CONTRASTING MINERAL ISOGRAD SEQUENCES IN METABASITES OF THE CAPE SMITH BELT, NORTHERN QUEBEC, CANADA - 3 NEW BATHOGRADS FOR MAFIC ROCKS

Regional-scale mapping of index-mineral isograds in mafic units of the early Proterozoic Cape Smith Thrust Belt (northern Quebec) has revealed contrasting pressure-temperature regimes associated with two distinct structural domains. In the southern domain, crustal thickening was accomplished by early, piggy-back thrust faults. Isograds cross-cut the thrusts, indicating that thermal-peak mineral growth outlasted deformation associated with early imbrication. Mineral zones are: (1) actinolite (Act) + albite (Alb); (2) hornblende (Hbl) + Act + Alb; (3) Hbl + Act + oligoclase (Oli); (4) Hbl + Oli; and (5) garnet (Grt) or clinopyroxene + Hbl + Oli-andesine. The oligoclase isograd occurs at higher grade than the hornblende isograd, a sequence typical of medium-pressure terranes (5-7 kbar). An Hbl-Alb bathograd, calibrated from mixed-volatile equilibria in the NCMASH-CO2 model system, suggests minimum pressures of about 5.4 kbar. Metamorphism in the northern domain was a consequence of re-imbrication, by means of out-of-sequence thrust faults active during and after peak metamorphic conditions. Mineral growth was coeval with thrusting, as documented by the syn-kinematic garnet porphyroblasts. Compared to the southern domain, a different sequence of isograds in mafic rocks shows that the albite-oligoclase transition takes place in the garnet zone. Based on thermobarometry in garnet-hornblende rocks, the oligoclase isograd occurs in a temperature range of 525-600-degrees-C, typical of high-pressure terranes (7-10 kbar). Calibrated bathograds for the Hbl-Ms-Alb and Grt-Alb bathozonal assemblages, respectively in the KNCMASH-CO2 and NCMASH model systems, indicate minimum pressures in the northern domain of 6.7 and 8.5 kbar. Higher-pressure series for this domain are explained by out-of-sequence thrusts exposing deeper crustal levels. For similar structural levels, only minor amounts of syn-deformational uplift (1-2 kbar and 50-75-degrees-C) are recorded in metabasites of this domain, compared to results in adjacent metapelites of the area (essentially isothermal uplift of 3-5 kbar).