Eclogites in the interior of the Tibetan Plateau and their geodynamic implications

Abstract

Eclogites have been recently reported in the interior of the Tibetan Plateau, including in the central Qiangtang metamorphic belt, in the Basu metamorphic massif of the eastern Bangong-Nujiang suture zone, and at Songdo and Pengco in the eastern Lhasa terrane. Some typical ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) metamorphic phenomena, e.g., garnet exsolution from clinopyroxene, were documented in the Basu and Pengco eclogites. The UHP metamorphism in the interior of the Tibetan Plateau marked by these eclogites generally took place in the Early Mesozoic. Along with exhumation of these eclogites, (post-) collision-related magmatism extensively occurred around the central Qiangtang belt, the eastern Bangong-Nujiang suture zone, and the eastern Lhasa terrane. The occurrence of these Early Mesozoic eclogites manifests an out-of-sequence evolution of the Tethys, and they could be a product of diachronous collision between the eastern Qiangtang terrane and the irregular continental margin of the united western Qiangtang-Lhasa plate, along the linked eastern Bangong-Nujiang-central Qiangtang zone. The collision-related magmatic rocks could have been originated from lithospheric thickening, melting, or detachment due to the collision. The presence of UHP metamorphic rocks in central Qiangtang and Basu implies likely continental deep-subduction, and the denudation of these two metamorphic zones could have served as the source of the Triassic turbidites in the Songpan-Garze complex and the Jurassic turbidites in the western Bangong-Nujiang zone, respectively. However, studies of the eclogites in the interior of the Tibetan Plateau just began, and many principal aspects still remain to be explored, such as their distributions, typical lithologies and minerals, temperature-pressure conditions, timing of formation and exhumation, protoliths and tectonic setting, and relationship with the evolution of the Tethys and large-scale basins in Tibet.