Ultrahigh temperature metamorphism: testing models for collision vs extension

Abstract

The Warumpi Province has been interpreted to be exotic and accreted to the Northern Australian Craton (NAC) during the Liebig Orogeny at c.1640Ma. However, phase equilibria modelling of melt-deficient, Mg-Al rich granulite facies rocks at Hill 830, in the Mount Liebig area show contradictory evidence of a decompressional pressure-temperature path and a high metamorphic gradient of 90°Ckbar. This interpretation in conjunction with abundant c.1780- 1740Ma and c.1640Ma magmatism in the southern Aileron and Warumpi Provinces, indicate that the tectonic regime at c.1640Ma may instead be a south-migrating, extensional scenario, compared to the previously accepted collisonal regime; speculating that the Warumpi Province is not ‘exotic’ to the NAC.