An extensive record of orogenesis recorded in a Madagascar granulite
- Creators
- Horton, F.
- Holder, R. M.
- Swindle, C. R.
Abstract
We present a comprehensive petrological and geochronological study of a single granulite sample from the lithosphere-scale Beraketa shear zone in southern Madagascar to constrain the orogenic history of Gondwana assembly in this region. The studied sample provides a panoply of data constraining the prograde, retrograde, and late metasomatic history of the region via the application of Ti-in-quartz, Ti-in-zircon, Zr-in-rutile, and Al-in-orthopyroxene thermobarometry; phase-equilibrium modeling; U–Pb monazite, zircon, and rutile petrochronology; and trace element diffusion chronometry in rutile methods. Our results reveal five stages of metamorphism along a clockwise P-T path that may have begun as early as 620–600 Ma and certainly by 580–560 Ma, based on the oldest concordant zircon dates. The rock heated to >725 °C at less than 7.5 kbar (stage 1) before burial to ~8 kbar (stage 2). By c. 540 Ma, the rock had heated to ~970 °C at ~9 kbar, and lost approximately 12% melt (stage 3), before decompressing and cooling to the solidus at ~860 °C and 6.5 kbar within 10 Myr (stage 4). The vast majority of monazite and zircon dates record stage 4 cooling and exhumation. Monazite and zircon rim dates as young as c. 510 Ma record subsolidus cooling (stage 5) and associated symplectite formation around garnet. U–Pb rutile dates record partial resetting at c. 460 Ma; Zr- and Nb-in-rutile diffusion chronometry link these dates to a metasomatic event that lasted <1 Myr at ~600 °C. In addition to chronicling a near-complete cycle of metamorphism in southern Madagascar, this study constrains the rates of heating and cooling. We estimate that heating (7–14 °C/Myr) outpaced reasonable radiogenic heating rates with modest mantle heat conduction. Therefore, we conclude that elevated mantle heat conduction or injection of mantle-derived magmas likely contributed to regional ultrahigh-temperature metamorphism (UHTM). Exhumation and cooling from peak metamorphic conditions to the solidus occurred at rates greater than 0.45 km/Myr and 14 °C/Myr.
Additional Information
© 2021 Wiley. Issue Online: 23 February 2022; Version of Record online: 06 September 2021; Accepted manuscript online: 20 July 2021; Manuscript accepted: 18 June 2021; Manuscript received: 02 March 2021. Funding information: National Science Foundation, Grant/Award Numbers: EAR-2022746, EAR-2022573, EAR-11348003. Data Availability Statement: All data are available upon request. The python code used for the RCLC calculations can be found in Appendices S1 and S2, as well as at https://github.com/rmholdergeo/batchRCLC or by correspondence with R. Holder.Attached Files
Supplemental Material - jmg12628-sup-0001-supdataset.xlsx
Supplemental Material - jmg12628-sup-0002-supfigures.pdf
Supplemental Material - jmg12628-sup-0003-appendixs1_batchrclc_v2.py
Supplemental Material - jmg12628-sup-0004-appendixs2_batchrclc_documentation.docx
Files
Additional details
- Eprint ID
- 110082
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20210729-214844270
- EAR-2022746
- NSF
- EAR-2022573
- NSF
- EAR-11348003
- NSF
- Created
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2021-08-02Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
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2022-03-14Created from EPrint's last_modified field