Regional variation in exhumation and strain rate of the high-pressure Sambagawa metamorphic rocks in central Shikoku, south-west Japan

Regional variation in the P–T path of the Sambagawa metamorphic rocks, central Shikoku, Japan has been inferred from compositional zoning of metamorphic amphibole. Rocks constituting the northern part (Saruta River area) exhibit a hairpin type P–T path, where winchite/actinolite grew at the prograde stage, the peak metamorphism was recorded by the growth of barroisite to hornblende and sodic amphibole to winchite/actinolite grew at the retrograde stage. In the southern part (Asemi River area), rocks exhibit a clockwise type P–T path, where barroisite to hornblende core is rimmed by winchite to actinolite. The difference in P–T path could suggest a faster exhumation rate (i.e. more rapid decompression) in the southern than in the northern part. On the other hand, physical conditions of deformation during the exhumation stage have been independently inferred from microstructures in deformed quartz. Recrystallized quartz grains in rocks from the low‐grade (chlorite and garnet) zones are much more stretched in the southern part (aspect ratio ≥ 4.0) than in the northern part (aspect ratio< 4.0), indicating a higher strain rate in the former than in the latter. These facts may indicate that the exhumation and strain rates are correlated (i.e. the exhumation rate increases with increasing the strain rate). The difference in the exhumation rate inferred from amphibole zoning between the northern and southern parts could be explained by an extensional model involving normal faulting, where the lower plate can be exhumed faster than the upper plate due to the displacement along the fault. Furthermore, the model may explain the positive correlation between the exhumation and strain rates, because the lower plate tended to support more stress than the upper plate.