Two Tertiary metamorphic events recognized in high‐pressure metapelites of the Nevado‐Filábride Complex (Betic Cordillera, S Spain)

Abstract

Two phengite–garnet‐bearing metapelites from the Nevado‐Filábride Complex, Betic Cordillera, one from the Ragua unit (sample 23085) and the other (sample 23098) from the Calar Alto unit, were studied in detail to elucidate their metamorphic evolution. We calculated various P–T pseudosections for different O2 and H2O‐CO2 contents and Fe3+/Fe2+ ratios with PERPLE_X . On the basis of the compositions of the garnet core and the highest Si content in potassic white mica, different peak pressures of 12.7 ± 0.7 kbar at 525 ± 10°C (23085) and 17.4 ± 1.2 kbar at 526 ± 17°C (23098) resulted (errors refer to an estimated 1σ range). The suggested clockwise P–T loop was followed in both cases by another loop caused by a reheating process. On the basis of garnet rim compositions, peak temperatures of 596 ± 10°C at 10.7 ± 1.4 kbar (23085) and 629 ± 11°C at 8.5 ± 0.7 kbar (23098) resulted, supported by Zr‐in‐rutile thermometry (23085: 591 ± 11°C; 23098: 607 ± 10°C). In situ dating of monazite (23085) with the electron microprobe yielded ages between c. 48 and 14 Ma. On the basis of the monazite composition and histogram analysis, two age populations with mean ages of 40.2 ± 1.7 (1σ) and 24.1 ± 0.8 Ma could be defined. Low Y2O3 contents (<0.6 wt%) in monazite point to its formation after initial growth of garnet. The older generation was therefore assigned to the formation of the garnet core and the early P–T loop. The younger monazite population was related to the late P–T loop. A geodynamic scenario is hypothesized that assigns the Eocene metamorphism to subduction of a continental margin to depths of 50–65 km, followed by exhumation in an exhumation channel accompanied by mixing of slices of different rock types including mantle rocks. This process ended with stacking of such slices causing reheating of the studied rocks in the Early Miocene. The noted time gap of c. 15 Ma between subduction and nappe stacking is similar to the continent–continent collisional orogeny of the Himalaya.

Subduction metamorphism of serpentinite‐hosted carbonates beyond antigorite‐serpentinite dehydration (Nevado‐Filábride Complex, Spain)

“…The Nevado-Filábride Complex (NFC) is part of the internal zones of the Betic Cordilleras (S. Spain; Figure 2a,b) and records Alpine subduction-related HP metamorphism during early to middle Miocene (18-14 Ma;Gómez-Pugnaire et al, 2012;Kirchner, Behr, Loewy, & Stockli, 2016; López Sánchez-Vizcaíno, Rubatto, Gómez-Pugnaire, Trommsdorff, & Müntener, 2001;Platt, Anczkiewicz, Soto, Kelley, & Thirlwall, 2006). Estimates of the peak pressure-temperature (P-T) conditions for different units of this complex range from ~1.0 to 2.2 GPa and 550-700°C (Booth-Rea, Martínez-Martínez, & Giaconia, 2015;Gómez-Pugnaire, Franz, & López Sánchez-Vizcaíno, 1994; Jabaloy-Sánchez, Gómez-Pugnaire, Padrón-Navarta, López Sánchez-Vizcaíno, Li & Massonne, 2018;López Sánchez-Vizcaíno, Connolly, & Gomez-Pugnaire, 1997;Platt, Behr, Johanesen, & Williams, 2013). The NFC constituted a Jurassic extended continental margin (Gómez-Pugnaire et al, 2012) or narrow oceanic basin (Puga et al, 2011) that separated Iberia from the allochthonous Alborán domain units, which were part of the AlKaPeCa terranes in the central F I G U R E 1 Compilation of peak pressure-temperature (P-T) conditions of meta-ophicarbonates (white fields) superposed on the pseudosection of a Ca-bearing serpentinite from the Almirez massif.…”

An anticlockwise P–T–t path at high‐pressure, high‐temperature conditions for a migmatitic gneiss from the island of Fjørtoft, Western Gneiss Region, Norway, indicates two burial events during the Caledonian orogeny

“…Anticlockwise P-T loops, however, have been rarely reported for such rocks (Faber et al, 2018;Massonne, 2012;Waizenhöfer & Massonne, 2017). In rare cases, mineral parageneses and textures, such as complex compositional zonation of garnet, may record more than one single burial and exhumation cycle for some of these rocks, which can complicate the construction and interpretation of the P-T-t paths (Herwartz, Nagel, Münker, Scherer, & Froitzheim, 2011;Li & Massonne, 2018;Massonne, 2014;Regis et al, 2014;Rubatto et al, 2011).…”

Original Calibration of a Garnet Geobarometer in Metapelite

“…It is well known that garnet-bearing metapelite is perfectly sensitive to P-T change and thus can act as an ideal research target in unraveling the metamorphic evolution of orogenic belts [27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37]. However, plagioclase is always CaO-poor or even absent in many metapelitic assemblages, which makes most of the commonly adopted plagioclase-related geobarometers unusable [38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54].…”