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Mid-conference field trip B – Wongwibinda
Leaders: Kim Jessop and Nathan Daczko

(included in registration)

[Download double-sided 1-page guide]

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A highlight of the mid-conference field trip is a visit to the Permian low-P–High-T Wongwibinda Metamorphic Complex, about 50km from Armidale. Explore rare exposures of intensely deformed and metamorphosed Carboniferous subduction accretion complex rocks and understand the significance of three varieties of Early Permian S-type granite, part of the Hillgrove Plutonic Suite.

Theme 1: a steep metamorphic field gradient – examine outcrops, hand samples and photomicrographs of

  • Biotite-grade laminated siltstone to silty lithic sandstone

  • Muscovite porphyroblastic schist

  • Cordierite porphyroblastic schist

  • Garnet-cordierite migmatitic schist

Theme 2: shear zones and collapse structures indicative of melt migration pathways – examine outcrops, hand samples and photomicrographs of

  • Pseuo-boudinage, trapped feldspars and collapse structures that formed during melt escape

Theme 3: varieties of S-type granite – examine outcrops, hand samples, photomicrographs and the geochemistry of

  • Biotite granodiorite

  • Two-mica monzogranite

  • Garnet leucogranite

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