LA-PIMMS dating, J. Petrol., 2004, vol. 45, pp. 949–973.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sobolev Institute of Geology and Mineralogy, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, pr. Akademika Koptyuga 3, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia

    V. P. Sukhorukov, O. P. Polyansky, A. A. Krylov & S. V. Zinoviev

  2. Novosibirsk State University, ul. Pirogova 2, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia

    V. P. Sukhorukov

Authors
  1. V. P. Sukhorukov
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. O. P. Polyansky
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. A. A. Krylov
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. S. V. Zinoviev
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to V. P. Sukhorukov.

Additional information

Original Russian Text © V.P. Sukhorukov, O.P. Polyansky, A.A. Krylov, S.V. Zinoviev, 2016, published in Petrologiya, 2016, Vol. 24, No. 4, pp. 441–464.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Sukhorukov, V.P., Polyansky, O.P., Krylov, A.A. et al. Reconstruction of the metamorphic P–T path from the garnet zoning in aluminous schists from the Tsogt Block, Mongolian Altai. Petrology 24, 409–432 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0869591116040068

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S0869591116040068

Search

Navigation