Partial melting of UHP calc-gneiss from the Dabie Mountains

Abstract Exhumation melting has been proposed for the ultra-high pressure (UHP) metamorphic rocks in the Dabie Mountains based on melting experiments. We document here the first petrological and mineralogical evidence demonstrating that the UHP calc-gneisses from the Ganjialing area in the Dabie Mountains experienced partial melting during early exhumation. The assemblage of garnet, phengite (Si = 3.65 pfu), coesite, rutile and carbonate preserved in the calc-gneisses indicates a peak metamorphic condition of 692–757 °C and 4.0–4.8 GPa. Partial melting is indicated by several lines of evidence: the melting textures of phengite, the feldspar-dominated films, bands, branches, blebs and veins, the euhedral K-feldspars, the intergrowth film of plagioclase and K-feldspar, the plagioclase + biotite intergrowth after garnet and the epidote poikiloblasts. Polyphase inclusions in garnet are characterized with wedge-like offshoots and serrate outlines whereas those in epidote display negative crystal shapes, which can be best interpreted by entrapment of former melts. We propose a wet melting reaction of Phn + Q ± Na-Cpx + H2O = Bt + Pl + Grt + felsic melts, which likely took place at ca.650–800 °C and ca.1.0–2.0 GPa, to interpret the melting event in the calc-gneisses. Chemical exchanges between garnet and melts produced new garnet domains with higher almandine, spessartine, MREE, HREE and Y but lower grossular, pyrope, P, Sc, Ti, V and Zr contents. Zr-in-rutile thermometer reveals a low temperature of 620–643 °C at 5 GPa, indicating a later reset for Zr in rutile. Healed fractures are suggested to be responsible for the formation of some polyphase inclusions in garnet.