Abstract
Garnet, biotite and host rock have been analysed along a traverse from the garnet isograd to the kyanite zone in the Dalradian of Central Perthshire, Scotland. FeO and MgO increase and MnO and CaO decrease in the garnet with increasing grade. Microprobe analyses of the garnets reveal zoning, which indicates that a garnet crystal as a whole does not equilibrate with the matrix during growth. Coexisting biotite varies in composition as a result of the abstraction of MnO, FeO etc. from the rook by the growing garnet, i.e. the mg/mg + fe ratio increases with grade. The microprobe analyses also reveal the size of the system from which garnet abstracted material varied from 0.100 to 2.000 g and the nucleation was frequently “instantaneous”. It also reveals the equilibrium or non-equilibrium nature of the assemblage, and explains the variation in garnet composition with grade in terms of a segregation model with a changing distribution coefficient. Primary chlorite was analysed from rocks near to the garnet isograd containing garnet and biotite. It has a similar mg/mg + fe value to the coexisting biotite. The results show that the three phase field defining the garnet isograd moves towards the mg corner with increasing grade. The higher grade fields lie to the mg rich side of the three phase field so that the sequence of mineral assemblages across the Barrovian zones in Perthshire, from the garnet isograd to the kyanite zone, can be summarized and displayed on a phase diagram.
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Atherton, M.P. The variation in garnet, biotite and chlorite composition in medium grade pelitic rocks from the Dalradian, Scotland, with particular reference to the zonation in garnet. Contr. Mineral. and Petrol. 18, 347–371 (1968). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00399696
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00399696
