Structural and paragenetic evolution of garnet–bearing barroisite schist from the Suo metamorphic complex, SW Japan

Abstract

The Suo metamorphic complex in the Chugoku Mountains of southwest (SW) Japan represents Jurassic high pressure (P )/temperature (T ) type metamorphic rocks. Its high–grade part is exposed in the Nichinan area, where barroisite–bearing mafic schist occurs as ~ 50–m thick layers in pelitic schist. These mafic layers contain the common matrix assemblage barroisite + epidote + albite + quartz + titanite + phengite. Relic minerals (garnet, glaucophane, aegirine–augite, Si–rich phengite and rutile) of early–stage parageneses are preserved within albite porphyroblasts. The textural relations combined with pseudosection modeling suggest a clockwise P–T trajectory from epidote–blueschist facies through the garnet + clinopyroxene stable conditions to epidote– amphibolite facies. Two distinct phases of high–strain ductile deformation (D1 and D2) can be recognized in the area, and they are related to early and late stages of exhumation. Albite porphyroblasts initially grew statically between D1 and D2 at ~ 520–530 °C and ~ 0.8 GPa, and further retrogressive growth of albite rims and chlorite at the expense of barroisite is synchronous with D2. The lithological association, deformation structures and metamorphic conditions of the Jurassic Suo metamorphic complex are very similar to those of the Cretaceous Sanbagawa metamorphic complex, suggesting they have comparable exhumation processes as coherent–type high–P/T metamorphic complexes.