Comment on: ‘High-temperature dehydration melting and decompressive P–T path in a granulite complex from the Eastern Ghats India’ by S. Bhattacharya and R. Kar

Abstract

Thermodynamic and chemographic modelling of complex reaction textures observed in Mg-Al-rich pelitic granulites is an important tool to unravel the P–T evolutionary history of high-grade rocks. In the Eastern Ghats Belt, India, several studies have been carried out on these fascinating aluminous granulites, and the results of these studies have revealed complex P–T–t histories (Dasgupta and Sengupta 1995; Sengupta et al. 1999; Rickers et al. 2001a, 2001b; Gupta et al. 1999; Dobmeier and Simmat 2002; Dobmeier and Raith 2003). In recent communication, Bhattacharya and Kar (2002) reported reaction textures from a suite of Mg-Al granulites from the Paderu area of the Eastern Ghats Belt. Combining the textural relations and thermodynamic calibration of some construed reactions, the authors have put forward a single phase metamorphic evolution of the area along a ‘clockwise’ pressure–temperature trajectory. Combining the petrological features from the Paderu area with those reported from the Chilka Lake complex, the authors proposed a general tectonic model for the entire Eastern Ghats Belt. Incidentally, the rocks in and around Paderu have been studied in some detail by several other workers (Lal et al. 1987; Mohan et al. 1997; Sengupta et al. 1997). The purpose of this comment is to demonstrate that the conclusions made in the paper are inconsistent with the petrological features described in the text. Further, the thermodynamic treatment used in the paper has serious errors in many places, and hence, is often in complete disagreement with the existing experimental data and theoretical analyses on the Mg-Al-rich assemblages. There are also significant problems arising from the poor quality of the analytical database. Unfortunately, the authors cite only a few published works (mostly their own) ignoring many other relevant studies from this belt (cited above). Our observations are organised according to the sections of the paper.