Journal of Metamorphic Geology最新文献

In situ oxygen analysis of garnet in eclogite and related rocks is increasingly being used to probe the composition of subduction fluids. However, in many cases, these samples contain textural signs of both fluid flow and retrograde metamorphism, some of which may take place outside the garnet stability field. In order to test the connection between polymetamorphism and fluid infiltration, rutile rimmed by titanite from high-grade tectonic blocks of the Franciscan Formation (California, USA) was analysed for oxygen isotope ratios and trace element concentrations. Zirconium concentrations in rutile yield temperatures of ~600°C for eclogite and hornblende eclogite from three well-studied localities (Junction School, Tiburon and Ward Creek). Rutile trace element concentrations are generally low and consistent with a mafic protolith. Titanite surrounding rutile has inherited much of its trace element content from rutile, and Zr-in-titanite temperatures are spuriously high. Titanite in rutile-free samples (blueschist and eclogite from Jenner beach) have similar compositions suggesting that they were formed at the expense of rutile as well. Oxygen isotope ratios from rutile and titanite in the same sample are fortuitously similar, indicating disequilibrium between these minerals, which formed at different times and temperatures but in equilibrium with the same oxygen reservoir. Rutile in blocks with garnets zoned in oxygen isotopes are generally in equilibrium with the rims rather than the cores. Slow oxygen diffusion in rutile and the low temperatures of formation require that rutile recrystallized after fluid interaction and before blueschist facies metamorphism. External fluid interaction of Franciscan eclogites took place near the peak of metamorphism.

The Chenaillet Ophiolite represents a very well-preserved portion of Ligurian-Piedmont ocean in the Western Alps. It is formed from an oceanic lithospheric succession comprising exhumed mantle, various mafic intrusives (i.e., gabbro sensu lato), and a world-renowned sequence of pillow basalts. Apart from scarce breccias closely related to oceanic lithosphere, no sedimentary cover is exposed. Historically, the Chenaillet Ophiolite has been known for its very low temperature–low pressure Alpine metamorphism, ascribed to obduction processes. However, studies aimed at constraining the peak pressure–temperature (P–T) conditions of Alpine metamorphism are virtually lacking, the general focus having been so far on its high temperature metamorphism and geochemical features. In this paper, we investigate two kinds of rocks: gabbro and albitite/alkali syenite, whose petrographic features shed light on the complex metamorphic history of the Chenaillet Ophiolite. Detailed analyses of mineral assemblages, blastesis/deformation relationships, and mineral chemical data allow two metamorphic events to be distinguished: an earlier, high temperature event (already reported in the literature) and a second, later low temperature, high pressure event, recognized here for the first time. The low temperature, high pressure event is strikingly testified by the occurrence of lawsonite relicts in the gabbro and of interstitial omphacite in the albitite. Thermodynamic modelling (i.e., via isochemical phase diagrams) performed on a gabbro sample suggests for this unit a minimum of 9 kbar and 300°C and a maximum of 15 kbar and 450°C. Overlapping these P–T conditions with those inferred for the albitite based on the observed mineral assemblage allows the Alpine peak metamorphism to be constrained to 10–11 kbar and 340–360°C. These P–T conditions suggest a thickness of the overlying nappe stack of about 35–40 km, which is incompatible with obduction or burial processes, and instead consistent with subduction processes related to the Alpine orogeny. We argue that, opposite to the common belief that the Chenaillet Ophiolite escaped Alpine metamorphism, our new data strongly support the idea that it experienced low temperature-blueschist-facies metamorphism, whose evidence can still be tracked in those (few) rocks that better recorded and preserved it. This finding generates new challenging questions regarding both subduction and exhumation processes in complex orogens such as the Western Alps.

Empirical studies of zircon in migmatites document features compatible with growth during heating at suprasolidus conditions. However, numerical modelling of zircon behaviour suggests that suprasolidus zircon is expected to grow only during cooling and melt crystallization. Here, phase equilibrium modelling coupled with mineral–melt Zr partitioning is used in an attempt to reconcile the observations from migmatites with the predictions of previous numerical models of zircon behaviour in anatectic systems. In general, an equilibrium-based model that includes Zr partitioning does not allow prograde suprasolidus zircon growth. However, melting of metapelites at temperatures just above the wet solidus may allow limited zircon growth because of the low solubility of zircon in melt coupled with a source of Zr from minor garnet and ilmenite breakdown. Preservation of this zircon requires entrapment in growing peritectic minerals during subsequent heating and further melting. Heating above muscovite exhaustion in metapelites is unlikely to grow zircon because of the progressive increase in zircon solubility as well as an increasing compatibility of Zr in the residual mineral assemblage. The modelled compatibility of Zr in the residue of a metabasite decreases during heating, but an increase in zircon solubility in melt counteracts this; prograde suprasolidus zircon growth in metabasites is unlikely. Infiltration of Zr-rich melt into a migmatite during open-system anatexis provides an additional potential mechanism for prograde suprasolidus zircon growth during high-temperature metamorphism.

A well-preserved remnant of the middle crust of the former Adriatic passive margin is exposed in the Southern Alps (Italy). The Dervio–Olgiasca Zone is located south of the Insubric Line along the northern part of Como Lake and, because of the lack of Alpine overprint, provides favourable conditions to investigate the pre-Alpine (rift-related) history. We reconstruct the P–T–t–d evolution of the Adria middle crust through petrological (petrography, mineral chemistry, thermobarometry and thermodynamic modelling) and geochronological (Lu/Hf in garnet and U–Pb in monazite) data from pegmatites and host micaschists. These data allow reconstruction of a complex tectono-thermal evolution of the future proximal Adriatic margin at the onset of Alpine rifting. The amphibolite-facies Carboniferous metamorphic basement (7.6–10 kbar and 610–660°C at 318–312 Ma) was affected by pervasive extensional deformation (5.1–7.6 kbar and 580–660°C) in the Middle- to Late-Permian (257.5 ± 3.8 Ma). Pegmatite intruded at 249.8 ± 1.1 Ma in an extensional phase that re-equilibrated rocks of the basement at 3.5–4.5 kbar and 560–600°C. During the Middle- to Late-Triassic (241–235 Ma), the basement experienced static thermal recrystallization (T = 689 ± 41°C and ~5.0 kbar). This Late-Anisian to Early-Carnian thermal event was simultaneous with the emersion of carbonate platforms, volcanism and ore deposition in the future proximal Adriatic margin. The subsequent cooling of the middle crust was synchronous with large-scale extensional detachments developed in the upper crust (e.g., the Lugano-Val Grande Fault), which controlled the formation of the Monte Generoso Basin. This study reveals that the local post-Carboniferous thinning and heating events recorded in the Adriatic middle crust were interconnected to other processes occurring at different crustal levels that were, in turn, induced by crustal stretching in the early stages of the Alpine rifting.

It is a general tendency that epidote, which is a typical greenschist facies mineral, is scarce in the lower oceanic crust, in spite of the widespread occurrence of the other minerals indicative of similar temperature conditions such as chlorite, actinolite, prehnite and serpentine. To find the cause of this, we carried out petrological analyses of lower crustal rocks of the Oman ophiolite sampled by the Oman Drilling Project of the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP). Petrographic observations revealed the tendency, as expected, that the amount of epidote formed by static alteration of plagioclase decreases with depth. Because mineral assemblages indicative of a wide range of temperature conditions from amphibolite to subgreenschist facies occur throughout the cores without systematic variations of abundance, the decrease of epidote amount cannot be explained by the difference of temperature condition of alteration. Petrographic observations also revealed that epidote is absent or rare in rocks containing serpentinized olivine in contrast to prehnite showing a close association with serpentinization of olivine. In an exceptional sample containing both epidote and serpentinized olivine, epidote occurs with chlorite that cuts or replaces plagioclase, mantles adjacent olivine and is connected with chlorite + lizardite veins cutting mesh-forming serpentine veins. The distribution and mode of occurrence of epidote suggest decoupling of its formation with the main stage of serpentinization. Serpentine veins cutting olivine to form mesh texture are typically lizardite with magnetite ribbons at vein centres and have compositions of lizardite–cronstedtite solid solution at vein margins or in magnetite-free veins, suggesting a chemical condition with low silica and low oxygen potentials at an early stage of serpentinization. Thermodynamic modelling for olivine and plagioclase alteration at greenschist facies conditions indicates that silica potential for plagioclase alteration to form prehnite + chlorite and epidote + chlorite could be higher than for olivine serpentinization. On the other hand, oxygen potential for the prehnite + chlorite formation is lower than for the epidote + chlorite formation and is comparable with that for olivine serpentinization. From the observations and analyses, it is concluded that epidote formation is inhibited by olivine serpentinization, which maintains a reducing condition for alteration in the lower oceanic crust.

We present an analysis of kinetics and pulses of zircon growth in migmatites formed at middle to lower crustal depths beneath a volcanic arc. Migmatites in high-T metamorphic complexes at active continental margins, such as in the Ryoke Complex of southwest Japan, are thought to have been produced beneath volcanic arcs. Thermal models suggest that melt advection supplies the heat to form such high-T complexes. We found that zircons in the migmatites of the Ryoke Complex grew in multiple discrete stages by rapid diffusion-controlled growth. The individual growth pulses can be distinguished using a Gaussian mixture model when the duration of each growth pulse is shorter than 1σ of the analytical error of the zircon age dating, and where the interval between each growth pulse is larger than 2σ of them. This method allows extraction of the growth pulses even when the zircon exhibits incomplete textural evidence for multiple stages of growth. Application of the method to the Ryoke Complex revealed three and four pulses of zircon growth with 3–10 Myr intervals for two migmatite samples respectively in the Mikawa area and three pulses with 2–4 Myr intervals from one migmatite sample in the Yanai area. The detected zircon growth pulses are consistent with previously reported pulses of plutonic activity in the two areas, with the exception of the oldest growth pulse in the Mikawa area. Therefore, the growth pulses are interpreted to be the result of thermal pulses because of melt flux events at lower to middle crustal levels. The inferred intervals of pulsed melt fluxes are similar to those of individual caldera formation in coeval caldera clusters at the surface.

The allochthonous Blåhø Nappe in the Nordøyane ultra high pressure (UHP) domain, Western Gneiss Region in Norway, acts as a window to examine geological processes occurring in continent–continent collisional zones, but many aspects regarding its tectonometamorphic evolution remain debated and elusive. In this contribution, an integrated study including major- and trace-element zoning in garnet, phase equilibrium modelling and the simulation of cation diffusion in garnet was conducted on two high-pressure (HP) granulite facies rocks from the Blåhø Nappe on the island of Fjørtoft. The results shed new light on the complex geodynamic processes that act in continent–continent collisional zones and finally shape collisional orogens. Phengite, biotite, amphibole, zoisite-allanite and low-Zr rutile enclosed in garnet likely attest to a prograde eclogite facies metamorphism for the studied rocks. Pressure–temperature (P–T) conditions of ~1.5–1.6 GPa and 615–670°C were retrieved for this stage. An extensive re-equilibration under peak HP granulite facies conditions of ~1.5 GPa and 925 ± 50°C followed. Subsequently, the rocks were cooled and reburied to eclogite facies conditions of ~1.8–1.9 GPa and 805–825°C. This was followed by a final stage of decompression and cooling to amphibolite facies conditions of ~650–780°C and 0.5–1.0 GPa. Cooling and exhumation rates of >400°C/Ma and >75 km/Ma, respectively, indicating an ultrafast temperature and pressure decrease are estimated for this stage from simulations of cation diffusion in garnet. The anticlockwise P–T path obtained here is relatively complete and compatible with a repeated burial history during the Caledonian orogeny but not with UHP conditions proposed for the Blåhø Nappe. Our model proposes that the rocks later forming the Blåhø Nappe were buried to lower crustal depths of approximately 55 km equating to a geothermal gradient of ~13°C/km during the early Caledonian orogeny. Subsequent heating of these rocks to HP granulite facies conditions was likely driven by slab break-off and hot mantle upwelling. Baltica underthrusting during the Scandian continent–continent collision cooled and transported the Blåhø Nappe to greater depths. The obtained cooling and exhumation rates indicate ultrafast exhumation, presumably in an exhumation channel.

The Pacific Rim Terrane is of forearc affinity and one of the most recent crustal elements accreted to the North American Cordillera in western Canada. Two units, the Leech River Complex and Pandora Peak Unit, within the terrane were subject to high-temperature, medium-pressure metamorphism. Biotite, garnet and staurolite isograds occur concentrically in the Leech River Complex, centred on the Leech River shear zone at its southern boundary. A local thermal overprint in the Pandora Peak Unit is characterized by replacement of prehnite-pumpellyite and lawsonite-bearing assemblages with muscovite + chlorite. Pseudosection models (Perple_X), and thermometry using garnet-biotite Fe-Mg exchange and Raman spectroscopy of carbonaceous material (RSCM) show a thermal gradient at ~3.8 kbar from ~230°C in the north to ~600°C in the south. Isotherms are continuous across the Leech River–Pandora Peak boundary. The small-volume, interfoliated intrusions of Eocene age occurring throughout the terrane show no spatial relation to the isotherms. Elevated forearc metamorphism is due to the subcretion at ~51 Ma of nascent oceanic crust (and related spreading ridge or hotspot) of the underlying Siletz-Crescent terrane along the south-bounding Leech River shear zone. Our re-evaluation of the metamorphic history requires revision of the role of magmatism as a source of heat transport in forearc metamorphism and the tectonic assembly in this setting.

Continental subduction and collision are recorded by ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) terranes; UHP terranes that form at early stages of an orogeny tend to be small and experience short residence at eclogite-facies depths, whereas terranes that form at mature stages of an orogeny tend to be larger and experience longer residence at these depths, but accurately determining eclogite-facies residence time requires a large geochronologic dataset tied to metamorphic conditions (via trace elements and/or inclusions). In the Dulan area, North Qaidam UHP terrane, China, it remains unclear whether the terrane experienced a long residence at eclogite-facies depths, marking the mature stage of an orogeny or two distinct (ultra)high pressure ([U]HP) events (with short residence times), interpreted as the transition from oceanic subduction to continental collision, where one (U)HP event is related to the former and second (U)HP event to the latter. To address this issue, we report new zircon U–Pb ages and trace-element data from eclogite and host paragneiss from the Dulan area and show that this terrane records ~42 Myr of eclogite-facies metamorphism at (U)HP conditions, similar to other large UHP terranes. Zircon from 11 eclogite and 2 gneiss samples yields weighted mean ages of 463–425 Ma, flat heavy rare earth element (HREE) patterns without negative Eu anomalies, and eclogitic mineral inclusions, indicating eclogite-facies conditions. Paragneiss metamorphic ages overlap with ages from eclogite but are generally younger, suggesting that a lack of internally generated fluids may have inhibited zircon growth and/or recrystallization until early decompression and white mica consumption in felsic gneiss generated fluids; thus, we interpret that these felsic rocks record the later stages of continental collision. Dataset patterns from all new and previously published analyses for the Dulan area (34 eclogite and 14 gneiss) suggest that metamorphic zircon in eclogite records prograde, peak and possibly early retrograde conditions, in contrast to the prediction from mass balance models that metamorphic zircon should only grow during exhumation and cooling. We reconcile our observations with these model predictions by recognizing that differential solubility can lead to grain-scale zircon growth or recrystallization over a large segment of the pressure–temperature (P–T) path even where zircon abundance decreases at the whole-rock scale.

Terranes accreted to the southeastern margin of the Siberian Craton record an important early Paleozoic tectono-thermal event (known as the Baikal orogenic cycle) in the evolution of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt (CAOB). However, the precise metamorphic conditions and relative timing of this event and its linkage to the wider CAOB remain far poorly constrained. The best exposed of these terranes is the Olkhon Terrane on the western bank of Lake Baikal. Here, late Neoproterozoic through early Paleozoic island arc and back-arc assemblages were metamorphosed to form a thin granulite facies belt cropping out adjacent to the Siberian Craton and lower temperature/pressure paragneiss and migmatite towards the southeast. Phase equilibria modelling suggests that the granulite facies belt preserved moderate pressure (c. 0.80 GPa) and high temperature (up to 900°C) conditions while the paragneiss and migmatites in the southeast have peak metamorphic conditions around 700–770°C at 0.60–0.80 GPa. New geochronological data (zircon U–Pb in granulite and monazite U–Pb in paragneiss/migmatite) in combination with phase equilibria modelling and petro-structural analysis suggest that the tectono-metamorphic evolution of the Olkhon Terrane was controlled by a long-lasting (535–450 Ma) and pervasive thermal anomaly. Discrete maxima in the zircon and monazite U–Pb ages at c. 535, 500, and 450 Ma are linked to different stages of a semi-continuous high-temperature metamorphic evolution. Based on existing geological data of the region, a generalized geodynamic model for the Baikal orogenic cycle involving switching between compressional and extensional regimes during the early Paleozoic accretion of ‘exotic’ CAOB-derived material to the southern margin of Siberia is proposed. The tectono-metamorphic evolution of the Olkhon Terrane may represent a world-class example of polyphase shortening of a long-lived hot intra-continental arc–back-arc system during its collision with cratonic blocks.