Coexisting retrograde jadeite and omphacite in a jadeite-bearing lawsonite eclogite from the Motagua Fault Zone, Guatemala

Abstract

Coexisting jadeite and omphacite were found as retrograde minerals in a jadeite-bearing lawsonite-eclogite from the Motagua Fault Zone, Guatemala. The lawsonite-eclogite is characterized by the occurrence of garnet porphyroblasts up to 2.5 cm in size, and the eclogite-facies parageneses, almandine-rich garnet + impure jadeite + lawsonite + rutile + quartz; garnet contains inclusions of impure jadeite, phengite, ferroglaucophane, chlorite, lawsonite, rutile, ilmenite, and quartz. Textural relations and parageneses and compositions of minerals indicate that the lawsonite-eclogite experienced two stages of metamorphism: prograde eclogite-facies stage (M1) and retrograde stage (M2). The impure jadeite (Jd-I) of the M1 eclogite-facies occurs in both the matrix and as inclusions in garnet, and contains considerable amounts of augite and aegirine components (Jd61–75Aug16–24Ae0–18). It is partly recrystallized to retrograde M2 jadeite (Jd-II) (Jd74–87Aug9–16Ae0–11) and omphacite (Jd42–50Aug36–46Ae7–16); some of these two sodic pyroxenes may have crystallized from fluids. Both M2 jadeite and omphacite show textural equilibrium and are believed to have grown concurrently. Based on the observed compositions and the phase relations of sodic pyroxenes from Carpenter (1980), the M1 impure jadeite (Jd-I) may have had a disordered C2/c symmetry at T = ca. 450 °C and P = ca. 1.8–2.4 GPa, and was subsequently crystallized into jadeite (Jd-II) plus ordered P2/n omphacite during retrogression with infiltration of fluids at T < ca. 300 °C and P = ca. 0.7 GPa (M2). The extreme low-T conditions during retrogression may have prevented reaction between eclogitic jadeite and adjacent minerals. Instead, eclogitic impure jadeite (plus fluid) has recrystallized into the retrograde jadeite + omphacite pair with a wide compositional gap.

Publication
American Mineralogist, v. 90, no. 5-6, p. 836-842, doi:10.2138/am.2005.1699