A retrograde monazite-forming reaction in bearthite-bearing high-pressure rocks

Bearthite,Ca2Al[PO4](2)(OH),an aluminium phosphate that may contain up to similar to 10 wt% of light rare-earth elements (LREE) + Th, shows various breakdown textures in high-pressure metamorphic rocks. Two such reactions are described: (1) a pyrope-bearing kyanite-phengite-quartz (coesite) schist from the high-pressure Dora-Maira terrane, Italy, in which bearthite displays a symplectitic rim that consists of apatite + monazite; (2) a garnet-bearing muscovite-biotite gneiss of the Monte Rosa nappe, Italy, in which a symplectitic pseudomorph consisting of apatite + corundum + monazite occurs as an inclusion in allanite. In rocks with a high Al/Ca ratio, we suggest that bearthite is more stable than monazite as the LREE-bearing phase under high P/low T conditions (that is, a subduction zone environment). It breaks down to an assemblage of symplectitic monazite + apatite + corundum (or Al-silicate with free SiO2) during decompression. Bearthite that coexists with HREE-dominated minerals like xenotime does not show increased HREE contents. Because of its considerable Th-content, bearthite could be used to constrain the time of high-pressure metamorphism.