The Ti-saturation surface for low-to-medium pressure metapelitic biotites: Implications for geothermometry and Ti-substitution mechanisms

The Ti content of biotite can serve as a geothermometer for graphitic, peraluminous metapelites that contain ilmenite or rutile and have equilibrated at roughly 4-6 kbar. The relationship between Ti- coutent, temperature, and Mg/(Mg + Fe) value was calibrated empirically using an extensive natural biotite data set (529 samples) from western Maine and south-central Massachusetts in combination with the petrogenetic grid of Spear et al. (1999). The calculated Ti-saturation surface is curved such that for a given Mg/(Mg + Fe) value, Ti concentration increases as a function of temperature in a nonlinear' fashion, and for a given temperature Ti concentrations decrease with an increase in Mg/(Mg + Fe). The fit to the Ti-saturation surface can be reformulated as the geothermometric expression: T = {[In(Ti) - a - c(XMg)3]/b}0.333, in which T is temperature in degrees Celsius, Ti is the number of atoms per formula unit (apfu) normalized on the basis of 22 O atoms, XMg is Mg/(Mg + Fe), a = -2.3594, b = 4.6482 x 1O-9 and c = -1.7283. The calibration range for this expression is XMg = 0.275-1.000, Ti = 0.04-0.60 apfu, and T = 480-800 0C. Precision of the Ti-in-biotite geothermometer is estimated to be ±24 0C at the lower temperature range and improves to ±12 °C at higher temperatures. Application of the Ti-in-biotite geothermometer to ilmenite- or rutile-bearing, graphitic, peraluminous metapelites equilibrated at 3-6 kbar is generally consistent with independent temperature determinations, but with some deviations that represent local reequilibration. Consequently, the Ti systematics in biotite can also serve as the basis of a very sensitive indicator of chemical equilibrium, or lack thereof. Applica­tion of the geothermometer to metapelites not containing the requisite mineral assemblages can lead to minor-to-significant errors in estimated temperatures.