Generalized <i>Р—Т</i> path and fluid regime of exhumation of metapelites of the central zone of the Limpopo complex, south Africa

The P–T paths of exhumation of Precambrian granulite complexes at the craton boundaries usually include two stages: sub-isothermal decompression and a decompression–cooling stage with a more gentle P–T path. Our goal is to understand the possible causes of the change in the slope of the P–T path of exhumation 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) from various structural positions within the Central Zone, i.e. dome structures, regional crossfolds, local and regional shear-zones, were studied. Metapelites are gneisses of similar bulk composition. Relics of leucosomes composed of quartz-feldspar aggregates with garnet and biotite are variously manifested in rocks, and melanocratic areas enriched in cordierite usually mark micro-shear-zones that envelope and/or break garnet porphyroblasts. Study of polymineral (crystallized melt and fluid) inclusions in garnet, its zoning with respect to the major (Mg, Fe, Ca) and some trace (P, Cr, Sc) elements, fluid inclusions in quartz, as well as phase equilibria modeling (PERPLE_X) showed that rocks coexisted with granite melts and aqueous-carbonic-salt fluids (aH2O = 0.74–0.58) at the peak of metamorphism at 800–850°C and 10–11 kbar. Partial melting initiated sub-isothermal exhumation of rocks 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 garnet grains in terms of the grossular content. A change in the rheology of rocks as a result of partial removal and crystallization of the melt activated shear-zones during further exhumation to 6–5.5 kbar along the P–T decompression–cooling path of 95–100°/kbar, reflecting a slower uplift of rocks in the middle crust. This process was resumed due to thermal effects and interaction of rocks with aqueous fluids (aH2O 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, are the result of the evolution of an ultra-hot orogen, where vertical tectonic movements associated with diapirism were conjugate with horizontal tectonic processes caused by the convergence of continental blocks.