Generalized P–T Path and Fluid Regime of the Exhumation of Metapelites in the Central Zone of the Limpopo Complex, South Africa

The P–T paths of the exhumation of Precambrian granulite complexes at craton boundaries usually include two stages: subisothermal decompression and a decompression–cooling stage with a more gently sloped P–T path. Our goal is to understand the possible causes of the change in the slope of the P–T exhumation path of the Central Zone (CZ) of the Limpopo granulite complex, South Africa, located between the Kaapvaal and Zimbabwe cratons. For this purpose, rocks (mainly, metapelites) were studied in various structural settings within the Central Zone, i.e., in dome structures, regional cross folds, and in local and regional shear zones. The metapelites are gneisses of similar bulk composition. The rocks contain various amounts of relics of leucosomes composed of quartz–feldspar aggregates with garnet and biotite, and melanocratic domains that are enriched in cordierite and usually mark shear microzones that envelope and/or break garnet porphyroblasts. Study of polymineralic (crystallized melt and fluid) inclusions in the garnet, its zoning with respect to the major (Mg, Fe, and Ca) and some trace (P, Cr, and Sc) elements, fluid inclusions in quartz, as well as phase equilibria modeling (PERPLE_X) showed that the rocks coexisted with granite melts and saline aqueous carbonic fluids ( $${a}_{\text{H}_{2}\text{O}}$$ = 0.74–0.58) at the peak of metamorphism at 800–850°C and 10–11 kbar. Partial melting of the rocks initiated their subisothermal exhumation to 7.5–8 kbar during diapirism of granitic magmas in the Neoarchean (2.65–2.62 Ga). This is reflected in the specific zoning of the garnet grains in terms of the grossular content. A change in the rheology of the rocks as a result of partial removal and crystallization of melt activated the shear zones during further exhumation to 6–5.5 kbar along a decompression–cooling P–T path at 95–100°/kbar, reflecting the slower uplift of the rocks in the middle crust. This process was resumed due to thermal effects and interaction of the rocks with aqueous fluids ( $${a}_{\text{H}_{2}\text{O}}$$ > 0.85) in the Paleoproterozoic (~2.01 Ga). Such a scenario of metamorphic evolution implies that the Limpopo granulite complex in general and its Central Zone in particular resulted from the evolution of an ultrahot orogen, in which vertical tectonic movements associated with diapirism were coupled to horizontal tectonic processes caused by the convergence of continental blocks.