A pyroxene geotherm |
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| Authors: | FR Boyd |
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| Institution: | Geophysical Laboratory, Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington, D.C. 20008, U.S.A. |
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| Abstract: | Phase equilibria determined in high-pressure studies of the systems Mg2Si2O6-CaMgSi2O6 and MgSiO3-Mg3Al2Si3O12 can be used to estimate equilibration conditions of ultramafic rocks containing the assemblage enstatite + diopside + garnet. Garnet lherzolite nodules from kimberlites in northern Lesotho appear to have equilibrated in the upper mantle at depths ranging from 100 to 200 km and at temperatures in the range 900–1400°C. Temperature-depth points for these lherzolites form a trend that is interpreted as a segment of a fossil geotherm. The trend is inflected to higher temperatures at its deep end. Lherzolites that plot on the shallow limb of the geotherm have a granular texture whereas those that plot on the deep limb are intensely sheared. It is suggested that the shearing took place in response to plate movements during the break-up of Gondwanaland and that the sheared lherzolites were stress-heated as much as 300°C above their ambient, preshearing temperatures. The point of inflection of the geotherm may mark the top of the low-velocity zone beneath Lesotho in Late Cretaceous time. |
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