Paleoproterozoic migmatitic gneisses from the Tandilia belt (Argentina), Río de la Plata craton, record cooling at deep crustal levels

•We studied migmatitic gneisses from the Tandilia belt, Río de la Plata craton.•Thermodynamic modeling and garnet compositions constrained robust P–T paths.•These rocks cooled down by nearly 70 °C, from middle crust to deep crust.•A geodynamic scenario is designed for the Paleoproterozoic evolution of the craton.•The proposed geodynamic scenario explained a geothermal gradient of 15 °C km−1.

We studied high-grade metamorphic rocks of the El Cristo hill area of the Tandilia belt. Mineral analyses and thermodynamic calculations were carried out for two adjacent rock samples: an amphibole–biotite gneiss and a garnet–biotite-bearing migmatite. Peritectic garnets in the migmatite show core compositions of pyr4.5(gro + andr)10spes6alm79.5 changing to pyr3.5(gro + andr)17spes6alm73.5 at their thin rims. Garnet compositions in the gneiss are pyr6.5(gro + andr)26spes12alm55.5 and pyr4.5(gro + andr)34spes12alm49.5 for core and rim, respectively. A P–T path was constructed by calculating pseudosections in the 11-component system Si–Ti–Al–Fe–Mn–Mg–Ca–Na–K–O–H and contouring them by isopleths for garnet components using the PERPLE_X software package. Supra-solidus crystallization of garnet cores in the migmatite began at 5.8 kbar and 660 °C. Garnet rims equilibrated at 7.0 kbar and 640 °C compatible with garnet cores in the amphibole–biotite gneiss (7.6 kbar and 660 °C). The further chemical development of garnet in this rock points to P–T conditions of 11.6 kbar and 620 °C and 12.2 kbar and 595 °C (outermost garnet rim). At this high-pressure stage Ca-amphibole was not stable. Most biotite formed during exhumation whereas the high-pressure accessory minerals, titanite and epidote, persisted. According to the obtained anti-clockwise P–T path the originally partly melted material was tectonically transported from ∼22 km (middle crust) to ∼40 km (lower crust) depths reaching a geothermal gradient as low as 15 °C km−1. This transport probably occurred along a major suture zone, which was active during the Paleoproterozoic (2.25–2.10 Ga), before a terminating collision of terranes near the SW boundary of the Rio de la Plata craton.

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