Occurrence and possible tectonic significance of high-pressure granulite fragments in the Tulemalu fault zone, District of Keewatin, N.W.T., Canada

Fragments of garnet–clinopyroxene granulite with corona textures in ductilely deformed lower-amphibolite-grade quartzofeldspathic granitoid gneiss are exposed within the northeast-trending Tulemalu fault zone. The mineral association of the fragments is garnet–clinopyroxene–plagioclase(An20–An22)–quartz–opaques–hornblende–biotite. Textural evidence suggests that hornblende and biotite are late overgrowth minerals. Garnet and clinopyroxene and (or) hornblende are separated by a narrow rim of plagioclase. Pressure–temperature estimates based on currently used geothermobarometers are of the order of 715–789 °C and 10.2–11.4 kbar (1 kbar = 100 MPa) for the garnet–clinopyroxene–plagioclase–quartz assemblage. The fragments are interpreted as relicts of deep-crustal materials, uplifted to higher levels probably as xenolithic rafts in a granitic melt along the fault zone during late Archean or Early Proterozoic ductile displacements. The growth of hornblende and the development of plagioclase reaction rims around...