Monazite Th-U-total Pb geochronology and P-T thermodynamic modelling in a revision of the HP-HT metamorphic record in granulites from Stary Gierałtów (NE Orlica-Śnieżnik Dome, SW Poland)

Abstract

Thermodynamic modelling and monazite Th-U-total Pb dating via electron microprobe were used to improve the pressure, temperature and timing constraints of the HP-HT metamorphic record in granulites from Stary Gierałtów (NE Orlica-Śnieżnik Dome (OSD), SW Poland). The thermodynamic calculations constrained the P-T conditions to 20-22 kbar and ca. 920ºC in the felsic to intermediate granulites and 20-22 kbar and ca. 970ºC in the mafic granulite. These conditions are considered to closely represent the peak temperatures experienced by these rocks. In the intermediate granulite, the matrix monazite and monazite inclusions in garnet and allanite yielded an age of 349±2.5 Ma. An HP-HT metamorphic event with temperature conditions exceeding 900ºC, which are greater than the closure temperatures of most geochronometers, must have disturbed and completely reset the isotopic systems, including the Th-U-Pb system in the monazite. Consequently, this resetting prevented us from constraining the age of potential earlier metamorphic events or the igneous protolith. The 349±2.5 Ma age reflects the timing of the late-stage HP-HT event and cooling below 900ºC related to the initial exhumation of the granulites. A comparison of the new P-T-t constraints with previous data from the NE Orlica-Śnieżnik Dome indicates that the activation of the channels that exhumed the HP rocks to mid-crustal depths most likely initiated at ca. 350 Ma, and all the metamorphic rocks in the OSD likely shared a common Variscan evolution after ca. 340 Ma.