High-pressure whiteschists from the Ti-N-Eggoleh area (Central Hoggar, Algeria): A record of Pan-African oceanic subduction
Résumé
The Ti-N-Eggoleh area (Sérouènout Terrane, Central Hoggar, Algeria) comprises mainly a high-pressure Neoproterozoic metamorphic formation consisting of talc-kyanite-quartz whiteschists, chlorite schists, marbles, sulphide ores, partially serpentinized peridotites and partially amphibolitized eclogites, and reminiscent of an ophiolitic mélange that was metamorphosed and strongly deformed under eclogite-facies conditions. Major and trace elements indicate that the whiteschists underwent intense hydrothermal alteration, with Mg enrichment and leaching of alkalis and Ca, prior to high-pressure metamorphism. The main talc-kyanite-quartz paragenesis is stable within a large multivariant P-T field extending from high-P amphibolite to eclogite facies; the Tschermak substitution in talc marginally constrains peak pressure conditions to P > 11 kbar and 600 < T < 800 °C. The subsequent development of cordierite ± sapphirine ± corundum symplectites and coronae at the contact between talc and kyanite was due to isochemical and almost univariant reactions (Tlc + Ky + Qtz → Crd; Tlc + Ky → Crd + Crn; Tlc + Ky → Crd + Spr) which combined together to produce hybrid microstructures. These metamorphic reactions indicate a thermal overprint under granulite-facies conditions (T = 650-860 °C; P < 12 kbar). The peraluminous Mg-rich sapphirine observed in the symplectites reaches one of the highest degrees of Tschermak substitution ever reported for this mineral (with n = 3.6), intermediate between the 13:19:5 (n = 3) and 3:5:1 (n = 4) theoretical compositions. The neighbouring eclogites record a similar P-T evolution: after the eclogite-facies metamorphic peak, they underwent partial amphibolitization and a subsequent high-temperature overprint under granulite-facies conditions that led to partial dehydration. The Ti-N-Eggoleh series is interpreted as the product of the thermal alteration of oceanic rocks that were subducted prior to the continental collision that formed the West Gondwana orogenic belt during the Neoproterozoic Pan-African orogeny. The decompression associated with the early phase of exhumation was followed by an important increase in temperature towards granulite-facies conditions, possibly determined by the intrusion of abundant mafic rocks in this region due to delamination of the lithospheric mantle. The Ti-N-Eggoleh area and its high-pressure meta-ophiolitic series apparently belong to the Sérouènout Terrane, which stretches along the eastern margin of the Western Gondwana orogenic belt and consists mainly of oceanic metasediments; they are possibly markers of an ancient, yet unidentified, subduction and suture zone.