TY - JOUR A1 - Kotkova, Jana A1 - O'Brien, Patrick J. A1 - Ziemann, Martin Andreas T1 - Diamond and coesite discovered in Saxony-type granulite solution to the Variscan garnet peridotite enigma JF - Geology N2 - The pressures required for diamond and coesite formation far exceed conditions reached by even the deepest present-day orogenic crustal roots. Therefore the occurrence of metamorphosed continental crust containing these minerals requires processes other than crustal thickening to have operated in the past. Here we report the first in situ finding of diamond and coesite, characterized by micro-Raman spectroscopy, in high-pressure granulites otherwise indistinguishable from granulites found associated with garnet peridotite throughout the European Variscides. Our discovery confirms the provenance of Europe's first reliable diamond, the "Bohemian diamond," found in A.D. 1870, and also represents the first robust evidence for ultrahigh-pressure conditions in a major Variscan crustal rock type. A process of deep continental subduction is required to explain the metamorphic pressures and the granulite-garnet peridotite association, and thus tectonometamorphic models for these rocks involving a deep orogenic crustal root need to be significantly modified. Y1 - 2011 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1130/G31971.1 SN - 0091-7613 VL - 39 IS - 7 SP - 667 EP - 670 PB - American Institute of Physics CY - Boulder ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Konrad-Schmolke, Matthias A1 - Babist, Jochen A1 - Handy, Mark R. A1 - O'brien, Patrick J. T1 - The physico-chemical properties of a subducted slab from garnet zonation patterns (Sesia Zone, Western Alps) JF - Journal of petrology N2 - Garnets in continentally derived high-pressure (HP) rocks of the Sesia Zone (Western Alps) exhibit three different chemical zonation patterns, depending on sample locality. Comparison of observed garnet zonation patterns with thermodynamically modelled patterns shows that the different patterns are caused by differences in the water content of the subducted protoliths during prograde metamorphism. Zonation patterns of garnets in water-saturated host rocks show typical prograde chemical zonations with steadily increasing pyrope content and increasing XMg, together with bell-shaped spessartine patterns. In contrast, garnets in water-undersaturated rocks have more complex zonation patterns with a characteristic decrease in pyrope and XMg between core and inner rim. In some cases, garnets show an abrupt compositional change in core-to-rim profiles, possibly due to water-undersaturation prior to HP metamorphism. Garnets from both water-saturated and water-undersaturated rocks show signs of intervening growth interruptions and core resorption. This growth interruption results from bulk-rock depletion caused by fractional garnet crystallization. The water content during burial influences significantly the physical properties of the subducted rocks. Due to enhanced garnet crystallization, water-undersaturated rocks, i.e. those lacking a free fluid phase, become denser than their water-saturated equivalents, facilitating the subduction of continental material. Although water-bearing phases such as phengite and epidote are stable up to eclogite-facies conditions in these rocks, dehydration reactions during subduction are lacking in water-undersaturated rocks up to the transition to the eclogite facies, due to the thermodynamic stability of such hydrous phases at high P-T conditions. Our calculations show that garnet zonation patterns strongly depend on the mineral parageneses stable during garnet growth and that certain co-genetic mineral assemblages cause distinct garnet zonation patterns. This observation enables interpretation of complex garnet growth zonation patterns in terms of garnet-forming reactions and water content during HP metamorphism, as well determination of detailed P-T paths. KW - dehydration KW - high-pressure metamorphism KW - Sesia Zone KW - subduction KW - thermodynamic modelling Y1 - 2006 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1093/petrology/egl039 SN - 0022-3530 VL - 47 IS - 11 SP - 2123 EP - 2148 PB - Oxford Univ. Press CY - Oxford ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wilke, Franziska Daniela Helena A1 - O'Brien, Patrick J. A1 - Altenberger, Uwe A1 - Konrad-Schmolke, Matthias A1 - Khan, M. Ahmed T1 - Multi-stage reaction history in different eclogite types from the Pakistan Himalaya and implications for exhumation processes N2 - Metabasites were sampled from rock series of the subducted margin of the Indian Plate, the so-called Higher Himalayan Crystalline, in the Upper Kaghan Valley, Pakistan. These vary from corona dolerites, cropping out around Saif- ul-Muluk in the south, to coesite-eclogite close to the suture zone against rocks of the Kohistan arc in the north. Bulk rock major- and trace-element chemistry reveals essentially a single protolith as the source for five different eclogite types, which differ in fabric, modal mineralogy as well as in mineral chemistry. The study of newly-collected samples reveals coesite (confirmed by in situ Raman spectroscopy) in both garnet and omphacite. All eclogites show growth of amphiboles during exhumation. Within some coesite-bearing eclogites the presence of glaucophane cores to barroisite is noted whereas in most samples porphyroblastic sodic-calcic amphiboles are rimmed by more aluminous calcic amphibole (pargasite, tschermakite, and edenite). Eclogite facies rutile is replaced by ilmenite which itself is commonly surrounded by titanite. In addition, some eclogite bodies show leucocratic segregations containing phengite, quartz, zoisite and/or kyanite. The important implication is that the complex exhumation path shows stages of initial cooling during decompression (formation of glaucophane) followed by reheating: a very similar situation to that reported for the coesite-bearing eclogite series of the Tso Morari massif, India, 450 km to the south-east. Y1 - 2010 UR - http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00244937 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lithos.2009.07.015 SN - 0024-4937 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - O'Brien, Patrick J. A1 - Rötzler, Jochen T1 - High-Pressure Granulites : Formation, Recovery of Peak Conditions, and Implications for Tectonics Y1 - 2003 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Scott, James M. A1 - Konrad-Schmolke, Matthias A1 - O'Brien, Patrick J. A1 - Günter, Christina T1 - High-T, low-P formation of rare olivine-bearing symplectites in variscan eclogite JF - Journal of petrology N2 - Extremely rare veinlets and reaction textures composed of symplectites of olivine (similar to Fo(43-55)) + plagioclase +/- spinel +/- ilmenite, associated with more common pyroxene + plagioclase and amphibole + plagioclase varieties, are preserved within eclogites and garnet pyroxenites in the Moldanubian Zone of the Bohemian Massif. Thermodynamic modelling integrated with conventional geothermometry conducted on an eclogite reveals that the symplectite-forming stage occurred at high T (similar to 850 degrees C) and low P (< 6 and > 2 center dot 5 kbar). The development of the different symplectite types reflects reactions that took place in micro-scale domains. The breakdown of high-P garnet controlled the formation of olivine-bearing and amphibole + plagioclase symplectites, whereas breakdown of high-P omphacite led to formation of pyroxene + plagioclase symplectites. In addition, post-eclogite facies but pre-symplectite stage porphyroblastic amphibole and phlogopite were also replaced by olivine-bearing symplectites. Material transfer calculations and thermodynamic modelling indicate that the formation of different symplectite types was linked despite their different bulk compositions. For example, the olivine-bearing symplectites gained Fe +/- Mg, whereas adjacent amphibole + plagioclase and pyroxene + plagioclase symplectites show losses in Fe and Mg; Al, Si and Ca were also variably exchanged. The olivine-bearing symplectites were particularly sensitive to Na despite the small concentration of this element. In eclogites where Na was readily available, the plagioclase composition in the olivine-bearing symplectites shifted from pure anorthite to bytownite, with the less calcic feldspar partitioning Si and inhibiting the formation of orthopyroxene. This regional high-T, low-P granulite-facies symplectite overprint may have been caused by advective heat loss from rapidly exhumed high-T, high-P granulitic bodies (Gfohl Unit) that were emplaced into and over the middle crust (Monotonous and Varied Series) during Carboniferous continent-continent collision. KW - olivine KW - symplectite KW - eclogite KW - thermodynamics KW - Variscan Y1 - 2013 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1093/petrology/egt015 SN - 0022-3530 SN - 1460-2415 VL - 54 IS - 7 SP - 1375 EP - 1398 PB - Oxford Univ. Press CY - Oxford ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wilke, Franziska Daniela Helena A1 - O'Brien, Patrick J. A1 - Gerdes, Axel A1 - Timmerman, Martin Jan A1 - Sudo, Masafumi A1 - Khan, M. Ahmed T1 - The multistage exhumation history of the Kaghan Valley UHP series, NW Himalaya, Pakistan from U-Pb and Ar-40/Ar- 39 ages N2 - Amphibole and mica Ar-40/Ar-39 ages as well as zircon, rutile and titanite U-Pb geochronology of eclogites and associated host rocks from the Higher Himalayan Crystalline Nappes (Indian Plate) in the Upper Kaghan Valley, Pakistan allow distinction of a multistage exhumation history. An Eocene age for peak-pressure metamorphism has been obtained by phengite Ar-40/Ar-39 (47.3 +/- 0.3 Ma) and zircon U-Pb (47.3 +/- 0.4 and 47.4 +/- 0.3 Ma) ages from cover and basement gneisses. A very short-lived metamorphic peak and rapid cooling is documented by an amphibole Ar-40/Ar-39 age of 46.6 +/- 0.5 Ma and a rutile U-Pb age of 44.1 +/- 1.3 Ma from eclogites. Phengite and biotite ages from cover and basement sequences metamorphosed during the Himalayan orogeny are 34.5 +/- 0.2 to 28.1 +/- 0.2 Ma whereas youngest biotites, yielding 23.6 +/- 0.1 and 21.7 +/- 0.2 Ma, probably reflect argon partial resetting. The amphibole age, together with those derived from phengite and zircon demonstrate a rate of initial exhumation of 86-143 mm/a i.e. an extremely rapid transport of the Indian Plate continental crust from ultra-high pressure (UHP) conditions back to crustal levels (47-46 Ma for transport from 140 to 40 km depth). Subsequent exhumation (46-41 Ma, 40-35 km) slowed to about 1 mm/a at the base of the continental crust but increased again later towards slightly higher exhumation rates of ca. 2 mm/a (41-34 Ma, 35- 20 km). This indicates a change from buoyancy-driven exhumation at mantle depths to compression forces related to continent-continent collision and accompanied crustal folding, thrusting and stacking that finally exposed the former deeply-buried rocks. Y1 - 2010 UR - http://eurjmin.geoscienceworld.org/ U6 - https://doi.org/10.1127/0935-1221/2010/0022-2051 SN - 0935-1221 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wilke, Franziska Daniela Helena A1 - Sobel, Edward A1 - O'Brien, Patrick J. A1 - Stockli, Daniel F. T1 - Apatite fission track and (U-Th)/He ages from the Higher Himalayan Crystallines, Kaghan Valley, Pakistan: Implications for an Eocene Plateau and Oligocene to Pliocene exhumation JF - Journal of Asian earth sciences N2 - Apatite fission track and apatite and zircon (U-Th)/He ages were obtained from high- and ultra high-pressure rocks from the Kaghan Valley, Pakistan. Four samples from the high altitude northern parts of the valley yielded apatite fission track ages between 24.5 +/- 3.7 and 15.6 +/- 2.1 Ma and apatite (U-Th)/He ages between 21.0 +/- 0.6 and 5.3 +/- 0.2 Ma. These data record cooling of the formerly deeply-subducted high-grade metamorphic rocks induced by denudation and exhumation consistent with extension and back sliding along the reactivated, normal-acting Main Mantle Thrust. Overlap at around 10 Ma between fission track and (U-Th)/He ages is recognised at one location (Besal) showing that fast cooling occurred due to brittle reactivation of a former thrust fault. Widespread Miocene cooling is also evident in adjacent areas to the west (Deosai Plateau, Tso Moran), most likely related to uplift and unroofing linked to continued underplating of the Indian lower crust beneath Ladakh and Kohistan in the Late Eocene to Oligocene. In the southernmost part of the study area, near Naran, two significantly younger Late Miocene to Pliocene apatite fission track ages of 7.6 +/- 2.1 to 4.0 +/- 0.5 Ma suggest a spatial and temporal separation of exhumation processes. These younger ages are best explained by enhanced Late Miocene uplift and erosion driven by thrusting along the Main Boundary Thrust. KW - NW Himalaya KW - Kaghan Valley KW - Thermochronology KW - AFT KW - (U-Th)/He KW - Cooling rates Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jseaes.2012.06.014 SN - 1367-9120 VL - 59 IS - 3 SP - 14 EP - 23 PB - Elsevier CY - Oxford ER - TY - GEN A1 - Borghini, Alessia A1 - Ferrero, Silvio A1 - O'Brien, Patrick J. A1 - Laurent, Oscar A1 - Günter, Christina A1 - Ziemann, Martin Andreas T1 - Cryptic metasomatic agent measured in situ in Variscan mantle rocks BT - Melt inclusions in garnet of eclogite, Granulitgebirge, Germany T2 - Postprints der Universität Potsdam : Mathematisch Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe N2 - Garnet of eclogite (formerly termed garnet clinopyroxenite) hosted in lenses of orogenic garnet peridotite from the Granulitgebirge, NW Bohemian Massif, contains unique inclusions of granitic melt, now either glassy or crystallized. Analysed glasses and re‐homogenized inclusions are hydrous, peraluminous, and enriched in highly incompatible elements characteristic of the continental crust such as Cs, Li, B, Pb, Rb, Th, and U. The original melt thus represents a pristine, chemically evolved metasomatic agent, which infiltrated the mantle via deep continental subduction during the Variscan orogeny. The bulk chemical composition of the studied eclogites is similar to that of Fe‐rich basalt and the enrichment in LILE and U suggest a subduction‐related component. All these geochemical features confirm metasomatism. In comparison with many other garnet+clinopyroxene‐bearing lenses in peridotites of the Bohemian Massif, the studied samples from Rubinberg and Klatschmühle are more akin to eclogite than pyroxenites, as reflected in high jadeite content in clinopyroxene, relatively low Mg, Cr, and Ni but relatively high Ti. However, trace elements of both bulk rock and individual mineral phases show also important differences making these samples rather unique. Metasomatism involving a melt requiring a trace element pattern very similar to the composition reported here has been suggested for the source region of rocks of the so‐called durbachite suite, that is, ultrapotassic melanosyenites, which are found throughout the high‐grade Variscan basement. Moreover, the Th, U, Pb, Nb, Ta, and Ti patterns of these newly studied melt inclusions (MI) strongly resemble those observed for peridotite and its enclosed pyroxenite from the T‐7 borehole (Staré, České Středhoři Mountains) in N Bohemia. This suggests that a similar kind of crustal‐derived melt also occurred here. This study of granitic MI in eclogites from peridotites has provided the first direct characterization of a preserved metasomatic melt, possibly responsible for the metasomatism of several parts of the mantle in the Variscides. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe - 976 KW - clinopyroxenite KW - eclogite KW - melt inclusions KW - metasomatism KW - orogenic peridotite Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-474592 SN - 1866-8372 IS - 976 SP - 207 EP - 234 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Borghini, Alessia A1 - Ferrero, Silvio A1 - O’Brien, Patrick J. A1 - Laurent, Oscar A1 - Günter, Christina A1 - Ziemann, Martin Andreas T1 - Cryptic metasomatic agent measured in situ in Variscan mantle rocks BT - Melt inclusions in garnet of eclogite, Granulitgebirge, Germany N2 - Garnet of eclogite (formerly termed garnet clinopyroxenite) hosted in lenses of orogenic garnet peridotite from the Granulitgebirge, NW Bohemian Massif, contains unique inclusions of granitic melt, now either glassy or crystallized. Analysed glasses and re‐homogenized inclusions are hydrous, peraluminous, and enriched in highly incompatible elements characteristic of the continental crust such as Cs, Li, B, Pb, Rb, Th, and U. The original melt thus represents a pristine, chemically evolved metasomatic agent, which infiltrated the mantle via deep continental subduction during the Variscan orogeny. The bulk chemical composition of the studied eclogites is similar to that of Fe‐rich basalt and the enrichment in LILE and U suggest a subduction‐related component. All these geochemical features confirm metasomatism. In comparison with many other garnet+clinopyroxene‐bearing lenses in peridotites of the Bohemian Massif, the studied samples from Rubinberg and Klatschmühle are more akin to eclogite than pyroxenites, as reflected in high jadeite content in clinopyroxene, relatively low Mg, Cr, and Ni but relatively high Ti. However, trace elements of both bulk rock and individual mineral phases show also important differences making these samples rather unique. Metasomatism involving a melt requiring a trace element pattern very similar to the composition reported here has been suggested for the source region of rocks of the so‐called durbachite suite, that is, ultrapotassic melanosyenites, which are found throughout the high‐grade Variscan basement. Moreover, the Th, U, Pb, Nb, Ta, and Ti patterns of these newly studied melt inclusions (MI) strongly resemble those observed for peridotite and its enclosed pyroxenite from the T‐7 borehole (Staré, České Středhoři Mountains) in N Bohemia. This suggests that a similar kind of crustal‐derived melt also occurred here. This study of granitic MI in eclogites from peridotites has provided the first direct characterization of a preserved metasomatic melt, possibly responsible for the metasomatism of several parts of the mantle in the Variscides. KW - clinopyroxenite KW - eclogite KW - melt inclusions KW - metasomatism KW - orogenic peridotite Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/jmg.12519 SN - 1525-1314 SN - 0263-4929 VL - 38 SP - 207 EP - 234 PB - Wiley-Blackwell CY - Oxford [u.a.] ER -