Evaluating the importance of metamorphism in the foundering of continental crust

The metamorphic conditions and mechanisms required to induce foundering in deep arc crust are assessed using an example of representative lower crust in SW New Zealand. Composite plutons of Cretaceous monzodiorite and gabbro were emplaced at ~1.2 and 1.8 GPa are parts of the Western Fiordland Orthogneiss (WFO); examples of the plutons are tectonically juxtaposed along a structure that excised ~25 km of crust. The 1.8 GPa Breaksea Orthogneiss includes suitably dense minor components (e.g. eclogite) capable of foundering at peak conditions. As the eclogite facies boundary has a positive dP/dT, cooling from supra-solidus conditions (T > 950 ºC) at high-P should be accompanied by omphacite and garnet growth. However, a high monzodioritic proportion and inefficient metamorphism in the Breaksea Orthogneiss resulted in its positive buoyancy and preservation. Metamorphic inefficiency and compositional relationships in the 1.2 GPa Malaspina Pluton meant it was never likely to have developed densities sufficiently high to founder. These relationships suggest that the deep arc crust must have primarily involved significant igneous accumulation of garnet–clinopyroxene (in proportions >75%). Crustal dismemberment with or without the development of extensional shear zones is proposed to have induced foundering of excised cumulate material at P > 1.2 GPa

Separate or shared metamorphic histories of eclogites and surrounding rocks? An example from the Bohemian Massif

International audienceEclogite boudins occur within an orthogneiss sheet enclosed in a Barrovian metapelite-dominated volcano-sedimentary sequence within the Velké Vrbno unit, NE Bohemian Massif. A metamorphic and lithological break defines the base of the eclogite-bearing orthogneiss nappe, with a structurally lower sequence without eclogite exposed in a tectonic window. The typical assemblage of the structurally upper metapelites is garnet–staurolite–kyanite–biotite–plagioclase–muscovite–quartz–ilmenite ± rutile ± silli-manite and prograde-zoned garnet includes chloritoid–chlorite–paragonite–margarite, staurolite–chlorite–paragonite–margarite and kyanite–chlorite–rutile. In pseudosection modelling in the system Na2O–CaO–K2O–FeO–MgO–Al2O3–SiO2–H2O (NCKFMASH) using THERMOCALC, the prograde path crosses the discontinuous reaction chloritoid + margarite = chlorite + garnet + staurolite + paragonite (with muscovite + quartz + H2O) at 9.5 kbar and 570 °C and the metamorphic peak is reached at 11 kbar and 640 °C. Decompression through about 7 kbar is indicated by sillimanite and biotite growing at the expense of garnet. In the tectonic window, the structurally lower metapelites (garnet–staurolite–biotite–muscovite–quartz ± plagioclase ± sillimanite ± kyanite) and amphibolites (garnet–amphibole–plagioclase ± epidote) indicate a metamorphic peak of 10 kbar at 620 °C and 11 kbar and 610–660 °C, respectively, that is consistent with the other metapelites. The eclogites are composed of garnet, omphacite relicts (jadeite = 33%) within plagioclase–clinopyroxene symplectites, epidote and late amphibole–plagioclase domains. Garnet commonly includes rutile–quartz–epidote ± clinopyroxene (jadeite = 43%) ± magnetite ± amphibole and its growth zoning is compatible in the pseudosection with burial under H2O-undersaturated conditions to 18 kbar and 680 °C. Plagioclase + amphibole replaces garnet within foliated boudin margins and results in the assemblage epidote–amphibole–plagioclase indicating that decompression occurred under decreasing temperature into garnet-free epidote–amphibolite facies conditions. The prograde path of eclogites and metapelites up to the metamorphic peak cannot be shared, being along different geothermal gradients, of about 11 and 17 °C km1, respectively, to metamorphic pressure peaks that are 6–7 kbar apart. The eclogite–orthogneiss sheet docked with metapelites at about 11 kbar and 650 °C, and from this depth the exhumation of the pile is shared

Rare eclogite-mafic granulite in felsic granulite in Blanský les: precursor of intermediate granulite in the Bohemian Massif?

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The origin of zircon and the significance of U–Pb ages in high-grade metamorphic rocks: a case study from the Variscan orogenic root (Vosges Mountains, NE France).

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Porous Melt Flow in Continental Crust—A Numerical Modeling Study

International audienceAbstract In continental crust, rapid melt flow through macroscopic conduits is usually envisaged as the most efficient form of melt transport. In contrast, there is growing evidence that in hot continental crust, grain‐scale to meso‐scale porous melt flow may operate over long distances and over millions of years. Here, we investigate the dynamics of such porous melt flow by means of two‐dimensional thermo‐mechanical numerical models using the code ASPECT. Our models are crustal‐scale and describe the network of pores through which the melt flows by permeability that depends on the spacing of the pores. Our results suggest that assuming realistic material properties, melt can slowly migrate in the hot and thick continental crust through pores with a characteristic spacing of 1 mm or larger. Despite its low velocity (millimeters to centimeters per year), over millions of years, such flow can create large partially molten zones in the middle‐lower crust and significantly affect its thermal state, deformation, and composition. We examined the role of the permeability, melt and solid viscosities, the slope of the melting curve and temperature conditions. We obtained contrasting styles of melt distribution, melt flow, and solid deformation, which can be categorized as melt‐enhanced convection, growth of partially molten diapirs and melt percolation in porosity waves. Our numerical experiments further indicate that grain‐scale porous flow is more likely in rocks where the melt productivity increases slowly with temperature, such as in metaigneous rocks

Contrasting tectono-metamorphic evolution of orogenic lower crust in the Bohemian Massif: A numerical model.

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Using calculated chemical potential relationships to account for replacement of kyanite by symplectite in high pressure granulites.

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Intermediate granulite produced by transformation of eclogite at a felsic granulite contact, in Blanský les, Bohemian Massif.

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High-Ti muscovite as a prograde relict in high pressure granulites with metamorphic Devonian zircon ages (Běstvina granulite body, Bohemian Massif): Consequences for the relamination model of subducted crust.

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