Exhumation Of High-pressure Rocks Research Articles

Two-stage exhumation of high-pressure rocks by corner flow and mud volcanism within an active subduction zone – A case study from serpentinite mud volcanoes along the Mariana convergent margin

During International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Expedition 366 cores were recovered from three serpentinite mud volcanoes containing clasts that originate from the subduction-channel along the Philippine Sea Plate – Pacific Plate boundary. The drilled and sampled mud volcanoes (Yinazao, Fantangisña, and Asùt Tesoru) are located at distances of 55 to 72 km from the Mariana Trench. Mafic rock clasts, embedded within a serpentinite mud matrix, from the flanks and summits of both Asùt Tesoru and Fantangisña Seamounts were analyzed for reconstruction of their metamorphic and deformational overprint in order to reveal the tectono-metamorphic conditions at the metamorphic peak within the subduction channel and the subsequent low-grade overprint during exhumation. Several seamounts comprise clasts of lower plate metabasites with different metamorphic overprint (from low-grade sub-greenschist facies to lower blueschist facies). The metabasites are also associated with clasts of fossiliferous carbonates and cherts with different degrees of metamorphic and deformational overprint, that also originated from the Pacific lower Plate. This implies that these rocks were exhumed from different depths within the subduction channel before being regurgitated within a serpentinite mud matrix. The blueschist facies metamorphic rocks, being affected by metamorphic pressures in the range of 11 to 13.8 kbar at minimum, were very likely exhumed from greater depth within the subduction channel before being captured by uprising, localized serpentinite mudflows, indicating evidence that corner flow is actually taking place along the Mariana convergent margin, and that the high-pressure rocks were exhumed by corner flow in an active subduction zone. Final exhumation, however, is related to the embedding of the rocks within a serpentinite mud matrix and the buoyant ascent of serpentinite mudflows along forearc fracture zones extending from the plate boundary to the upper plate sea floor.

Fluvial deposits of the Patlanoaya Group in southern Mexico: the stratigraphic record of an Early Mississippian supradetachment basin formed along the margin of Gondwana during the closure of the Rheic Ocean

ABSTRACT The Rheic Ocean closure stratigraphic record in southern Mexico is largely exposed in the Paleozoic Acatlán Complex. One of the most distinctive characteristics of the Acatlán Complex is the presence of high-pressure rocks, interpreted as remnants of the Rheic Ocean and the adjacent continental margin of Gondwana, which were subducted and then exhumed to the surface. Despite its importance in reconstructing the dynamics of the westernmost Rheic Ocean closure, the timing and mechanisms of exhumation of these high-pressure rocks remain debated. Some authors have tentatively interpreted the late Paleozoic, fluvial to marine succession of the Patlanoaya Group in southern Mexico as the sedimentary response to the exhumation of high-pressure rocks of the Acatlán Complex. Therefore, these sedimentary rocks may be particularly helpful in understanding the timing and evolution of high-pressure rocks exhumation during the Rheic Ocean closure. In this work, the tectono-sedimentary evolution of the continental deposits of the Patlanoaya Group was reconstructed, integrating sedimentologic, petrographic, and U-Pb detrital geochronological data to test the different scenarios proposed for the exhumation of the Acatlán Complex high-pressure rocks. Our data suggest that the lower Patlanoaya Group was deposited in an Early Mississippian basin with a two-stage evolution: a phase characterized by debris flow deposits derived from small-scale reliefs composed of low-grade metamorphic rocks and a subsequent phase marked by an NNE-trending fluvial system deposits sourced from low-metamorphic grade rocks of a mylonitic zone. Therefore, the lower Patlanoaya Group deposition was controlled by a major NNE-trending mylonitic shear zone associated with the development of a supradetachment basin linked to the progressive exhumation of high-pressure rocks during an Early Mississippian major extensional event. This work highlights the importance of sedimentary deposits in reconstructing the late Paleozoic history of the Acatlán Complex during the Rheic Ocean closure and the final stage of the Pangea assembly.

Exhumation of high-pressure rocks: role of late faulting (Eastern Ossa–Morena Complex, Iberian Massif)

Abstract Exhumation of high-pressure (P) rocks may require a long path and multiple deformation phases. During this journey, late faults and folds can introduce changes to the primary tectonic stacking and lead to misleading conclusions regarding subduction polarity and plate reconstructions. This hypothesis has been tested positively via mapping and structural analysis in the eastern section of the Central Unit (Eastern Ossa–Morena Complex, Iberian Massif), which comprises Devonian high-P rocks subducted during the Variscan Orogeny. Following subduction beneath Gondwana, exhumation was assisted by in-sequence underthrusting of the continental crust, along with thinning of the overlying and formerly accreted crust. Convergence persisted and was accommodated by Gondwana-directed, out-of-sequence thrusts. Subsequent extension favoured erosion and basin inception during the Early Carboniferous, whereas further convergence produced late folding and faulting during Late Carboniferous sinistral transpression. Late faults duplicated the Devonian suture zone several times, producing a series of closely-spaced exposures of a single suture. The manner in which late faults affected the Devonian suture produced an outcome that could be mistaken for a collection of individual suture zones. Late faults may distort the primary relationships between upper and lower plates; however, they provide a geometry-based approach for restoring the primary geometry of suture zones.

Early Miocene Exhumation of High-Pressure Rocks in the Himalaya: A Response to Reduced India-Asia Convergence Velocity

Low-viscosity channel flow, originating from a melt-weakened mid-crustal layer, is one of the most popular tectonic models to explain the exhumation of deep-seated rocks in the Greater Himalayan Sequence (GHS). The driving mechanism of such channel flow, generally attributed to focused erosion in the mountain front, is still debated, and yet to be resolved. Moreover, the channel flow model cannot explain eclogites in the GHS. In this study, we present a new two-dimensional thermo-mechanical numerical model, based on lubrication dynamics to demonstrate the exhumation process of deep crustal rocks in GHS. The model suggests that a dynamic-pressure drop in the Himalayan wedge, following a large reduction in the India-Asia convergence velocity (15 cm/yr at 50 Ma to nearly 5 cm/yr at ∼22 Ma) localized a fully developed extrusion zone, which controlled the pressure-temperature-time (P-T-t) path of GHS rocks. We show that the wedge extrusion, originated in the lower crust (∼60 km), was initially bounded by two oppositely directed ductile shear zones: the South Tibetan Detachment systems (STDS) at the top and the Higher Himalayan Discontinuity (HHD) at the bottom. With time the bottom shear boundary of the extrusion zone underwent a southward migration, forming the Main Central Thrust (MCT) at ∼17 Ma. Our model successfully reproduces two apparently major paradoxical observations in the Himalaya: syn-convergence extension and inverted metamorphic isograds. Model peak P (10–17 kb) and T (700–820°C) and the exhumation P-T-t path estimated from several Lagrangian points, traveling through the extrusion zone, are largely compatible with the petrological observations in the GHS. The model results account for the observed asymmetric P-T distribution between the MCT and STDS, showing peak P-T values close to the MCT. The lubrication dynamics proposed in this article sheds light on the fast exhumation event (>1 cm/yr) in the most active phase of crustal extrusion (22-17 Ma), followed by a slowed-down event. Finally, our model explains why the extrusion zone became weak in the last 8-10 Ma in the history of India-Asia collision.

Comment on “Channel flow, tectonic overpressure, and exhumation of high-pressure rocks in the Greater Himalayas” by Marques et al. (2018)

Abstract. The upward-tapering channel model proposed by Marques et al. (2018) for the Himalayas has a “base” that forms part of the subducting footwall and therefore does not close the channel. This configuration does not produce return flow, and no dynamic overpressure develops in the channel. The geometrical and kinematic configuration they actually use for their calculations differs from this and is both geologically and mechanically improbable. In addition, the fixed upper boundary condition in their models is mechanically unrealistic and inconsistent with geological and geophysical constraints from the Himalayan orogen. In reality, the dynamic pressures calculated from their model, which exceed lithostatic pressure by as much as 1.5 GPa, would cause elastic flexure or permanent deformation of the upper plate. I estimate that a flexural upwarp of 50 km of the upper plate would be required to balance forces, which would lead to geologically unrealistic topographic and gravity anomalies. The magnitude of the dynamic overpressure that could be confined is in fact limited by the shear strength of the upper plate in the Himalayas, which is likely to be < 120 MPa.

Channel flow, tectonic overpressure, and exhumation of high-pressure rocks in the Greater Himalayas

Abstract. The Himalayas are the archetype of continental collision, where a number of long-standing fundamental problems persist in the Greater Himalayan Sequence (GHS): (1) contemporaneous reverse and normal faulting, (2) inversion of metamorphic grade, (3) origin of high- (HP) and ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) rocks, (4) mode of ductile extrusion and exhumation of HP and UHP rocks close to the GHS hanging wall, (5) flow kinematics in the subduction channel, and (6) tectonic overpressure, here defined as TOP = P∕PL where P is total (dynamic) pressure and PL is lithostatic pressure. In this study we couple Himalayan geodynamics to numerical simulations to show how one single model, upward-tapering channel (UTC) flow, can be used to find a unified explanation for the evidence. The UTC simulates a flat-ramp geometry of the main underthrust faults, as proposed for many sections across the Himalayan continental subduction. Based on the current knowledge of the Himalayan subduction channel geometry and geological/geophysical data, the simulations predict that a UTC can be responsible for high TOP ( > 2). TOP increases exponentially with a decrease in UTC mouth width, and with an increase in underthrusting velocity and channel viscosity. The highest overpressure occurs at depths < −60 km, which, combined with the flow configuration in the UTC, forces HP and UHP rocks to exhume along the channel's hanging wall, as in the Himalayas. By matching the computed velocities and pressures with geological data, we constrain the GHS viscosity to be ≤ 1021 Pa s, and the effective convergence (transpression) to a value ≤ 10 %. Variations in channel dip over time may promote or inhibit exhumation (> or < 15°, respectively). Viscous deformable walls do not affect overpressure significantly enough for a viscosity contrast (viscosity walls to viscosity channel) of the order of 1000 or 100. TOP in a UTC, however, is only possible if the condition at the bottom boundary is no-outlet pressure; otherwise it behaves as a leaking boundary that cannot retain dynamic pressure. However, the cold, thick, and strong lithospheres forming the Indian and Eurasian plates are a good argument against a leaking bottom boundary in a flat-ramp geometry, and therefore it is possible for overpressure to reach high values in the GHS.

Along-strike variations in the Hellenide Anatolide orogen: A tale of different lithospheres and consequences

Structure and exhumation history of the Hellenide-Anatolide Orogen in the Aegean Sea region and the adjacent Anatolian peninsula is controlled by along-strike variations of pre-Alpine palaeogeography. In the Hellenides, Mesozoic extension created ribbon-like continental fragments of thinned and dense lithosphere that pinch out eastwards. In the east, the relatively large Anatolide microcontinent mostly escaped Mesozoic extension and lithospheric thinning, presumably because it had a distinctly different, thicker and more depleted lithosphere. In the Aegean transect these alongstrike differences in lithosphere structure ultimately resulted in sustained highpressure metamorphism followed by progressive slab retreat since about 60 Ma. Further east, collision of the Anatolide microcontinent at about 42 Ma formed a south verging greenschist-facies thrust-and-fold belt. Pronounced slab retreat in the Aegean forced differential extension resulting in a broad sinistral wrench corridor that started to from at 24-23 Ma. Since then, extension in both regions mainly controlled denudation. This review highlights how differences in pre-orogenic architecture control lithospheric thickening and the subsequent exhumation of high-pressure rocks, and how large-scale continental extension evolves

Late Paleozoic subduction and collision processes during the amalgamation of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt along the South Tianshan suture zone

The provenance of late Paleozoic siliciclastic sedimentary strata on the northern margin of the Tarim Craton and the South Tianshan Orogenic Belt provides important insights into subduction and collision processes during the formation of the southern Central Asian Orogenic Belt. Detrital zircons from Carboniferous and Permian sedimentary rocks in the South Tianshan belt show two predominant age populations of 500–400 and 305–270Ma, and three subordinate clusters around ~2.5Ga, 2.0–1.7Ga, and 1.2–0.6Ma. Such age patterns are similar to major magmatic episodes in the Tarim Craton but are distinct from those in the Central Tianshan–Yili Block, implying that the Carboniferous–Permian strata in the South Tianshan belt were deposited on the northern margin of the Tarim Craton. These data, in combination with Carboniferous passive margin deposition along the South Tianshan and northern Tarim regions and intense arc magmatism in the Central Tianshan area, support the northward subduction of the South Tianshan oceanic crust. The abrupt decrease of zircon εHf(t) values at ~310Ma indicates the tectonic transformation from oceanic subduction to continental collision. However, syn- and post-collisional sediments in the South Tianshan and northern Tarim regions did not contain detritus from the Central Tianshan–Yili Block, as evidenced by the absence/paucity of 380–310Ma detrital zircons in the late Paleozoic strata and by the stratigraphic record in the regions. Insignificant surface erosion and uplifting during the collision and (ultra-)high-pressure rock exhumation require divergence in the frontal wedge. We propose that the switch from a convergent to a divergent regime was triggered by the arrival of the Tarim mantle plume in the latest Carboniferous, which possibly had profound effects on regional sedimentation and exhumation of (ultra-)high-pressure rocks in the orogenic belt.

Amalgamation of the Qiangtang terranes, central Tibet, and new insights into the mechanism of exhumation of high-pressure rocks

Amalgamation of the Qiangtang terranes, central Tibet, and new insights into the mechanism of exhumation of high-pressure rocks

Imaging high-pressure rock exhumation in eastern Taiwan

Increasingly detailed studies of out crops of high-pressure rock terranes in combination with rapidly evolving numerical modeling studies have given rise to a number of possible explanations for the processes by which these rocks are exhumed. Imaging actively exhuming high-pressure terranes remains one of the fundamental, but elusive, tasks that could advance the understanding of how these important rocks reach Earth’s surface. Seismic tomography along the active arc-continent collision in eastern Taiwan images a high P- and S-wave velocity zone that extends from the shallow subsurface beneath a high-pressure metamorphic terrane to ∼50 km depth. We present a petrophysical analysis of this high-velocity zone that indicates the presence of rock types common to high-pressure terranes. The high-velocity zone is seismically active throughout. We determine focal mechanisms for 57 earthquakes, and carry out full waveform modeling on 10; these have double-couple focal mechanisms with a compensated linear vector dipole component up to 20.6%. We suggest that the high-velocity zone comprises an exhuming high-pressure terrane. Focal mechanisms for earthquakes within it indicate that shear faulting dominates in the deformation, but high fluid pressure may also play a role.

Tectonic evolution and high-pressure rock exhumation in the Qiangtang terrane, central Tibet

Abstract. Conflicting interpretations of the > 500 km long, east–west-trending Qiangtang metamorphic belt have led to very different and contradicting models for the Permo–Triassic tectonic evolution of central Tibet. We define two metamorphic events, one that only affected pre-Ordovician basement rocks and one subduction-related Triassic high-pressure metamorphism event. Detailed mapping and structural analysis allowed us to define three main units that were juxtaposed due to collision of the north and south Qiangtang terranes after closure of the Ordovician–Triassic ocean that separated them. The base is formed by the Precambrian–Carboniferous basement, followed by non-metamorphic ophiolitic mélange containing mafic rocks that range in age from the Ordovician to Middle Triassic. The top of the sequence is formed by strongly deformed sedimentary mélange that contains up to > 10 km size rafts of both unmetamorphosed Permian sediments and high-pressure blueschists. We propose that the high-pressure rocks were exhumed from underneath the south Qiangtang terrane in an extensional setting caused by the pull of the northward subducting slab of the Shuanghu–Tethys. High-pressure rocks, sedimentary mélange and margin sediments were thrust on top of the ophiolitic mélange that was scraped off the subducting plate. Both units were subsequently thrust on top of the south Qiantang terrane continental basement. Onset of Late Triassic sedimentation marked the end of the amalgamation of both Qiangtang terranes and the beginning of spreading between Qiantang and north Lhasa to the south, leading to the deposition of thick flysch deposits in the Jurassic.

New interpretation of the Franciscan mélange at San Simeon coast, California: tectonic intrusion into an accretionary prism

Many concepts and interpretations on the formation of the Franciscan mélange have been proposed on the basis of exposures at San Simeon, California. In this paper, we show the distribution of chaotic rocks, their internal structures and textures, and the interrelationship between the chaotic rocks and the surrounding sandstones (turbidites). Mélange components, particularly blueschists, oceanic rocks, including greenstone, pillow lava, bedded chert, limestone, sandstone, and conglomerate, have all been brecciated by retrograde deformation. The Cambria Slab, long interpreted as a trench slope basin, is also strongly deformed by fluidization, brecciation, isoclinal folding, and thrusting, leading us to a new interpretation that turbiditic rocks (including the Cambria Slab) represent trench deposits rather than slope basin sediments. These rocks form an accretionary prism above mélanges that were diapirically emplaced into these rocks first along sinistral-thrust faults, and then along dextral-normal faults. Riedel shear systems are observed in several orders of scale in both stages. Although the exhumation of the blueschist blocks is still controversial, the common extensional fractures and brecciation in most of the blocks in the mélanges and further mixture of various lithologies into one block with mélange muddy matrix indicate that once deeply buried blocks were exhumed from considerable depths to the accretionary prism body, before being diapirically intruded with their host mélange along thrust and normal faults, during which retrograde deformation occurred together with retrograde metamorphism. Recent similar examples of high-pressure rock exhumation have been documented along the Sofugan Tectonic Line in the Izu forearc areas, in the Mineoka belt in the Boso Peninsula, and as part of accretionary prism development in the Nankai and Sagami troughs of Japan. These modern analogues provide actively forming examples of the lithological and deformational features that characterize the Franciscan mélange processes.

A Late Triassic tectonothermal event in the eastern Acatlán Complex, southern Mexico, synchronous with a magmatic arc hiatus: The result of flat-slab subduction?

Basement rocks exposed in the Acatlan Complex of the Mixteca terrane in southern Mexico record two tectonothermal events: (1) a Devonian–Mississippian (ca. 365–318 Ma) event, recording extrusion and exhumation of high-pressure rocks; and (2) an Early to Middle Permian (ca. 289–263 Ma) event, involving N-S dextral shearing, transtensional deformation, and local S-vergent thrusting in a magmatic arc environment. We document an additional, regionally significant, tectonothermal event during the Middle to Late Triassic recorded by 40 Ar/ 39 Ar step-heating laser-probe ages ranging from ca. 239 and 219 Ma (≡ cooling from ca. 525 °C to 300 °C) for amphibole, muscovite, and biotite from: (1) the Carboniferous Amarillo unit, consisting of medium-grade, metasedimentary rocks intruded by mafic dikes; and (2) the Pennsylvanian–Middle Permian, low-grade, clastic-calcareous, arc-related Tecomate Formation. U-Pb laser ablation–inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) data yield an age of 339 ± 6 Ma for the youngest population of detrital zircon grains in the Amarillo unit. Lithogeochemical and Sm-Nd isotopic data for the Amarillo unit dikes are very similar to those of other Carboniferous meta-igneous rocks in the eastern and southwestern part of the Acatlan Complex, displaying affinities transitional between mid-ocean-ridge basalt (MORB) and continental tholeiites, and initial ɛ Nd ( t = 339 Ma) values from -6.6 to +6.4, indicating both depleted and enriched mantle sources, as well as variable contamination by continental crust or by subduction-derived fluids. The 40 Ar/ 39 Ar cooling ages coincide with an apparent hiatus in magmatic activity in southern Mexico, which is inferred to record a change from steep to flat subduction.

HOW ARE THE EMPLACEMENT OF RARE-ELEMENT PEGMATITES, REGIONAL METAMORPHISM AND MAGMATISM INTERRELATED IN THE MOLDANUBIAN DOMAIN OF THE VARISCAN BOHEMIAN MASSIF, CZECH REPUBLIC?

The Moldanubian domain of the Variscan Bohemian Massif is characterized by a large number of rare-element pegmatites, which are of possible economic importance. In order to investigate timing relationships between emplacements of Li-bearing rare-element pegmatites and the tectonometamorphic and magmatic evolution of this domain, 10 in situ U–Pb dates of minerals of the columbite–tantalite group from eight rare-element pegmatites, belonging to different pegmatite fields, have been obtained by the LA–SF–ICP–MS technique. As in former studies, our results suggest that assimilation of common Pb is very limited, and diffusion of radiogenic Pb is of minimal importance in columbite. Two ages of emplacement have been obtained. An older episode at ~333 + 3 Ma follows closely the generalized melting event that occurred at the end of the Moravo–Moldanubian phase, during exhumation of high-pressure rocks. The younger episode, at ~325 + 4 Ma, seems to have been contemporaneous with the beginning of the Bavarian phase. The emplacement of Li-bearing rare-element pegmatites in the Moldanubian domain is the oldest known magmatic event involving rare element-enriched melts during the Variscan orogeny. Our results show that the emplacement of Li-bearing rare-element pegmatites is not genetically related with the granulite-facies metamorphism of the lower crust. Rather, the magmas could have originated directly by partial melting linked the formation of migmatites contemporaneous with the exhumation of high-pressure rocks.

Thermomechanical modeling of slab eduction

Plate eduction is a geodynamic process characterized by normal‐sense coherent motion of previously subducted continental plate. This mechanism may occur after slab detachment has separated the negatively buoyant oceanic plate from the positively buoyant orogenic root. Eduction may therefore be partly responsible for exhumation of high pressure rocks and late orogenic extension. We used two‐dimensional thermomechanical modeling to investigate the main features of the plate eduction model. The results show that eduction can lead to the quasi adiabatic decompression of the subducted crust (≈2 GPa) in a timespan of 5 My, large localized extensional strain in the former subduction channel, flattening of the slab, and a topographic uplift associated with extension of the orogen. In order to further investigate the forces involved in the eduction process, we ran systematic parametric simulations and compared them to analytic plate velocity estimations. These experiments showed that eduction is a plausible mechanism as long as the viscosity of the asthenospheric mantle is lower than 1022 Pa.s while subduction channel viscosity does not exceed 1021 Pa.s. We suggest that eduction can be a viable geodynamic mechanism and discuss its potential role during the orogenic evolution of the Norwegian Caledonides.

Dating deformation in the Gran Paradiso Massif (NW Italian Alps): Implications for the exhumation of high-pressure rocks in a collisional belt

The Gran Paradiso massif, situated in the internal part of the Western Italian Alps, records a complex tectono-metamorphic history involving high-pressure metamorphism and subsequent exhumation during retrograde metamorphism. The exact timing of deformation and, consequently, the geodynamic evolution of this part of the Western Alps is still debated and is addressed here by the application of Rb/Sr geochronology, 40Ar/39Ar step heating and 40Ar/39Ar total fusion dating techniques. Geochronological results are presented from shear zone samples in the core of the Gran Paradiso massif (Piantonetto Valley), and in the area closer to the contact with the overlying Piedmont ophiolitic domain (south and southwest of Pont Valsavarenche). The shear zones operated during crustal thinning and exhumation of the Gran Paradiso massif. 40Ar/39Ar step heating results from shear zones in the Piantonetto Valley show acceptable plateau ages that are interpreted to represent two events of mica growth. Similar ages, and an additional younger age cluster, are recognised in the 40Ar/39Ar total fusion analyses, indicating that specific cleavage domains operated at 39.2±0.2, 36.5±0.6 and 33.3±0.4Ma. P–T pseudosections show a progressive decrease in metamorphic conditions during deformation, suggesting that the age of incipient exhumation and the related deformation in the Piantonetto Valley is equal to or older than 39.2±0.2Ma. In the Pont area, the last increments of deformation in a top-to-W shear zone postdate 36.6±0.6Ma (Rb/Sr mineral data), whereas the present-day top-to-W contact of the Gran Paradiso massif with the overlying Piedmont domain is dated at 41.2±1.1Ma (Rb/Sr multi-mineral isochron age). We propose a model that considers exhumation of the Gran Paradiso nappe at 41–34Ma. During this period, the nappe was coupled with the Zermatt-Saas zone, forming an extruding wedge. The kinematics associated with this wedge involved top-to-W shearing within the Gran Paradiso nappe (e.g. Pont area shear zones) and top-to-E shearing at the top of the extruding wedge (e.g. Orco shear zone). Subsequent deformation (after ~34Ma) was characterised by coaxial strain involving orogenic-scale backfolding and backthrusting.

Time constraints for low-angle shear zones in the Central Rhodopes (Bulgaria) and their significance for the exhumation of high-pressure rocks

In the Central Rhodopes of southern Bulgaria, an eclogite-bearing rock sheet belonging to the Middle Allochthon (Starcevo Unit) is over- and underlain by eclogite-free, amphibolite-facies rock units along low-angle shear zones, the Borovica Shear Zone at the top and the Starcevo-Ardino Shear Zone at the base. The age of these shear zones is determined by U–Pb zircon dating of pre-, syn- and posttectonic magmatic rocks, mostly pegmatite veins, using LA–SF–ICP–MS. Zircons from pre- to syntectonic pegmatites within the Borovica Shear Zone yielded ages of ca. 45–43 Ma, indicating that the shear zone was active at that time, and zircons from a pretectonic pegmatite and a posttectonic granitoid body within the Starcevo-Ardino Shear Zone yielded ages of ca. 45 and ca. 36 Ma, respectively, giving a time frame for the activity of that shear zone which probably rather postdated the activity of the Borovica Shear Zone. By combining the ages with the kinematics of the shear zones and the metamorphic history of the rock units, the following scenario is sketched: Soon after the Starcevo Unit reached peak pressure (eclogite facies), it was exhumed to a mid-crustal level by top-to-the-north-west, extensional unroofing along the Borovica Shear Zone, in a kinematic framework of orogen-parallel extension. Beginning at ca. 40 Ma, the partly exhumed Starcevo Unit was underthrust from the south-west by continental crust of the foreland (Apulia), forming the Lower Allochthon of the Rhodopes, along the Starcevo-Ardino Shear Zone. These results underline the significance of orogen-parallel extension for the exhumation of high-pressure rocks. With respect to regional geology of the Hellenides and the Aegean, it is found that the tectonic architecture of the Rhodopes is essentially of Tertiary age. Cretaceous syn-metamorphic shear zones do exist but are largely restricted to higher levels of the nappe stack (Upper Allochthon). The Rhodopes do not represent an older essentially Mesozoic core of the Hellenides but are formed by the internal, higher-metamorphic portions of the same major nappe systems as occur in the Hellenides.

Divergence in subduction zones and exhumation of high pressure rocks (Eocene Western Alps)

Exhumation of high-pressure rocks has long remained a controversial issue in the Earth sciences. In this article, we analyze the tectono-metamorphic, stratigraphic and plate-motion constraints from the Western Alps region, providing new insights on exhumation mechanisms and tectonic evolution during the earliest orogenic stages. Eocene eclogites of the Western Alps form a 20–25 km wide belt on the upper-plate side of the orogen (Eclogite belt), exposed beneath extensional shear zones at the rear of a lower-pressure accretionary wedge. Units of the Eclogite belt show the youngest peak-pressure assemblages within the subduction zone, and experienced superfast tectonic exhumation since 45–40 Ma. The role of erosion was negligible during the whole of this stage. Eocene foreland basins remained starved, and the massive arrival of axial-belt detritus began well after exhumation was completed. Tectonic reconstructions based on fixed-boundaries exhumation models (e.g. channel flow), and/or implying fast erosion at the surface (e.g. slab breakoff), are thus not consistent with geological evidence. In the lack of erosion, exhumation through the overburden requires divergence within the subduction zone. We demonstrate that this was not attained by rollback of the lower plate (Europe), but was instead attained by NNEward motion of the upper plate (Adria-Africa) away from the Western Alps trench. Such motion induced localized extension within the weak portion of the upper plate, at the rear of the accretionary wedge, and allowed tectonic emplacement of the Eclogite belt in the upper crust at rates much faster than subduction rates. Tectonic exhumation ceased in the Oligocene, when oblique-divergence along the Western Alps traverse changed into oblique-convergence. The onset of slow erosional unroofing was synchronously recorded by pressure–temperature paths in all major tectonic units of the Western Alps, and by arrival of orogenic detritus in sedimentary basins. This work demonstrates that divergence between upper plate and trench is a viable mechanism to exhume large and coherent eclogite units in continental subduction zones. Our exhumation model can be applied to other eclogite belts showing a similar exhumational record, including the Western Gneiss Region, the Dabie-Sulu, and eastern Papua New Guinea.

Tectonometamorphic evolution of the Samaná complex, northern Hispaniola: Implications for the burial and exhumation of high-pressure rocks in a collisional accretionary wedge

The Samaná complex exposes a segment of a high-P metasedimentary collisional accretionary wedge, built during Caribbean island arc-North America continental margin convergence. Combined detailed mapping, metamorphic mineral assemblages, multi-equilibrium calculations and thermodynamical modelling of garnet zoning, together with isotopic ages, allow proposing a tectonothermal evolution of the complex involving three major stages (M1 to M3). M1 metamorphism was characterised by a prograde P–T path towards the pressure-peak in the lawsonite-blueschists (Santa Bárbara Schists and Rincón Marbles lower structural nappes) and garnet-blueschists to eclogite-facies conditions (Punta Balandra upper nappe). This high-P metamorphism and related D1 deformation took place from the Eocene to Late Oligocene, when the different nappes were buried along a cold subduction-zone gradient. Contemporary to the D2 deformation, M2 retrograde metamorphism was associated in all nappes with substantial decompression under nearly isothermal or cooling conditions to the epidote-blueschists and greenchists facies conditions. D2 deformation produced ENE-directed folding, thrusting and nappe stacking in the complex, when nappes went sequentially incorporated to a growing collisional accretionary complex between the Late Eocene and the earliest Miocene. D2 deformation is thus responsible for much of the exhumation of the subducted rocks and for the thinning of the nappe pile. As the continuity of the P–T conditions within the accreted metasedimentary material were in this case preserved, the exhumation mechanisms for Samaná complex high-P rocks was most probably driven by underthrusting/underplating and erosion. Non-penetrative fabrics associated with D3 and D4 late deformations indicate M3 cooling in the greenschists and subgreenchists-facies conditions. D5 sinistral strike-slip brittle faults cut and laterally displaced the whole nappe pile of the Samaná complex from the Lower Miocene to the Present.

Pressure-temperature-deformation-time (P-T-d-t) exhumation history of the Voltri Massif HP complex, Ligurian Alps, Italy

[1] An integrated structural, petrological, and geochronological/thermochronological study was undertaken to constrain the tectonic controls on the exhumation of the Voltri Massif high-pressure (HP) complex, located in the Ligurian portion of the Western Alps (Italy). Petrotextural analyses were performed to identify the pressure-temperature interval of (1) peak metamorphism (the D1-M1 stage) to eclogitic/blueschist facies conditions and (2) the main retrogressive event (the D2-M2 stage) to greenschist facies conditions. U-Pb SHRIMP dating on a zircon rim (33.8 ± 0.8 Ma) and titanite grains (29 ± 5 Ma), coupled with 40Ar-39Ar analyses on phengite (∼64 Ma to ∼34 Ma) placed temporal constraints on the exhumation path from the D1-M1 to the D2-M2 stages at the Eocene-Oligocene boundary. Apatite fission track thermochronology, with older ages of 23.9 ± 4.9 Ma, confirms the existence of a regional, Late Oligocene to Miocene cooling/exhumation event for the Voltri Massif (the D3-M3 stage). The compilation of this pressure-temperature-deformation-time path supports a change in the exhumation history: (1) an initial stage, from the D1-M1 to the D2-M2, which was nearly isothermal with highly variable exhumation rates, and (2) a second stage, from D2-M2 to upper crustal levels, which was accomplished by cooling and moderate exhumation rates of ∼1–2 mm yr−1. This two-stage path can be reconciled with the dominant tectonic mechanisms responsible for exhumation of HP rocks in the Voltri Massif area. At the regional scale, this path is consistent with major geodynamic reorganization in the Mediterranean region at the Eocene-Oligocene time boundary, which involved a switch from synorogenic events during transpressive kinematics at the Alpine-Apennine plate boundaries, to postorogenic processes related to crustal thinning and opening of back-arc basins.