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Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Bhopal
EES 304: Metamorphic Petrology (3)
Prerequisites (Desirable): EES 301
Learning Objectives:
The study of metamorphic rocks encompass the chemical and physical transformations that take place in response to changing pressure, temperature, and chemical environments in the Earth’s interior. In this course, different petrogenetic processes involving mineral reactions will be explored using equilibrium thermodynamics. The thermodynamic principles related to metamorphic petrology will then be applied to a number of orogenic events in time and space to derive the different pressure-temperature conditions during orogenesis. Finally, the quantitative estimation of P-T conditions through forward and backward modeling of reaction textures will be explored.
Course Contents:
An Introduction to Metamorphism:
Definitions, factors and conditions of metamorphism; Variation in pressure (P) and temperature (T) in the Earth, lithostatic pressure, stress anisotropy and overpressure, temperature–geotherm, heat flow, pressure and temperature limits of metamorphism; Types of metamorphism - orogenic metamorphism, ocean-floor metamorphism, regional metamorphism, contact metamorphism, cataclastic metamorphism, hydrothermal metamorphism, other types of small-scale metamorphism.
Types of Metamorphic Rocks and Concept of Metamorphic Facies:
Classification and nomenclature of metamorphic rocks; Relationship between rock composition and mineral assemblages, index minerals and mineral zones, metamorphic facies; Concept and origin of isograds.
Metamorphic Textures:
Classification and types of textures; Interpretation of porphyroblast–inclusion relations.
Metamorphic Reactions, Chemographic Projections and Gibbs Phase Rule:
Pressure and temperature changes in crust and mantle, heat flow and geotherms, different types of metamorphic reactions, reactions among solid-phase components, reactions involving volatiles as reacting species, controls of pressure, temperature and chemical compositions on the metamorphic reactions, time scale of metamorphism, phase diagrams, the Gibbs phase rule and its application in simple and complex systems, Schreinemakers analysis in simple and complex systems.
Introduction to Elementary Thermodynamics Related to Mineral Science:
Introduction, energy in the form of heat and work, first law of thermodynamics, standard heat of formation, second law of thermodynamics- definition of entropy, third law of thermodynamics - measurement of entropy, thermodynamic equations, thermodynamic potentials, free energy of formation of minerals at any temperature and pressure, free energy surface in G–T–P-X space, conservative and non-conservative components of a solution, free energy of ideal and non-ideal solutions, the regular solution model, mechanism of unmixing of non-ideal solutions, equilibrium constant of a reaction and its relation with Gibbs free energy.
Quantitative Estimation of P-T Conditions:
Forward and backward modeling of mineral reactions; Geothermobarometry - Concepts and general principles, assumptions and precautions, exchange reactions, solvus thermometry, uncertainties in thermobarometry, P-T pseudosection analysis.
Metamorphism of Ultra-Mafic Rocks, Quartzofeldspathic Rocks, and Pelitic Rocks:
Characteristics minerals and rock compositions - Chemographic projections, characteristic mineral assemblages under different chemical systems and P-T conditions.
Suggested Readings :
- Winter, J. D., 2010, An Introduction to Igneous and Metamorphic Petrology (2nd Edition), Prentice Hall.
- Philpotts, A. and Auge, J., 2009, Principles of Igneous and Metamorphic Petrology (2nd Edition), Cambridge.
- Bucher, K., and Grapes, R., 2011, Petrogenesis of Metamorphic Rocks (8th Edition), Springer.
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