Equilibrium and kinetic approaches to understand the occurrence of the uncommon chloritoid + biotite assemblage

Abstract

The coexistence of chloritoid and biotite in medium-pressure Barrovian terranes is quite uncommon, and the parameters controlling their equilibrium relations are still controversial. Various studies have already investigated the influence of pressure (P), temperature (T), bulk rock (X bulk) and fluid (X fluid) compositions on the stability of this assemblage. Here we apply forward thermodynamic modelling on amphibolite-facies metapelites from the upper portion of the Lesser Himalayan Sequence (eastern Nepal Himalaya) to test which parameters mostly influence the stability of the chloritoid + biotite assemblage. P–T isochemical phase diagrams calculated in the MnNKCFMASHTO system fail in reproducing the coexistence of chloritoid and biotite, predicting biotite appearance at higher temperatures than chloritoid breakdown. Neither the fluid composition (i.e. reduced H2O activity due to the presence of CO2) nor a more oxidated state of the system favours their coexistence, while slightly H2O-undersaturated conditions expand the biotite stability field toward lower temperatures, allowing the development of the chloritoid + biotite assemblage. Kinetic factors could have further contributed to the stability of this assemblage: thermal overstepping of the chloritoid-consuming and staurolite-producing reaction, induced by the difficulty in the staurolite nucleation and/or by the sluggishness of chloritoid dissolution, could have enhanced the metastable persistence of chloritoid at temperatures compatible with the presence of biotite. Being the kinetics efficiency intrinsically linked to the degree of fluid availability, the two factors (i.e. H2O-undersaturated conditions and kinetics of the chloritoid-consuming reaction) were likely complementary rather than mutually exclusive.