Omphacite breakdown reactions and relation to eclogite exhumation rates

Clinopyroxene + plagioclase (±Hbl ± Qtz) symplectites after omphacite are widely cited as evidence for prior eclogite-facies or high-pressure (HP) metamorphism. Precursor omphacite compositions of retrograde eclogites, used for reconstructing retrograde P-T paths, are commonly estimated by reintegrating symplectite phases with the assumption that the symplectite-forming reactions were isochemical. Comparisons of broadbeam symplectite compositions to adjacent unreacted pyroxene from various symplectites after clinopyroxene from the Appalachian Blue Ridge (ABR) and Western Gneiss Region (WGR) suggest that the symplectite forming reactions are largely isochemical. Endmember calculations based on reintegrated symplectite compositions from the ABR and WGR suggest that a minor Ca-Eskola (CaEs) component (X_CaEs = 0.04-0.15) was present in precursor HP clinopyroxene. WGR symplectites consist of fine-grained (∼1 μm-scale), vermicular intergrowths of Pl + Cpx II ± Hbl that occur at grain boundaries or internally. ABR symplectites contain coarser (∼10 μm-scale) planar lamellae and rods of Pl + Cpx II + Qtz + Hbl within clinopyroxene cores. The contrasting textures correlate with decompression and cooling rate, and degree of overstepping of the retrograde reaction (lamellar: slow, erosionally controlled exhumation with slow/low overstepping; fine-grained, grainboundary symplectite: rapid, tectonic exhumation with rapid/high overstepping). Variations in X_CaEs, X_jd, and X_CaTs of precursor HP omphacite are related to the symplectic mineral assemblages that result from decompression. Quartz-normative symplectities indicate quartz-producing retrograde reactions (e.g., breakdown of precursor CaEs); quartz-free symplectities (e.g., diopside + plagioclase after omphacite) indicate quartz-consuming reactions (jd, CaTs breakdown) outpaced quartz-producing reactions.