u pb dating of prograde and retrograde titanite growth during the scandian orogeny u pb ages of metamorphic titanite from high grade gneisses of the nasafjallet window in the north central scandinavian caledonides record growth over an 20 m y interval during the late silurian to early devonian biotite amphibolite gneisses located near the basement cover boundary contain metamorphic titanite in two microtextural settings one as lenticular grains distributed throughout a recrystallized matrix of metamorphic phases and one as plate like grains enclosed within biotite grains these distinct morphological populations exhibit core overgrowth relationships with compositionally similar cores and overgrowths but the plate like titanite grains have a much higher proportion of overgrowth and give slightly younger ages cores and overgrowths in both types are inferred to have formed along the prograde ca 413 ma and retrograde ca 395 ma paths respectively of a single metamorphic cycle associated with the burial and exhumation of a slice of baltic basement during the caledonide orogeny baltica laurentia collision the existence of polygenic u pb systematics in metamorphic titanite demonstrates the potential usefulness of titanite to reveal multiple metamorphic and deformational episodes and to constrain the duration of metamorphic events

initial pb sr nd isotopic heterogeneity in a single allanite epidote crystal implications of reaction history for the dating of minerals with low parent to daughter ratios we analyzed 17 fragments from a zoned allanite epidote crystal ca 2 2 mm 4 0 mm which had formed during different prograde and retrograde stages of ultra high pressure uhp and amphibolite facies metamorphism 240 230 ma sulu belt e china for the isotopic composition of pb nd and sr and contents of pb u and th sr and rb and nd and sm since most fragments had 238u 204pb and 232th 204pb values less than 1 corrections for in situ pb growth are small and uncertainties in the recalculation of the pb isotopic compositions to 240 ma are insignificant the recalculated pb falls on a linear trend in the 206pb 204pb vs 207pb 204pb diagram with the allanite defining the low 206pb 204pb end 17 07 of this trend and the epidote defining its high 206pb 204pb end 17 56 the recalculated data scatter in the 206pb 204pb vs 208pb 204pb diagram which implies that the initial pb isotopic variation reflects the involvement of at least three different pb sources the low 87rb 86sr values account for a change in 87sr 86sr by in situ 87sr growth of less than 0 0007 which implies that the isotopic heterogeneity of 87sr 86sr 0 70601 0 7200 is a primary feature the pb and sr isotope data unequivocally demonstrate that contributions from different precursor minerals result in initial isotopic heterogeneity in the metamorphic reaction product it is likely that such an initial isotopic heterogeneity also exists for nd but it could not be resolved in the present study initially heterogeneous pb and sr isotope compositions imply that age differences between core and rim of large crystals may result in the determination of highly arbitrary geological rates especially for minerals with relatively low parent to daughter ratios

exhumation and doming of the thasos metamorphic core complex s rhodope greece structural and geochronological constraints abstract the thasos island metamorphic core complex s rhodope n aegean sea was generated between 26 and 13 ma progressive extensional tectonics was associated with upwarping of the deeper parts of this core complex to a narrow gneiss dome and with formation of a steep topographic high we present a combined structural microstructural and geochronological study that constrains the deformation time path of progressive extension and exhumation thasos island consists of three superimposed more or less flat lying metamorphic units with downward decreasing geochronologic ages which are separated by two systems of low angle normal detachment surfaces trending nw se the upper unit stayed in supracrustal level since 50 ma representing the upper plate during an early phase of extension not later than 26 23 ma upper levels of the core complex intermediate unit underwent pervasive mylonitization with top to the sw shear from about 21 ma onward the intermediate unit was rigid and top to the sw slip continued at least until 13 8 ma on the discrete detachment surface that separates the core complex from the upper plate yet in the 21 15 ma period deeper levels lower unit still deformed plastically and deformation successively concentrated in zones of high strain and in discrete detachment surfaces that caused decoupling of the lower from the intermediate unit these indicate downdip movements in opposite sense associated with doming of the lower unit at that stage simultaneously the intermediate unit was fragmented on high angle normal faults that sole into the dome bounding detachment surface and roof into the core complex bounding detachment surface these faults confine tilt blocks that are arranged around the lower unit gneiss dome doming of the core complex occurred simultaneously with subsidence of basins located on the upper plate

exhumation of the ultrahigh pressure continental crust in east central china cretaceous and cenozoic unroofing and the tan lu fault the orogenic architecture of the world s largest ultrahigh pressure exposure the hong an dabie mountains of the triassic qinling dabie orogenic belt is dominated by cretaceous and cenozoic structures that contributed to its exhumation from 30 km depth cretaceous magmatic crustal recycling 50 for the entire dabie and heating 250 to 700 c were most prominent in dabie and exhumation magmatism and cooling were all controlled by cretaceous transtension exhumation was accomplished principally by an asymmetric cordilleran type extensional complex in the northern dabie northern orthogneiss unit between 140 and 120 ma at rates as fast as 2 mm yr and average horizontal stretching rates of up to 6 mm yr cretaceous reactivation occurred within a regional transtensional strain field as a result of far field collisions and pacific subduction the onset of crustal extension was preceded and possibly facilitated by a reheating of the hong an dabie crust 140 ma coeval with the onset of voluminous magmatism in eastern china 145 ma which resulted from a change in pacific subduction from highly oblique to orthogonal the tan lu continental scale fault was a normal fault zone in the mid cretaceous 110 90 ma and underwent 5 4 km dip slip and 4 km throw in the cenozoic during the india asia collision the qinling dabie belt acted as the structural discontinuity between the strike slip dominated escape tectonics south of the qilian qinling dabie belt and the rifting dominated tectonism north of it the most prominent cretaceous and cenozoic structures of the hong an dabie the xiaotian mozitang and the jinzhai fault zones respectively reactivated major lithospheric structures of the triassic orogen i e the huwan detachment zone and the suture

experimental evidence for diamond facies metamorphism in the dora maira massif the peak metamorphic conditions of subducted continental crust in the dora maira massif western alps have been revised by combining experimental results in the kcmash system with petrologic information from whiteschists textural observations in whiteschists suggest that the peak metamorphic assemblage garnet phengite kyanite coesite talc originates from the reaction kyanite talc garnet coesite liquid in the experimentally determined petrogenetic grid this reaction occurs above 45 kbar at 730 c at lower pressures talc reacts either to orthopyroxene and coesite or together with phengite to biotite coesite and kyanite the liberated liquid contains probably similar amounts of h2o and dissolved granitic components the composition of the liquid in the whiteschists at peak metamorphic conditions a major unknown in earlier studies was probably very similar to the liquid composition produced in the experiments therefore the experimentally determined petrogenetic grid represents a good model for the estimation of the peak metamorphic conditions in whiteschists experimentally determined si isopleths for phengite further constrain peak pressures to 43 kbar for the measured si 3 60 of phengite in the natural whiteschists all these data provide evidence that the whiteschists reached diamond facies conditions the fluid absent equilibrium 4 kyanite 3 celadonite 4 coesite 3 muscovite pyrope has been calibrated on the basis of garnet and phengite compositions in the experiments and serves as a geothermobarometer for ultra high pressure uhp metapelites for graphite bearing metapelites and kyanite phengite eclogites forming the country rocks of the whiteschists peak metamorphic pressures of about 44 3 kbar were calculated from this barometer for temperatures of 750 c estimated from garnet phengite thermometry therefore the whole ultra high pressure unit of the dora maira massif most likely experienced peak metamorphic conditions in the diamond stability field while graphite is common in the metapelites diamond has not been found so far the absence of metamorphic microdiamonds might be explained by the low temperature of metamorphism the absence of a free fluid phase in the metapelites and a short residence time in diamond facies conditions resulting in kinetic problems in the conversion of graphite to diamond

lead incorporation during crystal growth and the misinterpretation of geochronological data from low 238u 204pb metamorphic minerals the isotopic composition of lead available for incorporation during metamorphic reactions is heterogeneous depends on the reaction history of the metamorphic rock and is commonly not accessible for measurement as the precursor minerals have been consumed during the growth of the metamorphic phases the initial lead composition has a significant effect on the age of low 238u 204pb metamorphic phases e g garnet rutile titanite staurolite vesuvianite and ilmenite using a distinct value e g leached k feldspar pb model pb rather than a geologically reasonably constrained range may result in apparently precise yet inaccurate ages since age data from metamorphic minerals are widely used to unravel the p t t d evolution of orogens inaccurate ages result in 1 incorrect timing duration of p t loops and associated with it the heat budget and mass transfer in orogens 2 arbitrary rates based on the age difference between core and rim for mineral growth p t evolution and deformation and 3 apparent sequences of isotopic closure for the u pb system of contrasting minerals

constraints on timing of peak and retrograde metamorphism in the dabie shan ultrahigh pressure metamorphic belt east central china using u th pb dating of zircon and monazite abstract the dabie shan ultrahigh pressure metamorphic uhpm belt occupies the suture between the yangtze and sino korean blocks in east central china the timing of uhpm in the dabie belt is controversial and most recent data come from dating of zircons monazite has recently been recognized as useful for dating of multiple tectonic events due to its preservation of multiple growth zones and monazite growth has been documented to occur during prograde peak and retrograde metamorphism zircons and monazites from uhp mafic rocks from maowu and a uhp jadeite quartzite from shuanghe were imaged in thin sections and in mineral separates and dated using a high resolution ion microprobe maowu mafic rocks are unique in that they contain high light rare earth element concentrations and therefore contain abundant monazite maowu eclogites and garnet pyroxenites contain zircons with mean 206 pb 238 u age of 230 4 ma and monazites from a clinopyroxenite have 208 pb 232 th ages of 209 4 ma multiple lines of evidence suggest that the measured ages represent the timing of new growth and recrystallization and are not cooling ages i e they do not correspond to the cessation of diffusional pb loss as rocks cooled below the closure temperature during exhumation shuanghe jadeite quartzites contain zircons with cores that define a discordia with an upper intercept age 1921 22 ma and lower intercept age of 236 32 ma interpreted to represent the ages of the source rocks and of peak metamorphism respectively zircon rims contain jadeite inclusions that restrict growth to pressures greater than 1 5 gpa their pooled age of 238 3 ma agrees well with the lower intercept defined by cores suggesting that pb loss from cores and growth of new rims occurred during uhpm at 235 240 ma monazite records multiple events during retrograde metamorphism maowu clinopyroxenite and shuanghe jadeite quartzite experienced monazite growth at 209 ma interpreted to reflect regional amphibolite facies overprinting resulting from pervasive retrograde fluid infiltration only the jadeite quartzite records growth at 223 1 ma estimated exhumation rates for maowu are 7 8 km ma

timing of collision of the sino korean and yangtse cratons u pb zircon dating of coesite bearing eclogites the suture zone between the sino korean and yangtse cratons in central china is marked by a series of fault bounded belts composed of crustal protoliths in the dabie mountains some of these blocks contain coesite and diamond indicating subduction to minimum depths of 120 km as a result of continental collision the blocks range from the structurally lowest ultrahigh pressure metamorphic belt and decrease in metamorphic grade upsection to the structurally highest low greenschist facies belt furthermore the faults mark large contrasts in metamorphic grade these features form a structure that is similar to metamorphic core complexes indicating extension as part of the exhumation process timing of the continental collision has previously been inferred as late triassic from regional geologic relations or caledonian from 40 ar 39 ar dating of the adjacent and possibly related qinling metamorphic belt u pb dating of zircon from ultra high pressure eclogites yields a metamorphic age of 209 2 ma this age coincides with later stages of collision and is therefore a minimum estimate of the time of collision

thermochronologic constraints on deformation and cooling history of high and ultrahigh pressure rocks in the qinling dabie orogen eastern china the hong an block is the best place to study the exhumation of high pressure hp and ultrahigh pressure uhp metamorphic rocks in the qinling dabie orogen of eastern china because it lacks the extensive cretaceous tectonic and thermal overprint observed in the dabie shan we measured timing of deformation and rate of cooling of the hp uhp rocks by 40ar 39ar analyses of synkinematic minerals from tectonites of key structural zones in the hong an and tongbai shan normal sense shear along the north dipping huwan detachment at the northern edge of the hong an block occurred between 237 and 231 ma this detachment facilitated the bulk of the exhumation of the hp uhp rocks our new 40ar 39ar ages combined with u pb zircon and sm nd ages of 245 240 ma suggest that exhumation of uhp rocks from mantle depths occurred at rates of 5 25 mm yr from 245 to 230 ma the mountain range is a warped extensional footwall within which white mica cooled from 225 to 205 ma locally younger extension is recorded by white mica recrystallization at 198 194 ma after which the entire block had cooled to below 300 c early cretaceous 40ar 39ar ages from the tongbai shear zone indicate that dextral shear along the southwest boundary of the orogen was contemporaneous with normal to sinistral oblique slip along the xiaotian mozitan fault along the northern boundary coeval dextral and sinistral shear zones along the northern and southwestern margins of the hong an and dabie shan would have caused eastward lateral extrusion of these two blocks perhaps driven by collision of the lhasa block with eurasia

effect of metamorphic reaction history on the u pb dating of titanite drill core samples of garnet clinopyroxene granulite at tirschheim and a reference sample at waldheim saxon granulite massif germany endured the same p t conditions but developed variable mineral assemblages due to differences in bulk chemistry reaction progress deformation and retrogression titanite formed during peak metamorphic conditions of 22 24 kbar and 1020 1050 c dating titanite from the various samples should yield the same age for all the observed age variation which exceeds the duration of the entire metamorphic cycle originates from the contrasting preservation of isotopic inheritance during peak metamorphism and from post peak re equilibration 1 pb inheritance observed in some peak metamorphic titanite demonstrates that geochronologically relevant elements are redistributed among remaining reactants and reaction products during prograde metamorphism and that the sequence of metamorphic reactions does not result in isotopic homogenization instead metamorphic minerals inherit the radiogenic signatures of the precursor minerals and may in extreme cases approach the age of the precursor mineral 2 titanite that formed at peak metamorphic conditions is characterized by high a1 contents and x f 0 8 1 texturally comparable titanite that re equilibrated during cooling reduced al contents and x f yields too young u pb ages the age of such re equilibrated titanite does not correspond to the age of the event indicated by the texture

oxygen isotope equilibrium between eclogite minerals and its constraints on mineral sm nd chronometer abstract sm nd and oxygen isotope analyses were carried out for mineral separates of ultrahigh pressure eclogites from the sulu terrane in eastern china the results show a direct correspondence in equilibrium or disequilibrium state between the oxygen and sm nd isotope systems of eclogite minerals the omphacite garnet pairs of oxygen isotope equilibrium at eclogite facies conditions yield meaningful triassic sm nd isochron ages whereas those of oxygen isotope disequilibrium give non triassic ages of geological meaninglessness this can be reasonably interpreted by the fact that the rates of oxygen diffusion in garnet and pyroxene are lower than or close to those of nd diffusion and thus attainment of isotopic equilibrium in the omphacite garnet o system suggests achievement of nd isotope equilibrium in the same mineral pairs the presence or absence of fluid in the eclogite protoliths is a major rate controlling factor for isotopic equilibration during high grade metamorphism it appears that the state of oxygen isotope equilibrium between cogenetic minerals can provide a critical test for the validity of the sm nd mineral chronometer in addition the exact timing of the ultrahigh pressure metamorphism in the dabie sulu terranes is constrained at early triassic rather than late triassic

pb isotopic compositions of archean komatiites and sulfides abstract pb isotopic compositions were measured in komatiites and other volcanic rocks from several archean greenstone belts and in magmatic and exhalative sulfides associated with these volcanics thin komatiite flows generally yielded pb pb isochron ages consistent with other geochronological or geological information but thicker basaltic flows gave ages that are too young these results suggest that the thin komatiite flows were hydrothermally altered during eruption and that this event is recorded by the pb pb age thicker basaltic flows resisted alteration during eruption but were affected by later events their pb pb ages probably correspond to the time of metamorphism and not to the time of emplacement magmatic and exhalative sulfides from the abitibi belt in canada fall on the same trend in the 207 pb 204 pb 206 pb 204 pb diagram as komatiites basalts sedimentary rocks and k feldspars from granites the calculated 1 value is 7 8 0 1 a similar suite of rocks and minerals from the kambalda area in australia has distinctly higher 207 pb 204 pb and a higher 1 of 8 3 nd isotopic data demonstrate that some kambalda rocks are highly contaminated with older continental crust the differences in initial pb isotopic compositions are attributed to the presence or absence and the age of underlying granitoid basement kambalda greenstones are underlain and contaminated by old 3 0 ga granitoid crust but significantly older granitoid basement appears absent from the abitibi belt the pb isotopic compositions of kambalda greenstones are dominated by the crustal component and do not represent the composition of the mantle source of these rocks the abitibi greenstones are not highly influenced by crustal contamination and their pb isotopic compositions may reflect those of archean mantle

coesite micro inclusions and the u pb age of zircons from the hareidland eclogite in the western gneiss region of norway abstract we have identified by laser micro raman spectroscopy that inclusions of coesite occur together with other eclogite facies mineral phases within metamorphic zircons separated from the large eclogite body at ulsteinvik dimnoy on hareidland this is the first identification of coesite from this portion of the northwestern western gneiss region wgr and supports continuity of ultrahigh pressure uhp metamorphism between the documented coesite occurrences on stadlandet to the south and the microdiamond and coesite pseudomorph localities on fjortoft in the nordoyene to the north the zircons first analysed by u pb tims in 1973 have been re analysed and have yielded a much more precise age of 401 6 1 6 ma that overlaps with the previously determined age our discovery of coesite and the indication of a close to 402 ma formation age add to a growing number of mid late early devonian ages that signal that the uhp metamorphism in this part of west norway occurred relatively late in the caledonian orogenic cycle these observations should be incorporated in geodynamic models for the exhumation of these rocks and for the metastable preservation of eclogite facies mineralogies

evidence for pre cretaceous history and partial neogene 19 9 ma reequilibration in the karakorum nw himalayan syntaxis from 40ar 39ar amphibole dating amphiboles and a biotite from amphibolites and amphibolitic gneisses of the karakorum metamorphic complex kmc nw himalaya were dated using the 40ar 39ar method isotope correlations were compared to electron microprobe analyses both aliv and alvi contents of amphibole increase from the south near the shyok suture zone to the dassu askole area in the north with an increase in metamorphic grade from anchizone to upper amphibolite facies in the lower metamorphic zone discordant age spectra were obtained they are related to epidote amphibolite overgrowth of amphibole rims on older precambrian to mesozoic magmatic cores in the shyok suture zone ar ar ages of 38 62 ma are contemporaneous with the emplacement of the ladakh batholith granodiorites while middle cretaceous magmatic ar ar ages w120 ma are locally preserved in tschermakite relics in the southern karakorum basement a minimum ar ar age of 651 ma was preserved while an age of 208 5g2 ma was preserved in panjal trap like diorites at the margin of the domes zone more recent metamorphism resulted in mineral growth at 20 5 ma in the domes zone amphibole ar ar ages of 17 ma askole and bimodal age spectra of 15 17 and 9 13 ma dassu extend towards the east the zone of neogene amphibolite to granulite facies metamorphism known in the nanga parbat syntaxis

regional ultrahigh pressure coesite bearing eclogitic terrane in central china evidence from country rocks gneiss marble and metapelite the dabie mountains represent a fault bounded coesite bearing eclogite gneissic terrane within the collisional belt between the sino korean and yangtze cratons the following geologic evidence indicates that this terrane has been subjected to regional ultrahigh pressure metamorphism 1 the country rocks have a metamorphic pressure temperature evolution compatible with that of the eclogites on the basis of the occurrence of quartz pseudomorphs after coesite calcite pseudomorphs after aragonite relict high pressure assemblages in different rock types of the country rocks and consistent comparable compositional zonations of garnets in both country rocks and eclogites 2 peak metamorphic pressure temperature conditions consistently decrease both from east to west in the collisional belt and from north to south in the dabie mountains and clockwise pressure temperature paths are common for eclogites over the region 3 layered eclogites interbedded with gneisses and amphibolites contain omphacite kyanite and garnet indicating a minimum pressure of 20 kbar at 600 c for formation of these rocks

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

opposite vergence of nappes and crustal extension in the french italian western alps in the internal pennine zone of the french italian western alps dora maira monviso rocciavre massifs and queyras region the structural trends define an apparent dome geometry that is truncated to the east by the po basin this geometry is classically interpreted as a backthrusting system the kinematic history of the area has been investigated using structural metamorphic and geochronologic data on the basis of which two main deformation episodes have been distinguished that occurred under differing metamorphic conditions 1 the first deformation occurred under greenschist facies metamorphism it caused a regional scale foliation and an ew trending lineation that lie parallel to ductile deformation zones and thrust contacts sense of shear indicators associated with the lineation indicate contradictory top to the east and top to the west senses of shear from these it is deduced that coeval east and west vergent thrust faulting accommodated major displacements between nappes phengite ar ar data yield late eocene early oligocene ages for the greenschist facies metamorphism 2 the second deformation caused the widespread development of high angle shear bands and normal faults on opposite sides of the dora maira massif resulting in the apparent dome geometry of the massif a steep 50 80 network of west dipping normal faults is particularly well developed on the west side of the dora maira massif differences of 2 3 kbar and 100 150 c between juxtaposed monviso rocciavre and queyras nappes implies 8 km of vertical displacement along the monviso upper tectonic contact these normal faults formed in a more brittle regime only a post early oligocene age can be estimated from microstructural studies for these final movements these deformations postdate hp lt metamorphism and resulted in the juxtaposition of nappes of distinctly different origin age grade and p t t history a kinematic model is presented in which opposite vergence of nappes followed by large scale crustal extension occurred in response to uplift during the convergence between the european and south alpine plates this model may account for rapid uplift rapid unroofing and cooling of high pressure low temperature rocks thereby explaining the absence of amphibolite facies metamorphism overprint in this part of the alps that may have led to the preservation of coesite bearing rocks in the southern part of the dora maira massif

sm nd and rb sr isotopic chronology and cooling history of ultrahigh pressure metamorphic rocks and their country rocks at shuanghe in the dabie mountains central china abstract ultrahigh pressure metamorphic uhpm rocks at shuanghe area in the dabie mountains occur as a uhpm block within the regional granitic gneiss a sm nd isochron defined by garnet omphacite rutile from coesite bearing eclogite yield an age of 226 3 3 2 ma another sm nd isochron defined by garnet two phengites form uhp gneiss yield a similar age of 226 5 2 3 ma the two consistent sm nd ages defined by three uhpm minerals suggest that nd isotopic equilibrium between uhpm minerals in these rocks during uhp metamorphism has been achieved this may correspond to the age of peak metamorphism with an average metamorphic temperature of 800 c it is demonstrated that the retrograde metamorphism of uhpm rocks occurred in an open chemical system whereas the nd and sr isotopic systematics of uhpm minerals may have remained closed nd and sr isotopic disequilibrium between uhpm minerals and retrograde metamorphic minerals has been observed therefore the tie line of garnet or phengite and whole rock containing retrograde metamorphic minerals gives an old sm nd age and a young rb sr age respectively with no geologic significance however a rb sr ages of 219 0 6 6 ma defined by phengite garnet from a uhpm gneiss indicates that the uhpm rocks at shuanghe cooled down to 500 c at that time it suggests that the uhpm rocks at shuanghe experienced the first rapid cooling during 226 219 ma on the other hand the rb sr ages of 174 7 8 to 169 2 3 3 ma defined by retrograde minerals amphibole or biotite with closure temperature ranging from 450 to 300 c and intensely retrograded metamorphic rocks reflect a second rapid cooling during this time interval this is consistent with the rapid cooling time of 190 170 ma of the orthogneiss in the dabie su lu uhpm belt obtained by ar ar dating method in contrast to uhpm rocks the nd isotopic composition of the garnet in granitic gneiss has been reset during retrograde metamorphism and is in equilibrium with those of retrograde epidote and biotite which yields a sm nd isochron age of 213 5 ma indicating the retrometamorphic time corresponding to amphibolite facies in addition the biotites from the granitic gneiss yield rb sr ages of 171 173 ma similar to those of the uhpm rocks these data suggest that the country rocks granitic gneiss may have a similar cooling history to the uhpm rocks at shuanghe two stages of rapid cooling of uhpm rocks at shuanghe may correspond two stages of fast uplift the initial rapid uplifting and cooling of uhpm rocks during 226 219 ma may be caused by compression tectonics during subducting time of the continental crust whereas the later rapid cooling may reflect the exhumation of the entire subducted continental crust by extension during the early middle jurassic

stable isotope geochemistry of marbles from the coesite uhp terrains of dabieshan and sulu china abstract marbles from dabieshan and sulu china suffered ultra high pressure uhp metamorphism in the coesite eclogite facies at approximately 700 c and 30 kbars during triassic continental collision and subduction the marbles range in isotopic composition from 7 to 25 18 o vsmow and from 0 to 6 13 c vpdb high 13 c values are representative of unmodified protoliths and are similar to those of 13 c enriched sinian carbonate rocks from the yangtze craton high oxygen isotope ratios reflect pristine protoliths but the low values may have been caused by infiltration of low 18 o meteoric water during diagenesis and dolomitization by fracture controlled infiltration of water during subduction by metamorphic mineral reactions or by a combination of these processes no evidence of regional isotopic transport during uhp metamorphism has been found sampling on scales of 1 to 100 m shows marbles to be inhomogeneous in both carbon and oxygen isotopes only samples separated by less than 10 cm have equilibrated oxygen and carbon isotope compositions limited isotopic equilibration between adjacent rocks is consistent with the preservation of unaltered uhp minerals and indicates that the metamorphic fluid rock system was rock dominated during and following peak metamorphism a freely flowing pervasive fluid phase was not present during uhp metamorphism there is no evidence of isotopic exchange between marble and the upper mantle into which it was subducted correlation of geochemical similarities of uhp marbles with sinian limestones implies that the subducted edge of the yangtze craton extends at least as far north as the coesite eclogite facies rocks of dabieshan deposition of protolith carbonates may have taken place in a cold climate either preceding or following but not coincident with neoproterozoic glaciation

fluid inclusions in coesite bearing eclogites and jadeite quartzite at shuanghe dabie shan china fluid inclusions in coesite bearing eclogites and jadeite quartzite at shuanghe in dabie shan east central china have preserved remnants of early prograde and or peak metamorphic fluids reset during post uhp ultrahigh pressure metamorphic uplift inclusions occur in several minerals e g omphacite epidote notably as isolated primary inclusions in quartz included in various host minerals two major fluid types have been identified non polar fluid species n2 or co2 and aqueous the latter is by far the most predominant aqueous fluids cover a wide range of salinity from halite bearing brines to low salinity fluids for non polar fluids few n2 inclusions occur in undeformed eclogite whereas a number of co2 rich inclusions have been found in microshear zones of eclogite or jadeite quartzite in close proximity to marble occurrences the primary character of n2 and high salinity aqueous inclusions indicates that they are remnants from uhp metamorphic fluids and for some there is the distinct possibility that they are ultimately derived from pre metamorphic fluids this conclusion is supported by the preservation in some samples of microdomains containing synchronous inclusions of variable salinities which tend to relate to the chemical composition of the host crystal carbonic fluids may be derived from neighbouring rocks notably marble and carbonate bearing metasediments during post metamorphic uplift during post uhp exhumation a limited decrease of the fluid density has occurred with formation of new sets of fluid inclusions fluid movements however remained exceedingly limited at the scale of the enclosing crystal

tectonics of the dabieshan eastern china and possible exhumation mechanism of ultra high pressure rocks the dabieshan is divided into three tectonic domains the southern dabieshan is a stack of allochtons from top to bottom i unmetamorphosed cambrian early triassic series unconformably covered by jurassic sandstone ii weakly metamorphosed proterozoic slate iii hp rocks mostly retrogressed into greenschist facies iv uhp allochton v uhp free gneisses these units exhibit a nw se lineation and top to the nw shearing reworked by s verging folds the central dabieshan is a migmatitic dome superimposed on uhp metamorphism and bounded by a detachement fault responsible for the exhumation of the uhp unit during its retrogression into amphibolite facies in the northern dabieshan early foliation and n s trending compressional lineation are deformed by n verging folds coeval to the syn exhumation ductile structures of the central dabieshan a geodynamic model involving coeval thrusting and normal faulting is discussed

phase relationships of i type granite with h2o to 35 kilobars the dinkey lakes biotite granite from the sierra nevada batholith the dinkey lakes biotite granite from the sierra nevada batholith was reacted with varying percentages of h 2o in sealed platinum capsules in a piston cylinder apparatus between 10 and 35 kbar the results were combined with the results from previously published experiments to provide comprehensive phase relationships for an i type granite a p t diagram with excess h 2o isobaric t x h 2o diagrams at 25 30 and 35 kbar showing h 2o undersaturated relations the h 2o undersaturated liquidus surface mapped with contours for constant h 2o contents and fields for near liquidus minerals and the solubility of h 2o in granite liquids to 35 kbar results and their implications show 1 the solidus temperature decreases from 680 c at 2 kbar to 620 c at 10 kbar then increases to 700 c at 35 kbar because of changes from less dense to more dense subsolidus mineral assemblages 2 the melting interval with excess h 2o which is only 35 c at 2 kbar increases to 105 c at 10 kbar and 150 c at 35 kbar because the liquidus minimum in the complex rock system departs from granite composition with increasing pressure 3 the solubility of h 2o in granite liquid is 27 2 5 weight percent at 35 kbar and 850 c indicating that a miscibility gap persists between h 2o saturated silicate magmas and aqueous vapor phase at least to pressures corresponding to 120 km depth in the mantle dissolution of alkali feldspar 20 of rock in the subsolidus aqueous vapor phase indicates that deep seated aqueous fluids are concentrated solutions 4 quartz and coesite are the liquidus minerals at mantle pressures for all h 2o contents indicating that granites and rhyolites cannot be primary magmas from mantle peridotite or subducted oceanic gabbroic crust 5 the liquidus surface at crustal pressures with plagioclase and quartz as primary minerals indicates that primary liquids of granite composition with moderate h 2o contents can be generated in the crust at reasonable temperatures these liquids could rise to near surface levels without vesiculation granite liquid together with residual crustal minerals could constitute plutonic magmas of intermediate composition

the influence of grain boundary fluids on the microstructure of quartz feldspar mylonites quartz rich domains in pre alpine water deficient amphibolite facies 510 580 c 250 450 mpa pegmatite mylonites from mont mary mm western alps preserve a fine dynamically recrystallized grain size without significant annealing despite the high synkinematic temperatures and subsequent static greenschist facies alpine overprint the microstructure is dramatically different from more typical water rich amphibolite facies mylonites such as from the simplon fault zone in the central alps where the recrystallized grain size is on the millimetre scale the difference reflects the dominant strain induced recrystallization mechanism 1 progressive subgrain rotation and grain boundary bulging for the dry mm examples and 2 fast grain boundary migration for the wet simplon examples the grain boundary microstructure imaged with sem is also very different with most grain boundaries in the dry mm samples lacking porosity whereas grain boundaries in the wet samples are decorated by a multitude of pores quartz grain boundaries from both wet and dry samples are locally coated by thin 100 s of nanometres possibly amorphous silica films despite the differences in microstructure the crystallographic preferred orientations cpos of quartz rich domains from both areas are very similar water deficient conditions hinder grain boundary mobility and thereby modify the dominant recrystallization mechanism s but apparently have little influence on the intracrystalline slip systems as reflected in the cpos strong c axis y maxima in mm mylonites both k feldspar and plagioclase an33 38 dynamically recrystallize consistent with the inferred metamorphic conditions under water deficient conditions mid to lower crustal rocks can deform heterogeneously under transitional ductile brittle conditions at high differential stress for mm ca 300 500 mpa as estimated for dry mohr coulomb failure and preserve this high stress microstructure because of the low mobility of dry grain boundaries

geochemical and sr nd pb isotopic compositions of cretaceous granitoids constraints on tectonic framework and crustal structure of the dabieshan ultrahigh pressure metamorphic belt china abstract the dabie orogenic belt can be divided into four tectonic and lithological units they are from north to south the north huaiyang nhy unit the northern dabie complex ndc unit the ultrahigh pressure uhp metamorphic unit and high pressure hp metamorphic unit cretaceous granitoids from the four tectonic units irrespective of tectonic unit and lithology show surprisingly similar major and trace element and particularly sr nd pb isotopic compositions indicating a similar crustal source for their magma genesis they have initial 87 sr 86 sr t values of 0 7068 0 7091 and nd depleted mantle model ages of 1 6 2 4 ga and e nd t values at the time of their emplacement 120 ma ranging from 13 to 26 their present day pb isotopic compositions are 206 pb 204 pb 15 62 17 06 207 pb 204 pb 15 21 15 44 and 208 pb 204 pb 36 59 37 81 with comparison to the sr nd pb isotopic compositions of the basement rocks in the dabie orogenic belt the isotopic compositions of the cretaceous granitoids indicate a source that is similar to the northern dabie complex but distinct from the ultrahigh pressure metamorphic unit this strongly suggests that the exposed northern dabie complex extends in the deep crust southward beneath the uhp hp metamorphic units and northward beneath the north huaiyang unit the northern dabie complex is best interpreted as the core of a dome within the dabie orogenic belt the uhp hp metamorphic unit is only a thin skinned slab confined in shallower crustal levels over the northern dabie complex present tectonic framework for the uhp hp terrain was formed by extensional tectonics and post the uhp hp metamorphism the northern dabie complex has an affinity to the yangtze craton the similar source for the cretaceous granitoids also suggests that the suture between the north china and the yangtze cratons is marked by the xiaotian mozitang fault separating the north huaiyang unit and the northern dabie complex rather than the previously thought wuhe shuiko fault which separates the northern dabie complex and the uhp unit

preservation of primary volcanic textures in the ultrahigh pressure terrain of dabie shan delicate primary volcanic features such as ash layers volcaniclastic breccias and pillow lavas with amygdaloidal rims have been identified in a terrigenous volcanosedimentary sequence forming part of the ultrahigh pressure unit of the dabie shan china the presence of coesite relics in crosscutting dikes confirms an ultrahigh pressure evolution for the entire sequence evaluation of the probable reaction history for zeolite compositions as supposed for the amygdaloidal rims reveals a scarcity of reactions at very high pressures such special conditions of low reactivity and fluid conserving reactions combined with a lack of directed stress have allowed the remarkable preservation of these primary volcanic features despite deep subduction

metamorphic evolution mineral chemistry and thermobarometry of schists and orthogneisses hosting ultra high pressure eclogites in the dabieshan of central china as is typical of ultra high pressure uhp terrains the regional extent of the uhp terrain in the dabieshan of central china is highly speculative since the volume of eclogites and paragneisses preserving unequivocal evidence of coesite and or diamond stability is very small by contrast the common garnet xmn 0 18 0 45 phengite si 3 2 3 35 zoned epidote ps38 97 biotite titanite two feldspars quartz assemblages in the more extensive orthogneisses have been previously thought to have formed under low p t conditions of ca 400 50 c at 4 kbar however certain orthogneiss samples preserve garnets with xca up to 0 50 rutile inclusions within titanite or epidote and relict phengite inclusions within epidote with si contents p f u of up to 3 49 overlapping with the highest values 3 49 3 62 recorded for phengites in samples of undoubted uhp schists these and other mineral composition features such as a site deficiencies in the highest si phengites na in garnets linked to y yb substitution and al f ti 1 o 1 substitution in titanites are taken to be pointers towards the orthogneisses having experienced a similar metamorphic evolution to the associated uhp schists and eclogites re evaluated garnet phengite and garnet biotite fe mg exchange thermometry and calculated 5 rutile 3 grossular 2sio2 h2o 5 titanite 2 zoisite equilibria indicate that the orthogneisses may indeed have followed a common subduction related clockwise p t path with the uhp paragneisses and eclogites through conditions of pmax at ca 690 c 715 c and 36 kbar to tmax at ca 710 c 755 c and 18 kbar prior to extensive re crystallisation and re equilibration of these ductile orthogneisses at ca 400 c 450 c and 6 kbar the consequential conclusion that it is no longer necessary to resort to models of tectonic juxtapositioning to explain the spatial association of these dabieshan orthogneisses with undoubted uhp lithologies has far reaching implications for the interpretation of controversial gneiss eclogite relationships in other uhp metamorphic terrains

quartz fabric transition in a cooling syntectonic granite hermitage massif france abstract the hermitage granite situated in the northwest massif central france is a syntectonic hercynian leucogranite emplaced along an active transcurrent shear zone during emplacement and cooling the progressive deformation is marked by the development of a primary homogeneous foliation gradually affected by ductile shear bands c s mylonites increase in strain heterogeneity during cooling corresponds to a change of dominant deformation mechanism of the quartz phase from grain growth and migration recrystallization to intracrystalline a slip and rotation recrystallization migration recrystallization is characterized by preferred orientations of c axes close to the principal extension direction we discuss relevant deformation mechanisms and rheological implications for syntectonic plutons in particular we argue that the transitions between homogeneous and heterogeneous accumulation of strain cannot generally be correlated with transition between magmatic and solid state flow

u pb zircon ages of granitoid rocks in the north dabie complex eastern dabie shan china the north dabie complex ndc comprises a high temperature metamorphic suite dominated by amphibolite facies granitoid orthogneiss intruded by voluminous granites u pb zircon dating on these rocks yields the following new results 1 two of the granitoid orthogneiss samples have early cretaceous protolith emplacement ages of 133 7 2 3 ma and 134 0 2 8 ma 2 an undeformed granodiorite intrusive into granitoid gneiss yields an emplacement age at 125 6 0 3 ma these early cretaceous ages entirely post date late triassic early jurassic continental subduction and exhumation evident in the neighboring ultrahigh and high pressure metamorphic terrains to the south in the dabie shan hence they do not support previous tectonic models that infer paleozoic or triassic protolith emplacement ages for these granitoid orthogneisses 3 a mylonitic granite from the northern boundary of the ndc yields a concordant age of 756 6 0 8 ma which is interpreted as magma emplacement age the concordance of this late

domainal variations of u pb monazite ages and rb sr whole rock dates in polymetamorphic paragneisses ktb drill core germany influence of strain and deformation mechanisms on isotope systems polyphase metamorphic paragneisses from the drill core of the continental deep drilling project ktb nw bohemian massif are characterized by peak pressures of about 8 kbar medium p metamorphism followed by strain accumulation at t 650 c initially by dislocation creep and subsequently by diffusion creep u pb monazite ages and rb sr whole rock data vary in the dm scale indicating ordovician and mid devonian metamorphic events such age variations are closely interconnected with dm scale domainal variations of microfabrics that indicate different predominant deformation mechanisms u pb monazite age variations dependent on microfabric domains exceed grain size dependent age variations in mylonitic domains recording high magnitudes of plastic strain dislocation creep and minor static annealing monazite yields concordant and near concordant lower ordovician u pb ages and the rb sr whole rock system shows isotopic disequilibrium at an mm scale in mineral growth mobilisate domains in which diffusive mass transfer was a major strain producing mechanism promoting diffusion creep of quartz and feldspar and in which static recrystallization annealing reduced the internal free energy of the strained mineral aggregates concordant u pb ages are mid devonian locally in such domains rb sr dates among mm3 sized whole rock slabs reflect post ordovician resetting in transitional domains the u pb ages are discordant we conclude that medium p metamorphism occurred at 484 2 ma and a second metamorphic event at 380 370 ma mid devonian caused progressive strain in the rocks dislocation creep at high rates even at high temperatures does not reset the rb sr whole rock system while diffusion creep at low rates and stresses i e low e deff ratios static annealing and the presence of intergranular fluids locally assist resetting at temperatures above 650 c diffusive pb loss did not reset ordovician u pb monazite ages and in domains of overall high imposed strain rates and stresses resetting was not assisted by dynamic recrystallization crystal plasticity however during diffusion creep at low rates pb loss by dissolution and precipitation recrystallization of monazite produces discordance and devonian concordant u pb monazite ages hence resetting of these isotope systems reflects neither changes of temperature nor directly the presence or absence of strain

u pb zircon ages constrain the architecture of the ultrahigh pressure qinling dabie orogen china new shrimp and tims zircon ages 40ar 39ar ages and eclogite locations contribute significantly to our understanding of the ultrahigh pressure dabie shan 1 the geographic extent of the yangtze craton that was subducted to ultrahigh pressure extends to the northern edge of the dabie shan 2 the northern half of the dabie shan is a magmatic complex intruded over a 10 myr interval between 137 and 126 ma that accommodated 100 n s stretching of the pre existing collisional architecture 3 granitic orthogneisses and enclosing ultrahigh pressure paragneisses have indistinguishable zircon populations the population of triassic zircon ages ranges from 219 to 245 ma leading us to question the prevailing assumption that 219 ma zircons formed at ultrahigh pressure and to propose instead that they reflect late retrogression at crustal pressures following the bulk of exhumation

basement cover sequences within the uhp unit of the dabie shan field data define two lithologically distinct basement cover sequences within the ultrahigh pressure metamorphic uhpm unit of the dabie shan eastern china one of the cover units the changpu unit comprises calc arenitic metasediments in stratigraphic contact with a basement consisting of gneisses of the yangtze craton the second cover unit the ganghe unit consists of felsic intermediate metavolcanics and clastic metasediments basement exposure of the ganghe unit is not known fold axes in the ganghe unit are oblique to those of the changpu unit which are parallel to those of the yangtze gneisses preservation of primary textures in some volcanic rocks and tectonic separation from the yangtze gneisses by a greenschist facies mylonite support an interpretation of the ganghe unit as a low strain domain protolith associations in the ganghe and changpu units are compatible with deposition in a rift setting and along a passive continental margin respectively a u pb single zircon age of 761 33 ma for volcanoclastic rocks of the ganghe unit demonstrates a neoproterozoic deposition age concordant with inferred rifting at that time eclogite facies parageneses in the gneisses and both cover units along with p t data demonstrate regional uhpm in the dabie shan

geochronologic significance of lead lines from old cratons abstract lead isotope data from geologically mixed suites of archaean gneisses often yield secondary isochrons that have statistically better fits than might be expected from the geological constraints on the range of samples used accepted as true isochrons these pb pb lines are commonly used both to determine the age of the rock suite and as evidence that all the rocks that yield data points within error of the isochron were formed at the same time from the same source using within geologically reasonable limits random data for initial lead and secondary lead growth we demonstrate that heterogeneous sample sets may yield statistically valid secondary isochrons this implies that the fit to a common secondary isochron does not necessarily mean that the samples used have the same age or an isotopically similar source numerical modelling of artificial data sets suggests that high correlation between 1 and 2 values is the single most important factor that enhances the statistical fit of the samples about a lead line and smoothes the initial scatter in contrast initial scatter will be preserved in data sets with a random relation between 1 and 2 values the 1 value estimated from the lead line will be biased towards the sample with the lowest 2 value

thermodynamic properties of white micas on the basis of high pressure experiments in the systems k2omgoal2o3sio2h2o and k2ofeoal3o3sio2h3o abstract experiments in the piston cylinder apparatus were undertaken to synthesize the assemblage of phengite garnet kyanite and quartz or coesite in the system k2o mgo al2o3 sio2 h2o kmash compositional data of phengite were obtained for 13 experimental runs in the range of 30 to 45 kbar and 850 c to 1100 c the same was achieved for 23 runs in the system k2o feo al2o3 sio2 h2o kfash between 600 c and 900 c and 15 to 55 kbar on the basis of the latter runs and 6 additional synthesis experiments the dependence of the lattice dimensions on the composition of 2m1 phengites in kfash was determined to derive thermodynamic data we evaluated the above experiments and those reported by massonne and schreyer 1987 1989 on kmash phengites coexisting with other assemblages considering simple activity model like ams ms we obtained for the mg al celadonite and fe2 al celadonite theoretical endmembers hf0 5832415 3040 and 5492287 6267 j mol s0 288 527 4 008 and 303 148 6 827 j k mol v0 13 870 0 027 and 13 962 0 067 j bar mol the nonideal behavior of the muscovite ms mg al celadomite series was modelled using an asymmetric margules formalism with the following parameters w12h w21h 0 w12s 58 598 8 804 w21s 15 920 3 393 w12v 0 735 0 118 w21v 0 187 0 026 with units as above for the muscovite fe2 al celadonite series we used a symmetric model with wh 0 ws 24 083 3 088 j k mol and wv 0 3394 0 1120 j bar mol the above data were applied to construct a petrogenetic grid the example chosen is related to the kfash system with potassic white mica quartz and h2o in excess it covers the t range from 150 c to 550 c at a p up to 28 kbar the new thermodynamic data are also discussed in regard to their use in geothermobarometry

exhumation rates of high pressure metamorphic rocks in subduction channels the effect of rheology 1 exhumation of high pressure metamorphic rocks can take place with typical plate velocities of cm year this is consistent with a model of forced flow in a subduction channel the micro structural record of exhumed metamorphic rocks indicates that stresses are generally too low to drive deformation of the bulk material by dislocation creep according to a power law rheology instead deformation appears to be localized in low strength shear zones and is dominated by dissolution precipitation creep or fluid assisted granular flow implying a newtonian rheology 1d modeling shows that the effective rheology of the material in the subduction channel has a significant influence on the rate of exhumation when the subduction flux either equals or exceeds the return flux the maximum exhumation rate for newtonian behavior of the material is at least twice as high 1 3 of the subduction burial rate compared to that for power law creep 1 6 of the subduction burial rate

tectonics of the qinling belt build up and evolution of eastern asia the structure and history of the qinling range which separates the north and south china cratons are a key to the tectonic evolution of eastern asia the mountain range is composed of a northern palaeozoic belt and a southern mesozoic belt the palaeozoic orogeny probably involved the closure of an oceanic basin along a north dipping subduction zone followed by south vergent obduction of ophiolites and intracontinental thrusting during the devonian the mesozoic belt appears to be the product of purely intracontinental shallow crustal deformation over a large decollement with at least 100 km of horizontal transport since the devonian both belts have been sliced by huge east west sinistral strike slip faults

dating of subduction and differential exhumation of uhp rocks from the central dabie complex e china constraints from microfabrics rb sr and u pb isotope systems abstract the correlation of deformation fabrics and metamorphic reactions with geochronologic data of uhp metamorphic rocks demonstrate that the multistage subduction and exhumation history of the central dabie complex requires rapid subduction and rapid initial exhumation moreover these data show that volume diffusion is not the major resetting mechanism of radiogenic isotope systems thus our age data do not simply reflect a thermal cooling history in the investigated section the maximum age for uhp is given by the 244 3 ma 2 u pb age of a pre uhp titanite phenocryst that survived uhp metamorphism and subsequent tectonometamorphic events a minimum age for uhp is set by the 238 1 ma 2 238 u 206 pb mineral isochron age of titanite and cogenetic epidote these minerals formed from local partial melts during ascent and their age suggests fast exhumation and emplacement in the middle crust in the period of ca 238 218 ma the uhp terrain records ht metamorphism local partial melting and extensive pervasive strain below the eclogite jd grt stability field exhumation was polyphase with a first phase of fast exhumation succeeded by episodes of ht metamorphism and concomitant deformation at deep mid crustal level between 238 and 218 ma slow exhumation related to the final emplacement of tectonic units along greenschist facies shear zones did not cease before ca 209 204 ma the resetting and homogenization of radiogenic isotope systems were aided by dissolution precipitation creep which was the dominant deformation mechanism in quartz feldspar rocks in combination with fluid influx

petrogenesis of mesozoic granitoids in the dabie uhp complex central china trace element and nd sr isotope evidence post collisional magmatism in the dabie orogen is characterized by the near contemporaneous intrusion of voluminous granitoids and minor mafic magmas in the late mesozoic 135 110 ma the granitoids are represented by three major batholiths in northern dabie zhubuyuan baimajian and tiantangzhai the largest zhubuyuan batholith comprises hornblende bearing intermediate rocks penghe suite and hornblende free granitic rocks huangbai suite the huangbai granites show limited variation in chemical composition but are highly variable in textures ranging from medium to coarse grained they have rather homogeneous sr and nd isotopic compositions with 87sr 86sr i 0 708 0 709 and end t 19 to 24 the penghe intermediate suite covers a wide spectrum of rock types including diorite monzodiorite quartz monzonite to monzogranitic rocks and all of them contain hornblende and mafic enclaves the existence of compositional and textural disequilibrium e g calcic and resorbed cores of plagioclase and the nature of chemical variation in these rock types indicate that magma mixing between an evolved mafic and a granitic magma was involved in their genesis fractional crystallization fc could have coupled with the process of magma mixing but with minor contamination by the upper continental crust during magma ascent isotopically the intermediate rocks show a variation in end t values from 13 7 to 18 while their 87sr 86sr i ratios vary from 0 7074 to 0 7088 the genesis and evolution of the dabie post collisional magmatic rocks may be summarized as follows intrusion of mantle derived mafic ultramafic magmas into thickened continental crust induced dehydration melting of the lower crust rocks with intermediate compositions and subsequent production of large amounts of granitic melts huangbai suite extensive interaction between the crustal and mantle derived melts through mixing produced a hybrid parental magma which subsequently underwent a fc process en route to higher crustal levels producing a wide variety of rock types as shown by the penghe intermediate rock suite injection of successive pulses of basic magma into upward mobile magma chambers could have resulted in the formation of the mafic enclaves as well as mafic dykes

continental subduction and exhumation of uhp rocks structural and geochronological insights from the dabieshan east china in the dabieshan the available models for exhumation of ultrahigh pressure uhp rocks are poorly constrained by structural data a comprehensive structural and kinematic map and a general cross section of the dabieshan including its foreland fold belt and the northern dabieshan domain foziling and luzenguang groups are presented here south dabieshan consists from bottom to top of stacked allochtons 1 an amphibolite facies gneissic unit devoid of uhp rocks interpreted here as the relative autochton 2 an uhp allochton 3 a hp rock unit susong group mostly retrogressed into greenschist facies micaschists 4 a weakly metamorphosed proterozoic slate and sandstone unit and 5 an unmetamorphosed cambrian to early triassic sedimentary sequence unconformably covered by jurassic sandstone all these units exhibit a polyphase ductile deformation characterized by i a nw se lineation with a top to the nw shearing and ii a southward refolding of early ductile fabrics the central dabieshan is a 100 km scale migmatitic dome newly discovered eclogite xenoliths in a cretaceous granitoid dated at 102 ma by the u pb method on titanite demonstrate that migmatization post dates hp uhp metamorphism ductile faults formed in the subsolidus state coeval to migmatization allow us to characterize the structural pattern of doming along the dome margins migmatite is gneissified under post solidus conditions and mylonitic ultramylonitic fabrics commonly develop the north and west boundaries of the central dabieshan metamorphics i e the xiaotian mozitan and macheng faults are ductile normal faults formed before late jurassic early cretaceous a cretaceous reworking is recorded by synkinematic plutons north of the xiaotian mozitan fault the north dabieshan domain consists of metasediments and orthogneiss foziling and luzenguang groups metamorphosed under greenschist to amphibolite facies which never experienced uhp metamorphism a rare n s trending lineation with top to the south shearing is dated at 260 ma by the 40ar 39ar method on muscovite this early structure related to compressional tectonics is reworked by top to the north extensional shear bands the main deformation of the dabieshan consists of a nw se stretching lineation which wraps around the migmatitic dome but exhibits a consistently top to the nw sense of shear the central dabieshan is interpreted as an extensional migmatitic dome bounded by an arched top to the nw detachment fault this structure may account for a part of the uhp rock exhumation however the abundance of amphibolite restites in the central dabieshan migmatites and the scarcity of eclogites found only in a few places argue for an early stage of exhumation and retrogression of uhp rocks before migmatization this event is coeval to the n s extensional structures described in the north dabieshan domain recent radiometric dates suggest that early exhumation and subsequent migmatization occurred in triassic liassic times the main foliation is deformed by north verging recumbent folds coeval to the south verging folds of the south dabieshan domain an intense cretaceous magmatism accounts for thermal resetting of most of the 40ar 39ar dates a lithosphere scale exhumation model involving continental subduction synconvergence extension with inversion of southward thrusts into nw ward normal faults and crustal melting is presented

dating deformation using rb sr in white mica greenschist facies deformation ages from the entrelor shear zone italian alps ages of deformation have been obtained by rb sr analysis of white micas whose microstructural and chemical characteristics indicate that they crystallized or recrystallized during shear fabric formation since white micas commonly define deformation fabrics in medium grade metamorphic rocks these ages can be directly related to structural geometries with regional context this direct method contrasts with estimates of midcrustal deformation ages derived from cooling histories because it does not rely on assumptions about the thermal structure of the crust it does require that the dated minerals attained isotopic equilibrium with the dominant sr reservoir at temperatures lower than the closure temperature this resetting was apparently achieved during dynamic recrystallization of white micas in greenschist facies metasediments and metagranitoid units in the western alps the results suggest that the sr isotopic composition of the new mica is buffered by the coexisting high sr phases calcite feldspar or epidote via the grain boundary network high strain rocks from the entrelor shear zone system of the western alps have yielded indistinguishable white mica rb sr ages along 30 km of individual and kinematically linked shear zones the age of the back thrusting event is constrained at 34 1ma the age yielded by the younger generation of synkinematically crystallized white micas this event was short lived involving at least 20 km of shortening in 1 m y or less an earlier variably overprinted component dating from 38 to 37 ma has been identified in the mica fabric but its kinematic significance is uncertain this method of dating strain fabrics offers a powerful tool for tectonic studies since isotopic resetting can be directly linked to structural geometries microstructural textures and pt conditions it allows testing of kinematic models in orogens and can provide important information on the rates of geological processes in the crust

hydraulic properties of partially saturated rock fractures subjected to mechanical loading abstract this study presents a methodology for estimating the unsaturated hydraulic properties of rock fractures under deformation conditions the surface morphology of an artificial granite rock fracture was examined using a high resolution three dimensional laser scanner and the aperture distribution of the fracture was found to follow a gaussian distribution by virtue of the aperture distribution function and applying the young laplace equation to local apertures a novel model was presented to predict the capillary pressure saturation relationship and the relative hydraulic conductivity of rough walled rock fractures subjected to normal and shear loading the proposed model was partially validated against existing laboratory data on the unsaturated hydraulic properties of rock fractures and can be readily applied to various engineering practices such as transport phenomena in fractures landslide mitigation or underground oil storage

ages of ultrahigh pressure metamorphism and protolith orthogneisses from the eastern dabie shan u pb zircon geochronology the dabie shan contains two rare geologic features one the occurrence of ultra high pressure metamorphic rocks peak p 2 7 gpa uhp in the east central part of this belt and two some of these uhp rocks are characterized by anomalously 18o depleted oxygen isotopic compositions geochronological data are presented that constrain the age of the uhp metamorphism the ages of protoliths and potentially the age of hydrothermal alteration believed to be responsible for the anomalous oxygen isotopic compositions the age of uhp metamorphism in the eastern dabie shan is dated at 218 5 1 7 ma using u pb in zircon separated from host gneisses this age is identical within uncertainty with a less precise age using u pb in zircon separated from uhp eclogite 225 5 3 6 ma and with previously published ages from uhp eclogites of the dabie shan map relationships strongly support an in situ as opposed to exotic orgin of the uhp eclogites in this region the identical ages of uhp metamorphism in the gneisses and eclogites provides additional support for this interpretation the age of the protolith gneisses is dated as 772 5 9 5 ma based on the upper intercept of the zircons which accords well with other dates of granitic gneisses in the qinling belt the association of mafic and felsic magmatism is interpreted to reflect rifting along the northern margin of the yangtze block at this time these upper intercept ages may date the hydrothermal circulation of 18o depleted meteoric water which gave rise to the anomalously 18o depleted uhp protoliths of the dabie shan and sulu region the coincidence of these protolith ages with the early sinian glaciation of south china is consonant with the suggestion that the highly anomalous oxygen isotopic compositions in this region date from this time the upper intercept age of the eclogite is imprecisely determined at 447 82 79 ma but is younger than the host gneisses and is not characterized by anomalous oxygen isotopic compositions