Radial cracks around α-quartz inclusions in almandine: Constraints on the metamorphic history of the Oman mountains

Radiating tensional cracks around α-quartz inclusions in almandine have been observed in metapelite samples from the southeastern Saih Hatat tectonic window, northeastern Oman Mountains. These almandines show an inclusion-rich (glaucophane + epidote) and strongly deformed core with inclusions of different mineral phases. The rim of the same almandines is inclusion-poor and shows only quartz, apatite, zircon, rutile and BaAl phosphates as inclusions. Quartz and apatite inclusions in the rim are single crystals often surrounded by radial cracks. These radial cracks developed during uplift by the dilation of α-quartz (4–5 vol%) without a phase transformation. Subsequently, these cracks were fi…