Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-hc48f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T13:18:17.342Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Low-temperature metamorphic evolution of a pre-Variscan gabbro: a case study from the Palaeozoic basement of northwest Sardinia, Italy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 July 2018

G. Cruciani
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Via Trentino 51, Università degli Studi di Cagliari, I-09127, Cagliari, Italy
M. Franceschelli*
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Via Trentino 51, Università degli Studi di Cagliari, I-09127, Cagliari, Italy
H.-J. Massonne
Affiliation:
Institut für Mineralogie und Kristallchemie, Universität Stuttgart, Azenbergstrasse 18, D-70174, Stuttgart, Germany
*

Abstract

A lenticular metagabbro crops out in an early Palaeozoic metasedimentary sequence at Nurra, northwest Sardinia. The metagabbro consists of variable proportions of early-formed coarse-grained albite, chlorite, epidote and apatite, later biotite and amphibole, and late stilpnomelane. Clinopyroxene and ilmenite are rare relict igneous minerals; albite has completely replaced primary plagioclase.

The metamorphic evolution of the Nurra metagabbro has been investigated by pseudosection modelling for a fixed bulk-rock composition in the Na2O—CaO—K2O—FeO—MgO—A12O3—SiO2—H2O (NCKFMASH) model system with added Ti and Mn in the P-T range 1-11 kbar and 150-450°C. The P—T path of the metagabbro is a loop with a prograde segment overprinted by later metamorphic re-equilibration. The pressure peak was at ⩽7 kbar and ∼400°C. The subsequent temperature peak, at ∼440°C, was accompanied by a decrease in pressure to ∼3 kbar. The final P—T evolution of the metagabbro is characterized by near-isobaric cooling to 250—300°C, with the formation of stilpnomelane. The P—T path of the Nurra gabbro is typical of continental orogenic belts that have undergone crustal thickening.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Allen, J.M. and Goldie, R. (1978) Coexisting amphiboles from the Noranda area, Quebec: extension of the actinolite-hornblende miscibility gap to iron-rich bulk compositions. American Mineralogist, 63, 205-209.Google Scholar
Cappelli, B., Carmignani, L., Castorina, F., Di Pisa, A., Oggiano, G. and Petrini, R. (1992) A Hercynian suture zone in Sardinia: geological and geochemical evidence. Geodinamica Acta, 5, 101-118.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carmignani, L., Franceschelli, M., Pertusati, P.C. and Ricci, C.A. (1979) Evoluzione tettonico-metamorfica del basamento ercinico della Nurra (Sardegna NW). Memorie della Società Geologica Italiana, 20, 57-84.Google Scholar
Carmignani, L., Oggiano, G., Barca, S., Conti, P., Salvadori, I., Eltrudis, A., Funedda, A. and Pasci, S. (2001) Geologia della Sardegna. Note illustrative della Carta Geologica della Sardegna a scala 1:200000. Memorie descrittive della Carta Geologica d’Italia, 60, 283 pp.Google Scholar
Carosi, R. and Oggiano, G. (2002) Transpressional deformation in northwestern Sardinia (Italy): insights on the tectonic evolution of the Variscan belt. Comptes Rendus Geoscience, 334, 287-294.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carosi, R., Di Pisa, A., Iacopini, D., Montomoli, C. and Oggiano, G. (2004) The structural evolution of the Asinara Island(NW Sardinia, Italy). Geodinamica Acta, 17, 309-329.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Connolly, J.A.D. (2005) Computation of phase equilibria by linear programming: a tool for geodynamic modeling and its application to subduction zone decarbonation. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 236, 524-541.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cruciani, G., Franceschelli, M., Elter, F.M., Puxeddu, M. and Utzeri, D. (2008) Petrogenesis of Al-silicatebearing trondhjemitic migmatites from NE Sardinia, Italy. Lithos, 102, 554-574.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Daczko, N.R., Caffi, P., Halpin, J.A. and Mann, P. (2009) Exhumation of the Dayman dome metamorphic core complex, eastern Papua New Guinea. Journal of Metamorphic Geology, 27, 405-422.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Del Moro, A., Di Pisa, A., Oggiano, G. and Villa, I.M. (1991) Isotopic ages of two contrasting tectonometamorphic episodes in the Variscan chain in northern Sardinia. Pp. 33-35 in: Geologia del basamento Italiano, Abstracts (Cappelli, B. and Liotta, D., editors). Accademia Fisiocritici, Siena, Italy, 212 pp.Google Scholar
Di Vincenzo, G., Carosi, R. and Palmeri, R. (2004) The relationship between tectono-metamorphic evolution andargon isotope records in white mica: constraints from in situ 40Ar–39Ar laser analysis of the Variscan basement of Sardinia. Journal of Petrology, 45, 1013-1043.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
England, P.C. and Thompson, A.B. (1984) Pressuretemperature-time paths of regional metamorphism I. Heat transfer during the evolution of regions of thickenedcontinental crust. Journal of Petrology, 25, 894-928.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fettes, D. and Desmons, J. (2007) Metamorphic rocks: A Classification and Glossary of Terms. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, 244 pp.Google Scholar
Franceschelli, M., Memmi, I. and Ricci, C.A. (1982) Zoneografia metamorfica della Sardegna settentrionale. Pp. 137-149 in: Guida alla Geologia del Paleozoico Sardo. Guide geologiche regionali (Carmignani, L., Cocozza, T., Ghezzo, C., Pertusati, P.C. and Ricci, C.A., editors) Società Geologica Italiana, Rome, Italy Google Scholar
Franceschelli, M., Memmi, I., Pannuti, F. and Ricci, C.A. (1989) Diachronous metamorphic equilibria in the Hercynian basement of northern Sardinia, Italy. Pp. 371-375 in: Evolution of metamorphic belts (Daly, J.S., Cliff, R.A. and Yardley, B.W.D., editors). Geological Society Special Publication 43. Blackwell Scientific, Oxford, UK, 566 pp.Google Scholar
Franceschelli, M., Pannuti, F. and Puxeddu, M. (1990) Texture development and P–T time path of psammitic schist from the Hercynian chain of NW Sardinia (Italy). European Journal of Mineralogy, 2, 385-398.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Franceschelli, M., Cruciani, G., Puxeddu, M. and Utzeri, D. (2003) Pre-Variscan metagabbro from NW Sardinia, Italy: evidence of an enriched asthenospheric mantle source for continental alkali basalts. Geological Journal, 38, 145-159.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Franceschelli, M., Puxeddu, M. and Cruciani, G. (2005) Variscan metamorphism in Sardinia, Italy: review andd iscussion. Journal of the Virtual Explorer, 19, http://dx.doi.org/10.3809/jvirtex.2005.00121 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Franzini, M. and Leoni, L. (1972) A full matrix correction in X-ray fluorescence analysis of rock samples. Atti della Società Toscana di Scienze Naturali Memorie, 79(A), 22-.Google Scholar
Fuhrman, M.L. and Lind sley, D.H. (1988) Ternaryfeldspar modeling and thermometry. American Mineralogist, 73, 201-215.Google Scholar
Holland, T.J.B. and Powell, R. (1998) An internally consistent thermodynamic data set for phases of petrologic interest. Journal of Metamorphic Geology, 16, 309-343.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Klein, C., Jr. (1969) Two-amphibole assemblages in the system actinolite-hornblende-glaucophane. American Mineralogist, 54, 212-237.Google Scholar
Kryza, R., Willner, A.P., Massonne, H.-J., Muszyński, , and Schertl, H.-P. (2011) Blueschist-facies metamorphism in the Kaczawa Mountains (Sudetes, SW Poland) of the Central-European Variscides: P–T constraints from a jadeite-bearing metatrachyte. Mineralogical Magazine, 75, 241-262.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leake, B.E., Woolley, A.R., Arps, C.E.S., Birch, W.D., Gilbert, M.C., Grice, J.D., Hawthorne, F.C., Kato, A., Kisch, H.J., Krivivichev, V.G., Linthout, K., Laird, J., Mandarino, J.A., Maresch, W.V., Nickel, E.H., Rock, N.M.S., Schumacher, J.C., Smith, D.C., Stephenson, N.C.N., Ungaretti, L., Whittaker, E. and Youzhi, G. (1997) Nomenclature of amphiboles: report of the subcommittee on amphiboles of the International Mineralogical Association, commission on new minerals andmineral names. European Journal of Mineralogy, 9, 623-651.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liou, J.G., Zhang, R.Y., Ernst, W.G., Rumble, D., III and Maruyama, S. (1998) High-pressure minerals from deeply subducted metamorphic rocks. Pp. 33-96 in: Ultrahigh-Pressure Mineralogy (Hemley, R.J., editor), Reviews in Mineralogy, 37. Mineralogical Society of America, Washington DC, 671 pp.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liu, Y., Liu, H., Massonne, H.-J. and Theye, T. (2009) Evidence for oceanic subduction at the NE Gondwana margin during Permian and Triassic times. Terra Nova, 21, 195-202.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Massonne, H.-J. (2011) Phase relations of siliceous marbles at ultrahigh pressure basedon thermodynamic calculations: examples from the Kokchetav massif, Kazakhstan, andthe Sulu terrane, China. Special Issue: “Extreme Metamorphism and Continental Dynamics” (Guest editors: Santosh, M., Sajeev, K. and Tsunogae, T.), Geological Journal, 46, 114-125.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Massonne, H.-J. and Toulkeridis, T. (2010) Widespread relics of high-pressure metamorphism confirm major terrane accretion in Ecuador: a new example from the Northern Andes. International Geology Review, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00206814.2010.498907.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Massonne, H.-J. and Willner, A.P. (2008) Phase relations and dehydration behaviour of psammopelite and mid-ocean ridge basalt at very-low-grade to lowgrade metamorphic conditions. European Journal of Mineralogy, 20, 867-879.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miyano, T. and Klein, C. (1989) Phase equilibria in the system K2O–FeO–MgO–Al2O3–SiO2–H2O–CO2 and the stability limit of stilpnomelane in metamorphosed Precambrian iron-formation. Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology, 102, 478-491.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mogessie, A., Ettinger, K. and Leake, B.E. (2004) AMPH-IMA04: a revisedHypercard program to determine the name of an amphibole from chemical analyses according to the 2004 International Mineralogical Association scheme. Mineralogical Magazine, 68, 825-830.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oggiano, G., Gaggero, L., Funedda, A., Buzzi, L. and Tiepolo, M. (2010) Multiple early Paleozoic volcanic events at the northern Gondwana margin: U-Pb age evidence from the Southern Variscan branch (Sardinia, Italy). Gondwana Research, 17, 44-58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pe-Piper, G. (1988) Calcic amphiboles of mafic rocks of the Jeffers Brook plutonic complex, Nova Scotia, Canada. American Mineralogist, 73, 993-1006.Google Scholar
Raith, M. (1976) The Al-Fe(III) epidote miscibility gap in a metamorphic profile through the Penninic series of the Tauern window, Austria. Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology, 57, 99-117.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ricci, C.A. (1992) From crustal thickening to exhumation: petrological, structural andgeochronological records in the crystalline basement of northern Sardinia. Pp. 187-197 in: Contributions to the Geology of Italy with special regard to the Paleozoic basements. A volume dedicated to Tommaso Cocozza (Carmignani, L. and Sassi, F.P., editors). International Geoscience Program 276. Mestrino, Italy, 467 pp.Google Scholar
Spear, F.S. (1993) Metamorphic Phase Equilibria and Pressure-Temperature-Time Paths. Monograph 1, Mineralogical Society of America, Washington DC, 799 pp.Google Scholar
Thompson, A.B. and England, P.C. (1984) Pressure–temperature–time paths of regional metamorphism II. Their influence andinterpretation using mineral assemblages in metamorphic rocks. Journal of Petrology, 25, 929-955.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Willner, A.P., Seplveda, F.A., Hervé, F., Massonne, H.-J. and Sudo, M. (2009) Conditions and timing of pumpellyite-actinolite-facies metamorphism in the Early Mesozoic frontal accretionary prism of the Madre de Dios Archipelago (Latitude 50°20’S; Southern Chile). Journal of Petrology, 50, 2127-2155.CrossRefGoogle Scholar