Abstract
Petrographic evidence is presented for the breakdown of titanian hydroxyl-clinohumite to olivine+magnesian ilmenite (or geikielite)±magnetite in the outermost zone of the Bergell aureole in the Malenco Serpentinite, Prov. Sondrio, Italy. The breakdown coincides in the field with the isograd reaction: antigorite+diopside=olivine+tremolite+H2O. It is therefore concluded that this variety of clinohumite is unstable above approximately 520° C at a pressure of 3 kbars. Elsewhere in the Malenco Serpentinite, titanian hydroxyl-clinohumite may be found to have reacted with CO2 to produce antigorite, magnesian ilmenite and magnesite. Titanian hydroxyl-chondrodite was detected in one sample. Under crustal pressures, the stability field of F-free clinohumite is entirely contained inside that of antigorite. The stable occurrence of titanian clinohumite in high-grade metamorphic ultrabasic rocks may be attributed to the substitution of F for OH.
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Trommsdorff, V., Evans, B.W. Titanian hydroxyl-clinohumite: Formation and breakdown in antigorite rocks (Malenco, Italy). Contr. Mineral. and Petrol. 72, 229–242 (1980). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00376142
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00376142