Blueschist-facies metabasite rocks from the Tavşanlı Zone of northwest Turkey have been found to contain an abundance of lawsonite displaying oscillatory zoning. Lawsonite normally adheres to the ideal composition of CaAl2[Si2O7](OH)2.H2O. In two samples from the Tavşanlı Zone, Al3+-Cr3+ substitution has occurred. The Cr3+ was probably present in the protolith as magmatic chromite, became incorporated into lawsonite during subduction, and is a metamorphic feature resulting from quantities of Cr in the protolith and local fluid conditions.

A study of low-grade metamorphism in late Silurian to early Carboniferous rocks in the North Hill End Synclinorium and adjacent anticlinoria has been made by the determination of illite crystallinity and bo values of K-white mica in eighty slates and phyllites. Illite crystallinity values vary from 0.40 Δ°2θ on the Molong Anticlinorium to 0.12 Δ°2θ within the axis of the synclinorium, suggesting anchizonal to epizonal metamorphic conditions. This is in agreement with previous observations on Ca-Al-hydrosilicate assemblages which indicated a change from prehnite-pumpellyite facies in the anticlinoria adjacent to the synclinorium to middle greenschist facies in the axis. Local variations in crystallinity are attributed to variation in ak+ in fluids migrating along cleavage zones.

The mean bo value obtained from the pelites is 9.017 Å (σn = 0.008; n = 80) which is in close agreement with that obtained from part of the adjacent Capertee Anticlinorium ( = 9.019 Å; σn = 0.007; n = 52). However, ‘t’ tests indicate that two bo populations are present in the synclinorium ( = 9.019 and 9.022 Å), with the lower values concentrated in the southern portion of this structure. The two populations are considered to be the result of slightly different metamorphic conditions prevailing during the deformation of the rocks in the synclinorium. A higher geothermal gradient affecting rocks giving the lower bo values is attributed to the presence of granitoids at shallower depths than elsewhere in the synclinorium.

The results of a microstructural study by backscattered scanning electron microscopy and a microchemical study using X-ray microprobe analysis of phyllosilicate intergrowths from sandstones, shales, metagreywackes, and low-grade schists are presented. The microstructural study revealed that the intergrowths thicken and become more coherent with metamorphic grade; the intergrowths change from incoherent to coherent in the anchizone. The increasing coherency is mirrored by an increase in the crystallinity indices of the illites/phengites. Chemical analysis of the individual intergrowth phases was difficult in the sediments and no systematic compositional variations were recorded. However, clear compositional trends with increasing metamorphic grade emerged in the phengites from the metagreywackes and schists, but in the chlorites only slight compositional changes were recorded.

The Ross Sea is bordered by the Late Precambrian–Cambrian Ross–Delamerian Orogen of East Antarctica and the more Pacific-ward Ordovician–Silurian Lachlan–Tuhua–Robertson Bay–Swanson Orogen. A calcsilicate gneiss from Deep Sea Drilling Project 270 drill hole in the central Ross Sea, Antarctica, gives a U-Pb titanite age of 437 ± 6 Ma (2σ). This age of high-grade metamorphism is too young for typical Ross Orogen. Based on this age, and on lithology, we propose a provisional correlation with the Early Palaeozoic Lachlan–Tuhua–Robertson Bay–Swanson Orogen, and possibly the Bowers Terrane of northern Victoria Land. A metamorphosed porphyritic rhyolite dredged from the Iselin Bank, northern Ross Sea, gives a U-Pb zircon age of 545 ± 32 Ma (2σ). The U-Pb age, petrochemistry, Ar-Ar K-feldspar dating, and Sr and Nd isotopic ratios indicate a correlation with Late Proterozoic–Cambrian igneous protoliths of the Ross Orogen. If the Iselin Bank rhyolite is not ice-rafted debris, then it represents a further intriguing occurrence of Ross basement found outside the main Ross–Delamerian Orogen.

The metamorphic sole rocks observed between the Pozantı–Karsantı ophiolite and the melange unit are located on the eastern part of the Tauride carbonate platform. They consist of ortho-amphibolites at the top and metasedimentary lithologies at the base. Amphibolites from the metamorphic sole rocks are represented by OIB, MORB and IAT based on their major, trace and REE compositions. The isolated dolerite dykes intrude both the metamorphic sole rocks and the ophiolitic unit at different structural levels. The dolerite dykes cutting the metamorphic sole rocks are enriched in LILE and depleted in HFSE. Enrichment in LILE such as Th, relative to HFSE, is indicative of the presence of a subduction component. Flat-lying REE patterns of the dolerite dykes also confirm an IAT source. Pyroxenite and albitite dykes also cut the metamorphic sole rocks. REE patterns of pyroxenite dykes show prominent LREE enrichment, similar to that observed in within-plate alkaline basalts. The alkaline isolated pyroxenite dykes were probably the result of late-stage magmatism fed by melts that originated from an OIB source, shortly before the emplacement of the Pozantı–Karsantı ophiolite onto the Tauride carbonate platform. A hydrothermal alteration stage is characterized by albitite formation in the joints of the metamorphic sole rocks and by secondary mineralization along the contact zones of dolerite dykes. Mineral parageneses in the metamorphic sole rocks exhibit amphibolite and greenschist-facies assemblages. Geothermobarometric studies based on a newly recognized mineral assemblage (e.g. kyanite) and chemical compositions of minerals in the metamorphic sole rocks indicate that the metamorphic temperature during the metamorphism was 570–580°C and the pressure was around 5–6 kbar.