Ultrahigh-pressure metamorphism and decompressional P-T paths of eclogites and country rocks from Weihai, eastern China

Abstract Altered quartz-rich and nearly quartz-free eclogitic rocks and completely retrograde quartz-rich garnet amphibolites occur as blocks or lenses in gneisses at Weihai, northeastern tip of the Sulu ultrahigh-P belt. Eclogitic rocks with assemblage garnet ± clinopyroxene ± coesite + rutile have experienced three-stage metamorphic events including ultrahigh-pressure eclogite, granulite and amphibolite facies. Granulite metamorphic event is characterized by formation of the hypersthene + salite + plagioclase ± hornblende corona between garnet and quartz + clinopyroxene. P-T conditions for the three-stage recrystallization sequence are 840 ± 50°C, >28 kbar, about 760±50°C, 9 kbar, and ~650°C, <8 kbar respectively. Most country rock gneisses contain dominant amphibolite-facies assemblages; some garnet-bearing clinopyroxene gneisses recrystallized under granulite-facies conditions at about 740±50°C and 8.5 kbar; similar to granulite-facies retrograde metamorphism of the enclosed eclogitic blocks. Minor cale-silicate lenses within gneisses containing an assemblage grossular + salite + titanite + quartz with secondary zoisite and plagioclase may have formed within a large pressure range of 14-35 kbar. Eclogitic boudins and quartzo-feldspathic country rocks may have experienced coeval in situ UHP and subsequent retrograde metamorphism. The established nearly isothermal decompression P-T path suggests that this area may represent the interior portion of a relatively large subducted sialic block. The recognized UHP terrane may extend eastward across the Yellow Sea to the Korean Peninsula.     

Petrology and retrograde P-T path for eclogites of the Maksyutov Complex, Southern Ural Mountains, Russia

Abstract The Maksyutov Complex, situated in the southern Ural Mountains of Russia, is the first location where quartz aggregates within garnets exhibiting radial fractures were identified as coesite pseudomorphs (Chesnokov & Popov 1965). The complex consists of two tectonic units: a structurally lower eclogite-bearing schist unit and an overlying meta-ophiolite unit. Both units show evidence for multiple stages of metamorphism and deformation. The high-pressure metamorphism of the eclogite-bearing schist unit, discussed in this report, is suspected to be related to a collision between the Russian platform and a fragment of the Siberian continent during the early Cambrian. At least three stages of metamorphism (M_1-3) and two stages of deformation (S₁ and S₂) were observed in thin sections: M₁) garnet (Alm_55-60, Prp_22-28, Grs_16-20) + omphacite (Jd_46-56) + phengite (Si ≅ 3.5) + rutile; M₂) garnet + glaucophane ± lawsonite + white mica; and M₃) epidote + chlorite ± albite ± actinolite + white mica. Observed mineral parageneses define a retrograde P-T path for the eclogite. Mineral assemblages within the most representative eclogite from the lower unit of the Maksyutov Complex indicate minimum peak pressures of 15 kbar at temperatures of approximately 600°C. If the presence of coesite pseudomorph is confirmed, the peak ultrahigh-pressure metamorphism may be as high as 27 kbar at 615°C.     

Metamorphic zoning and thermal structure of the Dabie ultrahigh- pressure–high-pressure terrane, central China

The ultrahigh- and high-pressure (UHP–HP) metamorphic belt of the Dabie Mountains, central China, formed by the Triassic continental subduction and collision, is divided into four metamorphic zones; from south to north, the greenschist facies zone, epidote amphibolite to amphibolite facies zone, quartz eclogite zone, and coesite eclogite zone, based on metabasite mineral assemblages. Most of the coesite-bearing eclogites consist mainly of garnet and omphacite with homogeneous compositions and have partially undergone hydration reactions to form clinopyroxene + plagioclase + calcic amphibole symplectites during amphibolite facies overprinting. However, the least altered eclogites sometimes contain garnet and omphacite that preserve compositional zoning patterns which may have originated during their growth at peak temperature conditions of ∼ 750 °C, suggesting a short duration of UHP metamorphic conditions and/or consequent rapid cooling during exhumation. Systematic investigation on peak metamorphic temperatures of coesite eclogite have revealed that, contrary to the general trend of metamorphic grade in the southern Dabie unit, the coesite eclogite zone shows rather flat thermal structure (T = 600 ± 50 °C) with the highest temperature reaching up to 850 °C and no northward increase in metamorphic temperature, which is opposed to the previous interpretations. This feature, along with the preservation of compositional zonation, implies complicated differential movement of each eclogite mass during UHP metamorphism and the return from the deeper subduction zone at mantle depths to the surface.     

Overview of the geology, petrology and tectonic framework of the high-pressure–ultrahigh-pressure metamorphic belt of the Kokchetav Massif, Kazakhstan

Abstract High‐ to ultrahigh‐pressure metamorphic (HP–UHPM) rocks crop out over 150 km along an east–west axis in the Kokchetav Massif of northern Kazakhstan. They are disposed within the Massif as a 2 km thick, subhorizontal pile of sheet‐like nappes, predominantly composed of interlayered pelitic and psammitic schists and gneisses, amphibolite and orthogneiss, with discontinuous boudins and lenses of eclogite, dolomitic marble, whiteschist and garnet pyroxenite. On the basis of predominating lithologies, we subdivided the nappe group into four north‐dipping, fault‐bounded orogen‐parallel units (I–IV, from base to top). Constituent metabasic rocks exhibit a systematic progression of metamorphic grades, from high‐pressure amphibolite through quartz–eclogite and coesite–eclogite to diamond–eclogite facies. Coesite, diamond and other mineral inclusions within zircon offer the best means by which to clarify the regional extent of UHPM, as they are effectively sequestered from the effects of fluids during retrogression. Inclusion distribution and conventional geothermobarometric determinations demonstrate that the highest grade metamorphic rocks (Unit II: T = 780–1000°C, P = 37–60 kbar) are restricted to a medial position within the nappe group, and metamorphic grade decreases towards both the top (Unit III: T = 730–750°C, P = 11–14 kbar; Unit IV: T = 530°C, P = 7.5–9 kbar) and bottom (Unit I: T = 570–680°C; P = 7–13.5 kbar). Metamorphic zonal boundaries and internal structural fabrics are subhorizontal, and the latter exhibit opposing senses of shear at the bottom (top‐to‐the‐north) and top (top‐to‐the‐south) of the pile. The orogen‐scale architecture of the massif is sandwich‐like, with the HP–UHPM nappe group juxtaposed across large‐scale subhorizontal faults, against underlying low P–T metapelites (Daulet Suite) at the base, and overlying feebly metamorphosed clastic and carbonate rocks (Unit V). The available structural and petrologic data strongly suggest that the HP–UHPM rocks were extruded as a sequence of thin sheets, from a root zone in the south toward the foreland in the north, and juxtaposed into the adjacent lower‐grade units at shallow crustal levels of around 10 km. The nappe pile suffered considerable differential internal displacements, as the 2 km thick sequence contains rocks exhumed from depths of up to 200 km in the core, and around 30–40 km at the margins. Consequently, wedge extrusion, perhaps triggered by slab‐breakoff, is the most likely tectonic mechanism to exhume the Kokchetav HP–UHPM rocks.     

Ultra-high pressure metamorphic rocks in the Dabie-Su-Lu region, China: Their formation and exhumation

Abstract Based on petrological, structural, geological and geochronological research, the authors summarize the progress of ultra-high pressure (UHP) metamorphic rock study since 1989 by Chinese geoscientists and foreign geoscientists in the Dabie-Su-Lu region. The authors introduce and discuss a two-stage exhumation process for the UHP metamorphic rocks that have various lithologies; eclogite, ultramafics, jadeitic quartzite, gneiss, schist and marble. The metamorphic history of UHP metamorphic rocks is divided into three stages, that is, the pre-eclogite stage, coesite eclogite stage, and retrograde stage. Prior to UHP metamorphism, the ultramafics had a high temperature environment assemblage of mantle and others had blueschist facies assemblages. The granulite facies assemblages, which have recorded a temperature increase event with decompression, have developed locally in the Weihai basaltic rocks. Isotopic ages show a long range from > 700 Ma to 200 Ma. The diversity in protoliths of UHP metamorphic rocks may be related to the variation of isotopic ages older than 400 Ma. The Sm-Nd dating of ~ 220 Ma could reflect the initial exhumation stage after the peak UHP metamorphism in relation to the collision between the Sino-Korean and Yangtze blocks and subsequent events. Petrological and structural evidence imply a two-stage exhumation process. During the initial exhumation, the UHP metamorphic rocks were sheared and squeezed up in a high P/T regime. In the second exhumation stage the UHP metamorphic rocks were uplifted and eventually exposed with middle crustal rocks.     

Prograde P–T path of kyanite eclogites from Junan in the Sulu ultrahigh-pressure province, eastern China

Kyanite-bearing ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) eclogites occur as blocks in orthogneisses at Yangzhuang, in the Junan area of the southwestern Sulu province, eastern China. Eclogites have variable bulk rock compositions, with Al₂O₃ = 16–27 wt%, FeO* + MgO = 6–22 wt% and CaO = 9–13 wt%. Major minerals are garnet, omphacite, phengitic white mica, zoisite, kyanite, rutile and an SiO₂ phase. Fe-rich staurolite (Mg ? Mg# = 0.24 ± 0.01) and paragonite–margarite aggregates are rarely included in the cores of prograde zoned garnet. Metamorphic conditions ranged from 520 to 650°C and <1.4 GPa at an early prograde stage, and mostly reached 660–830°C and 2.7–3.5 GPa at the peak UHP stage. The estimated dP/dT of the prograde P–T path is less than 0.25 GPa/100°C at earlier stages and increases to 0.7–1.4 GPa/100°C just before the UHP stage. The kink of the prograde P–T path closely resembles the steady-state P–T paths proposed, assuming a two-parameter brittle-plastic shear stress model. The estimated P–T path adequately explains the absence of prograde lawsonite and sodic amphibole and the common occurrence of coexisting zoisite, kyanite and sodic-calcic amphibole in the UHP eclogites throughout the Sulu province. Simple clockwise prograde P–T paths for Sulu UHP eclogites proposed in earlier studies should be carefully re-examined.     

Mineral chemistry,P-T-t paths and exhumation processes of mafic granulites in Dinggye,Southern Tibet

Lower crustal high grade metamorphic rocks have been successively found at Pamirs nearby the western Himalayan syntaxis, Namjagbarwa and Dinggye nearby the eastern Himalayan syntaxis and the central segment of the Himalayan Orogenic Belt, respec-tively[1―4]. In particular, some researchers deduced that there were probably eclogites at some locations[5]. Moreover, some geochronological data of these lower crustal granulites also have been accumulated. For example, the high-pressure granulit…     

Coexisting different types of zoned garnet in kyanite‐quartz eclogites from the Sanbagawa metamorphic belt: Evidence of deformation‐induced lithological mixing during prograde metamorphism

Garnet grains in Sanbagawa quartz eclogites from the Besshi region, central Shikoku commonly show a zoning pattern consisting of core and mantle/rim that formed during two prograde stages of eclogite and subsequent epidote–amphibolite facies metamorphism, respectively. Garnet grains in the quartz eclogites are grouped into four types (I, II, III, and IV) according to the compositional trends of their cores. Type I garnet is most common and sometimes coexists with other types of garnet in a thin section. Type I core formed with epidote and kyanite during the prograde eclogite facies stage. The inner cores of types II and III crystallized within different whole‐rock compositions of epidote‐free and kyanite‐bearing eclogite and epidote‐ and kyanite‐free eclogite at the earlier prograde stage, respectively. The inner core of type IV probably formed during the pre‐eclogite facies stage. The inner cores of types II, III, and IV, which formed under different P–T conditions of prograde metamorphism and/or whole‐rock compositions, were juxtaposed with the core of type I, probably due to tectonic mixing of rocks at various points during the prograde eclogite facies stage. After these processes, they have shared the following same growth history: (i) successive crystal growth during the later stage of prograde eclogite facies metamorphism that formed the margin of the type I core and the outer cores of types II, III, and IV; (ii) partial resorption of the core during exhumation and hydration stage; and (iii) subsequent formation of mantle zones during prograde metamorphism of the epidote–amphibolite facies. The prograde metamorphic reactions may not have progressed under an isochemical condition in some Sanbagawa metamorphic rocks, at least at the hand specimen scale. This interpretation suggests that, in some cases, material interaction promoted by mechanical mixing and fluid‐assisted diffusive mass transfer probably influences mineral reactions and paragenesis of high‐pressure metamorphic rocks.     

Subhorizontal boundary between ultrahigh-pressure and low-pressure metamorphic units in the Sulu–Tjube area of the Kokchetav Massif, Kazakhstan

Abstract The Kokchetav Massif of Kazakhstan includes high to ultrahigh-pressure (HP–UHP) metamorphic rocks (some of which were recrystallized at depths in excess of 150 km), juxtaposed against much lower pressure metamorphic components. We investigated the relationship between the HP–UHP metamorphic unit and the low pressure (LP) unit (Daulet Suite) in the Sulu–Tjube area, where the metamorphic rocks have previously been interpreted as constituting a megamelange with subvertical structural attitudes. Analyses of fold structures suggest that the HP–UHP metamorphic unit overlies the LP unit across a west-dipping subhorizontal boundary. In addition, kinematic indicators display top-to-the-north senses of shear along the tectonic contact between the two units, indicating that the HP–UHP unit has been extruded northward onto the LP unit. Following the juxtaposition of the two units, upright folds developed in both units, and these are associated with the previously reported steeply dipping metamorphic foliations. These data have important implications for the mode of exhumation of the UHP rocks from upper mantle to shallow crustal depths.     

Metamorphism, partial preservation, and exhumation of ultrahigh-pressure belts

The Dabie-Sulu belt of east-central China, the Kokchetav Complex of northern Kazakhstan, the Maksyutov Complex of the South Urals, the Dora Maira Massif of the Western Alps, and the Western Gneiss Region of southwestern Norway lie astride intracontinental suture zones. All represent collisional mountain belts. Adjoining Eurasian regions exhibit little or no evidence of a coeval calc-alkaline arc. Each metamorphic complex contains mineralogic and textural relics of the presence or former existence of coesite ± diamond. Other ultrahigh-P, moderate-T metamorphic phases, including K-rich clinopyroxene, Mg-rich garnet, ellenbergerite, lawsonite, Al-rutile, glaucophane, high-Si phengite, and associations such as coesite + dolomite, magnesite + diopside, and talc + kyanite, diopside, jadeite, or phengite also testify to pressures approaching or exceeding 2.8 GPa. Each of the five well-studied Eurasian ultrahigh-pressure complexes consists chiefly of old, cool continental crust. Deep-seated recrystallization took place during the Phanerozoic. Subduction zones constitute the only known plate-tectonic environment where such high-P, low-T conditions exist. A model involving underflow of a salient of continental crust imbedded in oceanic crust-capped lithosphere explains the ultrahigh- pressure metamorphism. Partly exhumed ultrahigh-pressure terranes consist of relatively thin sheets 7 ± 5 km thick. During early stages of plate descent, hydration of relatively anhydrous units occurs, and volatiles are expelled from hydrous rocks. If present, aqueous fluids markedly catalyze reactions. Experimental studies on MORB bulk compositions demonstrate that, for common subduction-zone P–T trajectories, amphibole (the major hydrous phase in metabasaltic rocks) dehydrates at less than ~ 2.0 GPa; accordingly, mafic blueschists and amphibolites expel H₂O at great depth and, except for some coarse-grained, dry metagabbros, tend to recrystallize to eclogite. Serpentinized mantle beneath the oceanic crust devolatilizes at comparable pressures. In contrast, phengite and biotite remain stable to pressures exceeding 3.5 GPa in associated quartzofeldspathic rocks. So, under ultrahigh-pressure conditions, the micaceous lithologies that dominate the continental crust fail to evolve significant H₂O, and may transform incompletely to eclogitic assemblages. Although hydrous rocks expel volatiles during compaction and shallow burial, very deep underflow of partly hydrated oceanic crust + mantle generates most of the volatile flux along and above a subduction zone prior to continental collision. As large masses of sialic crust enter the convergent plate junction, fluid evolution at deep levels severely diminishes, and both convergence and dehydration terminate. After cessation of ultrahigh-pressure recrystallization, tectonic slices of sialic massifs return to shallow depths along the subduction channel, propelled by buoyancy; collisional sheets that retain ultrahigh-pressure effects lose heat efficiently across both upper (extensional, normal fault) and lower (subduction, reverse fault) tectonic contacts. These sheets ascend to midcrustal levels rapidly at average exhumation rates of 2–12 mm/year. Surviving ultrahigh-pressure relics occur as micro-inclusions encased in dense, strong, impermeable, unreactive mineralogic hosts, and are shielded during return towards conditions characteristic of midcrustal levels. Rehydration attending decompression is incomplete; its limited extent reflects the coarse grain size and relative impermeability of the rocks undergoing retrogression, as well as declining temperature and lack of aqueous fluids.     

Eclogites from the Chinese continental scientific drilling borehole, their petrology and different P-T evolutions

Abstract Four phengite‐bearing eclogites, taken from different depths of the Chinese continental scientific drilling (CCSD) borehole in the Sulu ultrahigh pressure terrane, eastern China, were studied with the electron microprobe. The compositional zonations of garnet and omphacite are moderate, whereas phengite compositions generally vary significantly in a single sample from core to rim by decrease of the Si content. Various geothermobarometric methods were applied to constrain the P‐T conditions of these eclogites on the basis of the compositional variability of the above minerals. The constrained P‐T path for sample B218 is characterized by pressure decrease from ca 3.0 GPa (ca 600°C) to 1.3 GPa (ca 550°C). Eclogite B310 yielded P‐T conditions of 3.0 GPa and 750°C. The path for eclogite B1008 starts at about 650°C and 3.6–3.9 GPa (stage I) followed by a pressure decrease to 2.8–3.0 GPa and a significant temperature rise (stages II and IIIa, 750–810°C). Afterwards, this rock cooled down to 620–660°C at still high pressures (2.5–2.7 GPa, stage IIIb). Retrograde conditions were about 670°C and 1.3 GPa (stage IV). Eclogite B1039 yielded a P‐T path starting at ca 600°C and 3.3–3.9 GPa (stage I). A pressure decrease to about 3.0 GPa (stage II, 590–610°C) and then a moderate isobaric temperature increase to ca 630°C (stage III) followed. Stage IV is characterized by temperatures of 650°C at pressures close to 1.3 GPa. During and after this stage (hydrous) fluids partially rich in potassium penetrated the rocks causing minor changes. Relatively high oxygen fugacities led to andradite and magnetite among the newly formed minerals. We think that the above findings can be best explained by mass flow in a subduction channel. Thus, we conclude that the assembly of UHP rocks of the CCSD site, eclogites, quartzofeldspathic rocks, and peridotites, cannot represent a crustal section that was already coherent at UHP conditions as it is the common belief currently. The coherency was attained after significant exhumation of these UHP rocks.     

Prograde eclogites from the Tonaru epidote amphibolite mass in the Sambagawa Metamorphic Belt, central Shikoku, southwest Japan

Abstract   Prograde eclogites occur in the Tonaru epidote amphibolite mass in the Sambagawa Metamorphic Belt of central Shikoku. The Tonaru mass is considered to be a metamorphosed layered gabbro, and occurs as a large tectonic block (approximately 6.5 km × 1 km) in a high-grade portion of the Sambagawa schists. The Tonaru mass experienced high- P /low- T prograde metamorphism from the epidote-blueschist facies to the eclogite facies prior to its emplacement into the Sambagawa schists. The estimated P – T conditions are T  = 300–450°C and P  = 0.7–1.1 GPa for the epidote-blueschist facies, and the peak P – T conditions for the eclogite facies are T  = 700–730°C and P  ≥ 1.5 GPa. Following the eclogite facies metamorphism, the Tonaru mass was retrograded to the epidote amphibolite facies. It subsequently underwent additional prograde Sambagawa metamorphism, together with the surrounding Sambagawa schists, until the conditions of the oligoclase–biotite zone were reached. The high- P /low- T prograde metamorphism of the eclogite facies in the Tonaru mass and other tectonic blocks show similar steep d P /d T geothermal gradients despite their diverse peak P – T conditions, suggesting that these tectonic blocks reached different depths in the subduction zone. The individual rocks in each metamorphic zone of the Sambagawa schists also recorded steep d P /d T geothermal gradients during the early stages of the Sambagawa prograde metamorphism, and these gradients are similar to those of the eclogite-bearing tectonic blocks. Therefore, the eclogite-bearing tectonic blocks reached greater depths in the subduction zone than the Sambagawa schists. All the tectonic blocks were ultimately emplaced into the hanging wall side of the later-subducted Sambagawa high-grade schists during their exhumation.     

Tectonic evolution of the ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) and high-pressure (HP) metamorphic belts from central China

Abstract In the Triassic suture between the Sino-Korean and Yangtze cratons, the Dabie metamorphic Complex in central China includes three tectonic units: the northern Dabie migmatitic terrane, the central ultrahigh-P coesite- and diamond-bearing eclogite belt, and the southern high-P blueschist-eclogite belt. This complex is bounded to the north by a north-dipping normal fault with a Paleozoic accretionary complex and to the south by a north-dipping reverse fault with Yangtze basement plus its foreland fold-and-thrust sequence. Great differences in metamorphic pressure suggests that these units reached different depths during metamorphism and their juxtaposition occurred by wedge extrusion of subducted old continental fragments. These units were subsequently subjected to (i) Barrovian type regional metamorphism and deformation at shallow depths; (ii) intrusion of Cretaceous granitic plutons; and (iii) doming and segmentation into several blocks by normal and strike-slip faults. A new speculative model of tectonic exhumation of UHP rocks is proposed.     

Differential exhumation of tectonic units and ultrahigh-pressure metamorphic rocks in the Dabie Mountains, China

A model involving buoyancy, wedging and thermal doming is postulated to explain the differential exhumation of ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) metamorphic rocks in the Dabie Mountains, China, with an emphasis on the exhumation of the UHP rocks from the base of the crust to the upper crust by opposite wedging of the North China Block (NCB). The Yangtze Block was subducted northward under the NCB and Northern Dabie microblock, forming UHP metamorphic rocks in the Triassic (240–220 Ma). After delamination of the subduction wedge, the UHP rocks were exhumed rapidly to the base of the crust by buoyancy (220–200 Ma). Subsequently, when the left-lateral Tan–Lu transform fault began to be activated, continuous north–south compression and uplifting of the orogen forced the NCB to be subducted southward under the Dabie Orogen (`opposite subduction'). Opposite subduction and wedging of the North China continental crust is responsible for the rapid exhumation of the UHP and South Dabie Block units during the Early Jurassic, at ca 200–180 Ma at a rate of ∼ 3.0 mm/year. The UHP eclogite suffered retrograde metamorphism to greenschist facies. Rapid exhumation of the North Dabie Block (NDB) occurred during 135–120 Ma because of thermal doming and granitoid formation during extension of continental margin of the Eurasia. Amphibolite facies rocks from NDB suffered retrograde metamorphism to greenschist facies. Different unit(s) and terrane(s) were welded together by granites and the wedging ceased. Since 120–110 Ma, slow uplift of the entire Dabie terrane is caused by gravitational equilibrium.     

An oxygen isotope study of quartz veins within eclogites from the Dabie terrane

The oxygen isotope composition of minerals from quartz veins and host eclogites in the Dabie terrane was measured in order to place geochemical constraints on the origin and transport of metamorphic fluid. The results are discussed together with structural and petrological relationships between quartz vein and wallrock. The quartz veins can be temporally classified into three groups: (1) synmetamorphic vein which would be formed prior to eclogite-facies recrystallization when they were exhumated from mantle depths to deep crustal levels; (2) early retrogressive vein which was formed in the early stage of eclogite exhumation subsequent to the recrystallization, the vein-forming fluid is still relevant to the eclogites; (3) late retrogressive vein which was formed in the late stage of eclogite exhumation from deep crustal to upper crustal levels, oxygen isotope fractionation between vein quartz and host eclogite significantly deviates from equilibrium values and the vein-forming fluid was principally derived from granitic gneiss hosting the eclogites. For the synmetamorphic vein, it appears that local advective transport of fluid is the predominant mechanism in the processes of vein precipitation; the scale of oxygen isotope homogenization within the veins is much larger than that within the associated eclogites. The vein-forming fluid would be derived from the exsolution of dissolved hydroxyls within eclogite minerals due to significant pressure decrease. Fluid flow prior to the eclogite-facies recrystallization and the early retrogression may occur mainly along pressure gradients.     

Subduction of mantle wedge peridotites: Evidence from the Higashi-akaishi ultramafic body in the Sanbagawa metamorphic belt

The Higashi-akaishi garnet-bearing ultramafic body in the Sanbagawa metamorphic belt, Southwest Japan, represents a rare example of oceanic-type ultrahigh-pressure metamorphism. The body of 2 km × 5 km is composed mostly of anhydrous dunite with volumetrically minor lenses of clinopyroxene-rich rocks. Dunite samples contain high Ir-type platinum group elements (PGE) and Cr in bulk rocks, high Mg and Ni in olivine, and high Cr in spinel. On the other hand, clinopyroxene-rich rocks contain low concentrations of Ir-type PGE and Cr, high concentrations of fluid-mobile elements in bulk rocks, and low Ni and Mg in olivine. Clinopyroxene is diopsidic with low Al₂O₃. The compositions of bulk rocks and mineral chemistry of spinel, olivine, and clinopyroxene suggest that the olivine-dominated rocks are residual mantle peridotites after high degrees of influx partial melting, and that the clinopyroxene-rich rocks are cumulates of subduction-related melts. Thus, the Higashi-akaishi ultramafic body originated from the interior of the mantle wedge, most likely the forearc upper mantle. It was then incorporated into the Sanbagawa subduction channel by a mantle flow, and underwent high pressure metamorphism to a depth greater than 100 km. Such a strong active flow in the mantle wedge is likely facilitated by the lack of serpentinites along the interface between the slab and the overlying mantle, as it was too hot for serpentine. These unusually hot conditions and strong active mantle flow may reflect conditions in the earliest stage of development of subduction, and may have been maintained by massive upwelling and subsequent eastward flow of asthenospheric mantle in the northeastern Asian continent in Cretaceous time when the Sanbagawa belt began to form.     

Metamorphic evolution of garnet–clinopyroxene–amphibole rocks from the Proterozoic Songshugou mafic–ultramafic complex, Qinling Mountains, central China

Garnet–clinopyroxene–amphibole rocks from the Songshugou mafic–ultramafic complex ( ca 1029 Ma) in the Qinling Mountains, central China, occur in a metabasite unit that is situated structurally beneath the peridotite body. These rocks have many records testifying to a multistage metamorphic history for the metabasites. Through petrographic and mineralogic investigations, at least three metamorphic stages were recognized: (i) a pre-eclogite stage of the amphibolite-facies condition as inferred from inclusions in garnet; (ii) an eclogite-facies stage as inferred from Pl-Cpx symplectites and from their reconstructed omphacite compositions (Jd_17–35); and (iii) a post-eclogite stage characterized by various reaction textures such as coronas and reaction zones around garnets, clinopyroxenes and fine-grained mineral aggregates after garnets and clinopyroxenes. A textural relationship observed in the field and thin-section scales indicates that a breakdown of the Grt–Cpx–Amp assemblage led to the Grt-free and the Cpx-free assemblages, that is, Amp + Pl assemblage at the end. The eclogite-facies metamorphism of the metabasites, discussed in the present report, was related to subduction at the age intervening between ca 983 and ca 1029 Ma. Regional geologic data indicate that the eclogite-related subduction took place during the opening of the Kuanping marginal basin in the southern margin of the North China craton, and slightly before the formation of the Danfeng magmatic arc ( ca 984 Ma). The exhumation and emplacement of the eclogite-facies domain probably resulted from a collision between the Danfeng magmatic arc terrain and a fragment of the North China craton (i.e. the Qinling Complex) during 790–890 Ma.     

Ce anomaly in minerals of eclogite and garnet pyroxenite from Dabie-Sulu ultrahigh pressure metamorphic belt: Tacking subducted sediment formed under oxidizing conditions

~~Ce anomaly in minerals of eclogite and garnet pyroxenite from Dabie-Sulu ultrahigh pressure metamorphic belt:Tacking subducted sediment formed under oxidizing conditions@Deltlef Günther$Institute of Inorganic Chemistry,ETHZürich,Universitatsstrasse6,CH-092Zürich,Switzerland~~…