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Experimental study of the stability of cordierite and garnet in pelitic compositions at high pressures and temperatures

III. Synthesis of experimental data and geological applications

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Abstract

In pelitic rocks, under conditions of low f O 2 and low f H 2 O, the stability of the mineral pair cordierite-garnet is limited by five univariant reactions. In sequence from high pressure and low temperature to high temperature and low pressure these are: cordierite+garnet⇄ hypersthene+sillimanite+quartz, cordierite+garnet⇄ hypersthene+sapphirine+quartz, cordierite+garnet⇄ hypersthene+spinel+quartz and cordierite+garnet⇄ olivine+spinel +quartz. In this sequence of reactions the Mg/Mg+Fe2+ ratio of all ferro-magnesian minerals involved decreases continuously from the first reaction to the fifth. The five univariant boundaries delimit a wide P-T range over which cordierite and garnet may coexist.

Two divariant equilibria in which the Mg/Mg+ Fe2+ ratio of the coexisting phases are uniquely determined by pressure and temperature have been studied in detail. P-T-X grids for the reactions cordierite⇄ garnet+sillimanite+quartz and cordierite+hypersthene⇄ garnet+quartz are used to obtain pressure-temperature estimates for several high grade metamorphic areas. The results suggest temperatures of formation of 700–850° C and load pressures of 5–10 kb. In rare occasions temperatures of 950–1000° C appear to have been reached during granulite metamorphism.

On the basis of melting experiments in pelitic compositions it is suggested that Ca-poor garnet xenocrysts found in calc-alkaline magmas derive from admixed pelitic rocks and did not equilibrate with the calc-alkaline magma.

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  1. B. J. Hensen

    Present address: Geophysical Laboratory, Carnegie Institute of Washington, 2801 Upton Street, N. W., 20008, Washington, D.C., USA

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  1. Department of Geophysics and Geochemistry, Australian National University, Australia

    B. J. Hensen & D. H. Green

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Hensen, B.J., Green, D.H. Experimental study of the stability of cordierite and garnet in pelitic compositions at high pressures and temperatures. Contr. Mineral. and Petrol. 38, 151–166 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00373879

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