Chromium and manganese zoning in pelitic garnet and kyanite:: Spiral, overprint, and oscillatory (?) zoning patterns and the role of growth rate

X-ray composition maps and quantitative analyses for Mn, Ca and Cr have been made for six pelitic and calc-pelitic garnet crystals and Al, Fe and Cr analyses maps have been made for two kyanite crystals, from lower and mid/upper amphibolite facies rocks from the Grenville Province of western Labrador, using an electron microprobe analyser and a laser ablation ICP-MS. Garnet with spiral ('snowball') internal fabrics (Si) has spiral zoning in major elements, implying that growth was concentrated in discrete regions of the crystal at any one time (spiral zoning). Cr zoning is parallel to Si in low amphibolite facies garnet with both straight and spiral internal fabrics, indicating that the garnet overprinted a fabric defined by Cr-rich (mica +/- chlorite +/- epidote) and Cr-poor (quartz +/- plagioclase) layers during growth (overprint zoning) and that Cr was effectively immobile. In contrast, in mid/upper amphibolite facies garnet porphyroblasts lacking Si, Cr zoning is concentric, implying that Cr diffusion occurred. Cr zoning in kyanite porphyroblasts appears superficially similar to oscillatory zoning, with up to three or four annuli of Cr enrichment and/or depletion present in a single grain. However, the variable width, continuity, Cr concentration and local bifurcation of individual annuli suggest that an origin by overprint zoning may be more likely. The results of this study explain previously observed nonsystematic Cr zoning in garnet and irregular partitioning of Cr between coexisting metamorphic mineral pairs. In addition, this study points to the important role of crystal growth rate in determining the presence or absence of inclusions and the type of zoning exhibited by both major and trace elements. During fast growth, inclusions are preferentially incorporated into the growing porphyroblast and slow diffusing elements such as Cr are effectively immobile, whereas during slow growth, inclusions are not generally included in the porphyroblast and Cr zoning is concentric.