Search results for "Lewisian complex"
showing 7 items of 7 documents
High-grade metamorphism and partial melting of basic and intermediate rocks
2016
Rocks of basic and intermediate bulk composition occur in orogenic terranes from all geological time periods and are thought to represent significant petrological components of the middle and lower continental crust. However, the former lack of appropriate thermodynamic models for silicate melt, amphibole and clinopyroxene that can be applied to such lithologies at high temperature has inhibited effective phase equilibrium modelling of their petrological evolution during amphibolite- and granulite facies metamorphism. In this work, we present phase diagrams calculated in the Na2O–CaO–K2O–FeO–MgO–Al2O3–SiO2–H2O–TiO2–O2 (NCKFMASHTO) compositional system for a range of natural basic and interm…
Field and petrographic evidence for partial melting of TTG gneisses from the central region of the mainland Lewisian complex, NW Scotland
2013
The central region of the mainland Lewisian complex is dominated by granulite-facies tonalite–trondhjemite–granodiorite (TTG) gneisses that are highly depleted in some mobile trace elements (Cs, Rb, Th and U) relative to amphibolite-facies TTG gneisses elsewhere in the Lewisian complex and to the average composition of TTG gneisses worldwide. Over almost half a century of research there has been vigorous debate as to the origin of this depletion, in particular with respect to the role of partial melting and melt loss. Here we provide field and petrographic evidence that TTG gneisses across the central region partially melted during granulite-facies (Badcallian) metamorphism. Partial melting…
Polymetamorphism in the mainland Lewisian complex, NW Scotland - phase equilibria and geochronological constraints from the Cnoc an t’Sidhean suite
2012
The metamorphic evolution of rocks cropping out near Stoer, within the Assynt terrane of the central region of the mainland Lewisian complex of NW Scotland, is investigated using phase equilibria modelling in the NCKFMASHTO and MnNCKFMASHTO model systems. The focus is on the Cnoc an t’Sidhean suite, garnet-bearing biotite-rich rocks (brown gneiss) with rare layers of white mica gneiss, which have been interpreted as sedimentary in origin. The results show that these rocks are polymetamorphic and experienced granulite facies peak metamorphism (Badcallian) followed by retrograde fluid-driven metamorphism (Inverian) under amphibolite facies conditions. The brown gneisses are inferred to have c…
Subduction or sagduction? Ambiguity in constraining the origin of ultramafic–mafic bodies in the Archean crust of NW Scotland
2016
Abstract The Lewisian Complex of NW Scotland is a fragment of the North Atlantic Craton. It comprises mostly Archean tonalite–trondhjemite–granodiorite (TTG) orthogneisses that were variably metamorphosed and reworked in the late Neoarchean to Paleoproterozoic. Within the granulite facies central region of the mainland Lewisian Complex, discontinuous belts composed of ultramafic–mafic rocks and structurally overlying garnet–biotite gneiss (brown gneiss) are spatially associated with steeply-inclined amphibolite facies shear zones that have been interpreted as terrane boundaries. Interpretation of the primary chemical composition of these rocks is complicated by partial melting and melt loss…
Phase equilibrium constraints on conditions of granulite-facies metamorphism at Scourie, NW Scotland
2011
Abstract: The metamorphic evolution of a metapyroxenite and metagabbro from Scourie, NW Scotland, is investigated using phase equilibria modelled in the NCFMASHTO (Na 2 O–CaO–FeO–MgO–Al 2 O 3 –SiO 2 –H 2 O–TiO 2 –O) system. The calculated stability fields for the observed assemblages in each rock overlap and imply conditions of 8.5–11.5 kbar and 875–975 °C for the peak of granulite-facies (Badcallian) metamorphism. The lack of any evidence for the former presence of garnet in the metapyroxenite suggests that the rocks cannot have reached pressures much in excess of those recorded at the metamorphic peak. The growth of coronas of plagioclase, orthopyroxene and magnetite replacing garnet in t…
New constraints on granulite facies metamorphism and melt production in the Lewisian Complex, northwest Scotland
2018
The research carried out for this study was part of YF's Master Thesis at the Institute of Geoscience, Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, which provided the funding for fieldwork and laboratory analyses. TJ acknowledges support from Open Fund GPMR210704 from the State Key Lab for Geological Processes and Mineral Resources, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan. In this study we investigate the metamorphic history of the Assynt and Gruinard blocks of the Archaean Lewisian Complex, northwest Scotland, which are considered by some to represent discrete crustal terranes. For samples of mafic and intermediate rocks, phase diagrams were constructed in the Na2O-CaO‐K2O‐FeO‐MgO‐Al2O3-SiO2-H2O-T…
Archaean Intracrustal Differentiation from Partial Melting of Metagabbro--Field and Geochemical Evidence from the Central Region of the Lewisian Comp…
2012
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…