Formation and exhumation of blueschists and eclogites from NE Oman: new perspectives from Rb–Sr and 40Ar/39Ar dating

Seven eclogite facies samples from lithologically different units which structurally underlie the Semail ophiolite were dated by the ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar and Rb–Sr methods. Despite extensive efforts, phengite dated by the ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar method yielded saddle, hump or irregularly shaped spectra with uninterpretable isochrons. The total gas ages for the phengite ranged from 136 to 85 Ma. Clinopyroxene–phengite, epidote–phengite and whole‐rock–phengite Rb–Sr isochrons for the same samples yielded ages of 78 ± 2 Ma. We therefore conclude that the eclogite facies rocks cooled through 500 °C at c. 78 ± 2 Ma, and that the ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar dates can only constrain maximum ages due to the occurrence of excess Ar inhomogeneously distributed in different sites. Our new results lead us to conclude that high‐pressure metamorphism of the Oman margin took place in the Late Cretaceous, contemporaneous with ophiolite emplacement. Previously published structural and petrological data lead us to suggest that this metamorphism resulted from intracontinental subduction and crustal thickening along a NE‐dipping zone. Choking of this subduction zone followed by ductile thinning of a crustal mass wedged between deeply subducted continental material and overthrust shelf and slope units facilitated the exhumation of the eclogite facies rocks from depths of c. 50 km to 10–15 km within c. 10 Ma, and led to their juxtaposition against overlying lower grade rocks. Final exhumation of all high‐pressure rocks was driven primarily by erosion and assisted by normal faulting in the upper plate.     

Late Cretaceous exhumation history of an extensional extruding wedge (Graz Paleozoic Nappe Complex, Austria)

Late Cretaceous structures within the eastern Graz Paleozoic Nappe Complex define an extruding wedge with north-eastward directed thrusting in eastern portions and strike-slip shear along the margins. Stacking structures are overprinted by south-westward directed extension with low-grade metamorphic rocks in the hangingwall and high-grade basement rocks in the footwall. Pressure–temperature and structural data are obtained from successively opening quartz veins that record various stages of progressive deformation and metamorphism. Fluid inclusion data and related structures show that during extension isothermal decompression from ca. 550°C and 8 kbar down to ca. 450°C and 2 kbar was related to exhumation of rocks from deep crustal levels. The data point to a high geothermal gradient and explain condensed paleo-isotherms due to ductile normal faulting in the eastern areas of the Graz Paleozoic Nappe Complex. The investigated Late Cretaceous structural elements suggest that the Graz Paleozoic Nappe Complex decoupled from the surrounding basement units and operated as a large-scale extension–extrusion corridor that evolved prior to Miocene extrusion tectonics in the Eastern Alps.     

New, high-precision P–T estimates for Oman blueschists: implications for obduction, nappe stacking and exhumation processes

Oman blueschists and eclogites lie below the obduction nappe of the Semail ophiolite in one of the key areas on Earth for the study of plate convergence. Here new metamorphic and tectonic constraints are provided for the central, yet poorly constrained Hulw unit, sandwiched between the low‐grade units (～10 kbar, <300 °C) and the As Sifah eclogites (P_max ～ 23 kbar; T_max ～ 600 °C). TWEEQU multi‐equilibrium thermobarometry, using both compositional mapping and spot analyses, and Raman spectroscopy of carbonaceous material yield a high‐precision P–T path for the Hulw and As Sheikh units and reveal that they shared a common P–T history in four stages: (i) a pressure decrease from 10–12 kbar, 250–300 °C to 7–9 kbar, 300–350 °C; (ii) almost isobaric heating at ～8–10 kbar from 300–350 °C to 450–500 °C; (iii) a pressure decrease at moderate temperatures (～450–500 °C); and (iv) isobaric cooling at ～5–6 kbar from 450–500 to 300 °C. No significant pressure or temperature gap is observed across the upper plate–lower plate discontinuity to the north and west of the Hulw unit. The combination of tectonic and P–T data constrains the stacking chronology of the three main metamorphic units comprising the Saih Hatat window (i.e. the Ruwi‐Quryat, the Hulw‐As Sheikh and the Diqdah‐As Sifah units). These results strengthen the view that the tectonic and metamorphic data are conveniently accounted for by a simple, N‐vergent continental subduction of the passive Arabian margin below the obduction nappe along a cold P–T gradient.     

全球典型大陆造山带中榴辉岩的折返机制:来自变质岩和地球物理的限制

大陆岩石圈深俯冲作用是地球科学领域的前沿热点,榴辉岩的折返机制是板块构造及动力学的关键科学问题。全球著名的大陆造山带中榴辉岩的p-T轨迹呈现差异性折返特征,为了揭示榴辉岩的折返机制,本文结合变质岩石学和地球物理学研究,选取3个典型大陆造山带——中生代—新生代的阿尔卑斯造山带、中生代的苏鲁—大别造山带和新生代的喜马拉雅造山带中的榴辉岩进行阐述。在阿尔卑斯造山带地区,地球物理研究结果发现,欧洲板块的俯冲造成了Adria地区下方的岩石圈存在明显厚度差异。同时,阿尔卑斯造山带Doria Maria和Pohorje地区以及Pohorje地区内部,榴辉岩折返历史也不尽相同,原因可能是亚德里亚大洋岩石圈断离后不同期次的逆冲推覆作用使其差异性斜向挤出。苏鲁—大别造山带中榴辉岩的快速折返,原因可能是华南板块与华北板块碰撞后岩石圈的拆沉或断离作用。在喜马拉雅造山带,西构造结和中喜马拉雅榴辉岩的折返存在差异性。在西构造结,那让和卡甘榴辉岩呈现不同的p-T轨迹和折返速率,变质岩石学和地球物理研究结果都表明它们的差异性折返很可能与印度-欧亚大陆碰撞过程中的构造挤压作用以及印度大陆岩石圈的断离作用有关。喜马拉雅造山带是年轻的正在进行造山活动的造山带,相较于古老的苏鲁-大别造山带,它更适合变质岩石学和地球物理学的综合研究。因此西构造结高压/超高压榴辉岩的折返机制——构造挤压和俯冲板块断离可应用于全球造山带。     

A Late Cretaceous theropod caudal vertebra from the Sultanate of Oman

A caudal vertebra collected from conglomerates of the Al-Khod Formation (Late Cretaceous) in the Al-Khod area, Sultanate of Oman, is assigned to a medium-sized theropod dinosaur. The Al-Khod discovery represents one of the very few dinosaur records from the Middle East.     

Triassic blueschists and eclogites from northwest Turkey: vestiges of the Paleo-Tethyan subduction

Triassic eclogite and blueschist facies rocks occur as a thrust sheet, 25-km long and over 2-km thick, in an Eocene fold-and-thrust belt in northwest Turkey along the zmir–Ankara suture. The thrust sheet consists mainly of metabasites with minor marble, phyllite and metachert, and rare lenses of serpentinite. The common blueschist facies mineral assemblage in the metabasites is sodic amphibole+epidote+albite+chlorite+phengite±garnet. Sodic amphibole commonly shows replacement by barroisite, and there is continuous petrographic transition from blueschist–metabasites to barroisite-bearing epidote–amphibolites. Eclogite with the mineral assemblage of garnet+sodic pyroxene+sodic–calcic amphibole+epidote is found only in one locality. P–T conditions of the epidote–blueschist facies metamorphism are estimated as 450±50 °C and 11±2 kbar. The blueschist formation was followed by a decrease in pressure and increase in temperature, leading to the development of barroisite-bearing epidote–amphibolites. Phengite, sodic amphibole and barroisite Ar/Ar ages from three metabasic rocks range between 215 and 205 Ma, and indicate Late Triassic high-pressure metamorphism. The Triassic blueschists in northwest Turkey constitute part of a much larger allochthonous tectonic unit of Triassic mafic volcanic rocks. They probably represent the upper layers of a Triassic oceanic plateau, which was accreted to the Laurasian margin during the latest Triassic. The close spatial association of the Triassic and Cretaceous blueschists along the zmir–Ankara suture suggests that the suture represents a long-lived plate boundary of Late Palaeozoic to early Tertiary age.     

榴辉岩的地震波性质：对苏鲁超高压变质带地壳成分和折返机制的探讨

本总结了榴辉岩的高温高压弹性波速测量结果,并将其应用于苏鲁超高压变质带地震资料的解释。由于榴辉岩具有高密度和高波速,它们和长英质片麻岩、大理岩、石英岩、角闪岩、麻粒岩、蛇纹石化橄榄岩的界面可以产生强反射。如果俯冲的陆壳物质以榴辉岩与围岩互层的形式在上地幔保留下来,就可能在造山带的上地幔产生地震反射。根据CCSD孔区地震剖面所建立的地壳成分模型表明：苏鲁超高压带地壳浅部的高速层可归因于夹在花岗质片麻岩、副片麻岩、角闪岩等岩石中的榴辉岩和超基性岩;中地壳主要由中酸性片麻岩、斜长角闪岩和副片麻岩组成;下地壳以中基性麻粒岩为主。在该超高压变质带现今的深部地壳,榴辉岩含量很少或几乎没有。因此,折返的超高压变质岩是以构造岩片的形式沿一系列剪切带逆冲并覆盖在正常的中下地壳之上,深部榴辉岩的缺乏可能与下地壳拆沉作用无关。     

Exhumation of oceanic blueschists and eclogites in subduction zones: Timing and mechanisms

High-pressure low-temperature (HP–LT) metamorphic rocks provide invaluable constraints on the evolution of convergent zones. Based on a worldwide compilation of key information pertaining to fossil subduction zones (shape of exhumation P–T–t paths, exhumation velocities, timing of exhumation with respect to the convergence process, convergence velocities, volume of exhumed rocks,…), this contribution reappraises the burial and exhumation of oceanic blueschists and eclogites, which have received much less attention than continental ones during the last two decades.Whereas the buoyancy-driven exhumation of continental rocks proceeds at relatively fast rates at mantle depths (≥ cm/yr), oceanic exhumation velocities for HP–LT oceanic rocks, whether sedimentary or crustal, are usually on the order of the mm/yr. For the sediments, characterized by the continuity of the P–T conditions and the importance of accretionary processes, the driving exhumation mechanisms are underthrusting, detachment faulting and erosion. In contrast, blueschist and eclogite mafic bodies are systematically associated with serpentinites and/or a mechanically weak matrix and crop out in an internal position in the orogen.Oceanic crust rarely records P conditions > 2.0–2.3 GPa, which suggests the existence of maximum depths for the sampling of slab-derived oceanic crust. On the basis of natural observations and calculations of the net buoyancy of the oceanic crust, we conclude that beyond depths around 70 km there are either not enough serpentinites and/or they are not light enough to compensate the negative buoyancy of the crust.Most importantly, this survey demonstrates that short-lived (< ～ 15 My), discontinuous exhumation is the rule for the oceanic crust and associated mantle rocks: exhumation takes place either early (group 1: Franciscan, Chile), late (group 2: New Caledonia, W. Alps) or incidentally (group 3: SE Zagros, Himalayas, Andes, N. Cuba) during the subduction history. This discontinuous exhumation is likely permitted by the specific thermal regime following the onset of a young, warm subduction (group 1), by continental subduction (group 2) or by a major, geodynamic modification of convergence across the subduction zone (group 3; change of kinematics, subduction of asperities, etc).Understanding what controls this short-lived exhumation and the detachment and migration of oceanic crustal slices along the subduction channel will provide useful insights into the interplate mechanical coupling in subduction zones.     

High-pressure blueschists and eclogites in Hong'an: a framework for addressing the evolution of high- and ultrahigh-pressure rocks in central China

The Hong'an region in the Qinling–Dabie collisional zone in eastern China hosts a series of metamorphic rocks exposing a south-to-north distribution from blueschist/blueschist–greenschist, amphibolite, eclogite (kyanite free) and kyanite–eclogite to coesite–eclogite facies rocks that represent progressively deeper levels of the Mesozoic subduction–collision complex. The Hong'an area is interesting for three reasons: (1) it escaped the thermal and structural overprint imparted on much of the Dabie Mountains during Early Cretaceous intrusion of voluminous granites and granodiorites; (2) the high-pressure (HP) Hong'an eclogites are widely distributed, often preserve prograde crystallization histories and can be directly linked in time and space to the blueschist/blueschist–greenschist rocks exposed to the south; (3) the blueschist/blueschist–greenschist facies rocks are generally better exposed than their equivalents in the southeastern Dabie Mountains and offer some opportunity for simultaneous structural and metamorphic analysis. The Hong'an area HP rocks offer perhaps the closest approximation to a preserved snapshot of Mesozoic pressure–temperature (P–T) conditions attending early subduction–exhumation in the region, and are thus essential to generating a coherent picture of the dynamics attending both metamorphism and exposure of the coeval ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) rocks. The purpose of this contribution is twofold: (1) to document previously unpublished metamorphic and structural data characterizing these HP sequences and their relative continuity in Hong'an; (2) to incorporate these data with recent geochronologic, structural and paleomagnetic information in the context of protracted, late Paleozoic through Mesozoic subduction, collision and exhumation. Metamorphism and exhumation of some of the southern Hong'an HP sequences appear to have occurred concomitant with oceanic subduction immediately to the west, and thus may have preceded widespread continental subduction/collision. Moreover, all of the HP–UHP sequences in the region were exhumed before the end of collision between the Sino-Korean and Yangtze cratons at ca. 160 Ma. Exhumation of HP–UHP rocks both before and during continental plate collision is neither novel for central China nor for other HP–UHP zones, but is important to take into account when reconstructing the evolution of such orogens.     

鲁西隆起晚中生代以来伸展断裂特征及形成机制

野外地质调查表明,鲁西隆起的伸展断裂十分发育,其构造样式复杂.主要形式为陡倾斜的伸展断裂和缓倾斜的滑脱断层组成的复合伸展断裂系统.陡倾斜的伸展断裂构成鲁西伸展断裂系的主体,是控制其南部凹陷沉积的边界断裂.断裂带中构造角砾岩、断层泥发育,并有小褶皱、擦痕等显示断裂活动的标志.缓倾斜的滑脱断层在鲁西隆起区广泛发育,分为深、浅两个层次,浅层次中最具规模的位于下寒武统与太古宇之间.滑脱面上盘的寒武系底部产生强烈的构造变形,褶皱和破碎带发育,下盘构造相对简单,仅挤压破碎.深层次滑脱断层发育在中地壳低速层处,控制着浅层次滑脱断层的形成与分布.构造应力场数值模拟结果显示,鲁西隆起的伸展断裂系统是由晚中生代以来两次大规模的伸展运动形成的,形成机制上,与中、新生代郯庐断裂的走滑活动、太平洋板块的俯冲以及岩浆上涌密切相关.     

Variscan deformation,microstructural zonation and extensional exhumation of the Moravian Cadomian basement

Abstract

The Cadomian Dyje Batholith, in the foot–wall of the Variscan Moravian nappe pile, has been involved in Variscan ductile deformation. The Cadomian Brunovistulian rocks were obliquely underthrusted during Carboniferous dextral transpression.

Strain intensity is inversely proportional to the distance from the contact of the Variscan thrust front. The microstructures of deformed granodiorites and quartz–diorites show a characteristic zonality marked by relatively high temperature flow in the west (550–580 °C) characterized by dynamic recrystallization of feldspars and grain boundary migration recrystallization of quartz. The size of quartz grains decreases with decreasing strain towards the east. At the easternmost part of the autochthonous Dyje massif, fracturing of feldspar and subgrain rotation recrystallization of quartz predominate. Flow stress estimates calculated from recrystallized quartz grain size show a regional increase of stress intensity from the highly strained margin towards the less deformed core of the Dyje massif. This microstructural zonation is oblique with respect to the major thrust boundary and corresponds roughly to metamorphic isogrades. The microstructural zonation reflects underthrusting of the Brunovistulian domain below the Moldanubian nappe.

The main ductile tectonic event D₁ is followed by a retrogressive brittle–ductile and brittle deformation D₂. D₂ results in the development of shear zones and faults superimposed on the D₁ mylonite fabric. D₂ is related to extension oblique to the D₁ fabric, associated with detachment and the westward movement of the Moravian nappes. © Elsevier, Paris     

Oxidized eclogites and garnet-blueschists from Oman: P–T path modelling in the NCFMASHO system

Eclogites and garnet‐blueschists exposed at the deepest structural levels of the Oman Mountains in north‐eastern Saih Hatat, Oman, indicate that the Arabian continental margin was subducted and subsequently exhumed. The peak metamorphic pressure has been a matter of debate for over a decade, with initial thermobarometric estimates, based on garnet–clinopyroxene–phengite barometry and the presence of radial cracks around quartz inclusions in garnet, yielding values in excess of 20 kbar; these estimates have been questioned by some researchers. The high‐pressure minerals (glaucophane, omphacite and epidote) contain significant amounts of ferric iron, previously postulated to displace the stability fields of the eclogite and blueschist assemblages to less extreme conditions. In the present study, we have calculated phase diagrams and pseudosections in the model system NCFMASHO, using the program thermocalc and the thermodynamic database of Holland and Powell, which incorporates data for Fe³⁺‐bearing end‐members. It is found that the phase compositions and modal abundances for typical bulk compositions are matched successfully at 520 ± 15 °C and 20 ± 1.6 kbar for the eclogites and 510–530 °C and 17–20 kbar for the garnet blueschists. These results support the original high‐pressure estimates for the eclogites, and indicate that crossitic amphibole and aegirine‐rich pyroxene do not necessarily reflect lower pressure conditions. The data set and activity models are applicable to other oxidized high (and ultra‐high) pressure mineral assemblages.     

Clockwise exhumation path of granulitized eclogites from the Ama Drime range (Eastern Himalayas)

The metamorphic evolution of a granulitized eclogite from the Phung Chu Valley (Eastern Himalaya) was reconstructed combining microstructural observations, conventional thermobarometry and quantitative pseudosection analysis. The granulitized eclogite consists of clinopyroxene, plagioclase, garnet, brown amphibole, and minor orthopyroxene, biotite, ilmenite and quartz. On the basis of microstructural observations and mineral relationships, four metamorphic stages and related mineral assemblages have been recognized: (i) M1 eclogite‐facies assemblage, consisting of garnet, omphacite (now replaced by a clinopyroxene + plagioclase symplectite) and phengite (replaced by biotite +plagioclase symplectite); (ii) M2 granulite‐facies assemblage, represented by clinopyroxene, orthopyroxene, garnet, plagioclase and accessory ilmenite; (iii) M3 plagioclase + orthopyroxene corona developed around garnet, and (iv) M4 brown amphibole + plagioclase assemblage in the rock matrix. Because of the nearly complete lack of eclogitic mineral relics, M1 conditions can be only loosely constrained at >1.5 GPa and >580 °C. In contrast, assemblage M2 tightly constrains the peak granulitic stage at 0.8–1.0 GPa and >750 °C. The second granulitic assemblage M3, represented by the plagioclase + orthopyroxene corona, formed at lower pressures (～0.4 GPa and ～750 °C). During the subsequent exhumation, the granulitized eclogite experienced significant cooling to nearly 700 °C, marked by the appearance of brown amphibole and plagioclase (M4) in the rock matrix. U‐Pb SHRIMP analyses on low‐U rims of zircon from an eclogite of the same locality suggest an age of 13–14 Ma for the M3 stage. The resulting decompressional clockwise P–T path of the Ama Drime eclogite is characterized by nearly isothermal decompression from >1.5 GPa to ～0.4 GPa, followed by nearly isobaric cooling from ～775 °C to ～710 °C. Modelling of phase equilibria by a calculated petrogenetic grid and conventional thermobarometry on a biotite‐garnet‐sillimanite metapelite hosted in the country rock granitic orthogneiss extends the inferred P–T trajectory down to ～630 °C and ～0.3 GPa.     

Ductile crust exhumation and extensional detachments in the central Aegean (Cyclades and Evvia Islands).

Abstract

The Aegean continental domain is known to be the site of widespread “back-arc” extension since at least 13 Ma, on the basis of seismotectonic, stratigraphic and fault analysis studies. This extension is documented to overprint structures related to the Mesozoic-Cenozoic Hellenic orogeny. Features attributed to early thrusting include the overall ductile deformation within two broad belts that have suffered HP/LT metamorphism across the Aegean. This study presents a structural analysis of the central Aegean area (Cyclades and Evvia Islands), examining in particular the relationship between ductile and brittle deformation, both in the field and on a regional scale. Extension appears to be responsible for most of the ductile deformation within HP rock units that have experienced penetrative greenschist facies and higher grade metamorphic over-printing. On each studied island, progressive extensional deformation has occurred through the development of a major normal-sense detachment zone down to depths of about 18-25 km. Large displacement along the detachment zone accounts for rapid cooling and exhumation of ductile lower crust to form a local metamorphic dome or core complex. Structural and stratigraphic features support a progressive migration of normal faulting away from the dome axis, and a rotation of previously active faults toward low dips, as in kinematic models recently suggested for the development of extensional detachment systems. All the studied domes, except that seen on los Island, show a dominant top-to-the north or north-east sense of shear, while on the southern flank of many of them, an opposite sense of shear is observed, displaying the same progressive evolution from ductile to brittle rock behaviour. This opposite sense of shear is thought not to result from shearing along a major conjugate detachment zone, as in some recent models, but from the accommodation in the ductile crust of upward bending of the brittle upper crust in the footwall of the north-dipping detachment. Available radiometric and stratigraphie data indicate an early minimum age (22-19 Ma) for the onset of extension. The relationship between early metamorphic domes and shallow-dipping detachments, on one hand, and Messinian-Quaternary steep normal faults and grabens, on the other hand, is best explained with the progressive and continuous development of new normal faults away from the domes axes, rather than with a two-stage evolutionary model (core-complex stage, then Basin-and-Range stage) of the type invoked for the North American Cordillera.     

Fast switch from extensional exhumation to thrusting of the Ronda Peridotites (South Spain)

The Alboran Domain, situated at the western end of the Mediterranean subduction system, is characterized by the Ronda Peridotites, one of the world's largest exposures of sub‐continental mantle. Using U–Pb (LA‐ICP‐MS) and Ar–Ar dating, we precisely dated two tectonic events associated with the Tertiary exhumation of the Ronda Peridotites. First, shearing along the Crust–Mantle Extensional Shear Zone caused, at ca. 22.5 Ma, mantle exhumation, local partial melting in the deep crust and coeval cooling in the upper crust. Second, the Ronda Peridotites Thrust triggered the final emplacement of the peridotites onto the continental crust at c. 21 Ma, as testified by granitic intrusions in the thrust hangingwall. The tectonic evolution of the western Alboran Domain is therefore characterized by a fast switch from continental lithospheric extension in a backarc setting, with sub‐continental mantle exhumation, to a rift inversion by thrusting driven by shortening of the upper plate.     

Upper Cretaceous Muti Formation: transition of a Mesozoic nate platform to a foreland basin in the Oman Mountains

The Upper Cretaceous (Turonian-Campanian) Muti Formation (Sayja Member) documents the transition from a passive continental margin to a foreland basin, related to overthrusting of continental margin and ophiolitic nappes derived from the Tethys ocean. Upper Cretaceous northeastward subduction culminated in collision of a trench with the Arabian margin. As the trench docked with the margin the lithosphere was flexed, forming a peripheral bulge that migrated cratonward with time. The platform edge was initially uplifted (Turonian) and deeply eroded, creating the ‘Wasia-Aruma break’. After passage of the peripheral bulge subsidence began, with accumulation first of ferruginous crusts on hardgrounds. Lime-muds were then deposited on a deepening unstable sea-floor, along with phosphatic nodules and crusts (Turonian-Coniacian). Passage of the overthrust load over the Arabian continental-margin edge downflexed the lithosphere (Santonian-Campanian), resulting in drastic foundering of the old shelf edge to form a foredeep. Upper platform horizons collapsed as slump-sheets and debris-flows. Limestone blocks and lithoclastic debris-flows were shed by mass-wasting of the already deeply eroded old platform edge. Mud and silt were derived from the uplifted Arabian continent and deposited by mainly gravitational processes in a foredeep below the C.C.D. Subsidence of the Arabian platform edge allowed the Semail ophiolite nappe finally to override the Muti basin (late Campanian) with little internal deformation. Submarine emplacement is suggested by the absence of ophiolitic detritus in the Muti Formation. The stratigraphic evolution of the Muti Formation is in good general agreement with a model of the transition of an old, thermally mature, passive continental margin to a foreland basin, where the emplaced load is submerged.     

The Dabie UHP unit, Central China: a Cretaceous extensional allochthon superposed on a Triassic orogen

Petrological, geochronological and structural data show that the eastern Dabie metamorphic complex resulted from two orogenic stages. Precursor rocks of the ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) and high-pressure (HP) units in the present hanging wall tectonic position were buried, penetratively deformed and subsequently exhumed by distributed, ESE-directed shearing during Triassic time. In contrast, rocks of the Dabie orthogneiss domes, now in a footwall tectonic position, were penetratively deformed during temperature-dominated, Early Cretaceous tectonic events, that are likely related to magmatic underplating. The Dabie orthogneiss domes and the UHP/HP units were juxtaposed during Early Cretaceous exhumation of Dabie orthogneiss domes by the formation of an ESE-directed low-angle ductile normal shear zone. Consequently, the UHP/HP units now represent an extensional allochthon in the hanging wall of the younger normal shear zone. The Cretaceous extensional structures are limited by boundary strike-slip faults. Consistent with the South China regional tectonic framework, ESE-directed lateral extrusion is considered to be the driving mechanism for extension and the present-day structure of the Dabie metamorphic complex.     

地壳俯冲与折返过程的变质作用演化:来自高压-超高压榴辉岩相平衡模拟的证据

本文以大别山双河柯石英榴辉岩为基础,在NCKMnFMASHO体系中计算了P-T、T-M(H₂O)和P-M(H₂O)一系列相图。这些相图表明在地壳冷俯冲(地热梯度约为6℃·km^-1)过程中饱和水的变质基性岩通过脱水反应导致矿物组合演化,随着P-T条件增加,约在2.2GPa(80km)处,绿泥石被滑石取代,在2.4GPa处,蓝闪石消失,在2.5GPa处,滑石消失,在2.9GPa(105km)处,硬柱石消失。相应地可出现硬柱石蓝片岩、蓝闪石-硬柱石榴辉岩、硬柱石榴辉岩和多硅白云母榴辉岩等高压-超高压组合。俯冲基性岩中即使含有很少量的水(如0.3%~0.5%),都会在超高压硬柱石榴辉岩相条件下达到饱和。因此硬柱石会广泛出现于经历冷俯冲地壳的变质基性岩中。高压-超高压榴辉岩的折返过程受折返温度及峰期矿物组合的控制。当峰期矿物组合中含有硬柱石(±蓝闪石±滑石,T=540~600℃)时,其早期折返发生在硬柱石稳定域,受脱水反应控制,难以保存峰期矿物组合;晚期折返发生在绿帘石稳定域,岩石处于流体缺失状态,有利于保存硬柱石消失后的高压矿物组合。当峰期矿物组合中含有绿泥石、硬柱石和蓝闪石时(T<540℃),其折返过程中的脱水作用仅发生在硬柱石与绿帘石共生的狭窄区域,在硬柱石稳定域的早期折返与绿帘石稳定域的晚期折返阶段,都不发生脱水作用,岩石处于流体缺失状态,因此,虽然峰期形成的硬柱石难以保存,但峰期形成的其他矿物可能仅受轻微改造。当硬柱石消失 (T>600℃) 后,多硅白云母高压-超高压榴辉岩中含有很少量水,在早期折返过程中的很大压力范围内,岩石保持水含量不变,更容易保留峰期矿物组合。高压-超高压榴辉岩在减压至1.5GPa以下时,由于外来流体注入,发生部分水化,形成含有钠钙质、钙质角闪石榴辉岩, 它们一般不是平衡矿物组合。榴辉岩中名义上的无水矿物在减压过程中释放的水有助于榴辉岩部分水化,但不足以形成水饱和的斜长角闪岩。     

From nappe stacking to exhumation: Cretaceous tectonics in the Apuseni Mountains (Romania)

International Journal of Earth Sciences - New Ar–Ar muscovite and Rb–Sr biotite age data in combination with structural analyses from the Apuseni Mountains provide new constraints on...     

Late Mesozoic extensional tectonics in the North China Craton and its adjacent regions: a review and synthesis

ABSTRACT

The late Mesozoic tectonics of the North China Craton (NCC) and its adjacent regions were characterized by a general lithospheric extension and remarked by extensional dome structures, such as the metamorphic core complexes, syn-tectonic plutons, rolling-hinge structures, and widespreadgraben/half graben basins. According to our own field observations, laboratory work, and previous results of other groups, from north to south, five extensional domains have been delineated, namely Transbaikalia–Mongol–Okhotsk, western part of NCC, eastern part of NCC and Korea, Qinling–Dabie and its neighbouring, and the interior of South China Block, respectively. As the largest crustal scale extensional tectonic realm in the world, these domains are featured by a NW–SE extensional direction with strong extensional exhumation of middle to lower crust rocks to the surface along detachment faults. Geochronological work on these ductile detachment faults constrain a narrow activity period around 130 Ma except several extensive structures along the Tan–Lu fault, which documents a relative longer extensional period. The foundering of the lower part of the lithosphere could be a possible mechanism of this continent-scale extensional tectonics. This geodynamic model could help us to enhance the knowledge of the time, scale, and mechanism of the NCC destruction from the view of structural analysis.