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In mafic systems where primary mineral assemblages have witnessed moderate- to high-temperature hydrous overprinting and deformation, little is known about the retentivity of the Lu–Hf isotopic system in apatite. This study presents apatite laser-ablation Lu–Hf and U–Pb geochronology, zircon geochronology, and detailed petrological information from polymetamorphic mafic intrusions located in the central-western Gawler Craton in southern Australia, which records an extensive tectonometamorphic history spanning the Neoarchaean to the Mesoproterozoic. Zircon records magmatic crystallisation ages of c. 2479–2467 Ma, coinciding with the onset of the c. 2475–2410 Ma granulite-facies Sleafordian Orogeny. The amphibole-dominant hydrous assemblages which extensively overprint the primary magmatic assemblages are hypothesised to post-date the Sleafordian Orogeny. The Lu–Hf and U–Pb isotopic systems in apatite are used to test this hypothesis, with both isotopic systems recording significantly younger ages correlating with the c. 1730–1690 Ma Kimban Orogeny and the c. 1590–1575 Ma Hiltaba magmatic event, respectively. While the early Mesoproterozoic apatite U–Pb ages are attributed to thermal re-equilibration, the older Lu–Hf ages are interpreted to reflect re-equilibration facilitated primarily by dissolution-reprecipitation, but also thermally activated volume diffusion. The mechanisms of Lu–Hf isotopic resetting are distinguished based on microscale textures and trace element abundances in apatite and the integration of apatite-amphibole textural relationships and temperatures determined from the Ti content in amphibole. More broadly, the results indicate that at low to moderate temperatures, apatite hosted in mafic rocks is susceptible to complete recrystallisation in rocks that have weak to moderate foliations. In contrast, at higher temperatures in the absence of strain, the Lu–Hf system in apatite is comparatively robust. Ultimately, the findings from this study advance our understanding of the complex role that both metamorphism and deformation play on the ability of mafic-hosted apatite to retain primary Lu–Hf isotopic signatures.

A sample of micaceous schist of the Cushamen Metamorphic Complex in the Cushamen area (northwestern North Patagonia, Argentina) preserves a complex mineral assemblage, including staurolite, andalusite, garnet, sillimanite, biotite, quartz, and plagioclase. This unit proves an opportunity to analyse a complex mineral association often related to disequilibrium stages or polymetamorphic contexts. Through detailed petrological analysis combining mineral chemistry, X-ray compositional maps, conventional thermobarometry, and phase equilibria analysis, we reconstructed the pressure–temperature ( P–T ) path of this schist. The schist unit preserves a polymetamorphic history characterized by M 1 , M 2 , and M 3 events. The M 1 event is represented by biotite, muscovite, quartz, and plagioclase. The M 2 event, associated with local mid-Carboniferous pluton intrusion, is characterized by andalusite and garnet assemblages, with peak conditions at ~ 3.3 kbar and ~ 563 °C. The main M 3 event, at the time of the Carboniferous–Permian boundary, is defined by garnet, staurolite, sillimanite, biotite, muscovite, plagioclase, and quartz. This event records a progressive P–T evolution from ~ 3.5 kbar and ~ 553 °C to ~ 4.9–5.6 kbar and ~ 620–635 °C, nearing peak conditions. This work highlights the importance of comprehensive approaches in P–T trajectory reconstructions and the critical role of selecting the reactive bulk composition, particularly in rocks with complex mineral assemblages. In addition, this study significantly contributes to understanding the metamorphic evolution of the Cushamen Complex, a unit for which there is limited knowledge regarding its structural and metamorphic evolution. This complex is part of the igneous-metamorphic basement of North Patagonia region (Argentina), which records the Paleozoic evolution of the southwestern margin of Gondwana. Graphical abstract Summary of the main metamorphic events with the calculated P–T conditions

Migmatites are common in the hinterland of orogenic belts. The timing and mechanism (in situ vs. external, P-T conditions, reactions, etc.) of melting are important for understanding crustal rheology, tectonic history, and orogenic processes. The Adirondack Highlands has been used as an analog for mid/deep crustal continental collisional tectonism. Migmatites are abundant, and previous workers have interpreted melting during several different events, but questions remain about the timing, tectonic setting, and even the number of melting events. We use multiscale compositional mapping combined with in situ geochronology and geochemistry of monazite to constrain the nature, timing, and character of melting reaction(s) in one locality from the eastern Adirondack Highlands. Three gray migmatitic gneisses, studied here, come from close proximity and are very similar in microscopic and macroscopic (outcrop) appearance. Each of the rocks is interpreted to have undergone biotite dehydration melting (i.e., Bt+Pl+Als+Qz=Grt+Kfs+melt). Full-section compositional maps show the location of reactants and products of the melting reaction, especially prograde and retrograde biotite, peritectic K-feldspar, and leucosome, in addition to all monazite and zircon in context. In addition, the maps provide constraints on kinematics during melting and a context for interpretation of accessory phase composition and geochronology. More so than zircon, monazite serves as a monitor of melting and melt loss. The growth of garnet during melting leaves monazite depleted in Y and HREEs while melt loss from the system leaves monazite depleted in U. Results show that in all three localities, partial melting occurred during at ca. 1160-1150 Ma (Shawinigan orogeny), but the samples show high variability in the location and degree of removal of the melt phase, from near complete to segregated into layers to dispersed. All three localities experienced a second high-T event at ca. 1050 Ma, but only the third (non-segregated) sample experienced further melting. Thus, in addition to bulk composition, the fertility for melting is an important function of the previous history and the degree of mobility of earlier melt and fluids. Monazite is also a sensitive monitor of retrogression; garnet breakdown leads to increased Y and HREE in monazite. Results here suggest that all three samples remained at depth between the two melting events but were rapidly exhumed after the second event.

Allanite-fluorapatite reaction coronas around monazite are abundant in metamorphic rocks. We report here special cases where a new generation of \"satellite\" monazite grains formed within these coronas. Using examples from different P-T regions in the eastern Alps, we examine the origin and the petrological significance of this complex mineralogical association by means of the electron microprobe utilizing Th-U-Pb monazite dating and high-resolution BSE imaging. Satellite monazite grains form when a monazite-bearing rock is metamorphosed in the allanite stability field (partial breakdown of first generation monazite to fluorapatite plus allanite), and is then heated to temperatures that permit a back reaction of fluorapatite plus allanite to secondary satellite monazite grains surrounding the remaining original first generation monazite. Depending on the whole-rock geochemistry satellite monazites can form under upper greenschist- as well as amphibolite-facies conditions. In each of the three examples focused on here, the inherited core monazite was resistant to recrystallization and isotopic resetting, even though in one of the samples the metamorphic temperatures reached 720 °C. This shows that in greenschist- and amphibolite-facies polymetamorphic rocks, individual grains of inherited and newly formed monazite can and often will occur side by side. The original, inherited monazite will preferentially be preserved in low-Ca, high-Al lithologies, where its breakdown to allanite plus fluorapatite is suppressed. Conversely, a medium- or high-Ca, monazite-bearing rock will become particularly fertile for secondary monazite regrowth after passing through a phase of strong retrogression in the allanite stability field. Based on this knowledge, specific sampling strategies for monazite dating campaigns in polymetamorphic basement can be developed.

The Varnous Mt. area in the northern Pelagonian Nappe is characterized by the intrusion of an Early Permian pluton, with its tectonic setting and igneous petrology well constrained in earlier studies. The metamorphic basement rocks warrant further detailed investigation due to their complex history. These rocks are polymetamorphosed, preserving a sequence of overprinting metamorphic and deformational events. The metapelitic rocks have undergone an initial, pre-Carboniferous regional metamorphism of unknown grade before or during Hercynian Orogeny, followed by a thermal metamorphic event associated with the intrusion of the Varnous pluton at 297 Ma. The assemblage attributed to this event is And + Crd + Bt + Ms (west), while the first assemblage identified at the eastern part is Sil + Bt + Gt. Additionally, three regional tectonometamorphic events occurred during the Alpine Orogeny. For the Alpine events, the assemblages are as follows: first, the development of St + Gt + Chl + Kfs + Pl + Qtz at 150–130 Ma; second, retrograde metamorphism of these assemblages with Cld + Gt + Ser + Mrg + Chl ± Sil (Fi) at 110–90 Ma; and finally, mylonitization of all previous assemblages at 90–70 Ma with simultaneous annealing and formation of Cld + Chl + Ms.

The Hindu Raj region of northern Pakistan is situated between the Karakoram to the east and the Hindu Kush to the west. Both the Karakoram and the Hindu Kush are better studied and have well-documented, distinct geological histories. Investigation of the Hindu Raj region has been mainly limited to reconnaissance exploration and as such little is known about its tectonometamorphic history and whether that history is similar to its neighbouring areas. Analysis of new specimens collected along the Yasin Valley within the Hindu Raj region outline mid-to-Late Cretaceous pluton emplacement (ca. 105 and 95 Ma). Some of those plutonic rocks were metamorphosed to ∼750 ± 30°C and 0.65 ± 0.05 GPa during the ca. 80-75 Ma docking of the Kohistan arc. A record of this collisional event is well-preserved to the west in the Hindu Kush and variably so to the east in the Hunza Karakoram. A subsequent, ca. 61 Ma, thermal event is partially preserved in Rb-Sr geochronology from the Hindu Raj, which overlaps with sillimanite-grade metamorphism in the Hunza portion of the Karakoram region to the east. Finally, apatite U-Pb and in situ Rb-Sr both record a late Eocene thermal/fluid event likely related to the India-Asia collision. These new data outline a complex geological history within the Hindu Raj, one that shares similarities with both adjacent regions. The information about the tectonometamorphic development of the Hindu Raj is important to gaining a detailed view of the geological characteristics of the southern Asian margin prior to the India-Asia collision.

The Mayombe chain of Congo is part of the West Congo Belt, which belonged to the western Gondwana supercontinent. It consists of Paleoproterozoic gneisses and schists that are tectonically stacked and overthrust Neoproterozoic low-grade metamorphic rocks. Although Neoproterozoic context of the chain is relatively well established, the tectono-metamorphic evolution of its Paleoproterozoic basement still under discussion. Petrography, garnet chemistry and phase equilibria modelling were used to constrain tectono-metamorphic evolution of meta-plutonic and meta-sedimentary rocks from the Western Domain of the Mayombe chain. Microprobe analysis reveals three garnet types: (i) 2-stage garnets with distinct cores (Grt1) and rims (Grt2), (ii) unzoned garnet showing narrow diffusion zones along cracks and rims and (iii) syn-kinematic garnet with normal growth zoning. These complex and simple features of garnet growth are, respectively, related to a polycyclic evolution linked in this area to: (i) the superposition of Eburnean (c. 2000 Ma) and Pan-African (c. 600 Ma) orogenies and (ii) a monocyclic evolution related to a single Pan-African event taking into account ages of the protoliths. The oldest metamorphic assemblage (Eburnean) is preserved in amphibolite facies conditions marked by the first generation of garnet, whereas the younger (Pan-African) event varies from amphibolite facies in the southwest (4–6 kbar, 550°C–600°C) to greenschist facies in the northeast (4–6 kbar at 450°C–550°C) confirming the westward increase in metamorphic grade during the Pan-African event. Mineral equilibria modelling shows also a relatively HP episode culminated at 11.5–12.5 kbar and 525°C–550°C which tectonic environment stills less understood.

The crystalline complexes of the Hercynian South Altai Metamorphic Belt (SAMB), which is a part of the Central Asian Foldbelt more than 1500 km long. They compose different-scale tectonic plates, the level of metamorphism in which at the early stages reached the conditions of high-temperature amphibolite subfacies and, in places, granulite facies. In terms of tectonics, the band of their outcrops is confined to the margin of the North Asian Caledonian continent, stretching from southeast to northwest along the southern slope of the Gobi, Mongolian, and Chinese Altai to Eastern Kazakhstan, where they are represented in the Irtysh shear zone. The SAMB includes poly- and monometamorphic complexes. The age of granitoids formed at the late episode of metamorphism was determined for the Tsel tectonic plate of the Gobi Altai in the southeastern part of the SAMB: from 374 ± 2 to 360 ± 5 Ma. These and previously obtained results show that the early stage of low-pressure metamorphism and the late stage of high-pressure metamorphism occurred in the age intervals of ~390–385 and 375–360 Ma, respectively, almost throughout this belt. A short-term stage of stabilization was between these stages. These processes occurred during the closure of the basin with the Tethys-type oceanic crust of the South Mongolian Ocean (paleo-Tethys I). The spatial position of the SAMB is determined by the asymmetric structure of the basin, in which the active continental margin is represented along its northern part, and the passive one is represented along the southern one (in modern coordinates).

We present U-Th/Pb data obtained for xenotime and monazite from the polycyclic eclogite-facies para- and ortho-gneisses of the Les Essarts Unit (Vendée, southern Armorican Massif, France), which have recorded an HT-LP cycle ending with a first retrogression and a subsequent HP eclogite-facies metamorphism similar to that of the neighbouring eclogites. Some paragneisses and orthogneisses are only slightly deformed and retrogressed, showing the structure of nebulitic migmatite or metagranite, respectively; both show well-preserved complex coronitic and pseudomorphic microstructures, due to the eclogite-facies metamorphism. Monazite I and xenotime crystallised during the HT stage providing an opportunity to date the early HT metamorphic event in the paragneiss and the emplacement of granite in the orthogneiss. U/Pb ages obtained from monazite I and xenotime of the cordierite-bearing migmatitic paragneisses range between 510 and 480 Ma (Late Cambrian-Early Ordovician). These ages may correspond to the crystallisation and/or re-equilibration of monazite and xenotime during the prograde stage of the HT cycle, close to the T peak. Consistent monazite and xenotime U/Pb ages around 496 Ma in the orthogneiss represent the age of the granite protolith. During subsequent HP overprint in the gneisses, numerous coronas developed at the expense of the early HT parageneses, in particular plagioclase. In both paragneiss and orthogneiss, monazite I in contact with HT plagioclase reacted to form apatite + zoisite + monazite II coronas. The small monazite II crystals could be dated in a paragneiss sample and gave a lower intercept age of 395 ± 9 Ma, interpreted as the age of the eclogite-facies HP metamorphism. This age is in agreement with those obtained in HP metamorphic rocks of the Upper Allochthon Unit of the Iberian-Armorican Arc (Bragança, Cabo-Ortegal, Audierne) representing the first evidence of convergence in the Variscan cycle.

The pre-Alpine metamorphic history of basement rocks of the Alpine Betic-Rif orogen is still uncertain as a result of intense Miocene reworking. Reaction sequences and textures recorded in pre-Mesozoic quartz-K-feldspar-plagioclase-biotite-muscovite anatectic gneisses of the Upper Alpujarride units underwent a complex polymetamorphic history. U-Pb SHRIMP dating of magmatic zircons from coarse-grained porphyritic gneisses indicates an anatectic event at 286 ± 11 Ma. Refractory pelitic enclaves (kyanite-rutile-andalusite-ilmenite-biotite-muscovite ± staurolite, devoid of quartz and feldspars) included in the gneisses formed after partial melting of pre-Permian metasediments at relatively high pressure (P). This was followed by late Variscan decompression, producing andalusite at low P in the enclaves and the granitic gneiss. During the Alpine Orogeny, the enclaves were affected by diverse local reactions: (1) andalusite was transformed to Alpine kyanite from reactions catalyzed by muscovite and biotite; (2) garnet coronas formed close to the gneiss, together with phengitic muscovite; and (3) Variscan biotite in contact with garnet reequilibrated under high/medium-P and medium-temperature metamorphic conditions. This reaction sequence occurring in polymetamorphic rocks allows the unraveling of their polyorogenic history and the assignment of relative ages to minerals and mineral assemblages through integrated field, mineralogical, petrological, and geochronological analyses.