Occurrence and growth history of texturally sector- and sigmoidal-zoned garnet in the San Lo renzo Schists in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta massif (Colombia)

Abstract

The first occurrence of two-step growth of textural sector- and sigmoidal-zoned garnet of metapelitic rocks of the San Lorenzo Schists in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta massif is documented here. This textural type of zoned garnets occurs in the staurolite metamorphic zone of the San Lorenzo Schists. They are generally coarse-grained (up to 2.5 mm in diameter), and occur in quartz-rich domains. Together with staurolite, garnet is a porphyroblastic mineral in these rocks. Two periods of garnet growth have been observed: (1) a xenoblastic core, with a sector-zoned garnet; and (2) a subidioblastic rim with a sigmoidal-zoned garnet. Garnet preserves chemical zoning, with decreasing XMn and increasing XMg from core to rim (a patch trend), suggesting that garnet grew during increasing temperature. XCa and XFe follow a radial trend. Study of this type of garnet indicates that it has grown during the late emplacement of gabbroic rocks of the Santa Marta Batholith close to the peak regional of metamorphism of the San Lorenzo Schists. During the first steps of garnet growth, it develops a textural sector-zoning, characterized by the cleavage domes, pressure shadows and shearing away cleavage domes, whereas during the last steps a textural sigmoidal-zoned garnet overgrowth occurred after textural sector-zoned garnet. This type of textural sector- and sigmoidal-zoned garnet from the San Lorenzo Schists is very important as a key piece for interpretation of thetectono-metamorphic history of this metamorphic unit.