Recovering the composition of melt and the fluid regime at the onset of crustal anatexis and S-type granite formation

Using a metatexite from the Spanish Betic Cordillera as an example, we show that in situ and otherwise impossible to retrieve compositional information on natural anatectic melts can be reliably gained from experimentally rehomogenized melt inclusions in peritectic garnets. Experiments were conducted on single garnet crystals in a piston cylinder apparatus until the complete homogenization of crystal-bearing melt inclusions at the conditions inferred for the anatexis. The compositions of quenched glasses, representative of the early anatectic melts, are leucogranitic and peraluminous, and differ from those of leucosomes in the host rock. The H2O contents in the glasses suggest that melts formed at low temperature (~700 °C) may not be as hydrous and mobile as thought. Providing for the fi rst time the precise melt composition (including the volatile components) in the specifi c anatectic rock under study, our approach improves our understanding of crustal melting and generation of S-type granites.