Abstract
The present constitution and architecture of the Dabieshan orogenic belt is the combined result of Triassic subduction collision, extensional tectonics postdating the HP and UHP metamorphism, and thermo-tectonic evolution in Mesozoic-Cenozoic time. In addition to Yanshanian and post-Yan-shanian magmatic intrusion, volcanic eruption, and basin deposition, lithotectonic constituents of the Dabie orogenic belt consist mainly of a core complex (CC) unit, an UHP unit, an HP unit, an epidote-blueschist (EBS) unit, and a sedimentary cover (SC) unit. Minor mafic-ultramafic plutons were intruded into or preserved within the CC, UHP, HP, or EBS units. Slices of UHP, HP, and EBS units are progressively sandwiched between the underlying core complex and the overlying sedimentary cover. The distribution of lithotectonic units is controlled by an extensional tectonic framework, which postdates the collisional event. The tectonic pattern of the Dabieshan orogenic belt as a whole is characterized by a general doming, with the development of multi-layered detachment zones. The study of partial melting associated with decompressive retrogression in the UHP unit during exhumation of the eclogites provides us with a better understanding of the relationship between eclogites and the surrounding country rock (socalled UHP gneisses), and the foliated garnet-bearing granites (the non-HP country rocks). It supports the “in situ” interpretation. Anatexis occurred under conditions of amphibolite-facies metamorphism at lower to middle crustal levels. This partial melting associated with decompression is one of the most important physico-chemical processes that postdate the collisional event in the Dabieshan. It signaled the evolution of the deformation regime from compression to extension, and reflected thinning of the continental crust and rapid uplift of UHP metamorphic rocks to middle to lower crustal levels by regional-scale extension.
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