Experimental constraints on the nature of multiphase solid inclusions and their bearing on mantle wedge metasomatism, Bohemian Massif

Abstract

This study tests experimentally the hypothesis that calculated bulk compositions of multiphase solid inclusions present in minerals of ultrahigh pressure rocks, can be equated to the composition of the former trapped fluids. We investigated samples from the ultrahigh pressure garnet peridotites of the Bohemian Massif, spatially associated with ultrahigh pressure crustal rocks and representing a former subduction interface environment. Inclusions present in garnets, composed of amphibole + Ba-mica kinoshitalite + carbonates (dolomite + magnesite + norsethite), were taken to their entrapment conditions of c. 4.5 GPa and 1075 ºC. They (re)crystallized into a garnet fringe at the boundary between inclusion and host garnet, kinoshitalite ± olivine, carbonatite melt, and a hydrous fluid. Although the latter may have exsolved from the carbonatite melt upon quenching, microstructures suggest it was present at trapped conditions, and mass balance indicates that it corresponds to a Na-K-Cl-F-rich saline aqueous fluid (brine). Experiments demonstrate the stability of kinoshitalite at 4.5 GPa and 1075 ºC, and suggest that Ba-rich mica + carbonatite melt + brine coexisted at near-peak conditions. Barium is compatible in the carbonatite melt and mica with respect to the brine, with a partition coefficient between carbonatite melt and mica of ≈ 2.5–3. The garnet fringe formed from incongruent reaction of the former inclusion assemblage due to reversing the fluid(s)-host garnet reaction that occurred upon natural cooling/decompression. Loss of H₂ or H₂O from the inclusions due to volume diffusion through garnet and/or decrepitation, during geological timeframes upon decompression/cooling, may have prevented rehomogenization to a single homogeneous fluid. Our study shows that great care is needed in the interpretation of multiphase solid inclusions present in ultrahigh pressure rocks.