Ferroglaucophane schist from the Ohsa-yama srea, Okayama Prefecture, Japan

A ferroglaucophane schist occurs in fault contact with serpentinites at the Ohsa-yama area, Southwest Japan. It consists of albite, ferroglaucophane and actinolite with small amounts of stilpnomelane, sphene, apatite and K-feldspar. Petrological studies reveal that the schist was originally igneous rock of felsic or intermediate composition and has suffered two stages of metamorphism : ferroglaucophane has been formed at the first stage and actinolite at the second stage. In a basic schist from the same outcrop that the ferroglaucophane schist occurs, tremolitic amphibole instead of alkali amphibole has been formed along with chlorite, phengite and albite. Such a difference in mineral association between the schists is ascribed to a difference in whole rock composition, particu-larly in Fe/Mg ratio. Some of the schists from th Ohsa-yama area characteristically contain glaucophane or ferroglaucophane and have low Fe2O3/FeO ratios, forming a striking contrast to the crossite schists that commonly occur in the so-called "Sangun metamorphic terrane". These facts suggest that the alkali amphiboles of the Ohsa-yama schists were formed under higher P/T and more reducing conditions than those of the regional metamrphic rocks. On the other hand, development of the second-stage actinolite in the ferroglaucophane schist is consistent with the meta-morphic parageneses of greenschists from adjacent areas. Consequently the ferroglaucophane schist is considered one of the tectonic blocks that were captured by mobile serpentinites and have suffered the regional metamor-phism after the emplacement of the serpentinites into the present geologic position.