大别造山带东部假玄武玻璃的显微构造特征及其意义

最近,在大别造山带东部发现了广泛的地震成因假玄武玻璃,这些假玄武玻璃主要呈简单脉状沿NE-SW向走滑断裂带或剪切带发育,后者大多与郯庐断裂带平行并穿切了包括白垩纪花岗岩在内的地质体。某些假玄武玻璃内发育由暗色石英条纹构成的糜棱质条带。本文通过普通光学显微镜和扫描电镜观察分析,详细研究对比了不同断裂带内部发育的假玄武玻璃及其围岩在显微构造特征上的差异及联系。根据岩石的组构特征,证实所发现的这些假玄武玻璃主要是由母岩的超碎裂岩化形成的,但在点1发育的假玄武玻璃基质的扫描电镜影象特征上,沿某些残斑矿物(钾长石、斜长石、黄铁矿)的边缘可以看到些许代表摩擦熔融成因的熔蚀状港湾结构,说明假玄武玻璃形成过程中曾经发生了程度较低的局部熔融作用。肉眼所见到的糜棱质石英条纹在显微镜下证实为早期的糜棱面理。同时,岩石组构的叠加显示,含假玄武玻璃的断裂带及假玄武玻璃本身普遍具有多期性,且晚期构造产物(或假玄武玻璃)总是较早期产物(或假玄武玻璃)碎裂岩化作用更加强烈,说明先期存在的构造软化带在控制假玄武玻璃形成过程中起着非常重要的作用,即构造带抬升过程中伴随的多期构造及细粒化是形成假玄武玻璃的基础。岩石的变形序列总体上显示为韧性-韧脆性-脆性的演化过程,从而证实了这些假玄武玻璃总体上形成于造山带抬升过程,而不是早期的俯冲过程。     

广东河台金矿假玄武玻璃地球化学和年代学特征及其地质意义

前人对河台金矿中的假玄武玻璃早有报道,但是因为未认识到其与成矿的关系而被忽视。在前人发现的糜棱岩中假玄武玻璃的基础上,本次研究又发现了三种其他岩性中的假玄武玻璃。河台金矿中的假玄武玻璃呈黑色脉状、网脉状和树枝状贯穿于糜棱岩化片岩、糜棱岩、混合岩和矿体中。本研究结合野外宏观特征和室内的岩相学微观特征,运用粉晶X射线衍射、全岩地球化学和Ar-Ar同位素等实验分析手段,比较了河台金矿不同地质体中假玄武玻璃岩脉的特征。研究发现假玄武玻璃脉体中存在树枝状微晶结构和碎屑颗粒的港湾结构,同时也含有碎裂成因的石英、长石,表明其成因以同震断层的摩擦熔融为主,并伴随有少量碎裂化。通过计算得出假玄武玻璃样品中结晶态的各类矿物含量为石英53.3%、伊利石20.5%、高岭石17.3%、钾长石8.9%。假玄武玻璃与围岩都具有富SiO_2和Al_2O_3,富K_2O贫Na_2O,低MgO和Fe_2O_3~T的地球化学特征。两者的稀土元素配分型式也非常相似,都显示轻稀土富集和中等程度的负Eu异常(δEu=0.51～0.71)。假玄武玻璃的显微构造和地球化学特征指示其主要是由围岩原地熔融形成的,形成深度在6～18 km。我们认为河台金矿的假玄武玻璃可以指示云开大山抬升过程中伴随着地震的发生,同时,假玄武玻璃脉体在空间上切穿矿体,因此假玄武玻璃的⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar年龄123.3±1.0 Ma可以作为河台金矿的成矿年龄上限。     

新疆富蕴可可托海—二台断裂带中假玄武玻璃及其围岩的年代学研究

发育在新疆富蕴可可托海—二台断裂带中的假玄武玻璃是古地震断裂快速滑移形成的构造岩。地质产状、显微构造研究表明,这些假玄武玻璃主要由发生重结晶的玻璃质熔融体形成。假玄武玻璃基质的全岩40Ar/39Ar阶段升温方法主阶段和KAr年龄分别为282.8±3.8 Ma和276.4±7.4 Ma。假玄武玻璃所在母岩（黑云母花岗岩和钾长花岗岩）的锆石U-Pb年龄分别为390.4±1.0 Ma和396.3±0.1 Ma,表明二台断裂带中的假玄武玻璃是在二叠世早期形成的,也说明二台断裂带古地震活动至少可以追溯到晚古生代（早二叠世早期）。尽管二台断裂带是现今仍然活动的地震构造带,但目前所见到的假玄武玻璃是早二叠世时期古地震活动的产物。1931年的富蕴80级地震仅仅是沿着二台断裂带发生的多次构造活动的一次活动,与假玄武玻璃之间没有成因上的联系。     

Tectonic Significance of Fissure Veins Associated with Pseudotachylites of the Kui-Chitraseni Shear Zone, Aravalli Mountain, NW India

Kui-Chitraseni Shear Zone of the Precambrian Aravalli Mountain, NW India is marked by a nearly 400 m-wide NE-SW trending belt of cataclasites developed on the granites and metasediments of the Delhi Supergroup. The cataclasites are criss crossed by pseudotachylite and fissure-veins. While the pseudotachylites are aphanitic to microlitic, the fissure veins are characterized by syntaxial-bitaxial as well as unitaxial growth of elongate quartz grains. Textural study of the fissure veins suggests crystallization of quartz grains in a dilational environment in hydrous condition. Contrarily the pseudotachylites bear the evidence of frictional melting of rocks under anhydrous conditions. Since in many instances it is observed that the fissure veins have replaced the pseudotachylites following the crack seal mechanism, the formation of fissure veins is considered to be latekinematic to pseudotachylites. Hence it is interpreted that the pseudotachylites and fissure veins were formed in two distinct tectonic events. While pseudotachylites were formed in a compressional setting resulted from thrusting along the shear zone, the fissure veins have been formed in an extensional setting during a late stage normal faulting. In light of this tectonic rejuvenation along the Kui-Chitraseni Shear Zone, various lineaments present within the Aravalli Mountains need further study for understanding the evolution of the region.     

Origin, Age and Significance of Pseudotachylites from the Eastern Dabieshan Orogenic Belt, China

Recent field survey in the eastern Dabieshan Mountains has revealed extensive occurrences of pseudotachylite. The pseudotachylite tends to occur as simple veins and injected networks along the NE-SW-trending fracture zones or shear zones, which are parallel to the Tanlu fault zone and cut all the pre-Cretaceous geological bodies. The characteristics of both the microstructures gained by the optical microscope and SEM imaging and the geochemistry between the pseudotachylites and their host rocks show that the pseudotachylites were formed mainly by ultracataclasis of their wall rocks in which they occur. The bulk K-Ar ages of the pseudotachylites yielded a narrow range of 81 -93 Ma, and moreover the laser-probe 40Ar/39Ar dating of phengite overprinting on the pseudotachylite gave a weighted mean age of 78.9 Ma. These results show that the pseudotachylites from the eastern Dabieshan Mountains formed along the NE-SW-trending fault zone during the uplifting of the orogenic belt at 80-90 Ma, which places impor     

Electron microscopy study of hyalomylonites—evidence for frictional melting in landslides

Hyalomylonites, from Langtang (Nepal) and Köfels (Ötz Valley, Austria), were investigated by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The matrix is glassy at both localities; rarely it is crystallized and devitrified to dendrites and skeletal microlites of plagioclase, alkali feldspar and biotite. The matrix is chemically heterogeneous with schlieren and formed by partial to almost complete melting of host rocks of granitic to granodioritic composition. Locally, glasses with pure quartz, plagioclase and alkalifeldspar composition were found. From SiO₂-glass minimum temperatures of 1520°C are estimated.At both hyalomylonite localities melting appears to be the result of frictional heating on the gliding plane of a large landslide. The host rocks were deformed in a brittle mode. Microstructures typical of plastic deformation at high temperatures are displayed by inclusions and were probably inherited from previous tectonic events.     

东南极哈姆峰地区假玄武玻璃的显微构造、年代学及其地质意义

发育在东南极普里兹湾西南部哈姆峰地区麻粒岩相花岗质片麻岩中的假玄武玻璃沿着近东西向断裂带分布。显微构造特征表明,该地假玄武玻璃基质中普遍发育球粒结构及树枝状、放射状-针状等不同形状及组合的矿物微晶体,说明这些假玄武玻璃是地震断层快速滑移过程中摩擦熔融作用的产物。假玄武玻璃中的微晶体矿物组合大体分为两种,它们分布在构造带不同地段:一种是以"紫苏辉石+斜长石"组合为主,分布于构造带东北部地段;一种是以"黑云母+斜长石+钾长石+石英"的组合为主,分布于构造带西南部地段,说明沿构造带不同部位构造环境及应力分布的不均匀性。同时,微晶体中富铝紫苏辉石的存在,表明假玄武玻璃形成过程及其后期的结晶过程可能处于高温(麻粒岩相)的构造环境下。假玄武玻璃的基质全岩K-Ar年龄为878.1±16.8 Ma,全岩40Ar/39Ar年龄谱系中所记录的年龄值主要集中在925~626 Ma。结合区域对比看,假玄武玻璃应该形成于格林维尔期构造事件。      

Microcrystalline textures resulting from rapid crystallization in a pseudotachylite melt in a meta-anorthosite

The very fine-grained (1 m) polygonal microcrystalline texture occurring in the groundmass of pseudotachylite veins in the Harris meta-anorthosite and its variation with position are described and an origin by crystallization from a melt at very large undercooling suggested. The intrusive nature of the veins is shown by their geometry and internal structures. Clasts, which are almost always only plagioclase, are generally concentrated towards the centres of veins. Flow of tens of millimetres can account for this concentration in millimetre-thick veins as a result of the Bagnold effect. The veins are generally thin (5 m to 5 mm or more), are frequently zoned and always contain transparent granules of high relief (probably Al-rich pyroxene) and opaque granules of magnetite up to a few micrometres in size. The granules are either uniformly distributed in microcrystalline textures or concentrated locally giving cellular textures. In some veins, spherulitic or bow-tie textures occur. The coarsest textures are found in the centres of the thickest veins. The groundmass of the pseudotachylite is never completely isotropic but consists of a mosaic of transparent plagioclase crystals decreasing in size from the centres of thick veins to less than 1 m in thin veins or in the margins of thicker veins. This fine microcrystalline texture was studied by both scanning and transmission electron microscopy and consists of polyhedral crystals of regular size in the range 0.2–1.5 m, which show little sign of deformation. The local composition of the pseudotachylites varies little from the average compositions of the rocks in optically homogeneous veins, the variation being within the compositional space defined by the minerals of the host rock. This shows that homogenization of the pseudotachylite has occurred. In cellular veinsdifferentiation has occurred as the compositions of the cell centres lie outside those of the minerals of the host rock. This was produced by segregation of the granules, pyroxene being absent from the host rock. The plagioclase in the pseudotachylite is more disordered than that in the host rock. All the microtextures described are absent from the associated cataclasites and cannot be due to recrystallization of a fine-grained and intensely strained rock powder. The physical state on and after intrusion was that of a melt and injection was followed by crystallization. The melt was produced by more or less total fusion of the host rock minerals at shallow depth by heat produced during local faulting and perhaps during crack propagation. The fine microcrystalline texture very closely resembles that produced during hypercooling of molten metals and alloys. It thus possibly formed not by devitrification but from a melt at much greater degrees of undercooling than the spherulitic and bow-tie textures.     

Coexisting ultramylonite and pseudotachylyte from the eastern segment of the Mahanadi shear zone, Eastern Ghats Mobile Belt

Pseudotachylytes occur associated with mylonite and ultramylonite in the Mahanadi shear zone (MSZ) in the Eastern Ghats Mobile Belt (EGMB). The MSZ is about 200 km long curvilinear high strain zone trending WNW-ESE in its eastern part that splays out in the west. In Kantilo-Ganian segment of MSZ in northern EGMB, an interbanded sequence of granulite facies lithoassemblage has undergone ductile shearing. Kinematic studies of mylonite and ultramylonite indicate MSZ to be a NE-dipping, extensional type ductile shear zone. Non-coaxial metamorphic growth of garnet and presence of truncated sillimanite-fish in ultramylonite suggest high temperature regime during shearing. Pseudotachylytes in MSZ occur as millimetre thick layers to decimetre thick zones containing fragments of mylonite, ultramylonite and lithic clasts. Pseudotachylyte generation veins are mostly sub-parallel to C-planes and the injection veins cross-cut at high angle to these. The presence of an isotropic glassy matrix, injection features, corroded grains and dendritic microlites can be evidences for the existence of a melt phase. The composition of pseudotachylyte matrix (by EPMA) indicates silica deficiency with higher normative hypersthene, plagioclase and lower quartz compared with average whole rock composition for host. Absence of overprinting of mylonitic fabric on pseudotachylytes indicates their formation by brittle failure without passing through a plastic deformation and thus a two stage development for mylonite-ultramylonite and pseudotachylyte generation is suggested.     

辽南小黑山地区太古宙构造变形序列

采用地质调查和显微镜下观察方法,研究了辽南小黑山区太古宙岩石组成和构造变形特征。小黑山区太古宙岩石包括上壳岩、古老片麻岩和变基性岩脉,它们在小黑山变质岩体中呈包体出现。上壳岩由黑云变粒岩、条带状闪石磁铁石英岩组成;古老片麻岩为条带状角闪黑云斜长片麻岩、条带状角闪斜长片麻岩,原岩为英云闪长岩;变基性岩脉为斜长角闪岩和角闪石岩。上壳岩堆积之后有英云闪长岩侵位,基性脉侵位于上壳岩和英云闪长岩（古老片麻岩）。小黑山区太古宙岩石经历了2幕变形：D₁幕变形主要表现为褶皱构造（DF₁）、与褶皱轴面平行的面理（DS₁）、矿物线理（DL₁）;D₂幕变形在叠加褶皱作用下形成斜歪倾伏褶皱（DF₂）,面理和线理不发育。小黑山区太古宙变质岩中发育的变形序列、构造特征、变形特征、变质条件表明,这2幕构造形迹群属于中部构造相。D1幕变形形成逆冲推覆构造,D₂幕变形形成第Ⅲ型叠加褶皱,它们都是在同方向的水平挤压应力作用下的产物。     

试论阜平杂岩的深熔作用

阜平杂岩中广泛产出浅色脉体,从而显示强烈的混合岩化作用。前人把引起混合岩化作用的机制归因于岩汁交代、重熔或无水深熔作用,似乎与实际的岩相结构不是很一致。矿物自形晶、钠长石净边结构和一些典型的矿物转化反应表明,阜平杂岩的混合岩化作用实际上经历了复杂的过程,主要表现为有水条件下的深熔作用。所形成的熔体有较大的流动性,可迁移一定的距离而进入邻近的岩石,对这些部位而言相当于发生了外来熔体的注入活动,造成熔体注入式混合岩化作用,形成一些交代反应和结构。因此,阜平杂岩混合岩化作用中的变质反应过程既包括长英质矿物的熔融(溶解),还涉及一种含水矿物(如黑云母)转化形成另外一种含水矿物(如角闪石)的化学反应。阜平杂岩的混合岩化作用最重要的机制是水致熔融或含水深熔作用,溶解性重熔或无水深熔作用则较为次要。     

大别造山带东部假玄武玻璃的成因

最近,在大别造山带东部广泛发现了假玄武玻璃出露点,这些假玄武玻璃主要沿NE-SW向断裂带或剪切带发育。某些假玄武玻璃内发育糜棱质条带。本文主要讨论了大别造山带东部假玄武玻璃的显微构造、岩石化学及稀土元素地球化学等特征,在此基础上阐述了发育在该地区的假玄武玻璃的成因。      

Modelling the heat pulses generated on a fault plane during coseismic slip: Inferences from the pseudotachylites of the Copanello cliffs (Calabria, Italy)

A pseudotachylite vein network crosscutting late Hercynian foliated tonalites can be observed along the Copanello cliffs (Calabria, Southern Italy). Pseudotachylites formed during the Oligocene–Miocene at intermediate crustal levels (ca. 10 km). They show variable thickness ranging from few mm up to 10 cm, as observed in injection veins branching from the fault plane. Microscopic observations indicate that pseudotachylite matrix mainly consists of plagioclase (An₄₆–An₅₈) and biotite microlites. Rounded clasts of quartz, plagioclase or of plagioclase–quartz lithic fragments are disseminated in the matrix. Intergranular, flow and spherulitic textures are commonly observed. Microstructural features are consistent with rapid crystallisation from melt. EDS analyses of rare and tiny glass veins indicated a trachyandesite or An₅₀ plagioclase melt composition.The conditions for pseudotachylite formation were reproduced by an analytical model taking into account the heat released by friction along a horizontal fault plane during a seismic event. The model is based on a three-stage rupture history that includes nucleation, propagation and stopping. In addition, by means of a numerical approach, the model reproduces cooling that follows the stopping stage.According to previous studies, the thermal perturbation induced by fault displacement is very intense. In fact, temperatures exceeding the tonalite and even An₅₀ plagioclase liquidus (1470 °C) are reproduced by small amount of slip (≤ 6 cm) in suprahydrostatic regime. On the other hand, the thermal perturbation is strongly localised and of short duration. Peak temperatures abruptly decrease at a short distance from the fault plane (typically in few millimetres). In these conditions a thin film of melt can be produced. Therefore, the presence of cm-scale pseudotachylite veins can be only explained assuming an efficient and fast melt migration towards dilatant sites, such as pull-apart structures and injections veins. Results of the model may be useful to predict the thermal disturbance produced by earthquakes of low intensity.     

变质矿物生长的局部平衡体系——以贺兰山北段孔兹岩系为例

贺兰山北段孔兹岩系详细的岩石学和矿物学的研究表明 ,岩石中的特征变质矿物如石榴子石、堇青石等的成分与其周围相邻的同世代变质矿物具有很好的相关性 ,而与其寄生主岩成分的相关性较小 ,而贯通矿物如斜长石却与其寄生主岩成分的相关性较为密切 ,同时天然块状样品的脱水熔融实验的结果也显示 ,变质反应是在一个局部平衡体系中进行的。说明在变质作用过程中 ,变质反应的进行以及新矿物的形成是在一个局部平衡的体系下完成的 ,因此在矿物对温压计的使用上 ,应利用处于平衡状态的相邻变质矿物来计算。     

Experimental Study of the Melting Reaction and Genetic Mechanism of Mineral Phase Transformation in Granulite Facies Metamorphism

The high-temperature and high-pressure experiment on natural block rock indicates that dehydration-melting of hydrous biotite (Bi) and partial melting of felsic minerals in garnet-biotite-plagioclase gneiss are mainly controlled by temperature, while mineral phase transformation is not only controlled by temperature-pressure conditions but also genetically associated with hydrous mineral dehydration-melting and partial melting of felsic minerals. According to the characteristics of biotite dehydration-melting and garnet transformation reaction, three stages may be distinguished: (1) when the experimental temperature is 700℃, biotite transforms to ilmenite (Ilm) + magnetite (Mt) + H2O and garnet to magnetite (Mt); (2) when the temperature is 730-760℃, biotite is dehydrated and melted and transformed into K2O-rich melt + Ilm + Mt, and garnet, into hypersthene (Hy) + cordierite (Crd); (3) when the temperature is up to or higher than 790℃, biotite is dehydrated and melted and transformed into melt + Hy +     

Orthopyroxene-bearing, mafic migmatites at Cone Peak, California: evidence for the formation of migmatitic granulites by anatexis in an open system

Abstract Orthopyroxene-bearing migmatites, exposed at the summit of Cone Peak in the Santa Lucia Range, California, offer an opportunity to explore potential links between granulite facies metamorphism and migmatite formation. Geothermobarometry indicates that the metamorphic temperatures and pressures were in the approximate ranges of 700–750° C and 7.0–7.5 kbar. The rocks at the summit comprise three domains: relatively coarse-grained, leucocratic veins; relatively fine-grained, biotite-enriched zones at the margins of the veins; and a biotite–hornblende-bearing host rock. Orthopyroxene is concentrated in the veins, which have also the highest ratio of anhydrous to hydrous minerals of the three rock types. The composition of the veins, together with their textures and modes, suggest that they formed through anatexis involving a dehydration-melting reaction which consumed hornblende and produced orthopyroxene. Variability in mineralogy and composition indicates that there was some local migration of magma along the veins before their final solidification. The biotite-enriched zones formed either by the concentration of residual biotite at the margins of the vein, or through the metasomatic conversion of hornblende (and/or pyroxene) to biotite, or by a combination of the two processes. Significant differences in the chemistry of the neosome (vein + biotite-enriched zone) and the host rock rule out simple dehydration melting in a local closed system. The model that explains best the mineralogical and chemical patterns involves triggering of melting by an influx of a low- a _H2O mixed fluid which added K and Si to and removed Ca from the neosome.     

New data on the rock composition of the Bahia Seamounts (Brazil Basin,South Atlantic Ocean)

During the 28th cruise of R/V Akademik Sergei Vavilov in 2009, five different mountains belonging to the northern chain of the Baia Seamounts, located in the Brazil Basin, were dredged. Igneous rocks, limestones, and Fe-Mn crusts were collected. Igneous rocks are greatly altered resulting from halmyrolithic and/or low-temperature hydrothermal processes; the main secondary minerals are smectite, iron hydroxide, and phillipsite. Igneous rocks are subdivided into two groups, namely, trachybasalts and trachyandesites. Trachybasalts are aphyric rocks, consisting of basal plagioclase microlites, Fe-Ti ore mineral, olivine, and clinopyroxene. Trachyandesites are rarely porphyre rocks. Inclusions in trachyandesite are represented by acidic plagioclase, olivine, biotite, and zircon. The main mass is formed by acidic plagioclase and a small quantity of clinopyroxene.     

Pressure-temperature Evolution of the Metapelites in the Motuo Area,the Eastern Himalayan Syntaxis

The Motuo area is located in the east of the Eastern Himalayan Syntaxis. There outcrops a sequence of high-grade metamorphic rocks, such as metapelites. Petrology and mineralogy data suggest that these rocks have experienced three stages of metamorphism. The prograde metamorphic mineral assemblages(M1) are mineral inclusions(biotite + plagioclase + quartz ± sillimanite ± Fe-Ti oxides) preserved in garnet porphyroblasts, and the peak metamorphic assemblages(M2) are represented by garnet with the lowest XSps values and the lowest XFe# ratios and the matrix minerals(plagioclase + quartz ± Kfeldspar + biotite + muscovite + kyanite ± sillimanite), whereas the retrograde assemblages(M3) are composed of biotite + plagioclase + quartz symplectites rimming the garnet porphyroblasts. Thermobarometric computation shows that the metamorphic conditions are 562–714°C at 7.3–7.4 kbar for the M1 stage, 661–800°C at 9.4–11.6 kbar for the M2 stage, and 579–713°C at 5.5–6.6 kbar for the M3 stage. These rocks are deciphered to have undergone metamorphism characterized by clockwise P-T paths involving nearly isothermal decompression(ITD) segments, which is inferred to be related to the collision of the India and Eurasia plates.     

Generation of pseudotachylite under granulite facies conditions, and its preservation during cooling

Abstract Discontinuous ultramylonite zones cut Proterozoic granulite facies gneisses in MacRobertson Land, east Antarctica, and preserve evidence of ductile non-coaxial flow and reverse sense of shear. Cross-cutting relationships indicate that ultramylonite deformation involved overthrusting to the east, but progressively rotated to involve overthrusting to the north; rotation of the principal compressive stress axes is inferred. Extensive pseudotachylite developed during ultramylonitization, the history of individual ultramylonite zones having involved a single episode of pseudotachylite generation. Neoblastic sillimanite indicates ultramylonitization occurred at >520° C. On the basis of inferred recrystallized granulite facies mineral assemblages ultramylonitization occurred at >700° C, and ≤7.3 ± 0.5 kbar, at a_H2O± 0.3 and low a_CO2. Comparison of these values with those suggested by metamorphic assemblages in rocks unaffected by mylonitization indicates that the Rayner Complex experienced a late increase in pressure of 1–2 kbar during ultramylonitization. The P-T-a_H2O conditions of the ultramylonite zones are inferred to have been close to the solidus for minimum melting, pseudotachylite generation having involved a limited pressure drop during brittle fracturing at high strain rates. Most of the pseudotachylite veins are undeformed; the mechanism(s) of fracturing and melting must have caused strain hardening in rocks surrounding the ultramylonite, further strain having been mostly accommodated by a new or subsidiary shear zone. Renewed stress at reduced strain rates, or renewed stress in zones in which the proportion of pseudotachylite was significantly higher, could have led to the rare occurrences of deformed pseudotachylite. The preservation of fine-grained pseudotachylite is dependent on it remaining dry.     

Metamorphic evolution of exhumed middle to lower crustal rocks in the Mojave Extensional Belt, southern California, USA

The Waterman Metamorphic Complex of the central Mojave Desert was exposed as a consequence of early Miocene detachment-dominated extension. However, it has evidence consistent with a more extensive geological history that involves collision of a crustal fragment(s), tectonic thickening by overthrusting and two periods of extension. The metamorphic complex contains granitoid intrusives and felsic mylonitic gneisses as well as polymetamorphic rocks that include marble, calc-silicate, quartzite. mafic granulite, pyribolite, amphibolite, migmatite and biotite schist. The latter group of rocks was affected by an initial series of high-grade metamorphic events (M1 and M2) and a localized lower grade overprint (M3). The initial metamorphism (M1) can be separated into two stages along its high-grade P–T path: M1a, a granulite facies metamorphism at 800–850° C and 7.5–9 kbar and Mlb, an upper amphibolite facies overprint at 750–800° C and 10–12 kbar. M1a developed mineral assemblages and textures consistent with granulite facies conditions at a reduced activity of H₂O and is associated with intense ductile deformation (D1) and minor local partial melting. M1b overprinted the granulite assemblages with a series of hydrous phases under conditions of increasing pressure and H₂O activity and is accompanied by little or no deformation. M2 developed at lower pressures and temperatures (650–750° C, 4.5–5.5 kbar) and is distinguished by a second local overprint of hydrous phases that reflects an input of aqueous fluids probably associated with the intrusion of a series of granitic dykes and veins. Effects of M3 are confined to the Mitchel detachment zone, an anastomosing early Miocene detachment fault, and are characterized by local ductile/brittle deformation (D2) of the pre-existing high-grade rocks and granitoid intrusives and by the production of mylonites and mylonitic gneisses under greenschist facies conditions (300–350° C, 3–5 kbar). The initial overprint (M1a) represents metamorphism, devolatilization and minor partial melting of supracrustal rocks under granulite facies conditions as a consequence of tectonic and, possibly, magmatic thickening. The increasing pressure transition of M1a to M1b reflects a period of continued compressional tectonism, thrusting and influx of H₂O, in part, locally related to crystallization of partial melts. The near isothermal decompression between M1b and M2 probably represents a pre-112-Ma extensional episode that may have been the result of a decompressional readjustment of a thickened crust. Following the initial extensional event, the metamorphic complex remained at depths of 10–17 km for at least 90 Ma until it was uplifted following Miocene extension. M3 develops locally in response to this second extensional period resulting from the early Miocene detachment faulting.