Reintegrating nanogranitoid inclusion composition to reconstruct the prograde history of melt-depleted rocks

A recent fascinating development in the study of high-grade metamorphic basements is represented by the finding of tiny inclusions of crystallized melt (nanogranitoid inclusions) hosted in peritectic phases of migmatites and granulites. These inclusions have the potential to provide the primary composition of crustal melts at the source. A novel use of the recently-published nanogranitoid compositional database is presented here. Using granulites from the world-renowned Ivrea Zone (NW Italy) on which the original melt-reintegration approach has been previously applied, it is shown that reintegrating melt inclusion compositions from the published database into residual rock compositions can be a further useful method to reconstruct a plausible prograde history of melt-depleted rocks. This reconstruction is fundamental to investigate the tectonothermal history of geological terranes.