Geothermobarometry

Geothermobarometry estimates the temperature and pressure at which minerals in a rock equilibrated, using mineral compositions and experimentally calibrated relationships.

Mineral thermometry: Methods that estimate formation or equilibration temperatures from mineral compositions or mineral reactions. These methods isolate the temperature component of geothermobarometric estimates.
Metamorphic petrology: The study of rocks transformed by changes in temperature, pressure, fluids, or deformation. Geothermobarometry is a toolkit for reconstructing conditions during metamorphism.
Pressure–temperature path: A record or model of how a rock's pressure and temperature changed through time. Multiple mineral records can trace a rock's burial, heating, and exhumation.
Conventional geothermobarometry: Pressure–temperature estimation using calibrated mineral equilibria, commonly applied to selected mineral pairs or reactions. It contrasts with calculating conditions by fitting an entire mineral assemblage.
Mineral barometry: Methods that estimate pressure from mineral compositions, assemblages, or pressure-sensitive reactions. These methods isolate the pressure component of geothermobarometric estimates.
Metamorphic facies: Groups of metamorphic mineral assemblages characteristic of particular pressure–temperature ranges. Facies provide a broad geological check on calculated conditions.
Subduction zone metamorphism: Metamorphism produced as oceanic lithosphere and associated rocks descend into a subduction zone. Pressure–temperature estimates test models of unusually cold metamorphic environments.
Thermobarometry: The estimation of temperature and pressure from material properties or calibrated physical relationships. This broader term also covers non-geological pressure–temperature measurements.
Exchange thermometer: A thermometer based on temperature-dependent partitioning of elements between coexisting minerals. Element partitioning between mineral pairs supplies many temperature estimates.
Mineral assemblage: The set of minerals occurring together in a rock or a defined part of it. Assemblage context helps establish which phases could have equilibrated.

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