P-T history of a mantle diapir: the Horoman peridotite complex, Hokkaido, northern Japan

Abstract

Listen

Translate article

The Horoman peridotite complex, Hokkaido, Japan is divided into Lower and Upper zones on the basis of contrasting geological features. The complex recorded a consecutive decompression history in chemical zoning of pyroxenes and plagioclase in plagioclase lherzolite, which is interpreted to have been derived from garnet lherzolite by subsolidus decompression reactions. In the Lower Zone, and earlier decompression history is clearly preserved in large pyroxene porphyroclasts, which show marked M-shaped Al zoning characterized by low Al concentration at the core (Al=0.12/6 oxygens), gradual increase toward the marginal region, and rapid decrease toward the rim. The Ca content in the core is nearly constant (Ca=0.03/6 oxygens) with slight increase toward the margin followed by abrupt decrease toward the rim. The Al and Ca contents in the core of orthopyroxene in plagioclase lherzolite from the Upper Zone (Al=0.22, Ca=0.055/6 oxygens) are much higher than those for the Lower Zone, and the Al content typically decreases monotonously from the core to the rim with several exceptions that show poorly developed M-shaped zoning profiles. The earliest P-T conditions, inferable from the core compositions of pyroxenes are 900–950°C and ∼20 kbar for the Lower Zone and 1100–1150°C and ∼20 kbar for the Upper Zone. The increase of Al from the core to the margin is inferred to have resulted from nearly adiabatic decompression from these conditions into spinel peridotite facies. The complex experienced further decompression from the spinel stability field into the plagioclase stability field, which is inferred from plagioclase zoning in fine-grained aggregates composed mostly of plagioclase, chromite spinel, and olivine with minor pyroxenes. The Na-Ca ratio of each plagioclase grain decreases from the core to the rim, suggesting continuous decompression reaction producing olivine and plagioclase from pyroxenes and spinel. The sharp increase in Ca content toward the rim indicates that fairly rapid cooling associated with decompression is necessary to form and preserve the marked zoning. The sharp decrease in Al and Ca contents toward the rim of orthopyroxene was also formed during this final ascent of the complex. The systematic changes of the mineralogic and petrographic features that are gradational between the Lower and Upper zones suggest that the Horoman complex retains a temperature variation from the upper mantle. The Upper Zone is interpreted to have followed a higher temperature decompression path than the Lower Zone and probably represents a relatively hotter portion of a mantle diapir ascending from a depth greater than 60 km in the upper mantle.