Postcollisional flow of aqueous fluid within ultrahigh-pressure eclogite in the Dabie orogen

A combined study of chronometric dating and oxygen isotope analysis for minerals from vein and host eclogite as well as regional country-rock gneiss in the Dabie orogen provides a direct constraint on timing of fluid flow in this orogen formed by continental collision. Oxygen isotope ratios of vein minerals are significantly lower than those of the host eclogite, but comparable with those of the regional gneiss. This suggests the veining fluid came from the regional gneiss (i.e. exhumed slab itself) rather than the host eclogite. While zircon U–Pb and phengite Ar–Ar dating yields ages of 214 to 222 Ma for the eclogite and gneiss, the vein gives a quartz–muscovite Rb–Sr isochron age of 181 Ma and a muscovite K–Ar age of 179 Ma. Thus the veining postdates the Triassic ultrahigh pressure metamorphic event, witnessing postcollisional fluid flow after the orogenic cycle of continental collision.