Granulite facies metasedimentary gneiss exposed on Jetty Peninsula, east Antarctica, contains assemblages involving garnet-sillimanite-biotite-cordierite-spinel-ilmenite-rutile and garnet-orthopyroxene-cordierite-biotite, as well as quartz and K-feldspar. Peak assemblages involve garnet + sillimanite + ilmenite (frutile) and garnet + orthopyroxene. P-T calculations suggest formation conditions of approximately 800" C at 7-7.5 kbar. Cooling from peak conditions is suggested by biotite + garnet (fsillimanite) overprinting some peak assemblages. A subsequent increase in temperature is inferred from the formation of cordierite + garnet + biotite + ilmenite, garnet + sillimanite + cordierite + ilmenite and cordierite + orthopyroxene assemblages during D2. In slightly zincian bulk compositions, hercynitic spinel + cordierite + sillimanite constitutes the peak D2 assemblage. Average pressure calculations indicate peak pressures of 5.9 f 0.4 kbar at 700" C for the cordierite-bearing D2 assemblages. Available radiometric data suggest that peak metamorphism occurred at c. 1OOOMa and D2 occurred after 940 f 20 Ma. The following two possibilities exist for the metamorphic evolution. (1) The formation of the lower pressure cordierite-bearing assemblages is associated with a separate metamorphic event (M2), unrelated to the peak assemblage (Ml), and the lower pressure assemblages have no relevance in terms of a single tectonothermal event.(2) The cordierite-bearing assemblages formed during a progression from peak conditions. In this case, the lower pressure assemblages reflect a broadly decompressional metamorphic evolution, during which temperatures fluctuated. Comparison with P-T paths from granulites of similar age in adjacent areas suggests that the second possibility should be preferred. The cooling interval between peak conditions and the development of cordierite-bearing coronas and symplectites suggests affinities with isobarically cooled granulites of similar age immediately to the west, and the low-Plhigh-T post-peak conditions are similar to the later stages of decompressional paths recognized in much of east Antarctica.
In the Huckitta region of the eastern Arunta Inlier, central Australia, two terrains with distinct metamorphic histories are separated by a zone of sinistral strike-slip mylonitic deformation and reworking, the Entire Point Shear Zone (EPSZ). To the south of the EPSZ, in the Harts Range Group, Ordovician (c. 470 Ma) intraplate granulite facies metamorphism (c. 800°C, 8-10 kbar) was followed by decompression to c. 7 kbar. In contrast, the Kanandra Granulite, to the north of the EPSZ, is characterized by Palaeoproterozoic high-grade metamorphism at 770-850°C and 5-7 kbar, followed by inferred near-isobaric cooling. Juxtaposition of these terrains along the EPSZ occurred at upper amphibolite facies conditions (700°C, 7 kbar), and resulted in extensive reworking of the Kanandra Granulite. Monazite growth within EPSZ mylonites is dated at 445-4-5
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