Abstract
The equilibrium temperatures for coexisting plagioclase and potassium feldspar pairs have been calculated for various textural varieties of feldspar from 3 post-metamorphic granites from the Georgia Piedmont; the Danburg, Siloam, and Stone Mountain plutons. Assuming an intermediate structural state for the feldspars at time of equilibration, crystallization temperatures match those expected from experimental data for quartz monzonite magmas (650 to 780° C). The variations in solidus temperature, recorded in the feldspars, may be used to estimate relative differences in depth of intrusion. Sharp reversals in plagioclase compositional trends may be caused by isothermal decreases in confining pressure associated with upward migration through the crust. In fine grained and slowly cooled intrusions, albite tends to be lost from the alkali feldspar grains, and recrystallizes as separate unzoned grains of oligoclase, thus erasing the previous thermal history. Perthite exsolution and re-equilibration within the alkali feldspar grains appears to continue down to temperatures of 400° C or so, although the zoned plagioclase does not homogenize. The recrystallization associated with changes in structural state may facilitate exsolution within alkali feldspar grains.
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Whitney, J.A., Stormer, J.C. Two-feldspar geothermometry, geobarometry in mesozonal granitic intrusions: Three examples from the Piedmont of Georgia. Contr. Mineral. and Petrol. 63, 51–64 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00371675
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00371675