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Metamorphic P-T paths from calcic pelitic schists from the Strafford Dome, Vermont, USA |
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| Authors: | T MENARD F S SPEAR |
| Institution: | Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, T2N 1NH Canada;Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY 12180, USA |
| Abstract: | Metamorphism of the Gile Mountain Formation and Waits River Formation in the Strafford Dome and Townshend-Brownington Syncline in east-central Vermont records two nappe-style events, D1 and D2, followed by doming. D1 formed a muscovite + biotite ± ilmenite schistosity subparallel to compositional layering, SO, and was followed by heating to garnet grade. The temperature and pressure at the end of D1 are estimated to be c . 450 C and 6-8 kbar. D2 variably crenulated and folded S1 during a nearly isothermal pressure increase of 1-2 kbar, calculated from compositions of garnet, which have inclusions trails with progressive crenulation and rotation of the S1 fabric. Similar P-T paths are computed for most of the area, suggesting that the later schistosity developed during emplacement of a regional nappe 3-6 km thick. There is a general lack of D3 (dome-stage) microstructures.Near the Strafford-Willoughby Arch, staurolite and kyanite overgrew S2 in pelites, and plagioclase with increasing X C. Metamorphic pressures at the end of D2 are fairly constant on the west side of the dome, indicating minor dome-stage uplift. In contrast, pressures at the thermal peak of metamorphism decrease by more than 4 kbar east of the dome. The observed pattern of isotherms and isobars is mainly the result of post-metamorphic, differential uplift and unroofing.Finally, a minor, retrograde metamorphism produced the assemblage albite + epidote + K-feldspar + muscovite + chlorite, with grade increasing east toward the Connecticut River. |
| Keywords: | Acadian metamorphism calcic pelites garnet zoning New England P-T paths thermobarometry |