Ultrahigh-pressure Conditions Research Articles

Multiple breakdown and chemical equilibrium of silicic clinopyroxene under extreme metamorphic conditions in the Kontum Massif, central Vietnam

Clinopyroxene in ultrahigh-temperature mafic granulites from the Kontum Massif in central Vietnam records multiple metamorphic stages, manifested as exsolution textures (quartz rods and orthopyroxene + hornblende + plagioclase needles), and as symplectitic intergrowths (involving clinopyroxene + plagioclase). These textures suggest a metamorphic evolution characterized by decompression and subsequent cooling from eclogite-facies to amphibolite-facies conditions through ultrahigh-temperature conditions. Quartz rods in clinopyroxene and clinopyroxene + plagioclase symplectites were formed under eclogite conditions prior to ultrahigh-temperature metamorphism. The orthopyroxene + hornblende + plagioclase needles in clinopyroxene are regarded as cooling products after ultrahightemperature metamorphism. Recalculated compositions of precursor clinopyroxene show supersilicic composition. During the metamorphic evolution, the chemical composition varies from silicic (Ca- Eskola-rich) via sodic (Jadeite-rich) to aluminous (Ca-Tschermak-rich) compositions. Presence of supersilicic clinopyroxene suggests that the granulite decompressed from possible ultrahigh-pressure conditions (ca. 800–900 °C at 2–3 GPa) preceding the ultrahigh-temperature stage (1050 °C at 1.3 GPa), which provide strong constraints on the tectonic evolution of the Indochina region, and it also provides insights on crustal exhumation at a continental collision zone. Another significant aspect of this study is that the breakdown textures of clinopyroxene and its chemical variations may provide important information in establishing pre- and post-peak evolution, especially for extremely high-temperature or high-pressure metamorphic rocks.

Garnet growth at high- and ultra-high pressure conditions and the effect of element fractionation on mineral modes and composition

In this paper we show that thermodynamic forward modelling, using Gibbs energy minimisation with consideration of element fractionation into refractory phases and/or liberated fluids, is able to extract information about the complex physical and chemical evolution of a deeply subducted rock volume. By comparing complex compositional growth zonations in garnets from high-and ultra-high pressure samples with those derived from thermodynamic forward modelling, we yield an insight into the effects of element fractionation on composition and modes of the co-genetic metamorphic phase assemblage. Our results demonstrate that fractionation effects cause discontinuous growth and re-crystallisation of metamorphic minerals in high pressure rocks. Reduced or hindered mineral growth at UHP conditions can control the inclusion and preservation of minerals indicative for UHP metamorphism, such as coesite, thus masking peak pressure conditions reached in subducted rocks. Further, our results demonstrate that fractional garnet crystallisation leads to strong compositional gradients and step-like zonation patterns in garnet, a feature often observed in high-and ultra-high pressure rocks. Thermodynamic forward modelling allows the interpretation of commonly observed garnet growth zonation patterns in terms of garnet forming reactions and the relative timing of garnet growth with respect to the rock's pressure–temperature path. Such a correlation is essential for the determination of tectonic and metamorphic rates in subduction zones as well as for the understanding of trace element signatures in subduction related rocks. It therefore should be commonplace in the investigation of metamorphic processes in subduction zones.

Growth of large (1 mm) MgSiO3 perovskite single crystals: A thermal gradient method at ultrahigh pressure

Large single crystals of MgSiO 3 perovskite were successfully synthesized by a thermal gradient method at 24 GPa and 1500 °C. This was achieved by an improvement of high-pressure synthesis technique that allowed us to grow single crystals under such ultrahigh-pressure conditions in relatively large volumes (e.g., 10 mm 3 ). Since crystal growth is hindered by neighboring crystals, the nucleation density was suppressed by reducing the thermal gradient to 20 °C/mm, permitting an increase in free space for large crystal growth. KHCO 3 -Mg(OH) 2 solvent can be used to grow perovskite crystals. However, the carbonate solvent produces melt inclusions. Silicate sources with MgSiO 3 composition produce stishovite inclusions, which in turn cause splitting of perovskite crystals. The formation of these inclusions is avoided by using H 2 O as a solvent and 85MgSiO 3 -15Mg 2 SiO 4 as a silicate source. The H 2 O also allows homogeneous crystal growth, probably because of its low viscosity and high silicate solubility. High-quality single crystals larger than 1 mm were successfully synthesized through these technical developments.

Coupled Lu–Hf and Sm–Nd geochronology constrains prograde and exhumation histories of high- and ultrahigh-pressure eclogites from western Norway

Eclogites from the Western Gneiss Region (WGR), Norway, that formed over a wide range in temperature (∼ 600 °C to > 850 °C) and pressure (high- and ultrahigh-pressure conditions; UHP) have a diverse range of Lu–Hf and Sm–Nd ages that correlate with their P–T histories. Three eclogites (∼ 676–850 °C and ∼ 2.0–2.85 GPa) yield Lu–Hf ages of 419.5 ± 4.3 Ma, 416.3 ± 3.7 and 412.0 ± 4.7 Ma, and two Sm–Nd ages of 402.7 ± 4.6 and 398.3 ± 5.5 Ma. The former are interpreted to date early garnet growth and the latter are interpreted to date near-peak metamorphism. These results support previous proposals that, for eclogites which recrystallized below Lu–Hf and Sm–Nd closure temperatures, the differences in ages for the two isotopic systems constrain the period of prograde garnet growth. In the case of the WGR, garnet growth is estimated to have occurred over a period of at least 20 m.y., beginning at ∼ 425–420 Ma. In contrast, two UHP eclogites (> 800 °C and > 3 GPa) yield significantly younger and overlapping Lu–Hf and Sm–Nd ages of 390–370 Ma; these ages are significantly younger than ages that are generally accepted for peak eclogite-facies conditions in the WGR, although they overlap 40Ar/ 39Ar ages that have been previously determined on white mica from the same samples or localities, indicating that the Lu–Hf and Sm–Nd ages may reflect rapid exhumation and cooling during the latest stages of HP and UHP metamorphism in the WGR.

Partial melting of metapelites at ultrahigh‐pressure conditions, Greenland Caledonides

AbstractEclogite, orthogneiss and, by association, metapelite from an island at 78°N in North‐East Greenland experienced ultrahigh‐pressure (UHP) metamorphism at approximately 970 °C and 3.6 GPa, at the end of the Caledonian collision, 360–350 Ma. Hydrous metapelites contain abundant leucocratic layers and lenses composed of medium‐grained, anhedral, equigranular quartz, antiperthitic plagioclase and K‐feldspar with minor small garnet and kyanite crystals. Leucosomes are generally parallel to the matrix foliation, are interlayered with residual quartz bands, anastomose around residual garnet and commonly cross‐cut micaceous segregations. Textures suggest that the leucosomes crystallized from a syntectonic melt, but crystallized at the end of local high‐grade deformation. The metapelite outcrop is < 1.5 km from kyanite eclogites with confirmed coesite, but the metapelites lack coesite and palisade textures diagnostic of coesite pseudomorphs. They do contain highly fractured garnet megacrysts with polycrystalline quartz inclusions (some surrounded by radial fractures) and Ti‐rich phengite inclusions that suggest the former presence of coesite. Polyphase inclusions in garnet contain reactants and products of the inferred dehydration melting reaction: Phe + Qtz = Ky + Kfs + Rt + melt. The reactants are thought to have been early inclusions of hydrous phases within garnet that melted and then crystallized new phases. Garnet surrounding these inclusions has patchy zoning with elevated Ca, consistent with experiments that produced similar patchy microstructures in garnet around inclusions with an unequivocal melt origin. The peak UHP metamorphic assemblage in these rocks is inferred to have been phengite, coesite, garnet, kyanite, rutile, fluid ± omphacite ± epidote. Phase diagrams indicate that dehydration melting of phengite in this assemblage would have occurred after decompression from peak pressure, but still above the coesite to quartz transition. Unusual crown‐ and moat‐like textures in garnet around some polycrystalline quartz inclusions are also consistent with the inference that melting took place at UHP conditions.

Ultrahigh‐pressure metamorphism and exhumation of garnet‐bearing ultramafic rocks from the Lanterman Range (northern Victoria Land, Antarctica)

AbstractNorthern Victoria Land is a key area for the Ross Orogen – a Palaeozoic foldbelt formed at the palaeo‐Pacific margin of Gondwana. A narrow and discontinuous high‐ to ultrahigh‐pressure (UHP) belt, consisting of mafic and ultramafic rocks (including garnet‐bearing types) within a metasedimentary sequence of gneisses and quartzites, is exposed at the Lanterman Range (northern Victoria Land). Garnet‐bearing ultramafic rocks evolved through at least six metamorphic stages. Stage 1 is defined by medium‐grained garnet + olivine + low‐Al orthopyroxene + clinopyroxene, whereas finer‐grained garnet + olivine + orthopyroxene + clinopyroxene + amphibole constitutes the stage 2 assemblage. Stage 3 is defined by kelyphites of orthopyroxene + clinopyroxene + spinel ± amphibole around garnet. Porphyroblasts of amphibole replacing garnet and clinopyroxene characterize stage 4. Retrograde stages 5 and 6 consist of tremolite + Mg‐chlorite ± serpentine ± talc. A high‐temperature (∼950 °C), spinel‐bearing protolith (stage 0), is identified on the basis of orthopyroxene + clinopyroxene + olivine + spinel + amphibole inclusions within stage 1 garnet. The P–T estimates for stage 1 are indicative of UHP conditions (3.2–3.3 GPa and 764–820 °C), whereas stage 2 is constrained between 726–788 °C and 2.6–2.9 GPa. Stage 3 records a decompression up to 1.1–1.3 GPa at 705–776 °C. Stages 4, 5 and 6 reflect uplift and cooling, the final estimates yielding values below 0.5 GPa at 300–400 °C. The retrograde P–T path is nearly isothermal from UHP conditions up to deep crustal levels, and becomes a cooling–unloading path from intermediate to shallow levels. The garnet‐bearing ultramafic rocks originated in the mantle wedge and were probably incorporated into the subduction zone with felsic and mafic rocks with which they shared the subsequent metamorphic and geodynamic evolution. The density and rheology of the subducted rocks are compatible with detachment of slices along the subduction channel and gravity‐driven exhumation.

Densities of metapelitic rocks at high to ultrahigh pressure conditions: What are the geodynamic consequences?

Current geodynamic models of continental collision involving (ultra)high pressure complexes imply that even deeply subducted continental crust is significantly lighter than the ultrabasic upper mantle. To test this implication, we have investigated density changes of major components of continental crust, in particular metagreywacke and metapelite, as a function of pressure and temperature using a Gibbs free energy minimization approach. Pseudosections were calculated for fixed chemical compositions and the P– T range of 10–40 kbar, 600–1000 °C. Selected compositions were those of natural psammopelitic rocks, average crustal components, various theoretical mixtures of quartz, plagioclase, illite, chlorite and Fe,Ti-oxides, and finally mid-ocean ridge basalt and lherzolite for comparison. Calculated densities were presented as density maps (isochors in P– T diagrams). In general, observed densities of psammopelitic rocks increase with rising pressure due to the formation of advancing amounts of garnet, Na-pyroxene, and kyanite. A common assemblage, for instance, at 25 kbar/800 °C consists of phengite, quartz, jadeite, garnet, kyanite, magnetite, and rutile. After overstepping the quartz–coesite transition the density of a mean psammopelitic rock (3.35 g/cm 3) is almost as high as that of garnet lherzolite. Calculations with other pelitic compositions demonstrate that the resulting densities (up to 3.5 g/cm 3) can even exceed that of a garnet lherzolite due to high contents of garnet. Our calculations suggest that (i) even non-basic crustal material can sink into the Earth's mantle to fertilize it and (ii) the proportion of low-density granitic rocks in deeply subducted continental crust must be relatively high to claim buoyancy forces for a return of this crust to the surface.

SHRIMP U‐Pb zircon dating from Sulu‐Dabie dolomitic marble, eastern China: constraints on prograde, ultrahigh‐pressure and retrograde metamorphic ages

AbstractLaser Raman spectroscopy and cathodoluminescence (CL) images show that zircon from Sulu‐Dabie dolomitic marbles is characterized by distinctive domains of inherited (detrital), prograde, ultrahigh‐pressure (UHP) and retrograde metamorphic growths. The inherited zircon domains are dark‐luminescent in CL images and contain mineral inclusions of Qtz + Cal + Ap. The prograde metamorphic domains are white‐luminescent in CL images and preserve a quartz eclogite facies assemblage of Qtz + Dol + Grt + Omp + Phe + Ap, formed at 542–693 °C and 1.8–2.1 GPa. In contrast, the UHP metamorphic domains are grey‐luminescent in CL images, retain the UHP assemblage of Coe + Grt + Omp + Arg + Mgs + Ap, and record UHP conditions of 739–866 °C and >5.5 GPa. The outermost retrograde rims have dark‐luminescent CL images, and contain low‐Pminerals such as calcite, related to the regional amphibolite facies retrogression. Laser ablation ICP‐MS trace‐element data show striking difference between the inherited cores of mostly magmatic origin and zircon domains grown in response to prograde, UHP and retrograde metamorphism. SHRIMP U‐Pb dating on these zoned zircon identified four discrete206Pb/238U age groups: 1823–503 Ma is recorded in the inherited (detrital) zircon derived from various Proterozoic protoliths, the prograde domains record the quartz eclogite facies metamorphism at 254–239 Ma, the UHP growth domains occurred at 238–230 Ma, and the late amphibolite facies retrogressive overprint in the outermost rims was restricted to 218–206 Ma. Thus, Proterozoic continental materials of the Yangtze craton were subducted to 55–60 km depth during the Early Triassic and recrystallized at quartz eclogite facies conditions. Then these metamorphic rocks were further subducted to depths of 165–175 km in the Middle Triassic and experienced UHP metamorphism, and finally these UHP metamorphic rocks were exhumed to mid‐crustal levels (about 30 km) in the Late Triassic and overprinted by regional amphibolite facies metamorphism. The subduction and exhumation rates deduced from the SHRIMP data and metamorphicP–Tconditions are 9–10 km Myr−1and 6.4 km Myr−1, respectively, and these rapid subduction–exhumation rates may explain the obtainedP–T–tpath. Such a fast exhumation suggests that Sulu‐Dabie UHP rocks that returned towards crustal depths were driven by buoyant forces, caused as a consequence of slab breakoff at mantle depth.

Evidence for diamond-grade ultra-high pressure metamorphism and fluid interaction in the Svartberget Fe–Ti garnet peridotite–websterite body, Western Gneiss Region, Norway

Based on mineral-chemical evidence we propose that the northernmost Scandian ultra-high pressure (UHP) metamorphic domain within the Western Gneiss Region of Norway can be extended 25 km northeastwards. A newly discovered, well preserved, fine-grained, Fe–Ti type garnet peridotite body at Svartberget, located in the Ulla Gneiss of the ‘More og Romsdal’ area north of Molde, is cut by a network of systematically orientated coarse-grained garnet-websterite and garnetite veins. Standard thermobarometric techniques based on electron microprobe analyses yield pressure (P) and temperature (T) estimates around 3.4 GPa, and 800 °C for the peridotite body and 5.5 GPa, and 800 °C for the websterite veins consistent with UHP conditions. In addition, polyphase solid inclusions, consisting of silicates, carbonates, sulphates and elemental carbon (including microdiamond), are randomly located in garnet and clinopyroxene of the websterite vein assemblage. Garnet-clinopyroxene mineral pairs yield a Sm–Nd cooling age of 393 ± 3 Ma for the peridotite and 381 ± 6 Ma for the vein assemblage suggesting that the Svartberget body was overprinted during the UHPM of the Scandian Orogeny. The initial ratio of the mineral isochron and Nd model ages suggest a mid-Proterozoic origin for the peridotite body. The polyphase inclusions, coupled with high 87Sr/86Sr ratios may indicate that the peridotite body was infiltrated by crustal-derived C–O–H melts/fluids at UHPM conditions to form the websterite veins in the diamond field. We propose that fracturing and vein emplacement were the result of local high fluid pressure during subduction of the Baltic plate.

Polyphase inclusions in garnet–orthopyroxenite (Dabie Shan, China) as monitors for metasomatism and fluid-related trace element transfer in subduction zone peridotite

The ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) Maowu Ultramafic Complex (Dabie Shan, China) is hosted by coesite-bearing gneisses. Textural and geochemical data demonstrate that garnet–orthopyroxenites within the ultramafic complex derive from garnet–harzburgite precursors that have been metasomatised at peak UHP conditions (4.0 ± 1.0 GPa, 750 ± 50 °C) by the addition of a silica- and incompatible trace element-rich fluid phase (hydrous melt), sourced from the associated crustal rocks. This metasomatism produced poikilitic orthopyroxene with high LREE and Ni contents and inclusion-rich garnet porphyroblasts. Solid polyphase primary inclusions within peak metamorphic garnet display negative crystal shapes and constant volume ratios of infilling mineral phases. Experimental homogenisation of these inclusions at conditions close to the estimated metamorphic peak demonstrates that the polyphase inclusions derive from trapped solute-rich aqueous fluids. The trace element characteristics of the experimentally re-homogenised inclusions include high LREE contents, a pronounced enrichment in LILE, with spikes of Cs, Ba, Pb and high U/Th. The investigated UHP garnet–orthopyroxenites from Maowu represent a natural laboratory to constrain the trace element transfer from the subducted crust to the mantle wedge at sub-arc depths. The observed textures and chemical characteristics provide evidence for the infiltration of a felsic hydrous melt into garnet–peridotite, a circumstance comparable to expected interaction of sediment-derived melts with mantle wedge peridotites in subduction zones. The SiO 2 and Al 2O 3 component of the hydrous melt reacted with olivine to form replacive orthopyroxene and new garnet. The neoblastic orthopyroxene is able to accommodate some of the LREE, whereas the H 2O and LILE component of the melt were partitioned into a residual aqueous fluid phase. Remnants of such an aqueous fluid were trapped in the garnet and formed the polyphase inclusions. The trace element pattern of these inclusions is very similar to the incompatible element enrichment observed in arc lavas. We suggest that the residual fluid produced by the peridotite/hydrous melt reaction is able to transfer the characteristic LILE signature from the subducted sediments to the locus of partial melting in the mantle wedge. Moreover, this study provides evidence that polyphase inclusions are important tools for constraining the nature and composition of UHP fluids.

Signatures of rift environment in the production of garnet-amphibolites and eclogites from Tso-Morari region, Ladakh, India: A geochemical study

The geochemistry of eclogites and garnet-amphibolites from Tso-Morari region, Ladakh, India has been investigated to characterize their protoliths on the basis of immobile elements, especially trace elements including REE. The eclogites and garnet-amphibolites have coherent compositions, except for the UHP metamorphic minerals being preserved in eclogites. Compositionally, the metabasites range from ‘depleted’ to ‘enriched’, and span from within-plate basalts (WPB) to MORB fields, and match with various enriched or ‘transitional’ MORB types (e.g., on Ti–Zr–Y and Nb–Zr–Y ternary plots). Isotopically they have Sr i ratio ∼ 0.706 which is similar to some of the Ocean Island Basalt (OIB). The rocks under study suggest that the enriched components are probably derived by melting of a mantle source with an enriched OIB-type component rather than due to the crustal contamination. We propose a rift environment for their protoliths and relate to advanced intra-continental rift situation. Furthermore, our geochemical studies envisage an initial phase of plume activity (Cambrian or earlier) resulting in basaltic magma in the eclogitic layers at sub-lithospheric levels, wherein they were subjected to crystallization under ultra-high pressure conditions. At a later stage the reactivation of faults (probably during Permo-Triassic times) acted as channels for the emplacement of the high pressure rocks in the continental crust. Subsequently, the ultra-high pressure rocks got re-equilibrated as amphibolites, with some remaining as relict eclogites, which later got exposed to the surface during various phases of the Himalayan uplift.

Multistage metasomatism in ultrahigh-pressure mafic rocks from the North Dabie Complex (China)

Release of metamorphic fluids within the slab and/or from the slab to the mantle wedge in subduction environments can produce important metasomatic effects. Ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) metasomatised rocks represent ideal materials to study the element exchange at pressures corresponding to sub-arc depths in subduction zones. We present a petrologic and geochemical study of eclogites (s.l.) from the Dabie Mountains (China). The investigated samples were collected in the North Dabie Complex, where eclogite-facies rocks are significantly overprinted by granulite-facies metamorphism and partial melting. The studied eclogites are included in meta-lherzolitic bodies, which are in turn hosted by leucocratic gneisses. The textural relations among the various rock-forming minerals enabled us to identify several re-crystallisation stages. The peak (UHP) paragenesis consists of garnet, clinopyroxene and rutile. UHP garnet and clinopyroxene display oriented inclusions of polycrystalline rods of rutile + ilmenite and of albite, K–Ba-feldspar and quartz, respectively. Garnet and clinopyroxene are both rimmed by an inclusion free zone that formed after the peak, still at high-pressure conditions. Such optical zoning does not correspond to a difference in major element concentrations between garnet core and rim. This observation provides evidence that the major element composition of garnet was reset during exhumation, thus preventing thermobarometric determination of peak metamorphic conditions. Further decompression is documented by the formation of limited ilmenite + amphibole and granulite-facies coronas consisting of clinopyroxene, orthopyroxene, plagioclase and amphibole around garnet. In order to investigate the stability of observed mineral parageneses, a series of reconnaissance piston cylinder synthesis experiments were carried out in an identical bulk composition. The experimental study indicates that the peak metamorphic paragenesis is stable at P∼3.5 GPa and T ≥ 750–800 °C. The petrological study, combined with bulk-rock and mineral trace element analyses, provides evidence of intense metasomatism affecting these eclogites. The bulk-rock major and trace element compositions indicate that the eclogites derive from basaltic protoliths with MORB and E-MORB affinity. Compared with such basalts, the studied rocks show strong depletion in SiO 2 and alkalis and enrichment in MgO and FeO. These features likely derive from element exchange with ultramafic rocks prior to subduction, possibly related with the influx of Si-depleted and Mg-enriched fluids produced during the serpentinisation of the associated lherzolitic rocks. On the other hand, the trace element bulk-rock compositions show strong enrichment in Cs, Ba and Pb. The same characteristic enrichment and fractionation is recorded by peak metamorphic clinopyroxene but not in retrograde amphibole. Therefore, influx of crustal fluids transporting LILE and light elements must have occurred during subduction at UHP conditions. This stage likely records the tectonic coupling of the mafic–ultramafic rocks with the associated crustal rock units and provides evidence of LILE mobility between different slab components.

Silicate and carbonate melt inclusions associated with diamonds in deeply subducted carbonate rocks

Abstract Deeply subducted carbonate rocks from the Kokchetav massif (Northern Kazakhstan) recrystallised within the diamond stability field ( P = 4.5–6.0 GPa; T ≈ 1000 °C) and preserve evidence for ultra high-pressure carbonate and silicate melts. The carbonate rocks consist of garnet and K-bearing clinopyroxene embedded in a dolomite or magnesian calcite matrix. Polycrystalline magnesian calcite and polyphase carbonate–silicate inclusions occurring in garnet and clinopyroxene show textural features of former melt inclusions. The trace element composition of such carbonate inclusions is enriched in Ba and light rare earth elements and depleted in heavy rare earth elements with respect to the matrix carbonates providing further evidence that the inclusions represent trapped carbonate melt. Polyphase inclusions in garnet and clinopyroxene within a magnesian calcite marble, consisting mainly of a tight intergrowth of biotite + K-feldspar and biotite + zoisite + titanite, are interpreted to represent two different types of K-rich silicate melts. Both melt types show high contents of large ion lithophile elements but contrasting contents of rare earth elements. The Ca-rich inclusions display high REE contents similar to the carbonate inclusions and show a general trace element characteristic compatible with a hydrous granitic origin. Low SiO 2 content in the silicate melts indicates that they represent residual melts after extensive interaction with carbonates. These observations suggest that hydrous granitic melts derived from the adjacent metapelites reacted with dolomite at ultra high-pressure conditions to form garnet, clinopyroxene – a hydrous carbonate melt – and residual silicate melts. Silicate and carbonate melt inclusions contain diamond, providing evidence that such an interaction promotes diamond growth. The finding of carbonate melts in deeply subducted crust might have important consequences for recycling of trace elements and especially C from the slab to the mantle wedge.

Plastic flow of coesite eclogite in a deep continent subduction regime: Microstructures, deformation mechanisms and rheologic implications

Ultrahigh pressure (UHP) metamorphic rocks are continental crust that once has been subducted to mantle depth and subsequently exhumed to the surface in collisional orogenic belts. Despite the long distance transport of the UHP rocks in a deep subduction channel and the fast strain rate required for rapid exhumation, little evidence for UHP deformation is found in the exhumed UHP terrains so far identified. Some UHP rocks have even preserved primary igneous and volcanic structures. These observations have led to the postulation that the stress level is low (a few MPa) in the deep subduction zones. Deformation microstructures of some eclogite mylonites from a ductile shear complex in the Sulu UHP metamorphic belt, eastern China, provide for the first time convincing evidence that dislocation creep is the predominant deformation mechanism for the major constituent minerals of the UHP rocks in a highly strain-localized shear zone at the UHP conditions. Omphacite, phengite and kyanite are the main strain-accommodating phases and are dynamically recrystallized through progressive subgrain rotation and grain boundary migration. Coesite is either fractured, with irregular extinction in the moderately deformed eclogite or pseudomorphed by polycrystalline quartz aggregates that have a foam structure. Garnet does not show optically discernable plastic deformation. P–T conditions for the deformation are estimated to be P≈3.3 GPa and T≈624 °C using garnet–omphacite–kyanite–phengite–coesite/quartz thermobarometry, suggesting that deeply subducted continental crust remains “cold” at the upper mantle depths. Large part of the deeply subducted crust remains relatively undeformed. Strain is strongly localized into narrow shear zones. Stress level in the deep subduction channel is extrapolated on the order of tens of MPa, much higher than it was previously thought.

Quartz exsolution in clinopyroxene is not proof of ultrahigh pressures: Evidence from eclogites from the Eastern Blue Ridge, Southern Appalachians, U.S.A.

Oriented quartz needles in clinopyroxene have become one of the diagnostic indicators of ultrahighpressure (UHP) metamorphism. The presence of apparently exsolved quartz is taken as evidence of decompression of a non-stochiometric Ca.Eskola component (Ca 0.5 ⃞ 0.5 AlSi 2 O 6 , CaEs) that is presumed to be stable only at UHP conditions. Eclogite from the Eastern Blue Ridge, North Carolina, contains clinopyroxene (Jd 20 CaTs 5 Ac 5 CaEs 0 Di 65 Hd 5 ) with oriented needles of quartz and calcic amphibole that appear to have exsolved together. The quartz + amphibole intergrowths are surrounded by 1.5 µm haloes of neoformed pyroxene (Jd 10 CaTs 10 Ac 5 CaEs 0 Di 70 Hd 5 ). The modes of quartz, amphibole, and clinopyroxene haloes were determined using BSE images, and reintegrated with the host clinopyroxene. Viewing the quartz and amphibole needles down the c-axis of the pyroxene host provides a better estimate of their proportions than in prismatic sections. Reintegrated pyroxene compositions were nearly identical to the analyzed host pyroxene with no CaEs component. Clinopyroxene with CaEs solid solution has been repeatedly synthesized at UHP conditions. However, examination of the phase equilibria usually cited as evidence for CaEs stability at conditions of ≥25 kbar shows that clinopyroxene with 10 mol% CaEs is stable well within the quartz field, and provides a pressure minimum similar to the albite = jadeite + quartz barometer. Exsolution of quartz and associated amphibole is commonplace in clinopyroxene from the Blue Ridge eclogite that lacks coesite or other evidence for UHP metamorphism. The presence of a diluted (5.10%) CaEs component in clinopyroxene does not require UHP conditions.

Refining the timing of eclogite metamorphism: a geochemical, petrological, Sm-Nd and U-Pb case study from the Pohorje Mountains, Slovenia (Eastern Alps)

High-pressure metamorphism in the Pohorje Mountains of Slovenia (Austroalpine unit, Eastern Alps) affected N-MORB type metabasic and metapelitic lithologies. Thermodynamic calculations and equilibrium phase diagrams of kyanite–phengite-bearing eclogites reveal PT conditions of >2.1 GPa at T<750°C, but within the stability field of quartz. Metapelitic eclogite country rocks contain the assemblage garnet + phengite + kyanite + quartz, for which calculated peak pressure conditions are in good agreement with results obtained from eclogite samples. The eclogites contain a single population of spherical zircon with a low Th/U ratio. Combined constraints on the age of metamorphism come from U/Pb zircon as well as garnet–whole rock and mineral–mineral Sm-Nd analyses from eclogites. A coherent cluster of single zircon analyses yields a 206Pb/238U age of 90.7±1.0 Ma that is in good agreement with results from Sm-Nd garnet–whole rock regression of 90.7±3.9 and 90.1±2.0 Ma (eNd: +8) for two eclogite samples. The agreement between U-Pb and Sm-Nd age data strongly suggests an age of approximately 90 Ma for the pressure peak of the eclogites in the Pohorje Mountains. The presence of garnet, omphacite and quartz inclusions in unfractured zircon indicates high-pressure rather than ultrahigh pressure conditions. The analysed metapelite sample yields a Sm-Nd garnet–whole rock scatterchron age of 97±15 Ma. These data probably support a single P-T loop for mafic and pelitic lithologies of the Pohorje area and a late Cretaceous high-pressure event that affected the entire easternmost Austroalpine basement including the Koralpe and Saualpe eclogite type locality in the course of the complex collision of the Apulian microplate and Europe.

Microdiamonds in Ultrahigh-Pressure Metamorphic Rocks

Since the first report of microdiamonds of metamorphic origin in crustal rocks of the Kokchetav Massif, northern Kazakhstan, diamonds have been described from several other ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) metamorphic terranes. In situ diamond is the best indicator of ultrahigh-pressure conditions (>4 GPa), and testifies to subduction of continental crust to depths within the diamond stability field followed by relatively rapid exhumation. In contrast to other UHP terranes, the Kokchetav Massif contains rocks with unusually abundant diamonds, particularly in the Kumdy-Kol region. Kumdy-Kol diamonds exhibit diverse morphologies, dependent upon the host rock. Raman and cathodoluminescence spectra and carbon isotope compositions differ between core and rim, indicating two distinct growth stages.

UHP GARNET ORTHOPYROXENITES (DABIE SHAN, CHINA) AS MONITORS OF PERCOLATION OF HYDROUS SI-RICH MELTS IN DEEP SUBDUCTION ENVIRONMENTS

UHP GARNET ORTHOPYROXENITES (DABIE SHAN, CHINA) AS MONITORS OF PERCOLATION OF HYDROUS SI-RICH MELTS IN DEEP SUBDUCTION ENVIRONMENTS

Role of partial melting in the evolution of the Sulu (eastern China) ultrahigh-pressure terrane

Strongly deformed potassium feldspar–rich dikes are widely distributed in the northern part of the Sulu ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) metamorphic terrane, eastern China. The fact that the crystallization ages of these dikes overlap with the age of peak UHP metamorphic conditions implies the presence of melt during metamorphism. Sr isotopic ratios of the dikes are compatible with their origin as partial melts of the dominant felsic Sulu gneiss. Partial melting may be the key to solving several unusual features of the Sulu and other UHP terranes, such as the almost complete lack of mineralogical evidence for UHP conditions and the limited growth of zircon during UHP conditions in the dominant felsic gneiss. In addition, because partial melting will cause a drastic reduction in the strength of the UHP gneisses, the most likely exhumation mechanism is diapiric rise of a low-viscosity, partially molten mass containing entrained blocks of eclogite, and not a thin sheet as usually proposed.

Unusual Hf contents in metamorphic zircon from coesite‐bearing eclogites of the Dabie Mountains, east‐central China: implications for the dating of ultrahigh‐pressure metamorphism

AbstractMetamorphic zircon from coesite‐bearing eclogites in the Dabie Mountains encloses high‐P phases, and may have formed at the peak of ultrahigh‐pressure (UHP) metamorphism. Morphologically, the metamorphic zircon typically occurs as small, multi‐faceted, near‐spherical grains with homogeneous internal structure and weak backscattered electron (BSE) luminescence. Geochemically, it is characterized by extremely high and relatively constant contents of hafnium (Hf) and very low contents of Y, U and Th, reflecting the contraction of the zircon lattice under the UHP conditions. High contents of Hf may be characteristic of zircon formed during UHP metamorphism, which has important consequences for interpretation of geochronological results. We propose that the metamorphic zircon extremely enriched in Hf may be used to date the peak of UHP metamorphism that produced the coesite‐bearing eclogites in the Dabie Mountains, and potentially in other UHP terranes.