Electrical Conductivity of Eclogite, Amphibolite and Garnet-Quartz-Mica Schist with Implications for the Conductivity in the Qiangtang Terrane of Northern Tibetan Plateau

Abstract

Understanding the electrical conductivity of high pressure metamorphic rocks is essential to constrain the compositions in the subduction zone and continental crust. In this study, we calculated the electrical conductivity for such rocks sampled from the central Qiangtang metamorphic belt in the northern Tibetan Plateau. The results reveal that, when aqueous fluids are absent, the conductivity of meta-mafic rocks (e.g., eclogite and amphibolite) is strikingly higher than that of meta-felsic rocks (e.g., garnet-quartz-mica schist). The conductivity of eclogite decreases due to the enrichment of amphibole, but this effect is diminished when a critical degree of amphibolization is reached. Our calculated conductivity of eclogite and amphibolite differs greatly from the experimentally derived results for the eclogites from other localities, partly owing to the strong effects of different mineral assemblages and chemical compositions on the conduction mechanisms and efficiencies. However, the disparity of conductivity between our calculated and the previously measured results for a similar amphibole-rich eclogite sampled from the same locality suggests that trails of highly conductive rutile-ilmenite aggregates may contribute to the higher bulk-rock conductivity in the laboratory measurements. Moreover, since the calculated conductivity of eclogite and amphibolite is not high enough at the temperatures relevant to their metamorphic thermal condition, partial melts or aqueous fluids originated from the upwelling asthenosphere are more likely to explain the anomalously high electrical conductivity zones in magnetotelluric images in the Qiangtang terrane in the northern Tibetan Plateau.