P-T PATHS AND TECTONIC EVOLUTION OF SHEAR ZONES SEPARATING HIGH-GRADE TERRAINS FROM CRATONS: EXAMPLES FROM KOLA PENINSULA (RUSSIA) AND LIMPOPO REGION (SOUTH AFRICA)

Abstract

Two metamorphic zones are identified in strongly deformed mica schists from the 1.9 Ga Korva Tundra Group of the Tanaelv belt: (1) a chlorite-staurolite zone tectonically overlaying gneisses of the Karelian craton, and (2) a kyanite-biotite zone tectonically underlying garnet amphibolites of the Tanaelv Belt, which are in tectonic contact with the Lapland granulite complex. The prograde reaction Chl+St+Ms ↠ Ky+Bt+Qtz+H2O clearly defines a boundary between zones (1) and (2). Rotated garnet porphyroblasts from zone (1) contain numerous inclusions (Otz, Chl, Ms), and show clear Mg/Fe chemical zoning, suggesting garnet growth during prograde metamorphism. The metamorphic peak, T = 650°C and P = 7.5 kbar, is recorded in the kyanite-biotite zone and characterized by unzoned snowball garnet. In many samples of mica schists euhedral garnet porphyroblasts of the retrograde stage are completely devoid of mineral inclusions while N Mg decreases from core to rim, indicating a decrease in P-T from 650°C, 7.5 kbar to 530°C, 5 kbar. The Hout River Shear Zone (South Africa) shows metamorphic zonation from greenschists through epidote amphibolites to garnet amphibolites. Rare strongly deformed mica schists (Chl+Grt+Pl+Ms+Bt+Qtz) occur as thin layers among epidote-amphibolites only. Garnet porphyroblasts in the schists are similar to that of the Tanaelv Belt recording a prograde P-T path with peak conditions of T = 600°C and P∼ 5.5 kbar. The retrograde stage is documented by the continuous reaction Prp+2Ms+Phl ↠ 6Qtz+3East recording a minimum T = 520°C and P ∼ 3.3 kbar. Similar narrow clock-wise P-T loops recorded in mica schists from both studied shear zones suggest similarities in the geodynamic history of both shear zones under consideration.