Tectonometamorphic evolution of the Garevka polymetamorphic complex (Yenisei Ridge)

Abstract

The Garevka metamorphic complex (GMC), located at the junction of the Central Angara and Isakovka terranes (western part of the Transangarian Yenisei Ridge), was studied in terms of its tectonometamorphic evolution and geodynamic processes in the Neoproterozoic history of the region. Geological, structural, geochronological, and petrological data permitted the recognition of two stages in the GMC evolution, which differ in thermodynamic regimes and metamorphic field gradients. These stages were related to crustal contraction and extension within the Yenisei regional shear zone, a large lineament structure in the region. Stage 1 was marked by the formation of metamorphic complexes in the middle to upper amphibolite facies moderate-pressure regional metamorphic settings at ∼960 Ma, P = 7.7–8.6 kbar, and T = 582–631 °C. This suggests subsidence of the area to the middle continental crust with dT/dH = 20–25 °C/km. During stage 2, the rocks experienced Late Riphean (∼880 Ma, SHRIMP II U–Pb and 40Ar–39Ar dating) dynamic metamorphism under epidote-amphibolite facies conditions (P = 3.9–4.9 kbar; T = 461–547 °C), indicating a metamorphic field gradient of dT/dH no greater than 10 °C/km, with the formation of blastomylonites in narrow zones of ductile and brittle deformations. In these zones, high-grade GMC blocks were exhumed to the upper continental crust and underwent low-temperature metamorphism. Comparison of the structural, geologic, and other evolutionary features (nearly identical age constraints in view of exhumation rate, similar PT-paths, and different types of metamorphism associated with different geodynamic settings, etc.) of the Garevka and Teya complexes suggests that they constitute a single polymetamorphic complex.