Metamorphic history suggested by garnet-growth chronologies in the Isua Greenstone Belt, West Greenland

Compositional maps for garnets from the five tectonic domains of the Isua Greenstone Belt in West Greenland are used to identify episodes of garnet growth during the metamorphism of the greenstone belt. distinct episodes of garnet growth are recorded in Domains III–V, two in Domain II and one in Domain I. A wide variety of garnet textures are observed including growth zoning, post-growth homogenisation, replacement, rim resorption and oscillatory zoning. There is no simple correlation of garnet-growth events among domains indicating that at least some events are related to localised metasomatic processes in the greenstone belt. However, the relative growth chronology combined with the available geochronology indicates that the observed metamorphic processes span both the early and late Archaean.