High-pressure metamorphism in the Chinshuichi area, Yuli belt, eastern Taiwan

Abstract

Tectonic blocks and slabs of mafic–ultramafic rocks are distributed discontinuously in the Yuli metamorphic belt of Taiwan. The blocks include rare omphacite metagabbros and garnet–epidote blueschists in the Wanjung and Juisui (Tamayen) areas, respectively. Such high-pressure (HP) mineral assemblages have been attributed to a mid-Miocene subduction event. However, the surrounding psammitic, pelitic and chloritic schists are the dominant greenschist-facies lithologies of the Yuli belt. In the Chinshuichi area, tectonic blocks are enclosed in garnet-bearing metapelites, suggesting elevated pressures. In this area, we recently discovered meta-plagiogranite containing the assemblage glaucophane+omphacite (XJd up to 0.39)+rutile+quartz, indicating P–T conditions near 13kbar/550°C. New equilibrium phase modeling of a garnet–paragonite mica schist and compositional isopleths for peak assemblage minerals garnet and phengite (Si=3.33–3.37pfu) indicate metamorphic conditions of 15.5–17kbar/530–550°C. These P–T estimates are higher than previously reported in the Yuli belt and suggest that both tectonic blocks and host metapelites underwent HP metamorphism. The juxtaposition of tectonic blocks and metapelites apparently occurred during the formation of a subduction–accretionary complex, followed by exhumation facilitated by a collisional event. These new findings imply that HP metamorphism was not limited to tectonic blocks, and instead played a significant role attending orogenesis in eastern Taiwan.