Variation of mineral composition, fabric and oxygen fugacity from massive to foliated eclogites during exhumation of subducted ocean crust in the North Qilian suture zone, NW China

Abstract

Eclogites from the North Qilian suture zone are high-pressure low-temperature metamorphic rocks of ocean crust protolith, and occur in both massive and foliated varieties as individual blocks of tens to hundreds of metres in size. The massive type is weakly deformed and shows granoblastic texture characterized by a coarse-grained peak mineral assemblage of Grt1 + Omp1 + Ph + Rt ± Lws (or retrograde Cz). In contrast, the foliated type is strongly deformed and shows a fine-grained retrograde mineral assemblage of Grt2 + Omp2 + Cz + Gln + Ph. Both total FeO and aegirine contents in omphacite, as well as XFe[=Fe3+/(Fe3+ + AlVI)] in clinozoisite/epidote, increase significantly from massive to foliated eclogites. Lattice preferred orientation (LPO) of omphacite, determined by electron back-scatter diffraction analysis, is characterized by weak and strong SL-type fabrics for massive and foliated eclogites, respectively. Clinozoisite/epidote also developed SL-type fabric, but different from the LPOs of omphacite in and axes, owing to their opposite crystallographic long and short axis definitions. The transition of deformation mechanism from dislocation creep to diffusive mass transfer (DMT) creep in omphacite and the concomitant retrograde metamorphism both are efficiently facilitated when the original coarse-grained Omp1 + Grt1 + Lws assemblage is dynamically recrystallized and retrogressed into the fine-grained Fe3+-rich assemblage of Omp2 + Grt2 + Cz + Gln. The DMT process with concomitant anisotropic growth assisted by fluids is considered to be an important deformation mechanism for most minerals in the foliated eclogite. P–T estimates yielded 2.3–2.6 GPa and 485−510 °C for the massive eclogite and 1.8–2.2 GPa and 450−480 °C for the foliated eclogite. The significant increase in total Fe and Fe3+ contents in omphacite and clinozoisite/epidote from massive to foliated eclogite suggests changes in mineral compositions accompanied by an increase in oxygen fugacity during ductile deformation associated with exhumation. The LPO transition of omphacite, clinozoisite and rutile from weak SL-type in massive eclogites to strong SL-type in foliated eclogites is interpreted to represent the increment of shear strain during exhumation along the ‘subduction channel’.