Metamorphic evolution of the coronitic gabbrons of the El Arenal, El Destino-Las Aguilas, mafic-ultramafic belt, Sierra de San Luis

Abstract

The coronitic meta-melagabbronorites are part of the El Arenal bodies which belong to the El Destino-Las Aguilas mafic to ultramafic belt, outcroping on the eastern flank of the Sierra de San Luis. They are fine-grained rocks with corona microstructures around Mg-rich olivine and An-rich plagioclase which record three metamorphic stages of mineral crystallization developed under granulite, amphibolite and greenschist P-T conditions. The coronitic meta-melagabbros represent early, high Cr-Ni fractions, with [Mg++/Mg+++Fe_T++] comprised between 0.72 and 0.75, derived from a low-Ti olivine tholeiitic magma which emplaced before the penetrative Famatinian deformation and the widespread coeval metamorphism. The subsequent uplift and the slow cooling of the deep-seated magma was possible because of the high P-T conditions of the crustal level, ca. amphibolite facies, and result in the development of the coronas after an early slightly deuteric alteration of the primary, now preserved as relics, igneous minerals. When granulite facies conditions were reached Mg-rich olivine and Ca-rich plagioclase became unstable and reacted to form orthopyroxene and symplectitic clinopyroxene + spinel around olivine. H₂O-rich fluids necessary for the amphibole crystallization, which formed symplectite intergrowths with spinel and also replaced relic orthopyroxene during the amphibolite stage, were provided by dehydration of the adjacent country rocks caused by the development of metamorphic reactions. Minerals formed under greenschist P-T conditions were probably related with the final exhumation of the rocks, and are thought to represent the last part of the counterclockwise evolutionary path followed by the melagabbronites during the early Palaeozoic times.