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Two-feldspar geothermometry in granulite facies metamorphic rocks

Sapphirine granulites from Brazil

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Abstract

A geothermometric technique based on equilibria between coexisting plagioclase and alkali feldspar was applied to quartzo-feldspathic granulites from Salvador, BA, Brazil. The conditions of metamorphism were determined to be in the range 750 ° C–800 ° C, 4–8 Kb, by comparison with experimental data on the stabilities of sapphirine, phlogopite and other minerals occurring in the associated rocks. Selected feldspar data gives temperatures near, but slightly below, this range. Several variants of the Wood and Banno model, as well as an empirical two-pyroxene geothermometer, were also tested and found to give temperatures which were apparently 50 °–100 ° high. The solubility of Al2O3 in orthopyroxene indicates temperatures which are about 200 ° to high, suggesting that Fe in the natural assemblages significantly changes relationships observed experimentally in MgO-Al2O3-SiO2 systems.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geology, University of Georgia, 30602, Athens, Georgia, USA

    John C. Stormer Jr. & James A. Whitney

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  1. John C. Stormer Jr.
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  2. James A. Whitney
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Stormer, J.C., Whitney, J.A. Two-feldspar geothermometry in granulite facies metamorphic rocks. Contr. Mineral. and Petrol. 65, 123–133 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00371052

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00371052

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