Monazite is a light rare earth element (LREE)-bearing phosphate mineral that is present in a wide variety of rock types, has an extremely variable composition reflecting host rock conditions, and is a robust geochronometer that can preserve crystallization ages through a long history of geological events. Monazite crystals typically contain distinct compositional domains that represent successive generations of monazite, which in turn, can provide a detailed record of the geologic history of its host rocks. The electron microprobe can be used to characterize the geometry of compositional domains, analyze the composition of each domain, and, when carefully configured, determine the U-Th-total Pb age for domains as small as 5 μm in width. These data allow the monazite to be linked with, and place timing constraints on, silicate processes in the host rocks. Current applications span a broad range of geologic processes in igneous, metamorphic, hydrothermal, and sedimentary rocks.

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The Legs Lake shear zone is a crustal-scale thrust fault system in the western Canadian Shield that juxtaposes high-pressure (1.0+ GPa) granulite facies rocks against shallow crustal (< 0.5 GPa) amphibolite facies rocks. Hangingwall decompression is characterized by breakdown of the peak assemblage Grt + Sil + Kfs + Pl + Qtz into the assemblage Grt + Crd + Bt ± Sil + Pl + Qtz. Similar felsic granulite occurs throughout the region, but retrograde cordierite is restricted to the immediate hangingwall of the shear zone. Textural observations, petrological analysis using P-T/P-M H 2 O phase diagram sections, and in situ electron microprobe monazite geochronology suggest that decompression from peak conditions of 1.1 GPa, c. 800°C involved several distinct stages under first dry and then hydrated conditions. Retrograde re-equilibration occurred at 0.5-0.4 GPa, 550-650°C. Morphology, X-ray maps, and microprobe dates indicate several distinct monazite generations. Populations 1 and 2 are relatively high yttrium (Y) monazite that grew at 2.55-2.50 Ga and correspond to an early granulite facies event. Population 3 represents episodic growth of low Y monazite between 2.50 and 2.15 Ga whose general significance is still unclear. Population 4 reflects low Y monazite growth at 1.9 Ga, which corresponds to the youngest period of high-pressure metamorphism. Finally, population 5 is restricted to the hydrous retrograded granulite and represents high Y monazite growth at 1.85 Ga that is linked directly to the synkinematic garnet-consuming hydration reaction (KFMASH): Grt + Kfs + H 2 O ¼ Bt + Sil + Qtz. Two samples yield weighted mean microprobe dates for this population of 1853 ± 15 and 1851 ± 9 Ma, respectively. Subsequent xenotime growth correlates with the reaction: Grt + Sil + Qtz + H 2 O ¼ Crd. We suggest that the shear zone acted as a channel for fluid produced by dehydration of metasediments in the underthrust domain.

Anatectic leucogranites are common in metapelites within both the highlands and lowlands terranes of the Adirondack Mountains of northern New York State. The formation of these igneous bodies, which are folded in the lowlands and commonly mylonitized in the highlands, has been widely considered an event accompanying the ca. 1050 Ma Ottawan orogeny, during which metamorphic grade reached granulite facies in the highlands, while the lowlands experienced amphibolite facies metamorphism. Sensitive high-resolution ion microprobe (SHRIMP) analyses of zircons separated from leucosomes and melanosomes in both the southern highlands and the lowlands indicate that primary anatexis occurred ca. 1180-1160 Ma, and is thus a manifestation of heating during the earlier Shawinigan orogeny (ca. 1210-1160 Ma) and associated anorthosite-mangerite-charnockite-granite (AMCG) magmatism (ca. 1165-1150 Ma). The absence of Ottawan overgrowths on Shawinigan zircons in these leucosomes suggests that by Ottawan time the rocks were too dry for further melting or zircon growth to occur. However, electron microprobe analyses of monazites from the southern highlands reveal multiple age zones, including cores with ages of ca. 1170-1180 Ma, consistent with primary growth during Shawinigan orogenesis, complex zones formed ca. 1140-1155 Ma during AMCG magmatism, and ca. 1050-1020 Ma formed during Ottawan orogenesis and high-grade metamorphism. Throughout the Adirondacks, leucosomes and melanosomes contain older, ca. 1320 Ma, zircons that are considered to be remnant detrital zircons derived from arc rocks of the Elzevirian terrane. The apparent absence of Archean detrital zircons suggests that the protoliths of the metapelites were deposited in restricted basins that did not receive detritus from the Superior craton.

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