Metamorphic evolution,partial melting and rapid exhumation above an ancient flat slab: insights from the San Emigdio Schist,southern California

The San Emigdio and related Pelona, Orocopia, Rand and Sierra de Salinas schists of southern California were underplated beneath the southern Sierra Nevada batholith and adjacent southern California batholith along a shallow segment of the subducting Farallon plate in Late Cretaceous to early Tertiary time. These subduction accretion assemblages represent a regional, deeply exhumed, shallowly dipping domain from an ancient slab segmentation system and record the complete life cycle of the segmentation process from initial flattening and compression to final extensional collapse. An important unresolved question regarding shallow subduction zones concerns how the thermal structure evolves during the slab flattening process. New field relationships, thermobarometry, thermodynamic modelling and garnet diffusion modelling are presented that speak to this issue and elucidate the tectonics of underplating and exhumation of the San Emigdio Schist. We document an upsection increase in peak temperature (i.e. inverted metamorphism), from 590 to 700 °C, peak pressures ranging from 8.5 to 11.1 kbar, limited partial melting, microstructural evidence for large seismic events, rapid cooling (825–380 °C Myr^?1) from peak conditions and an ‘out and back’P–T path. While inverted metamorphism is a characteristic feature of southern California schists, the presence of partial melt and high temperatures (>650 °C) are restricted to exposures with maximum depositional ages between 80 and 90 Ma. Progressive cooling and tectonic underplating beneath an initially hot upper plate following the onset of shallow subduction provide a working hypothesis explaining high temperatures and partial melting in San Emigdio and Sierra de Salinas schists, inverted metamorphism in the schist as a whole, and the observed P–T trajectory calculated from the San Emigdio body. Lower temperatures in Pelona, Orocopia and Rand schists are likewise explained in the context of this overarching model. These results are consistent with an inferred tectonic evolution from shallow subduction beneath the then recently active Late Cretaceous arc to exhumation by rapid trench‐directed channelized extrusion in the subducted schist.     

变泥质岩的深熔作用与具铈（Ce）负异常熔体的成因

对美国加州南Sierra Nevada岩基中一个典型的中生代变质表壳岩及其混合岩带进行了详细的野外观察和元素地球化学研究。研究发现:在持久(约为150Ma)的花岗岩侵位作用下,早白垩世变泥质岩发生达角闪岩相的中高级变质作用和部分熔融,导致Isabella混合岩的形成;浅色体具有和变泥质岩及混合岩近平行的REE分布模式,但浅色体的LREE含量相对较低;和变泥质岩相似,混合岩中的浅色体具有显著的Ce负异常。野外观测、岩相观察及元素地球化学特征表明,浅色体显著的Ce负异常是继承了原岩的Ce负异常特征,而不是由于副矿物(磷灰石、独居石或锆石)的差异溶解或结晶分异作用造成的。早白垩世变泥质岩(浅色体的原岩)主要由泥质及沙质海相沉积物组成,局部夹基性火山灰和火山碎屑,形成于与大陆岛弧密切相关的浅海环境。原岩的Ce负异常反映了较还原的浅海沉积环境。具有Ce负异常浅色体的产出表明,如果俯冲带上的沉积岩在俯冲过程中发生部分熔融作用并且所产生的熔体参与大洋型岛弧岩浆作用,最终可以导致具有Ce异常的基性岩浆生成。     

混合岩中浅色体的有限迁移及其对变形分解的影响

熔体在地壳和地幔中怎样迁移及其动力学是地质学中的一个重要问题。作为地壳深融作用的产物 ,混合岩中的浅色体提供了一个极好的机会来探讨影响地壳熔体在中下地壳迁移的因素。为此 ,我们对美国加州南 Sierra Nevada岩基中典型的混合岩、变泥质岩及邻近的花岗闪长岩进行了详细的主要元素地球化学和野外构造变形分析 ,同时应用流体动力学理论估算了在中下地壳条件下 ,典型浅色体的迁移距离。南 Sierra Nevada岩基中的混合岩中的浅色体厚度为 1mm至 1cm。在部分熔融程度较高的区域 (>10 % ) ,浅色体相互连接而成网结状构造 ,应变的承载方式主要以 IWL(Interconnected Weak L ayers)形式进行 ,即熔融体表现为弱相而承载大部分的应变。相反地 ,在部分熔融程度较低的区域 (<5 % ) ,浅色体孤立地出现 ,应变的承载方式主要以 L BF(L oad- Bearing Frame-work)形式进行 ,即应变主要由非熔融体的基质来承担。这表明在混合岩形成过程中 ,熔体的出现强烈地制约着应变分解作用。应用 Shaw的岩石粘度模型 ,我们根据浅色体的主要元素地球化学成分计算了浅色体在熔融状态下的粘度。根据流体动力学原理 ,估算了浅色体在不同条件下的迁移距离。计算结果表明 :1和典型花岗岩相比 ,浅色体具有较高的粘度 ,为 10 9～ 10 1 2