Kornerupiue in metasomatic zones, Strangways Range, Central Australia

Abstract

The first known occurrence of kornerupine in Australia is described. The mineral is a minor component of a phlogopite-rich garnet-corundum-spinel metasomatic zone, which cuts mafic and ultranlafic spinel-plagioclase-orthopyroxene-hornblende rocks. The kornerupine-bearing assemblage was formed during the second major metamorphic episode that affected the terrain, probably under low-grade granulite or upper amphibolite facies conditions. Kornerupine appears to have formed at significantly lower levels ofP-Tthan those reached in the terrain during the peak of the second granulite metamorphism.