Perspectives on the roles of melanges in subduction accretionary complexes: A review

Melanges play three principal, overlapping roles in the architecture of subduction accretionary complexes (SACs) during and after SAC formation. First, tectonic melanges serve as zones of concentrated deformation within and below the accreted rocks that are assembled during the subduction-accretion process. These melanges facilitate preservation of inter-melange, less deformed, accretionary units (AUs). Beneath the trench side of the SAC, the initial deformation zone along the decollement at the top of the down-going plate is marked by non-melange, tectonically dismembered formations or thinner units of scaly rock and breccia that separate accreted rocks above from the subducting rocks below. Olistostromal rocks may be incorporated into the decollement here. In the mid-arc to inner-arc areas of the SAC, exotic block-bearing mélanges develop in zones of tectonic fragmentation and mixing of accreting ocean plate stratigraphy, in mud diapirs, and along out-of-sequence faults, some of which facilitate uplift of high-pressure rocks and serpentinite-matrix mélanges. Second, after accretion, the sedimentary, tectonic, diapiric, and polygenetic mélange units serve as single block or sheet architectural AUs (or subunits within larger accreted AUs) of the SAC. Diapiric melanges and sedimentary olistostromal mélanges formed in and above SAC fault blocks, respectively, may become incorporated into the SAC during ongoing deformation and become architectural units, as well. Third, melanges serve as post-subduction stress guides that focus shear strain during continuing and post-accretion deformation of SACs, allowing ongoing modification of the SAC during progressive deformation of the orogen. Examples of each type of role reveal the importance of all three processes in the current architecture of outer orogenic belts.