The Northern Aureole of the Ardara Pluton of County Donegal

Abstract

The contact aureole on the northern side of the Ardara granitic pluton is made up of an outer part where contact effects are slight, and an inner part in which a broad zone of andalusite hornfelses is succeeded towards the contact by a narrower zone of sillimanite hornfelses. The textures of the hornfelses indicate that several phases of recrystallization, some of them associated with phases of movement, took place during contact metamorphism. Certain phases can be correlated with particular episodes in the evolution of the pluton itself.