Calculated phase equilibria in K2O-FeO-MgO-Al2O3-SiO2-H2O for sapphirine-quartz-bearing mineral assemblages

Abstract

Sapphirine, coexisting with quartz, is an indicator mineral for ultrahigh-temperature metamorphism in aluminous rock compositions. Here a new activity-composition model for sapphirine is combined with the internally consistent thermodynamic dataset used by THERMOCALC, for calculations primarily in K₂O-FeO-MgO-Al₂O₃-SiO₂-H₂O (KFMASH). A discrepancy between published experimentally derived FMAS grids and our calculations is understood with reference to H₂O. Published FMAS grids effectively represent constant a_H2O sections, thereby limiting their detailed use for the interpretation of mineral reaction textures in compositions with differing H₂O.

For the calculated KFMASH univariant reaction grid, sapphirine + quartz assemblages occur at P–T in excess of 6–7 kbar and 1005 °C. Sapphirine compositions and composition ranges are consistent with natural examples. However, as many univariant equilibria are typically not 'seen' by a specific bulk composition, the univariant reaction grid may reveal little about the detailed topology of multi-variant equilibria, and therefore is of limited use for interpreting the P–T evolution of mineral assemblages and reaction sequences. Calculated pseudosections, which quantify bulk composition and multi-variant equilibria, predict experimentally determined KFMASH mineral assemblages with consistent topology, and also indicate that sapphirine stabilizes at increasingly higher pressure and temperature as X_Mg increases. Although coexisting sapphirine and quartz can occur in relatively iron-rich rocks if the bulk chemistry is sufficiently aluminous, the P–T window of stability shrinks with decreasing X_Mg. An array of mineral assemblages and mineral reaction sequences from natural sapphirine + quartz and other rocks from Enderby Land, Antarctica, are reproducible with calculated pseudosections. That consistent phase diagram calculations involving sapphirine can be performed allows for a more thorough assessment of the metamorphic evolution of high-temperature granulite facies terranes than was previously possible. The establishment of a a-x model for sapphirine provides the basis for expansion to larger, more geologically realistic chemical systems (e.g. involving Fe³⁺).