Prograde evolution of Sulu UHP metamorphic rock in Yangzhuang, Junan region, deduced by combined Raman and petrological studies

The prograde metamorphic history of the Sulu ultrahigh-pressure metamorphic terrane has been revealed using Raman-based barometry of the SiO₂ phases and other mineral inclusions in garnet porphyroblasts of a coesite eclogite from Yangzhuang, Junan region, eastern China. Garnet porphyroblasts have inner and outer segments with the boundary being marked by discontinuous changes in the grossular content. In the inner segment, the SiO₂ phase inclusions are α-quartz with no coesite or relict features such as radial cracks. The residual pressures retained by the quartz inclusions systematically increase from the crystal centre to the margin of the inner segment. The metamorphic conditions estimated by calculation from the residual pressure and conventional thermodynamic calculation range from 500 to 630 °C and 1.3 to 2.3 GPa for the stage of the inner segment. Coesite and its pseudomorph occur as inclusions in the outer segment of the garnet and matrix omphacite. This occurrence of coesite is consistent with the pressure and temperature conditions of 660–725 °C and 3.1 GPa estimated by conventional geothermobarometry. Our results suggest that the quartz inclusions in the inner segment were trapped by garnet under α-quartz-stable conditions and survived phase transition to coesite at the peak metamorphic stage. The SiO₂ phases and other inclusions in the garnet have retained evidence of the pre-eclogite prograde stage even during exhumation stage. The combined Raman spectroscopic and petrological approaches used here offers a powerful means for obtaining more robust constraints prograde stages involving garnet growth where different SiO₂ phases are present as inclusions.