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Albian-Turonian subduction-accretionary complexes are exposed widely in the Central Pontides. A major portion of the accretionary complexes is made up of a metaflysch sequence consisting of slate/phyllite and metasandstone intercalation with blocks of marble, Na-amphibole bearing metabasite, and serpentinite. The metaflysch sequence represents distal parts of a large Lower Cretaceous submarine turbidite fan deposited on the Laurasian active continental margin that was subsequently accreted and metamorphosed during the Albian. Raman spectra of carbonaceous material of the metapelitic rocks revealed that the metaflysch consists of metamorphic packets with distinct peak metamorphic temperatures. The majority of the metapelites are low-temperature (ca. 330 degrees C) slates characterized by lack of differentiation of the graphite (G) and D2 defect bands. They possibly represent offscraped distal turbidites along the toe of the Albian accretionary wedge. Other phyllites are characterized by a slightly pronounced G band with a D2 defect band occurring on its shoulder. Peak metamorphic temperatures of these phyllites are constrained to 370-385 degrees C. The phyllites are associated with a strip of incipient blueschist facies metabasites and are found as a sliver within the offscraped distal turbidites. We interpret the phyllites as underplated continental sediments together with oceanic crustal basalt along the basal decollement. Tectonic emplacement of the underplated rocks into the offscraped distal turbidites was possibly achieved by out-of-sequence thrusting causing tectonic thickening and uplift of the wedge.
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.
Granitic melt inclusions were found in layers of garnet clinopyroxenites from orogenic peridotites hosted in high-pressure felsic granulites of the Granulitgebirge, central Europe. The inclusions are both glassy and crystallized, and occur as clusters in the garnet. Microstructural features suggest that the inclusions formed while garnet was growing as a peritectic phase, likely alongside clinopyroxene. The chemistry of the melt, in particular its trace element signature, shows a crustal contribution, probably due to the involvement of phengite in the melt-producing reaction, most likely in the presence of a fluid. The presence of a granitoid melt in mantle rocks may be the result of localized melting of a phengite-bearing protolith either already present in the peridotites or, more likely, within the local deeply subducted crustal units. In the latter case, the melt would have infiltrated the peridotites and generated pyroxenite via metasomatism. In either case, the presence of granitoid inclusions in orogenic peridotite provides direct evidence for a genetic connection between a high-pressure crustal melt and garnet pyroxenites. The in situ characterization of these remnants of natural melt provides direct quantitative constraints on (one of) the agents responsible for the interaction between crust and mantle.
The central European Bohemian Massif has undergone over two centuries of scientific investigation which has made it a pivotal area for the development and testing of modern geological theories. The discovery of melt inclusions in high-grade rocks, either crystallized as nanogranitoids or as glassy inclusions, prompted the re-evaluation of the area with an ‘inclusionist’ eye. Melt inclusions have been identified in a wide range of rocks, including felsic/perpotassic granulites, migmatites, eclogites and garnet clinopyroxenites, all the result of melting events albeit over a wide range of pressure/temperature conditions (800–1000°C/0.5–5 GPa). This contribution provides an overview of such inclusions and discusses the qualitative and quantitative constraints they provide for melting processes, and the nature of melts and fluids involved in these processes. In particular, data on trace-element signatures of melt inclusions trapped at mantle depths are presented and discussed. Moreover, experimental re-homogenization of nanogranitoids provided microstructural criteria allowing assessment of the conditions at which melt and host are mutually stable during melting. Overall this work aims to provide guidelines and suggestions for petrologists wishing to explore the fascinating field of melt inclusions in metamorphic terranes worldwide, based on the newest discoveries from the still-enigmatic Bohemian Massif.
Remnants of hydrous melt formed at mantle depths have been identified and characterized within high-pressure leucogranulites of the Orlica-Snieznik Dome (Bohemian Massif, central Europe). They occur as nanogranites in garnet formed via partial melting of granitoids during the Variscan orogeny. Melt composition and H2O content have been investigated in situ after experimental re-homogenization of the nanogranites, and are consistent with melts produced experimentally from crustal lithologies at mantle depths. This is the first geochemical study of melt inclusions from natural crustal rocks equilibrated close to the stability field of coesite, shedding light on how continental crust melts during deep subduction. Whereas decompressional melting is commonly invoked for deeply subducted crustal lithologies, melting occurred near or at the metamorphic peak pressure in the Orlica-Snieznik granulites. Melting of deeply subducted crustal rocks significantly modifies the rheology and thus promotes fast exhumation: this process has a critical influence on the geodynamic evolution of subduction-collision orogens as well as crustal differentiation at depth.
Carbonatites are peculiar magmatic rocks with mantle-related genesis, commonly interpreted as the products of melting of CO2-bearing peridotites, or resulting from the chemical evolution of mantle derived magmas, either through extreme "differentiation or secondary immiscibility. Here we report the first finding of anatectic carbonatites of crustal origin, preserved as calcite-rich polycrystalline inclusions in garnet from low-to-medium pressure migmatites of the Oberpfalz area, SW Bohemian Massif (Central Europe). These inclusions originally trapped a melt of calciocarbonatitic composition with a characteristic enrichment in Ba, Sr and LREE. This interpretation is supported by the results of a detailed microstructural and microchemical investigation, as well as re-melting experiments using a piston cylinder apparatus. Carbonatitic inclusions coexist in the same cluster with crystallized silicate melt inclusions (nanogranites) and COH fluid inclusions, suggesting conditions of primary immiscibility between two melts and a fluid during anatexis. The production of both carbonatitic and granitic melts during the same anatectic event requires a suitable heterogeneous protolith. This may be represented by a sedimentary sequence containing marble lenses of limited extension, similar to the one still visible in the adjacent central Moldanubian Zone. The presence of CO2-rich fluid inclusions suggests furthermore that high CO2 activity during anatexis may be required to stabilize a carbonate-rich melt in a silica-dominated, system. This natural occurrence displays a remarkable similarity with experiments on carbonate-silicate melt immiscibility, where CO2 saturation is a condition commonly imposed. In conclusion, this study shows how the investigation of partial melting through melt inclusion studies may unveil unexpected processes whose evidence, while preserved in stiff minerals such as garnet, is completely obliterated in the rest of the rock due to metamorphic re-equilibration. Our results thus provide invaluable new insights into the processes which shape the geochemical evolution of our planet, such as the redistribution of carbon and strategic metals during orogenesis. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
A unique assemblage including kumdykolite and kokchetavite, polymorphs of albite and K-feldspar, respectively, together with cristobalite, micas, and calcite has been identified in high-pressure granulites of the Orlica-Snieznik dome (Bohemian Massif) as the product of partial melt crystallization in preserved nanogranites. Previous reports of both kumdykolite and kokchetavite in natural rocks are mainly from samples that passed through the diamond stability field. However, because the maximum pressure recorded in these host rocks is <3 GPa, our observations indicate that high pressure is not required for the formation of kumdykolite and kokchetavite, and their presence is not therefore an indicator of ultrahigh-pressure conditions. Detailed microstructural and microchemical investigation of these inclusions indicates that such phases should instead be regarded as (1) a direct mineralogical criteria to identify former melt inclusions with preserved original compositions, including H2O and CO2 contents and (2) indicators of rapid cooling of the host rocks. Thus, the present study provides novel criteria for the interpretation of melt inclusions in natural rocks and allows a more rigorous characterization of partial melts during deep subduction to mantle depth as well as their behavior on exhumation.
Orbitolinids are larger foraminifera widespread in Lower Cretaceous shallow-water carbonates of the Tethyan realm. They are among the most important fossil groups used for Biostratigraphy. Despite this and although the structural features of the group have been described in detail, very little is known about the composition of their agglutinated test and the process by which they selected foreign grains. In this study, the test of Orbitolina d'Orbigny, 1850 (subgenus Mesorbitolina Schroeder, 1962) from Aptian shallow-water carbonate deposits of southern Italy has been studied in detail. We combine petrographic techniques (optical microscope and SEM) with energy-dispersive x-ray spectrometry (EDS), electron probe microanalyzer (EPMA), X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy analyses.
The results show that the test of Mesorbitolina is composed of carbonate and non-carbonate agglutinated grains with the latter distributed across the test with a specific pattern, moving from the marginal to the central zone. In the marginal zone, non-carbonate grains are found only in the epidermis and along the septa which are composed of quartz, with smaller amounts of illite/muscovite and K-feldspar grains. In the central zone of the test, non-carbonate grains are distributed in two ways. Coarse grains of quartz and K-feldspar are abundant and randomly placed in the endoskeleton embedded in a mosaic of minute carbonate grains. Flat grains, mainly of illite/muscovite constitute the external part of the septa. Our observations indicate that Mesorbitolina did select and place agglutinated grains across its test, mainly according to their shape, whereas it did not select particles according to grain size. The distribution of agglutinated particles according to their mineralogical composition shows some contradictory evidence and therefore, at the moment, grain selection in function of mineralogy cannot be completely confirmed or ruled out. Analogies in the test composition of Mesorbitolina specimens from coeval deposits from different areas of southern Italy indicate that the features of their agglutinated test are typical characters of the genus Mesorbitolina. However, it is still unclear what advantage was obtained by the foraminifer by the described test features.
The Chelyabinsk meteorite
(2017)
We present results of petrographic, mineralogical, and chemical investigations of three Chelyabinsk meteorite fragments. Three distinct lithologies were identified: light S3LL5, dark S4-S5LL5 material, and opaque fine-grained former impact melt. Olivine-spinel thermometry revealed an equilibration temperature of 703 +/- 23 degrees C for the light lithology. All plagioclase seems to be secondary, showing neither shock-induced fractures nor sulfide-metal veinlets. Feldspathic glass can be observed showing features of extensive melting and, in the dark lithology, as maskelynite, lacking melt features and retaining grain boundaries of former plagioclase. Olivine of the dark lithology shows planar deformation features. Impact melt is dominated by Mg-rich olivine and resembles whole-rock melt. Melt veins (<2mm) are connected to narrower veinlets. Melt vein textures are similar to pegmatite textures showing chilled margins, a zone of inward-grown elongated crystals and central vugs, suggesting crystallization from supercooled melt. Sulfide-metal droplets indicate liquid immiscibility of both silicate and sulfide as well as sulfide and metal melts. Impact melting may have been an important factor for differentiation of primitive planetary bodies. Graphite associated with micrometer-sized melt inclusions in primary olivine was detected by Raman mapping. Carbon isotopic studies of graphite could be applied to test a possible presolar origin.
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.