Biotite

Abstract: The cation exchange reaction Fe3Al2Si3O12 +KMg3AlSi3O10(OH)2 = Mg3Al2Si3O12+KFe3-AlSi3 O10(OH)2 has been investigated by determining the partitioning of Fe and Mg between synthetic garnet, (Fe, Mg)3Al2Si3O12, and synthetic biotite, K(Fe, Mg)3AlSi3O10(OH)2. Experimental results at 2.07 kbar and 550 °–800 ° C are consistent with In [(Mg/Fe) garnet/(Mg/Fe) biotite] = -2109/T(°K) +0.782. The preferred estimates for Δ¯H and Δ¯S of the exchange reaction are 12,454 cal and 4.662 e.u., respectively. Mixtures of garnet and biotite in which the ratio garnet/biotite=49/1 were used in the cation exchange experiments. Consequently the composition of garnet-biotite pairs could approach equilibrium values in the experiments with minimal change in garnet composition (few tenths of a mole percent). Equilibrium was demonstrated at each temperature by reversal of the exchange reaction. Numerical analysis of the experimental data yields a geothermometer for rocks containing biotite and garnet that are close to binary Fe-Mg compounds.

Abstract: Mineral equilibria calculations in the system K2O–FeO–MgO–Al2O3–SiO2–H2O–TiO2–Fe2O3 (KFMASHTO) using thermocalc and its internally consistent thermodynamic dataset constrain the effect of TiO2 and Fe2O3 on greenschist and amphibolite facies mineral equilibria in metapelites. The end-member data and activity–composition relationships for biotite and chloritoid, calibrated with natural rock data, and activity–composition data for garnet, calibrated using experimental data, provide new constraints on the effects of TiO2 and Fe2O3 on the stability of these minerals. Thermodynamic models for ilmenite–hematite and magnetite–ulvospinel solid solutions accounting for order–disorder in these phases allow the distribution of TiO2 and Fe2O3 between oxide minerals and silicate minerals to be calculated. The calculations indicate that small to moderate amounts of TiO2 and Fe2O3 in typical metapelitic bulk compositions have little effect on silicate mineral equilibria in metapelites at greenschist to amphibolite facies, compared with those calculated in KFMASH. The addition of large amounts of TiO2 to typical pelitic bulk compositions has little effect on the stability of silicate assemblages; in contrast, rocks rich in Fe2O3 develop a markedly different metamorphic succession from that of common Barrovian sequences. In particular, Fe2O3-rich metapelites show a marked reduction in the stability fields of staurolite and garnet to higher pressures, in comparison to those predicted by KFMASH grids.

Abstract: We have melted metapelitic rocks from the High Himalayan Crystalline Sequence that are likely sources of leucogranite magmas. Starting materials were a muscovite schist and a tourmaline-bearing muscovite–biotite schist. Both are kyanite-zone rocks from the hanging wall of the Main Central Thrust. Experiments were conducted at 6, 8 and 10 kbar and 700–900°C, both without added H 2 O (dehydration–melting) and with 1–4 wt % added H 2 O. Dehydration-melting begins at 750–800°C, and produces melts that are virtually identical in composition to the Himalayan leucogranites. Adding H 2 O lowers the solidus by promoting plagioclase + quartz melting. Melts produced from these starting materials at T ≤ 750°C by H 2 O-fluxing are trondhjemitic, and different in composition from most Himalayan leucogranites. Leucogranite magmas in the Himalaya formed by dehydration-melting of metapelites during adiabatic decompression, at 6–8 kbar and 750–770°C. The dehydration-melting solidus for muscovite schist has a smaller dP/dT slope than that for biotite schist. In consequence, muscovite schist undergoes decompression-melting more readily than does biotite schist. The two solidi probably cross over at ∼10 kbar, so that muscovite may be a more important deep crustal H 2 O reservoir than biotite.