Generation of the Staurolite Based on a Relation Between Illite-Muscovite Transition: A Study on the Shale of the Baekunsa Formation, Buyeo

The generation of staurolite from the mixed-phase muscovite and the metamorphic environment of shales in the Baekunsa formation, Hongsan, Buyeo, were studied using electron probe micro analysis (EPMA). The average chemical composition of mica-type mineral is , and shows a characteristics of the so-called illite with a low content of interlayer cations and Fe, Mg in octahedral sites. The mica-type mineral shows a typical chemical composition of the mixed-phase among muscovite, pyrophyllite, and chlorite (mixed-phase muscovite, ). The staurolite, in general, occurs with the mixed-phase muscovites, pyrophyllites, and aluminosilicates in the rock. We consider that staurolite can be formed by a reaction involving pyrophyllite such as pyrophyllite+chloritoid. The chloritoid is formed by a reaction between pyrophyllite and chlorite and is supposed to be used up in the process of staurolite formation. As a result, the mixed-phase muscovite, formed during the transition of illite to muscovite, plays an important role for the generation of the staurolite. Considering that the reaction occurs at the temperature higher than and pyrophyllites transform into aluminosilicates at , the shale in the Baekunsa formation can be considered to have been experienced a metamorphic temperature between .