Occurrence and significance of blueschist in the southern Lachlan Orogen

Abstract

Serpentinite/talc‐matrix mélanges, bearing blocks of blueschist metavolcanics, occur within the Heathcote and Governor Fault Zones of the southern Lachlan Orogen. In the Heathcote Fault Zone, serpentinite‐matrix mélange consists of blocks or small pods of boninite, andesite, ultramafic rocks, chert and volcanogenic sandstone variably metamorphosed to prehnite‐pumpellyite, greenschist, or greenschist to blueschist facies. In the Governor Fault Zone, blueschist metavolcanics occur as blocks within serpentinite/talc matrix that is interleaved with prehnite‐pumpellyite to greenschist facies, intermediate pressure slate and phyllite. Ar/Ar dating of white mica from slaty mud‐matrix (broken formation) indicates that the main fabric development occurred at 446 ± 2 Ma. U–Pb (SHRIMP) dating of titanite from blueschists in the Governor Fault Zone indicates that metamorphism occurred at approximately 450 Ma, close to the time of mélange formation. Previously published, Ar/Ar dating of white mica from phyllite and biotite from metadiorite in the Heathcote Fault Zone suggest that blueschist metamorphism occurred at a similar time. These ages are supported by field relationships. Illite crystallinity and b0 data from white mica, and the preservation of blueschist blocks indicate that these fault zones maintained low temperatures both during and after intermediate‐ to high‐pressure metamorphism. Occurrences of blueschists in the Arthur Lineament of the Tyennan (Delamerian) Orogen in Tasmania, and in the New England Orogen, have different ages, and in conjunction with the occurrences described here, suggest that subduction‐accretion processes contributed significantly to the development of the Tasmanides from Cambrian through to Carboniferous times.