Phase Equilibria Modelling of Residual Migmatites and Granulites: an Evaluation of the Melt-Reintegration Approach

Suprasolidus continental crust is prone to loss and redistribution of anatectic melt to shallow crustal levels. These processes ultimately lead to differentiation of the continental crust. The majority of granulite facies rocks worldwide has experienced melt loss and the reintegration of melt is becoming an increasingly popular approach to reconstruct the prograde history of melt-depleted rocks by means of phase equilibria modelling. It involves the stepwise down-temperature reintegration of a certain amount of melt into the residual bulk composition along an inferred P–T path, and various ways of calculating and reintegrating melt compositions have been developed and applied. Here different melt-reintegration approaches are tested using El Hoyazo granulitic enclaves (SE Spain), and Mt. Stafford residual migmatites (central Australia). Various sets of P–T pseudosections were constructed progressing step by step, to lower temperatures along the inferred P–T paths. Melt-reintegration was done following one-step and multi-step procedures proposed in the literature. For El Hoyazo granulites, modelling was also performed reintegrating the measured melt inclusions and matrix glass compositions and considering the melt amounts inferred by mass-balance calculations. The overall topology of phase diagrams is pretty similar, suggesting that, in spite of the different methods adopted, reintegrating a certain amount of melt can be sufficient to reconstruct a plausible prograde history (i.e., melting conditions and reactions, and melt productivity) of residual migmatites and granulites. However, significant underestimations of melt productivity may occur and have to be taken into account when a melt-reintegration approach is applied to highly residual (SiO2 < 55 wt.%) rocks, or to rocks for which H2O retention from subsolidus conditions is high (such as in the case of rapid crustal melting triggered by mafic magma underplating). This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.