Journal of Metamorphic Geology最新文献

The petrostructural and geochronological study of a poorly known ultramafic unit from SW Spain (Badajoz–Córdoba belt) combined with previous structural data permits disclosure of a history of metasomatism, tectono-metamorphism, reworking and isotopic resetting related to a poly-orogenic evolution in different geodynamic scenarios. The heterogeneous ultramafic unit studied contains antigorite-serpentinites and metasomatized ultramafic rocks (chlorite-talc schists, tremolite-talc-chlorite rocks and magnesio-hornblende-chlorite rocks). Mantle-wedge serpentinization was followed by Si and Al pre- to syn-metamorphic/tectonic metasomatism in a subduction realm. Petrofabrics of selected lithologies reveal variable syn-metamorphic crystal-plastic deformation and recrystallization (assisted by other mechanisms) under relative high pressure, concomitant with the conditions recorded by neighbouring tectonic units that were later intruded by Ordovician granites. The resultant ensemble was reworked and isotopically reset much later in an intracontinental ductile shear zone. Syn- to late-tectonic apatite from chlorite-talc schists provides an anchored Tera–Wassenburg isochron radiometric age of 342.8 ± 12.2 Ma that provides evidence for the decoupling between isotopic systems and microstructures. The results are discussed from a twofold perspective: with regard to the likely tectonic context of this ophiolite (the current analogue of the Mariana forearc) and with regard to regional geological implications.

Variations of rare earth element (REE) concentrations in metamorphic garnet are an important source of information of geodynamic and geochemical processes in the deeper Earth. In order to extract this information, the thermodynamic equilibrium and kinetic contributions of the REE uptake in garnet must be distinguished and quantified. Utilizing high-resolution trace element and μ-Raman mapping together with combined thermodynamic–geochemical–diffusion models, we demonstrate that the equilibrium and kinetic aspects of the REE uptake in metamorphic garnet can be discriminated by interpreting 2D trace element mapping in a single sample. The heavy (H) REE (Tb to Lu) zoning in the investigated garnet from a high-pressure blueschist comprises an inner part with an overall decrease from core to inner rim, followed by a concentric zone of HREE enrichment and a drastic HREE decrease towards the outermost rim. The central peak in the garnet core decreases in intensity with decreasing atomic number of the REE. The broad overall shape of this pattern resembles those often observed in metamorphic garnet from different rock types and tectonic settings. Superimposed on this trend is a concentric pattern of minor recurring fluctuations in the HREE concentrations with at least six regularly spaced sets of peaks and troughs along the entire garnet radius. Comparison of the observed inclusion suite, the trace element maps and thermodynamic–geochemical models show that the inner part with decreasing HREE concentrations results from fractional garnet growth in an unchanged mineral assemblage, whereas the REE enrichment zone is caused by the breakdown of titanite. We suggest that the width of the central peak is controlled by the bulk permeability of the interconnected transport matrix and the fraction of matrix minerals that the garnet equilibrates with. The superimposed REE fluctuations result from changing element transport properties of the host rock and mark recurring changes from equilibrium REE uptake to transport-limited REE uptake in garnet. Such fluctuating element transport properties can be best explained by pulse-like fluid fluxes that rhythmically change the interconnectivity of the intercrystalline transport matrix. Increasing numbers of published spatially highly resolved REE analyses show that such trace element fluctuations are common in metamorphic garnet indicating that recurring changes in rock permeabilities due to pulsed fluid fluxes are a common phenomenon during metamorphism.

The timing and mechanism of the tectonic transition from an active continental margin to a trench-arc-basin system in NE Asia are debated. In this study, we report the pressure–temperature–time (P–T–t) path of this transition based on petrographic observations, phase-equilibrium modelling, and U–Pb ages of zircon and rutile from pelitic granulites in the Hidaka metamorphic belt (Hokkaido, Japan). The granulites contain an early phase mineral assemblage of staurolite + sillimanite + biotite + plagioclase + quartz + rutile/ilmenite, a peak phase granulite assemblage of garnet + biotite + cordierite + plagioclase + quartz + rutile/ilmenite and a symplectic intergrowth of spinel + cordierite ± sillimanite within garnet porphyroblasts. Phase-equilibrium modelling indicates two phases of metamorphism with P–T conditions, respectively, of ~6 kbar/620–670°C and ~6 kbar/850°C. A clockwise P–T path was thus reconstructed for the granulites, showing a near-isobaric temperature increase to the peak conditions and a post-peak cooling. U–Pb dating of zircon and rutile in the granulites yielded two groupings of metamorphic ages at c. 37 Ma and 19 Ma, related to early phase amphibolite facies and late phase granulite facies metamorphism, respectively. The age of magmatism from the previous work at the NE Asian continental margin overlaps with these metamorphic ages, and the two phases of metamorphism in the pelitic granulites is attributed to discrete episodes of supra-subduction-zone magmatism (late Eocene, c. 37 Ma) and back-arc extension (early Miocene, 24–19 Ma). Consequently, we suggest that the Hidaka metamorphic belt has undergone two phases of metamorphism, which represent two pulsed and separated thermal events. Moreover, we relate the granulites facies metamorphism to the underplating of mafic magma and lithospheric thinning during the opening of the Japan Sea at 24–19 Ma, which is attributed to slab rollback and trench retreat processes in NE Asia.

Naxos in the Greek Cyclades preserves a type example of polymetamorphism. The southern and northern parts of the island record different Tertiary P–T histories between Eocene and Miocene times, including a blueschist facies event, one or more amphibolite/greenschist facies overprint(s) and contact metamorphism. Age attributions for these events are inconsistent in the literature. Here, we propose a new approach that combines electron probe microanalyzer (EPMA) characterization of the white mica (WM) with ³⁹Ar-⁴⁰Ar–Rb-Sr multichronometry. Textural–petrographic–compositional observations reveal that the polygenetic WM consists of five different generations: pre-Eocene relicts, paragonite, high-Si phengite, low-Si phengite and muscovite. EPMA mapping of four WM samples, previously analysed by Rb-Sr, reveals major element compositions heterogeneous down to the μm scale. Each WM consists of chemically distinct generations, documenting submicron-scale retrogression of high-pressure (HP) phengite grains to muscovite. Four WM samples from a N-S traverse across the island were analysed by ³⁹Ar-⁴⁰Ar stepheating, comparing coarse and fine sieve size fractions to obtain overdetermined K-Ar systematics. Fine sieve fractions are richer in Cl than coarse ones. Linear arrays in Cl/K-age isotope correlation diagrams show two predominant WM generations (one Cl-poor at ca. 38 Ma and one Cl-rich at <20 Ma). A lower-grade sample from southern Naxos was less pervasively recrystallized, provides older ages and preserves at least three WM generations, including a relict WM with a pre-Palaeocene K-Ar age, consistent with the high Ar retentivity of WM in the absence of complete recrystallization. The age of the Cl-poor end-member WM approximates the age of the HP event, 38 Ma. Ar inheritance in Cretaceous mica relicts is heterogeneous at the single-grain scale. Comparing the degassing rates of the WM fractions rules out ‘multidomain’ diffusion. As no sample is monomineralic, the degassing rate of each polygenetic mica is instead controlled by the mass balanced sum of the unrelated rate constants of its constituent minerals. Given the commonness of zoned and composite micas, the approach detailed here is potentially useful for reconstructing polyphase metamorphic histories worldwide.

Geological processes involving deformation and/or reactions are highly influenced by the rock grain size, especially if diffusion-controlled processes take place such as metamorphic reactions and diffusion creep. Although many processes, inducing grain-size reduction, are documented and understood at relatively high stresses and low temperatures (e.g., cataclasis) as well as at lower stress and higher temperature conditions (e.g., bulging and subgrain rotation), deformation twinning, a plastic deformation mechanism active in various minerals at lower temperatures, has been neglected as nucleation site for melting and reaction and thus as a cause for grain-size reduction so far. We conducted experiments on natural plagioclase-bearing aggregates at 2.5 to 3 GPa confining pressure and temperatures of 700°C to 950°C using two different deformation apparatus, a deformation multianvil apparatus (DDIA) and a Griggs press, as well as a piston-cylinder apparatus. Regardless of the apparatus type, we observe the breakdown of plagioclase into an eclogite-facies paragenesis, which is associated with partial melting in the high temperature domain of the eclogite facies. Partial melting mostly takes place along the grain and interphase boundaries. However, several melt patches or plagioclase decomposition products coincide with the occurrence of deformation twins and grain-scale microcracking in plagioclase indicating intracrystalline melting and reaction in addition to melting and reaction along grain and interphase boundaries. In the present study, we demonstrate how the interplay between brittle microcracking and plastic deformation twinning can cause intracrystalline melting and/or reaction, which has the potential to lower the effective grain size of plagioclase-rich rocks and thus impacts their reactivity and deformation behaviour.

Major, minor, and trace element geochemistry as well as iron oxidation state and isotopes were investigated in serpentinites and olivine-talc fels present along a metamorphic gradient in the Bergell contact aureole (Central European Alps) to evaluate element mobility during serpentine. This aureole is an ideal target to study dehydration of mantle rocks due to the increase in temperature from greenschist facies conditions (350°C) to amphibolite facies conditions (750°C) at low pressures of 0.4 GPa. Petrography and geochemistry document several events of fluid–rock interaction and metamorphism. Serpentinization of the mantle rocks started on the ocean floor. Subsequent Alpine regional metamorphism led to the formation of antigorite-serpentinites containing olivine and diopside. These antigorite-serpentinites were transformed into olivine-talc fels in a large part of the contact-aureole. Bulk-rock major and trace element compositions maintain the geochemical signature of the precursor antigorite-serpentinites. No apparent changes are indeed observed despite the fact that major dehydration reactions occurred. In addition, changes neither in Fe³⁺/Fe_tot ratio nor in δ⁵⁶Fe values were observed. Local composition variations of antigorite-serpentinites and olivine-talc fels reflect chemical heterogeneities related to protolith composition and serpentinization processes on the ocean floor prior to contact metamorphism. Hence, prograde dehydration reactions occurring during contact metamorphism did not induce substantial element mobility, change in redox state, or isotopic fractionation in these contact metamorphic rocks.

Melt migration through high-strain zones in the crust fundamentally influences their rheological behaviour and is important for the transfer of fluids to upper crustal regions. The inference of former melt-present deformation, based on field observations, may be hampered if the high-strain zone experience a low time-integrated melt flux or high melt volume expulsion during deformation. In these cases, typical macro-scale field evidence of former melt presence limits interpretations. In this contribution, we investigate igneous field evidence ranging from obvious to cryptic in the Gough Dam shear zone (central Australia), a 2- to 4-km-wide high-strain zone shown to have acted as a significant melt pathway during the Alice Springs Orogeny. Within bands of the high-strain zone, granitic lenses are easily discernible in the field and are inferred to have formed during melt present deformation. Related coarse K-feldspar is observed in biotite-rich (>75 vol%) schist (glimmerite) as either isolated grains, forming trails (sub)parallel to the main foliation, or in aggregates with subordinate quartz. Detailed characterization of the granitic lenses shows that pockets of phenocrysts may be entrained in the shear zone. If melt expulsion and melt-rock interaction is severe, isolated K-feldspar grains in glimmerite may form. These grains exhibit (i) partially preserved crystal faces; (ii) a lack of internal grain deformation; (iii) reaction textures preferentially formed along the main crystallographic axes showing dissolution of K-feldspar and precipitation of dominantly biotite; (iv) low-strain domains between multiple K-feldspar grains being inferred to enclose crystallized melt pockets, with some apparently isolated grains showing connectivity in three dimensions; and (v) a weak quartz and K-feldspar crystallographic preferred orientation. These observations suggest an igneous phenocrystic origin for the isolated K-feldspar grains hosted in glimmerite, which is consistent with the observed REE concentration patterns with positive Eu anomaly. We propose that the K-feldspar phenocrysts are early-formed crystals that were entrained into the glimmerite rocks as reactive melt migrated through the actively deformatting high-strain zone. Previously entrained K-feldspar phenocrysts were trapped during the collapse of the melt pathway when melt flux-related fluid pressure waned while confining pressure and tectonic stress were still significant. The active deformation facilitated expulsion or loss of the melt phase but retainment and trapping of phenocrysts. Hence, the presence of isolated or ‘trains’ of K-feldspar phenocrysts is a cryptic signature of syndeformational melt transfer. If melt transfer occurs in an open chemical system, phenocrysts will be entrained within the reaction product of melt-rock interaction. We suggest that these so-called trapped phenocrysts are a viable indicator of former syntectonic melt passage through rocks.

The Northern Range of Trinidad is composed of Mesozoic passive margin sedimentary rocks that underwent ductile deformation and subgreenschist- to greenschist-facies metamorphism in the early Miocene. Previous studies suggested a two-stage formation of the Northern Range between the Caribbean and South American plates: an initial collision drove mountain building in the Miocene and subsequent strike-slip plate motion preferentially exhumed the western segment, producing a westward increase in the metamorphic thermal gradient. However, these studies were not able to resolve whether this gradient was discrete or continuous so the tectonic model awaits testing. In this study we use Raman spectroscopy on carbonaceous material (RSCM), an empirical geothermometer, to constrain peak temperatures across the Northern Range with a greater resolution than was available in previous studies. The RSCM temperatures show an abrupt increase from 337°C ± 10°C in the east to 442°C ± 16°C west of Chupara Point, where a range-cutting fault (Chupara Fault) had been inferred in previous geologic mapping campaigns. Thus, the discrete thermal discontinuity of ~100°C very likely represents the Chupara Fault. Our RSCM-derived peak metamorphic temperatures are 50°C to 100°C higher than those from previous estimates, requiring revision of tectonic models to account for deeper burial and greater exhumation. The peak metamorphic conditions determined here, and the deduced timing of faulting from published thermochronological data, are consistent with the two-stage tectonic model proposed in previous studies.

The Alpine orogenic edifice of Corsica (northern Tyrrhenian Sea) offers the possibility to investigate the mode through which continental crust responds to the propagation of regional shortening at convergent plate margins. The geology of Corsica has been traditionally described as separating domains affected by the Alpine tectonism (Alpine Corsica) from those that did not experience the Alpine tectono-metamorphic overprint (Hercynian Corsica), but recent studies show that most of Hercynian Corsica was thermally reset in post-Eocene times, questioning this paradigm. The continental units formed at the expenses of the stretched continental margin of the European plate and consist of Hercynian granitoid basement rocks and cover sequences (Permian volcaniclastics and Mesozoic sedimentary successions). By integrating meso- and microstructural investigations with metamorphic thermobarometry and ⁴⁰Ar–³⁹Ar geochronology along three E–W trending structural transects running across the basement section exposed below the Alpine orogenic wedge, we document middle-late Eocene (c. 50–33 Ma) westward-verging syn-metamorphic (low-grade blueschist facies) thick-skinned, basement-involved thrusting. Significantly, crustal shortening in the continental basement predated of c. 15–10 Ma the subduction zone metamorphism in the oceanic-derived Schistes Lustrés Complex. When the P–T–t–deformation history as reconstructed from the Corsica basement is integrated with the regional scenario of the Alpine–Apennine orogeny, a tectonic reconstruction is proposed, which frames the Alpine orogeny in Corsica within the Apennine–Maghrebian subduction system in the retroside (retrowedge) of the Apennine orogenic wedge.

The Changning–Menglian orogenic belt (CMOB) in the southeastern Tibetan plateau separates Gondwana- from Eurasia-derived continental blocks and marks the main suture of the Paleo-Tethys, as evidenced by a variety of oceanic basalt-derived eclogites. However, it is uncertain whether the belt contains high-pressure rocks derived from gabbro, which is a key component of oceanic ophiolite. Here, we present a study of newly discovered gabbroic eclogites from the CMOB. These eclogites preserve relic gabbroic crystals (diopside, bytownite/anorthite and ilmenite) that survived metamorphism and occur in the form of inclusions within porphyroblasts. The eclogites have positive ε_Nd(t) values of +1 to +8 and have an affinity to N-MORB, with positive Eu anomalies and no depletions in high-field-strength elements (e.g. Nb, Ta, Zr and Hf). Cumulate gabbros generated in a mid-ocean ridge setting are possible protoliths for the studied samples. The eclogite facies mineralogy is defined by the assemblage of garnet + omphacite + kyanite + talc + phengite + rutile, which was followed by the post-kinematic crystallization of winchite and clinozoisite, and a later symplectite assemblage (diopside + sodic plagioclase + calcic amphibole + clinozoisite). Phase equilibrium modelling, average P–T thermobarometry and conventional mineral geothermobarometry constrain the P–T conditions for the peak-stage and initial post-peak-stage metamorphism and symplectite formation to 25.6–27.1 kbar/595–637°C, 15.3–17.9 kbar/563–605°C and 5.5–7.3 kbar/470–500°C, respectively, consistent with a subduction depth of 75–85 km. Metamorphic zircons yielded a Triassic mean U–Pb age of 223.7 ± 2.9 Ma, which is interpreted to record the early-stage decompressive overprinting. The similar paragenetic sequences, mineral evolution, peak P–T conditions and P–T–t paths for the gabbro- and basalt-derived eclogites in the CMOB indicate that these rocks formed in the Paleo-Tethys subduction regime. The lack of deformation, and the cold and rapid subduction history, contributed to the local preservation of gabbroic minerals and igneous textures under high-pressure conditions in the studied rocks. The gabbroic eclogites provide insights into the detailed metamorphic evolution during the burial–exhumation cycle of ophiolites in the Paleo-Tethyan regime.