Quartz-in-garnet (QuiG) under pressure: insights from in situ Raman spectroscopy

Elastic geothermobarometry relies on the contrast between the thermal expansion and compressibility of a mineral inclusion and its surrounding host, leading to a residual pressure in the inclusion (P inc) that may differ significantly from the external pressure. Quartz-in-garnet (QuiG) inclusion-host systems are widely used in elastic geothermobarometry to estimate the inclusion entrapment conditions and thus the rock petrogenesis. To elucidate the behaviour of QuiG at elevated pressures, we have applied in situ high-pressure Raman spectroscopy on three QuiG samples having P inc close to 0 GPa at room temperature. We demonstrate that upon pressure increase, the garnet host acts as a shield to the softer quartz inclusion. Consequently, the P inc increases with a smaller rate compared to that of the external pressure. Up to 2.5 GPa, the evolution of P inc calculated from the Raman data agrees very well with prediction from the equations of state. Furthermore, the behaviour of a quartz inclusion in a relatively thin host specimen was explored up to external pressures of 7 GPa. Our results indicate that the shielding effect of the host (even if only partial because of the insufficient distance between the inclusion and the host surface) can keep the quartz inclusions thermodynamically stable up to about 2 GPa above the equilibrium quartz–coesite phase boundary. In addition, the partial shielding leads to the development of anisotropic symmetry-breaking stresses and quartz inclusions undergo a reversible crossover to a lower symmetry state. Given that the presence of non-hydrostatic stress may influence the quartz-to-coesite phase boundary, especially at elevated temperatures relevant for entrapment conditions, our results emphasize the importance of elastic anisotropy of QuiG systems, especially when quartz inclusion entrapment occurs under conditions close to the coesite stability field.