Conditions of Dalradian metamorphism

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Editorial note: A meeting on ‘Conditions of Dalradian Metamorphism’, convened by Drs C. M. Graham and B. Harte (Edinburgh University) and Dr R. Powell (Leeds University) on behalf of the Metamorphic Studies Group was held at the University of Edinburgh on 20 and 21 September 1983, and was followed by a field trip to the Dalradian of the Scottish Highlands. Drs Colin M. Graham and Ben Harte have provided the following introduction to the proceedings of the conference and the published papers: The metamorphosed rocks of the Dalradian Super-group, with their clearly developed and contrasting (Barrovian and Buchan) metamorphic zonal sequences and varied (pelitic-psammitic, basic, calcareous) lithologies, have played an important part in the development of metamorphic petrology through the studies of such early workers as Barrow, Horne, Tilley, Read, Wisemen and Harker. More recently, models of thermo-tectonic development have shown a broad array of ideas: regional depth control in a ‘tectogen’ ( Kennedy 1948 ); self-heating of a crustal pile (Richardson & Powell 1976); importance of high-level magma ( Atherton 1977 ; Yardley 1980 ); the development of inverted zonal sequences ( Chinner 1978 ); and suggestions of tectonically controlled lateral heat transfer (Harte & Hudson 1979). The diversity of these suggestions no doubt partly reflects the complexity of the Scottish-Irish Dalradian terrain as a whole, a feature which was further brought out in several papers at the meeting. In order to provide a setting for viewing the broader aspects of metamorphic studies and their relation to structural–tectonic and temporal evolution, the meeting commenced with