Pressure–temperature paths of tectonic blocks in mélange: Recording thermal evolution of a subduction channel at an initial stage of subduction

Abstract

We investigated the tectonic evolution of amphibolite and blueschist tectonic blocks in the serpentinite- or pelite-matrix mélange, which are distributed at the highest structural level of the high-P/T type Kamuikotan metamorphic rocks in northern Japan. The tectonic blocks in this study area are divided into six rock types: garnet-epidote amphibolite, epidote amphibolite, amphibolite, plagioclase-poor amphibolite, epidote blueschist and glaucophane-bearing quartz schist. Based on phase equilibrium modelling, garnet-epidote amphibolite and epidote amphibolite experienced peak metamorphism at pressure and temperature conditions of 1.1–1.25 GPa and 550–590°C, and 0.8–1.3 GPa and 475–550°C, respectively, (at an apparent thermal gradient ranging between 13 to 17°C/km). By contrast, although the peak-metamorphic conditions for each one of amphibolite, plagioclase-poor amphibolite, and glaucophane-bearing quartz schist are not well constrained, they may have been originally metamorphosed at amphibolite to epidote-amphibolite facies at thermal gradients exceeding 20°C/km, inferred from the core composition of amphibole (edenite/magnesiohornblende/barroisite). The epidote blueschist experienced peak metamorphism at pressure and temperature conditions of 0.8–1.6 GPa and 360–520°C (most probably 0.8–0.85 GPa and 360–480°C). Although different types of tectonic blocks experienced a variety of peak metamorphism under different P/T conditions, all of them underwent epidote blueschist facies metamorphism at the peak or retrograde stage (as shown by the glaucophane rims of amphibole with different core compositions). The overall P–T paths appear counter-clockwise, which could be interpreted to reflect the cooling history of the subduction channel from the beginning to the steady state of subduction. The geothermal gradient could have changed from 15–17° to ~10°C/km over ~20–25 Myr, as estimated by previously reported radiometric ages. The protoliths to the tectonic blocks could have begun to subduct into the subduction channel at different times (where the thermal structure evolved with time), acquiring different prograde P–T paths. Subsequently, these tectonic blocks were juxtaposed at a certain depth and incorporated into the overlying serpentinite during the subduction stage. Finally, the serpentinite- or pelite-matrix mélange, including these tectonic blocks, were exhumed together with the coherent accretionary units as the former was emplaced over the latter.