Archaean Intracrustal Differentiation from Partial Melting of Metagabbro--Field and Geochemical Evidence from the Central Region of the Lewisian Complex, NW Scotland

The central region of the mainland Lewisian gneiss complex of NW Scotland is a granulite-facies migmatite terrane. With the exception of ultramafic and rare calc-silicate rocks, all other lithologies partially melted during Neoarchaean, ultrahigh-temperature (Badcallian) metamorphism. The clearest evidence is preserved within large layered mafic^ultramafic bodies that exhibit macroscopic features diagnostic of anatexis. In situ partial melting of metagabbroic rocks produced patches and sheets of coarse-grained plagioclase-rich leucosome containing euhedral peritectic clinopyroxene.These leucosomes connect with larger, laterally continuous tonalite or trondhjemite sheets that record segregat…