Remnants of premetamorphic fluid and oxygen isotopic signatures in eclogites and garnet clinopyroxenite from the Dabie-Sulu terranes, eastern China

A combined oxygen‐isotope and fluid‐inclusion study has been carried out on high‐ and ultrahigh‐pressure metamorphic (HP/UHPM) eclogites and garnet clinopyroxenite from the Dabie‐Sulu terranes in eastern China. Coesite‐bearing eclogites/garnet clinopyroxenite and quartz eclogites have a wide range in whole‐rock δ¹⁸O_VSMOW, from 0 to 11‰. The high‐T oxygen‐isotope fractionations preserved between quartz and garnet preclude significant retrograde isotope exchange during exhumation, and the wide range in whole‐rock oxygen‐isotope composition is thought to be a presubduction signature of the precursors. Aqueous fluids with variable salinities and gas species (N₂‐, CO₂‐, or CH₄‐rich), are trapped as primary inclusions in garnet, omphacite and epidote, and in quartz blebs enclosed within eclogitic minerals. In high‐δ¹⁸O HP/UHPM rocks from Hujialin and Shima, high‐salinity brine and/or N₂ inclusions occur in garnet porphyroblasts, which also contain inclusions of coesite, Cl‐rich blue amphibole and dolomite. In contrast, in low‐δ¹⁸O eclogites from Qinglongshan and Huangzhen, the Cl concentrations in amphibole are very low, < 0.2 wt.%, and low‐salinity aqueous inclusions occur in quartz inclusions in epidote porphyroblasts and in epidote cores. These low‐salinity fluid inclusions are believed to be remnants of meteoric water, although the fluid composition was modified during pre‐ and syn‐peak HP/UHPM. Eclogites at Houshuichegou and Hetang contain CH₄‐rich fluid inclusions, coexisting with high‐salinity brine inclusions. Methane was probably formed under the influence of CO₂‐rich aqueous fluids during serpentinisation of mantle‐derived peridotites prior to or during plate subduction. Remnants of premetamorphic low‐ to high‐salinity aqueous fluid with minor N₂ and/or other gas species preserved in the Dabie‐Sulu HP/UHPM eclogites and garnet clinopyroxenite indicate a great diversity of initial fluid composition in the precursors, implying very limited fluid–rock interaction during syn‐ and post‐peak HP/UHPM.