identifying granite sources by shrimp u pb zircon geochronology an application to the lachlan foldbelt the potential genetic link between granites and their host sediments can be assessed using zircon age inheritance patterns in the lachlan fold belt southeastern australia granites and associated high grade metasedimentary rocks intrude low grade ordovician country rock this relationship is well exposed in the tallangatta region northeast victoria part of the wagga omeo metamorphic complex in this region granites two i types and two s types have intruded during the mid late silurian between approximately 410 430 ma based on the ages of magmatic zircons the age spectra for inherited zircons from the granites have been compared with those of detrital zircons from the enclosing low and high grade metasediments in broad terms both for detrital zircons in all four sediments and for inherited zircons in three of the four granites the dominant ages are early paleozoic and late precambrian with sporadic older precambrian ages extending up to 3 5 ga the ages of the youngest detrital zircons from the low grade lockhart and talgarno terranes limit the time of sedimentation to ca 466 ma or younger the youngest detrital zircons from two samples of the high grade gundowring terrane are 473 ma making these sediments ordovician or younger not cambrian as originally suggested however the individual age spectra for the four selected metasediments are not well matched when closely examined the age spectra of the inherited zircons in the granites also do not adequately match those in any of the metasediments thus the metasediments might not be representative of the actual source rocks of the granites while the exact source of the granites cannot be identified from the analysed samples the existence of a large population of ca 495 ma inherited zircon grains in the s type granites requires that the granite source contains a significant proportion of cambrian or younger material this does not preclude the existence of a precambrian basement to the lachlan fold belt but indicates that at the level of s type magma generation a cambrian and or younger protolith is required

identification of inherited radiogenic pb in monazite and its implications for u pb systematics the simplest interpretation of uranium lead mineral ages in igneous rocks embodies the assumption that melting of pre existing rocks leads to homogenization of the lead isotopes thus resetting the radiometric clock zircons often violate this assumption by only partially dissolving and preserving a component of lead inherited from before the melting episode but until now such behaviour has not been observed in monazite here we report u pb data for zircons and monazites from a tertiary granite from the himalayas in which zircons and monazites contain inherited radio genic lead an analysis of a single entirely igneous zircon crystal plots on concordia at 19 5 0 4 myr eight monazite fractions lie on a line from an upper intercept of 471 10 myr to the youngest fraction which plots slightly above concordia at 21 myr the presence of excess 206pb in the youngest monazite fractions indi cates that the monazite data represent a mixing line between young magmatic monazite and an older inherited component rather than a resetting of 471 myr monazites at 20 myr these data suggest a closure temperature for pb in monazite significantly higher than previously published estimates

u pb dating of monazite and its application to geological problems monazite is an underutilized mineral in u pb geochronological studies of crustal rocks it occurs as an accessory mineral in a wide variety of rocks including granite pegmatite felsic volcanic a

chronology of deformation within the turbidite dominated lachlan orogen implications for the tectonic evolution of eastern australia and gondwana ar ar data from fabric forming white mica in slates syntectonic quartz veins and granitic mylonites constrain the timing of metamorphism deformation and exhumation in the lachlan orogen australia these data also help define the tectonic evolution of the tasmanides during paleozoic time the lachlan orogen formed by the progressive accretion of a thick turbidite fan sequence and volcanic terrains to gondwana during the closing of a small marginal ocean or back arc basin this tectonic setting was similar to the present western and southwestern pacific region accretion of the lachlan orogen to gondwana occurred by closing of the basin system by subduction accretion processes and some translation the process is typified in the western lachlan orogen by a major eastward migrating deformation involving chevron folding and faulting over an eastward propagating decollement melange zone and is recorded by ar ar mica ages ranging from 455 ma in the western part to 390 ma in the eastern part in the central lachlan orogen deformation migrated southwestward from 440 430 to 405 ma away from the high temperature wagga omeo metamorphic complex where deformation metamorphism occurred between 440 and 400 ma in the north 400 ma mica ages record deformation and inversion of structures in the cobar basin in the eastern lachlan orogen ar ar mica dates range from 450 to 340 ma ages of 455 445 ma are yielded by the narooma accretionary complex 405 390 ma ages are found along the major thrust faults bounding high grade metamorphic complexes and 360 340 ma cooling ages are found in the inverted extensional basins e g hill end and related structural zones the ar ar results also document periods of reactivation on early formed structures during later deformation elsewhere in the orogen

topography of the 410 and 660 km discontinuities beneath the korean peninsula and southwestern japan using teleseismic receiver functions topography of the 410 and 660 km seismic upper mantle discontinuities beneath the korean peninsula and southwestern japan were determined using teleseismic receiver functions p receiver functions were migrated from delayed times to corresponding piercing conversion points of p to s converted phases using one dimensional 1 d and three dimensional 3 d models receiver functions were then stacked using common conversion point ccp techniques to enhance signal to noise ratios and thereby reduce uncertainty noise the 410 and 660 km discontinuities were clearly imaged as positively valued amplitude peaks of ccp stacked receiver functions in the study area topographic variations were roughly consistent with the low temperature of the subducting pacific plate however the complex structure of the subducting pacific plate produced distinct changes of upper mantle discontinuities which cannot be explained by temperature variations alone depression of the 410 km discontinuity observed in a wide region extending from the korean peninsula to kyushu island may be related to trench rollback history furthermore the topography of the 660 km discontinuity varies significantly with latitude at latitudes higher than 38 n its depth remains unchanged despite the presence of the stagnant slab while significant depression has been observed at latitudes below 36 n this may have been caused by differences in the angles of subduction of the japan slab and the izu bonin slab however heterogeneity of the water content of slabs may also have contributed to this topographical difference

the 3d numerical modeling of subduction dynamics plate stagnation and segmentation and crustal advection in the wet mantle transition zone 1 water content in the mantle transition zone mtz has been broadly debated in the earth science community as a key issue for plate dynamics in this study a systematic series of three dimensional 3d numerical simulation are performed in an attempt to verify a hypothesis regarding the behavior of subducted oceanic plate and the role of crust in the mtz under wet conditions this hypothesis is based on the seismic observations of structural variations associated with large scale flattened high velocity anomalies i e stagnant slabs in the mtz in our model weak low viscosity fault zones wfzs which presumably correspond to the fault boundaries of large subduction earthquakes are imposed on the top part of subducting plates the phase transitions of olivine to wadsleyite and ringwoodite to perovskite magnesiowustite under both dry and wet conditions are considered based on recent high pressure experiments the effect of viscosity reduction of wet garnet is also considered for oceanic crust in the mtz results show that there is a substantial difference in the behaviors of subducting plate and the trace of crustal materials between the models under dry and wet conditions under wet conditions the subducting plate tends to stagnate with a maximum lateral extent of over 1000 km the weaker and denser crustal material garnet rich is fed into the wfzs and is advected faster than the plate main body of peridotite olivine rich thus the viscosity and density contrast between the crustal materials and the peridotite permits the plate segmentation under a wet mtz condition

the influence of melting and melt drainage on crustal rheology during orogenesis partial melting significantly weakens crustal rocks by introducing a low viscosity liquid phase however near concomitant melt drainage can remove this weak phase potentially reversing the rheological effects such that the strength of a specific lithology depends on when the prograde pressure temperature path intersects a melting reaction how much melt is produced and how long this melt is retained before it is lost phase equilibria and mixed rheology modeling of typical metapelite and metagreywacke compositions indicate that these rocks undergo continuous but pulsed melt production during prograde metamorphism depending on whether melt removal is continuous or episodic and assuming geological strain rates the lithologies can retain a very low strength less than 1 mpa or transiently strengthen to 5 mpa following melt loss lithologies undergoing episodic melt loss can therefore cycle between being relatively weak and relatively strong components within a composite crustal section melt production retention and weakening in the middle to lower crust as a whole is more sustained during heating and melt production consistent with geodynamic inferences of weak melt bearing lower crust however the long term consequence of melting and melt loss is a 50 400 increase in the strength of residual lithologies the strengthening is more pronounced in metapelite than metagreywacke and is achieved through a combination of dehydration and the removal of the weak mica framework coupled to increased proportions of strong feldspars and garnet despite prolonged weakness melting and melt loss therefore ultimately result in a dry and elastic lower crust

u pb monazite ages in amphibolite to granulite facies orthogneiss reflect hydrous mineral breakdown reactions sveconorwegian province of sw norway in the rogaland vest agder terrain of the sveconorwegian province of sw norway two main sveconorwegian metamorphic phases are reported a phase of regional metamorphism linked to orogenic thickening m1 and a phase of low pressure thermal metamorphism associated with the intrusion of the 931 2 ma anorthosite charnockite rogaland igneous complex m2 phase m1 reached granulite facies to the west of the terrane and m2 culminated locally at 800 850 c with the formation of dry osumilite bearing mineral associations monazite and titanite u pb geochronology was conducted on 17 amphibolite to granulite facies orthogneiss samples mainly from a suite of 1050 2 8 ma calc alkaline augen gneisses the feda suite in these rocks prograde negatively discordant monazite crystallized during breakdown of allanite and titanite in upper amphibolite facies at 1012 1006 ma in the feda suite and other charnockitic gneisses concordant to slightly discordant monazite at 1024 997 ma probably reflects breakdown of biotite during granulite facies m1 metamorphism a spread of monazite ages down to 970 ma in biotite hornblende samples possibly corresponds to the waning stage of this first event in the feda suite a well defined monazite growth episode at 930 925 ma in the amphibolite facies domain corresponds to major clinopyroxene formation at the expense of hornblende during m2 growth or resetting of monazite was extremely limited during this phase in the granulite facies domain up to the direct vicinity of the anorthosite complex the m2 event was shortly followed by cooling through ca 610 c as indicated by tightly grouped u pb ages of accessory titanite and titanite relict inclusions at 918 2 ma over the entire region a last generation of u poor monazite formed during regional cooling below 610 c in hornblende rich samples at 912 904 ma this study suggests 1 that monazite formed during the prograde path of high grade metamorphism may be preserved 2 that monazite ages reflect primary or secondary growth of monazite linked to metamorphic reactions involving redistribution of rees and th and or fluid mobilisation 3 that the u pb system in monazite is not affected by thermal events up to 800 850 c provided that conditions were dry during metamorphism

a weathering related origin of widespread monazite in s type granites the s type granite suites comprising more than a quarter of the extensively developed granites in the lachlan fold belt australia contain monazite which may be related to the chemical weathering of the sedimentary source rocks we report a process whereby chemical weathering fixes mobile rare earth elements ree in hydrous phosphate phases such as florencite and rhabdophane this material contains up to 50 wt lree and occurs as very small particles 3 m dehydration of these hydrous ree phases during anatexis directly yields monazite the low solubility of phosphorus in s type granite melts inhibits dissolution of both monazite and apatite refractory monazite may be thus entrained and transported in s type granites in a manner similar to processes resulting in inherited zircon since both th and the light ree are major components in monazite materials containing this minute phase may be of widespread geochemical significance in both granites and metamorphic rocks

viscosity in transition zone and lower mantle implications for slab penetration 1 the evolution of a subducting slab is strongly influenced by the viscosity of the mantle which it overlies however there is still no consensus about the viscosity in the transition zone and shallower lower mantle we use a numerical self consistent subduction model and run a set of experiments in order to find critical patterns of viscosity that would allow the evolution of the different subduction styles that can actually be found in nature our results show that a jump in viscosity of 5 times from transition zone to lower mantle gives the most reasonable results optimal values of viscosity in the transition zone are in the range of 3 1020 1021 pa s higher values would produce piling up of the slab and later sinking or even slab flattening lower viscosities result in velocities 30 cm yr that are too high while the new slab subducts through the upper mantle and transition zone a phenomenon that is rarely seen in nature reduction of the clapeyron slope related to the spinel perovskite transition variations in oceanic crustal thickness and in the age of the slab do not influence much the style of subduction when overriding velocity is applied to the upper plate the previously penetrating slab tends to lay at the 660 km boundary but does not substantially change the subduction velocity

rheological transitions in progressive melting of rock and their geological constraints from the fuhu metatexite diatexite profile in guangdong province se china abstract integration of the published experimental data of partially melted amphibolite orthogneiss granite and aplite reveals the existence of three rapid strength drops of the rock assemblage at melt fraction around 7 21 and 41 respectively the first and the last drops are equivalent to the well known melt connectivity transition mct and solid to liquid transition slt the drop at melt fraction around 21 is newly identified and termed as the framework melting transition fmt the fmt is defined as the transition from eutectic quartz feldspars melting to refractory biotite melting the three rheological transitions are well constrained by the geological data from the fuhu profile in guangdong province se china this profile is a 15 m high cliff rocks exposed on the profile are zoned as mottled stripped narrow banded and wide banded migmatites and diatexitic granite from the top of the profile downwards the leucosome proportions of the zones measured on the outcrops combined with the experimental data of the partially melted rocks have significant implications for understanding the role of rheological transitions during crustal melting the mct which corresponds to the boundary between the mottled and the narrow banded migmatites suggests the segregation of melt within the partially melted system along with the compaction of matrix thus the mct is deemed to be the transition of the partially melted system from matrix supported melt stored in pore space to framework supported melt stored in foliation bedding space of protolith the fmt corresponding to the boundary between the narrow and the wide banded migmatites denotes the inception of melting of the solid framework mechanically the fmt can be regarded as the transition of the framework from compaction to fusion and geochemically the transition from eutectic melting of quartz feldspars to that of refractory biotite the increasing melt due to framework melting after the fmt is basically limited within the solid framework until the melt fraction exceeding the slt the slt is geologically constrained by the in situ metatexite diatexite transition that is also termed as magma interface mi the slt mi represents the upper limit of a crustal magma layer because of the downward increasing temperature and melt fraction there should be no consecutive layer of felsic rock existed in the space between the slt mi and the mafic lower crust except the isolated rock blocks within the magma layer

the effect of water on the 410 km discontinuity an experimental study 1 in order to evaluate the effect of h on the pressure and transition interval of the olivine wadsleyite transformation synthesis experiments were carried out in hydrous and anhydrous peridotite compositions at 1400 c under hydrous near saturated conditions the pressure of the transition is 1 0 0 5 gpa lower than under anhydrous conditions in addition the two phase interval appears to broaden from about 0 4 gpa 12 km in the anhydrous system to as much as 1 3 gpa 40 km in the hydrous system under hydrous conditions the spatial distribution of olivine and wadsleyite appears to be controlled by h diffusion extrapolating previously measured diffusion coefficients for h in olivine and in liquids it appears that h diffusion driven by gravitational equilibration may serve to narrow the transition interval between olivine and wadsleyite

sound velocities and elastic constants of iron bearing hydrous ringwoodite the sound velocities and single crystal elastic constants of fo 89 hydrous ringwoodite mg1 7fe0 22h0 16sio4 containing 10 000 ppm by weight 1 wt h2o have been determined from seven separate pure mode travel time measurements using gigahertz ultrasonic interferometry the experiments feature a new yttrium aluminum garnet yag p to s conversion shear buffer rod br capable of producing pure ultrasonic shear waves with known polarization in the region of 0 5 2 0 ghz to our knowledge they are the first such single crystal ultrasonic measurements on a high pressure phase recovered from the multi anvil press the cubic single crystal elastic constants of hydrous fo 89 ringwoodite at ambient conditions are in gpa c11 298 13 c44 112 6 and c12 115 6 hydration of fo 90 ringwoodite to 1 wt h2o reduces the adiabatic bulk k0s 176 7 gpa and shear g 103 5 gpa moduli by about 6 and 13 roughly equivalent to raising the temperature at room pressure by 600 and 1000 c respectively assuming a linear trend with hydration we calculate that pand s wave velocities are reduced by about 40 m s for every 1000 ppm weight 0 1 wt h2o added to fo 90 ringwoodite p and s wave velocities of the lower transition zone in prem are consistent with a hydrated ringwoodite rich composition 2004 elsevier b v all rights reserved

a sequence of partial melting reactions at mt stafford central australia metasedimentary gneisses show a rapid change in grade in a 10 km wide low p high t regional aureole at mt stafford in the arunta block central australia migmatite occurs in all but the lowermost of five metamorphic zones which grade from greenschist zone 1 through amphibolite zones 2 3 to granulite facies zones 4 5 the sequence of partial melting reactions inferred for metapelitic rocks is dependant upon protolith temperature and fluid conditions the metapelite solidus in zone 2 reflects vapour present melting at p 3 kbar and t 640 c melting having initially been controlled by the congruent breakdown of the assemblage crd kfs bt qtz at slightly higher temperature andalusite in leucosome formed via the reaction kfs qtz bt h2oand melt and melt having been stabilized by the presence of boron sillimanite coaxially replaces andalusite in the high grade portion of zone 2 in zone 3 large aluminosilicate aggregates in leucosome are armoured by spl crd grt symplectites garnet partially pseudomorphs biotite cordierite or spinel in high grade portions of zone 3 zone 4 grt crd opx bearing metapsammite assemblages and garnet bearing leucosome reflect t 800 c and p 2 2 0 9 kbar in the model kfmash system the principal vapour absent melting step reflected significant modal changes related to the breakdown of the as bt tie line and the establishment of the spl crd tie line the bulk rock geochemistry of migmatite samples straddle the spl crd tie line the aluminous bulk rock composition of the common bedded migmatite restricted its potential to witness garnet forming and orthopyroxene forming reactions minor textural and modal changes in and above zone 3 reflecting biotite destablization in biotite poor assemblages

slab dehydration and mantle upwelling in the vicinity of the sumatra subduction zone evidence from receiver function imaging of mantle transition zone discontinuities

experimental deformation of partially molten westerly granite under fluid absent conditions with implications for the extraction of granitic magmas the mechanical behavior of partially molten westerly granite was investigated in the temperature range 800 1100 c 250 mpa confining pressure by means of constant strain rate creep and stress relaxation tests the only water in the samples came from the breakdown of hydrous phases biotite minor chlorite and muscovite and alteration products of feldspars thus the amount of melt was controlled by the test temperature and ranged from 3 at 800 c to 50 at 1100 c over that temperature range strength decreased from 500 mpa to less than 1 mpa and a preliminary constitutive flow law for the partially molten rock was obtained to allow extrapolation to low strain rates the comparative viscosity of the melt alone was estimated at 950 and 1000 c from the distance it could be made to penetrate into a porous sand under a known pressure gradient under all conditions deformation of the matrix of solid grains was by brittle fracture only samples containing up to 10 vol melt failed with the formation of a shear fault zone at higher melt fractions melt filled pores collapsed by shear enhanced compaction squeezing the melt into axial cracks above 40 vol melt unfractured solid grains were carried about passively in the flowing liquid there was no evidence of a rheologically critical melt percentage in this system by analogy with the uniaxial compaction of water saturated soils a simple model is erected to describe a two stage process for the extraction of granitic melts from their protoliths with the aid of nonhydrostatic stress shear enhanced compaction is inferred to drive melt into a network of melt filled veins whereupon porous flow through the high permeability vein network allows rapid drainage of melt to higher crustal levels

an experimental deformation study of partially molten amphibolite application to low melt fraction segregation an amphibolite has been experimentally deformed under subsolidus and partially molten conditions to evaluate the influence of melt on the mechanical behavior of a natural mafic rock and to assess low melt fraction segregation processes experiments were performed under fluid absent conditions at 1 8 gpa between temperatures of 650 c and 1000 c these conditions are similar to those of thickened lower continental crust or intermediate depths in subducting oceanic lithosphere at 850 c melt is granitoid in composition and its viscosity is that of wet granite 103 105 pa s the results can be summarized as follows 1 under subsolidus conditions tests at 650 c and 750 c the amphibolite is macroscopically ductile and deformation is homogeneously distributed throughout the sample 2 at near solidus conditions 800 c 0 5 vol melt fractures 1 10 m in width displace hornblende and plagioclase grains and melt formed in situ is found in some of these cracks the formation of a ductile shear zone in one sample is attributed to the presence of very fine grained reaction products from combined dehydration hydration reactions that involve plagioclase the dehydration reaction products have apparently changed the deformation mechanism and even overrode the melt embrittlement process trapping melt in pockets of lower strain with higher melt fractions 10 15 vol broad melt bearing shear zones form and grains within these zones are brittlely deformed 3 at 20 vol melt 1000 c additional weakening occurs but fractures are not observed and the overall deformation is by viscous flow the results show that at low melt fractions 15 vol fluid absent melting reactions can induce fracture in previously ductile rocks this suggests that the percentage at which melt may escape by fracture is lower than the theoretical critical melt fraction or cmf of 26 40 vol in general estimating the fraction of melt at the onset of segregation cannot be predicted by the cmf melt segregation models have to be adapted to variations in such major factors as pressure temperature type of melting reaction rate of melting and strain rate such models will greatly assist our understanding of continental growth and evolution during orogenesis

strain partitioning during partial melting and crystallizing felsic magmas abstract the rheology of partly molten felsic systems changes dramatically during the onset of melting and through crystallization solid to liquid and liquid to solid transitions are not rheologically identical contradicting the concept of a unique rheological critical melt percentage we use four thresholds separating the successive stages according to the melt fraction for the melting transition 1 the liquid percolation threshold connects the melt pockets at about 8 of melt thus allowing local magma displacement at the metric scale and 2 for greater melt percentages 20 25 a melt escape threshold corresponds to the onset of transport over large distances of the melt and part of the residual solid phase leading ultimately to granitic bodies for the solidification transition 3 the first formation of a rigid framework of crystals which can accumulate stress although the melt can still flow corresponds to the rigid percolation threshold 55 solids and 4 the system becomes totally locked at about 72 75 solid which corresponds to the particle locking threshold the present paper focuses on strain partitioning induced by the coexistence of two contrasting rheological phases between these thresholds on a variety of scales non coaxial deformation is preferentially accommodated by the lower viscosity melt which increases the vorticity in the melt phase and reinforces asymmetries in the flow pattern strain partitioning also increases the scale length of the weakest phase during melting and magma ascent whereas strain partitioning decreases the scale length during crystallizing strain partitioning also affects the migration of melt by raising the particle locking threshold and lowering the melt escape threshold for three dimensional deformations such as transpression the direction of melt segregation e g horizontal may differ from the direction of melt migration e g vertical

coupled effects of phase transitions and rheology in 2 d dynamical models of subduction author s arredondo km billen mi abstract 2017 american geophysical union all rights reserved observations of seismicity and seismic tomography provide a present day constraint on the geometry of slabs within the mantle however it is challenging to directly relate the observed shape of slabs to their time evolution phase transitions modify the buoyancy forces within slabs affecting how slabs deform as they sink into the lower mantle and how forces are transmitted to the surface plates here we show that if the crustal shear zone is sufficiently weak 1020 pa s then the coupled effects of a compositionally dependent phase transition model and a stress dependent rheology lead to oscillatory plate speeds and trench motion in response to buckling and folding of the slab on average subducting plate velocity is 4 cm yr and trench motion is 0 7 cm yr however during folding subducting plate speed and trench motion increases by a factor of 3 and trench motion switches from advance to retreat in models with a higher viscosity shear zone 1021 pa s average plate speed is lower 2 cm yr and there is only trench advance stress dependent weakening due to increasing driving stresses can also cause unexpected changes in plate velocity i e decrease or no change in addition due to the added negative buoyancy from the phase transitions slab breakoff occurs in models with a yield stress 500 mpa because of the oscillatory motion of the trench long flat slabs do not form in the transition zone this suggests that other factors such as interaction of the slab with deep mantle flow may be required to create long flat slabs

geochronological constraints on the legs lake shear zone with implications for regional exhumation of lower continental crust western churchill province canadian shield the legs lake shear zone marks the southeastern boundary of an extensive region 20 000 km2 of high pressure 0 8 1 5 gpa granulite facies rocks in the western churchill province canada the shear zone is one of the largest exhumation related structures in the canadian shield and coincides with the central segment of the 2 800 km long snowbird tectonic zone the movement history of this shear zone is critical for the development of models for the exhumation history of the high pressure region we used electron microprobe u th pb dating of monazite with supplemental id tims u pb geochronology to place constraints on the timing of shear zone activity combining these and other data we suggest that regional exhumation occurred during at least three distinct phases over an 150 million year period the first phase involved high temperature decompression from 1 0 to 0 8 0 7 gpa shortly following 1 9 ga peak metamorphism possibly under an extensional regime the second phase involved rock uplift and decompression of the hanging wall to 0 5 0 4 gpa during east vergent thrusting across the legs lake shear zone at ca 1 85 ga this phase was likely driven by early collision related convergence in the trans hudson orogen the final phase of regional exhumation involving the removal of 15 20 km of overburden from both footwall and hanging wall likely occurred after 1 78 ga and may have been related to regional extensional faulting

topography of the 660 km discontinuity beneath northeast china implications for a retrograde motion of the subducting pacific slab 1 clear s to p converted waves at the 660 km discontinuity s660p are observed at stacked seismograms of deep earthquakes occurring in northeast china and japan sea recorded by broadband seismic arrays in north america and europe differential travel times between the s660p and p waves are used to constrain depth variations of the 660 beneath northeast china a rapid change in the depth of the 660 is observed within a narrow longitudinal range of 130 8 e 131 4 e where the lower boundary of the subducting slab encounters the 660 towards the west the 660 deepens steadily as it approaches the coldest core of the slab the maximum depression occurs at the west end of the studied region with an amplitude of 20 km to the east the 660 appears to be flat showing no obvious effect of the subducting slab these observations are consistent with a scenario for a retrograde moving pacific slab lying over the upper and lower mantle boundary progressively from west to east

analytical perils and progress in electron microprobe trace element analysis applied to geochronology background acquisition interferences and beam irradiation effects electron probe microanalysis epma of accessory minerals such as monazite xenotime and thorite for minor and trace element concentrations and geochronology requires consideration of beam irradiation effects increasing heat and charge as higher current densities and lengthy counting times are employed and requires careful detailed assessment of background intensities and interferences a carbon coat 250 a thickness is generally inadequate for prevention of absorbed current s uctuation and beam damage when using the high current densities applied for high precision e g 200 na focused beam beam irradiation effects include element mobility in monazite resulting in p loss relative to ree coating materials of higher electrical and thermal conductivity are indicated and use of gold 100 a is strongly suggested systematic compositional and therefore age variability can result simply from analytical effects requiring evaluation of all aspects of data acquisition the spectra relevant to measurement of y th pb and u are complex especially in ree bearing minerals acquisition of detailed spectral wavelength scans allows recognition of background and peak interferences as well as curvature background intensities can be extracted directly from scan data by regression x ray mapping allows delineation of domains guiding background acquisition and detailed quantitative analysis minor substitution or s uorescence of unexpected elements can compromise analyses one documented effect being the s uorescence of k in monazite adjacent to or hosted by k feldspar or micas this effect clearly evident within 10 micrometers from k feldspar can result in erroneous u concentrations leading to misinterpretation of rim ages as younger overgrowths absorption edges associated with th also become relevant to the measurement of u at high th concentrations because background intensity is sensitive to variation in average atomic number backgrounds must be acquired from each identi ed domain with particular attention being paid to th variation misapplication of background intensities can result in large age discrepancies for example application of backgrounds obtained from a high th domain in monazite to measurement of a low th domain 1 3 of the amount in the high th domain results in an overestimation of the um background intensity of 0 008 cps na and an overall increase in age of 70 m y

monazite occurrence chemistry and chronology in the granitoid rocks of the lachlan fold belt australia an electron microprobe study in situ electron microprobe dating of monazite holds the promise of being an effective technique for obtaining chronologic data our research focuses on i and s type granitoids of the lachlan fold belt australia whose petrology and zircon chronology have been thoroughly characterized this study documents the textural relationships morphology zoning and ages of monazite in these granitoid rocks the i type granitoids that lack monazite usually contain other mineral phases enriched in rare earth elements such as allanite titanite and bastnasite only silica rich highly evolved i type granitoids contain monazite this preference in i type rocks for phases other than monazite to host the ree and th limit the applicability of monazite dating for this group of igneous rocks on the other hand monazite is ubiquitous in s type rocks both as interstitial and included grains high resolution x ray maps of individual monazites reveal complex patterns of chemical zoning weighted averages of multiple analyses for individual chemical domains show small but systematic differences in age these weighted averages of the chemical domains are considered the best estimate of the age of the monazite monazites from 8 different s type samples range in age from 405 to 759 ma with the majority being 490 ma and older these are premagmatic ages for these granitoids which have crystallization ages of 400 to 430 ma these premagmatic ages are similar to cambro ordovician ages obtained from inherited zircon cores in the same granitoids indicating that monazite can survive anatexis in peraluminous rocks thus monazite dating in peraluminous rocks may illuminate characteristics composition and age of source rocks and anatectic processes

upper mantle and mantle transition zone thermal and water content anomalies beneath ne asia constraints from receiver function imaging of the 410 and 660 km discontinuities abstract the 410 and 660 km discontinuities d410 and d660 bordering the mantle transition zone mtz beneath ne asia including ne china eastern mongolia and southern siberia are imaged in successive circular bins with a radius of 1 degree by stacking a total of 274 413 p to s radial receiver functions recorded by 799 broadband seismic stations after moveout correction based on the 1 d iasp91 earth model the resulting apparent depths of the discontinuities exhibit significant and spatially systematic variations three approximately n s elongated narrow zones with significantly thickened mtz are observed which may be associated with the thermal effect and dehydration of subducted slabs the major volcanoes in ne china are underlain by a d660 that is apparently depressed by 19 km which can be interpreted by the presence of an anomalously high water concentration in the lower mtz released from the stagnated slabs low wavespeed anomalies above the d410 west of the datong volcanic fields are underlain by an mtz with normal thickness and are attributable by dehydration of the leading portion of the stagnant pacific slab in the mtz that is revealed in an n s oriented narrow zone east of this area the lateral shift of the upper mantle low wavespeed zone and the area with thickened mtz may suggest a westward drift of the upper mantle relative to the subducted slab an abnormally thin mtz is observed beneath the hangay dome in central mongolia suggesting the possible existence of thermal upwelling from the lower mantle through the mtz

thermal regimes anatexis and orogenesis relations in the western lachlan fold belt southeastern australia abstract crustal evolution of the lachlan fold belt of southeastern australia has involved the mobilisation of significant melt volumes now preserved as granites suggesting that large parts of the lower crust were at t 800 c for part of the thermal evolution this anomalous thermal activity has been variously related to continental extension magmatic underplating and to thinning of the mantle lithosphere overriding considerations reflected in the surface geology must include the tectonic setting the thermal regime and the state of stress in the crust at the time of anatexis one dimensional geothermal modelling suggests that no one mechanism can generate the required thermal regime necessary to produce the volume of granite observed in the crust the observed geological relationships do not match those predicted for lithospheric thinning due to continental extension magmatic underplating can cause melting but must involve extensive source zones and allow continual feeding of the magma to higher crustal levels the crustal thickening lithospheric thinning mechanism involves upwelling of hot asthenospheric mantle to the base of the crust but the melt products are confined to a very thin layer at the crust mantle boundary mechanisms for melt extraction and emplacement to higher crustal levels must be explained in the western lachlan fold belt the presence of a major mid crustal detachment fault ductile shear zones in the lower crust and marked internal shortening of the upper and possibly lower crustal blocks suggests that shear heating may also provide a significant component to the heat budget of the evolving crust melting will not occur however unless thermal equilibration of both the upper and lower plates takes place prior to shear heating such equilibration will involve time scales in the order of 30 50 ma unless extra heat is added into the lower crust e g advective input inferred flexural rigidity of the lithosphere related to basinal subsidence during the period of orogenesis in central victoria suggests that thermal effects related to granitoid intrusion must be largely post tectonic and that felsic intrusive activity is a consequence of the crustal thickening rather than the cause thermal regimes during orogenesis cannot be restricted to a single mechanism upwelling of hot asthenosphere causing significantly higher heat input at the base of the crust coupled with shear heating and internal strain heating of the crust during the crustal thickening stage as well as thermal effects related to magma intrusion into the lower crust result in a complex thermal history during collisional orogenesis

format and philosophy for collecting compiling and reporting microprobe monazite ages microprobe monazite dating has been increasingly used to constrain the timing of deformation and metamorphism because of the potential to date very small monazite domains down to 5 m or less in structural and petrologic context this paper presents an analytical strategy presentation format and error considerations for microprobe monazite dating the strategy involves high resolution compositional mapping to delineate compositional domains within monazite crystals then for each compositional domain a series of th u and pb analyses are made and a single date and error are calculated the number of analyses in each domain is determined by the desired statistical precision of the date results from several monazite grains are typically combined and along with textural relationships are used to build an argument that the dates constrain the age of a deformation or metamorphic event the total error involves three components short term random error dominated by counting statistical uncertainty short term systematic error uncertainty in background correction conductive coating variation and calibration and long term systematic error uncertainty in standard composition mass absorption factors decay constants etc in homogeneous compositional domains short term random errors 2 of less than 10 m y can be obtained from five to ten analyses however short term systematic error mainly background estimation uncertainty would typically result in a doubling of the magnitude of random error microprobe dates are presented as a single gaussian probability distribution for each domain along with representative compositional maps it is recommended that a consistency standard be analyzed during each analytical session and the results be reported along with those from the unknown this proposed strategy and format are compatible with those of other geochronological techniques they incorporate analytical limitations associated with trace as opposed to major element microprobe analysis and will allow better comparisons to be made between labs and between different geochronological techniques

effect of water on olivine wadsleyite phase boundary in the mg fe 2sio4 system 1 the phase boundary between san carlos olivine and its high pressure phase wadsleyite have been studied comparatively in dry and water saturated condition by comparing saturated and dry samples from the same experimental run we determine that both boundaries of the two phase coexisting loop shift towards lower pressure or lower iron content and the pressure width of the loop decreases to 0 3 gpa under saturated conditions at 1473 k thus the presence of water in the earth s mantle will sharpen the 410 kilometer seismic discontinuity shallow the depth of the discontinuity and reduce the velocity jump across the discontinuity

seismic imaging of mantle transition zone discontinuities beneath the northern red sea and adjacent areas summary the dramatic asymmetry in terms of surface elevation cenozoic volcanisms and earthquake activity across the red sea is an enigmatic issue in global tectonics partially due to the unavailability of broad band seismic data on the african plate adjacent to the red sea here we report the first comprehensive image of the mantle transition zone mtz discontinuities using data from the egyptian national seismic network and compare the resulting depths of the 410 and 660 km discontinuities with those observed on the arabian side our results show that when a standard earth model is used for time to depth conversion the resulting depth of thediscontinuities increases systematicallytowards theaxisoftheafro arabiandome aad from both the west and east relative to the westernmost area the maximum depression of the 410 km discontinuity is about 30km and that of the 660 km discontinuity is about 45km the observed systematic variations can best be explained by a model involving a hydrated mtz and an upper mantle low velocity zone beneath the aad models invoking one or more mantle plumes originated from the mtz or the lower mantle beneath the study area are not consistent with the observations

correlation of a 410 km discontinuity low velocity layer with velocity tomograms beneath the colorado plateau using the ristra array the transition zone water filter model nature 425 6953 39 44 2003 predicts that a hydrous partial melt layer is only actively produced in a region of upwelling mantle we test the transition zone water filter model via stacking of p to s converted receiver functions by using the iris passcal ristra colorado plateau rio grande rift seismic transect experiment array assuming the high velocity regions found at the northwest and southeast ends of the array at 350 440 km by teleseismic velocity tomograms e g schmandt and humphreys earth and planetary science letters 297 3 4 435 445 2010 are cold and sinking vertically the 410 km low velocity layer should be absent in these regions the receiver function stacking profiles find the mean depths of the two primary discontinuities at 417 7 1 km for the 410 km discontinuity and 667 8 2 km for the 660 km discontinuity the average arrival amplitudes with respect to z component are 3 0 for the 410 km discontinuity 2 8 for the 660 km discontinuity and 1 8 for the 410 km low velocity layer the stacked pds image show the 410 km low cabsent at 350 to 390 km in the high velocity regions but present in low velocity region a correlation plot of sum of the 410 km low velocity arrival amplitudes and p wave perturbation finds a positive linear relationship therefore our findings provide seismic evidence for the transition zone water filter model at a small scale

kinetics of the olivine spinel transformation in subducting lithosphere experimental constraints and implications for deep slab processes abstract the persistence of metastable olivine to depths greater than 400 km in subducting slabs has implications for the generation of deep focus earthquakes the magnitude of buoyancy forces driving plate motion and the state of stress in the slab the depth to which metastable olivine can survive in a subduction zone and the depth interval over which transformation to or mg fe 2sio4 occurs have been evaluated from experimental kinetic data for the mg2geo4 and ni2sio4 transformations and the mg2sio4 transformation the data were extrapolated using a kinetic model for grain boundary nucleation and interface controlled growth under non isothermal and non isobaric conditions the results predict that metastable mg1 8fe0 2sio4 olivine survives to depths greater than 500 km in the cold interior of rapidly subducting slabs of old lithosphere the onset of transformation to mg fe 2sio4 spinel depends only on growth kinetics and coincides with the 550 50 c isotherm including the effects of latent heat production causes the transformation to occur by a runaway process over a very narrow depth interval at the onset of transformation high nucleation rates and low growth rates are consistent with the formation of very fine grained reaction products which are required for the transformational faulting mechanism of deep focus earthquakes when olivine crosses the equilibrium boundaries at higher temperatures e g higher than 700 c at 400 km depth transformation to or occurs much closer to equilibrium at a depth controlled by nucleation kinetics in this case the effect of latent heat production on the transformation kinetics is small and microstructural evolution is unlikely to result in transformational faulting below the depth of olivine breakdown cold slabs are likely to have a complex rheological structure owing to temperature dependent microstructural evolution during the phase transformation

electron microprobe dating of monazite because monazite is extremely rich in u and th radiogenic pb pb accumulates very quickly and reaches in about 100 ma a level where it is possible to analyse it with the electron probe assuming that common pb is negligible and that partial loss of pb has not occurred the simultaneous measurement of u th and pb allows to obtain a geologically meaningful age from a single electron probe analysis here we present the results of two years of systematical investigations aiming to define both the limits and potential of this method a specific statistical method to deal with the large number of data which can be obtained on a single sample is described and several guidelines illustrated by examples are suggested to optimize the method electron probe measurements carried out on samples of known age from 200 ma to 3 1 ga yield ages that always fall inside the confidence interval of the isotopically determined age demonstrating that this method is reliable the younger age limit is approximately 100 ma although it can be younger in some favourable cases in old monazites extremely high pb contents have been found up to 5 wt indicating that monazite can tolerate high radiation doses without experiencing lead loss the final precision on the age for a normal monazite is 30 50 ma for a total counting time of 600 s a complete dating procedure can be completed in less than 1 h first results indicate that old ages can be preserved in monazite either in small relict cores in crystals or by the coexistence of several generations of monazites in a sample this method has all the advantages of the electron probe it is non destructive has an excellent spatial resolution monazites as small as 5 i m can be dated and because it is possible to work on normal polished thin sections the petrographical position of the dated crystal is known this method offers a large number of geologists access to an in situ dating technique at moderate cost

seismic discontinuities and subduction zones abstract the seismic discontinuities at 410 and 660 km depth in the mantle are generally believed to be due to phase transformations in its major component olivine an increasing observational base of short period regional seismic network data supports this view here we analyse cross sections of discontinuity topography in the northwest pacific subduction zones to infer the thermal and chemical state of the mantle in a subduction environment most of the data is from the southern part of the izu bonin subduction zone penetration of the lower mantle by the steeply dipping subducting slab is clearly indicated by depression of the 660 km discontinuity elevation of the 410 km discontinuity in this region by up to 60 km implies a thermal anomaly of approximately 900 1000 c relative to the ambient mantle observation of the elevated 410 in the seismically active part of the slab indicates that the olivine wadsleyite phase transformation occurs under essentially equilibrium conditions there which argues against the transformational faulting hypothesis as the mechanism for deep earthquakes upgoing p wave reflections from the 410 km discontinuity indicate that it is sharp in the mantle far from subducting slabs reflection coefficient variability in and near slabs indicates either a chemical effect or the consequences of topographic focusing

wet subduction versus cold subduction 1 in situ x ray diffraction study of post spinel transformation in hydrous peridotite 2 wt h2o indicates that the phase boundary is shifted to higher pressures by 0 6 gpa relative to anhydrous peridotite at 1473 k whereas it shows no obvious shift at high temperature around 1873 k a linear equation for the boundary is p gpa 0 002 t k 26 3 which is applicable for temperatures below 1800 k the present data shows that a significant part of the depressions seen in the 660 km seismic discontinuity may be affected by existence of water it is also well resolved that the olivine wadsleyite phase transformation corresponding to the 410 km seismic discontinuity is shifted to lower pressures by 1 2 gpa by the addition of water thus the topography of seismic discontinuities in the transition zone associated with slabs can be attributed not only to cold subduction but also wet subduction

recent advances in the study of mantle phase transitions we review recent advances in the study of phase transitions of minerals in the earth s mantle including unsolved problems regarding these processes the phase boundaries of mg fe 2sio4 in the mantle transition zone are modified under the wet conditions by changes in thermodynamic properties of its polymorphs because of differences in the water solubilities of these minerals the shift of phase boundaries has significant implications for the topography of the 410 km and 660 km seismic discontinuities the post perovskite phase with cairo3 structure exists at pressures above 110 gpa and at high temperature the effects of al and fe on phase transition are under debate several post stishovite phases have been reported but equilibrium boundaries and existence in the real lower mantle are also still debatable spin transition occurs in magnesiowustite perovskite and post perovskite phases at high pressures of the lower mantle and core the pressure interval in the spin transition can be large at high temperature and so the transition might not cause a discrete change in physical properties under real earth conditions 2008 elsevier b v all rights reserved

age mapping and dating of monazite on the electron microprobe deconvoluting multistage tectonic histories high resolution x ray mapping and dating of monazite on the electron microprobe are powerful geochronological tools for structural metamorphic and tectonic analysis x ray maps commonly show complex th u and pb zoning that reflects monazite growth and overgrowth events age maps constructed from the x ray maps simplify the zoning and highlight age domains microprobe dating offers a rapid in situ method for estimating ages of mapped domains application of these techniques has placed new constraints on the tectonic history of three areas in western canada age mapping has revealed multiphase monazite with older cores and younger rims included in syntectonic garnet microprobe ages show that tectonism occurred ca 1 9 ga 700 m y later than mylonitization in the adjacent snowbird tectonic zone in new mexico age mapping and dating show that the dominant fabric and triple point metamorphism occurred during a 1 4 ga reactivation not during the 1 7 ga yavapai mazatzal orogeny in norway monazite inclusions in garnet constrain high pressure metamorphism to ca 405 ma and older cores indicate a previously unrecognized component of ca 1 0 ga monazite in all three areas microprobe dating and age mapping have provided a critical textural context for geochronologic data and a better understanding of the complex age spectra of these multistage orogenic belts

electron microprobe dating of monazites from high grade gneisses and pegmatites of the kerala khondalite belt southern india monazites of five samples one leptynitic garnet biotite gneiss one khondalite one augen gneiss and two pegmatites from the central and northern part ponmudi unit of the kerala khondalite belt kkb in southern india were analyzed with the electron microprobe dating technique monazites in the augen gneiss and the pegmatites yield grain sizes between 200 800 m th abundances are rather low 10 wt and the distribution of th u and pb within single grains is fairly homogeneous contrasting to this monazites in the leptynitic gneiss and the khondalite are small 150 m they often display very complex th u pb patterns and contain high th concentrations up to 20 wt the statistical treatment of individual ages from the investigated samples revealed three populations of lower proterozoic 1 9 ga upper proterozoic 580 ma and ordovician age 470 ma as well as mid proterozoic ages between 0 8 1 7 ga which are not regarded to be of geological significance lower proterozoic ages are preserved in the cores of monazites from leptynitic gneisses and khondalites they fairly agree with sm nd model ages for similar rocks of the kkb and give a minimum age for first monazite growth or complete homogenization the prominent pan african population with mean values between 540 and 580 ma is present in the leptynitic gneiss the khondalite and the augen gneiss and in line with published isotope ages for the kkb the ordovician population finally marks the emplacement of granitic pegmatites subsequent to the pan african high grade metamorphic event there is an obvious discrepancy between khondalites and leptynitic gneisses on the one hand and augen gneisses on the other concerning the presence of lower proterozoic ages while these are abundant in the former often rimmed by upper proterozoic ages they are completely absent in the latter it appears unlikely that lower proterozoic ages were completely reset during a pan african event exclusively in the augen gneisses while they were preserved in leptynitic gneisses and khondalites it is further concluded that the augen gneisses are of magmatic origin and were derived from porphyritic granites thus the upper proterozoic age of 605 37 ma calculated for the investigated sample approximates the time of magma emplacement which slightly precedes the peak stage of pan african high grade metamorphism in the kkb and of monazite crystallization from the granitic melt a characteristic feature of the investigated monazites is the resetting of lower proterozoic and pan african ages to significantly younger values due to partial pb loss monazites not shielded by other minerals e g garnet suffered selective mobilization of pb along fractures or at their rims while th and u concentrations remained almost unchanged the results presented in this study indicate that this was mainly due to fluid rock interaction it is concluded that thermal diffusion of pb even at the suggested temperatures of 900 c only had minor influence on the th u pb composition in monazite and that the closure temperature for this system must be significantly higher than previously assumed 750 c

water transport into the deep mantle and formation of a hydrous transition zone abstract the phase relations in the peridotite water system to the top of the lower mantle reveal that a certain amount of water can be transported and stored in the transition zone by various hydrous minerals resulting in formation of a hydrous transition zone results of preliminary experiments to clarify the effect of water on kinetics of the olivine wadsleyite transformation are given and show that water enhances the transformation kinetics significantly there are potential dehydration sites in the deep mantle four sites along the descending slabs depending on their temperature profiles i e the mantle wedge of the subduction zone mantle transition zone top of the lower mantle where hydrous ringwoodite and superhydrous phase b decompose and deep in the lower mantle around 1200 1500 km depth where decomposition of phase d g occurs we also expect one site of dehydration melting at the base of the upper mantle where the hot mantle plume hydrated in the transition zone can be dehydrated the transition zone can serve as a water absorber for the mantle scale water circulation system some of the recent seismic works including the p wave tomography images reveal the existence of low velocity anomalies in the transition zone suggesting possibly a wet transition zone elevation of the 410 km discontinuity and lack of clear evidence for a metastable olivine wedge in cold slabs may be consistent with the equilibrium phase transformation from olivine to wadsleyite in cold and wet slabs on the basis of our kinetic study of the transformation under wet conditions

detection of inherited monazite in the manaslu leucogranite by 208pb232th ion microprobe dating crystallization age and tectonic implications abstract although leucogranites are among the least petrologically variable of all igneous rocks ironically they are among the most difficult to reliably date the high himalayan leucogranites have been the subject of numerous geochronological investigations because of their interrelationship with the most significant tectonic features of that mountain belt for a variety of reasons linked to the minimum melt composition of these leucogranites these dating studies have not been entirely successful we report results of a new ion microprobe dating method based on the decay of 232 th to 208 pb in monazite that has directly revealed the presence of inherited pb in monazite from the manalsu granite casting doubt on its previously accepted age monazite ages obtained from this leucogranite yield two distinct populations a large number of ages with a normal distribution and mean age of 22 4 0 5 ma 2 s e that we interpret to be the crystallization age and a smaller inherited fraction with an age of ca 600 ma because formation of the granite is thought to be related to slip on the main central thrust both this date and a second less precise result from a structurally similar pluton near mt everest indicate that the main central thrust was active in the interval 24 22 ma but do not constrain its initiation together with crosscutting relationships these data require that movement on the north himalayan fault occurred prior to 22 ma at both locations

interpretation of monazite ages obtained via in situ analysis abstract monazite grains from nepal and vietnam were compositionally analyzed with an electron microprobe and dated th pb with an ion microprobe five sources of uncertainty explain age distributions from single samples that appear inconsistent with a single population 1 pb loss due to diffusion 2 dissolution reprecipitation reactions along a retrograde path 3 analytical uncertainties 4 analyses of overlapping age domains and 5 episodic monazite growth the influence of these factors is sample dependent but can be evaluated 1 using peak metamorphic conditions and x ray element maps to assess potential polymetamorphism or retrogression 2 obtaining other geochronologic data including previous work or dating other minerals in the sample 3 evaluating any method related uncertainty including counting statistics for electron microprobe analyses or calibration reproducibility for ion microprobe analyses and 4 ascertaining the potential growth mechanism of the monazite grain including dissolution of detrital grains or production from rare earth element ree oxide or allanite chemical contents of monazite grains analyzed in this study fail to reflect timing information or mineral growth mechanisms instead of relying on monazite chemical composition major mn fe mg ca and minor y element garnet zoning patterns and peak p t conditions should be used to facilitate age interpretation this thermobarometric data records the sample s thermal history changes in garnet growth rate and mechanisms and accessory mineral breakdown

an experimental study of grain scale melt segregation mechanisms in two common crustal rock types creation of pathways for melt to migrate from its source is the necessary first step for transport of magma to the upper crust to test the role of different dehydration melting reactions in the development of permeability during partial melting and deformation in the crust we experimentally deformed two common crustal rock types a muscovite biotite metapelite and a biotite gneiss were deformed at conditions below at and above their fluid absent solidus for the metapelite temperatures ranged between 650 and 800 c at pc 700 mpa to investigate the muscovite dehydration melting reaction for the biotite gneiss temperatures ranged between 850 and 950 c at pc 1000 mpa to explore biotite dehydration melting under lower crustal conditions deformation for both sets of experiments was performed at the same strain rate e 1 37 10 5 s 1 in the presence of deformation the positive v and associated high dilational strain of the muscovite dehydration melting reaction produces an increase in melt pore pressure with partial melting of the metapelite in contrast the biotite dehydration melting reaction is not associated with a large dilational strain and during deformation and partial melting of the biotite gneiss melt pore pressure builds more gradually due to the different rates in pore pressure increase melt enhanced deformation microstructures reflect the different dehydration melting reactions themselves permeability development in the two rocks differs because grain boundaries control melt distribution to a greater extent in the gneiss muscovite dehydration melting may develop melt pathways at low melt fractions due to a larger volume of melt in comparison with biotite dehydration melting generated at the solidus this may be a viable physical mechanism in which rapid melt segregation from a metapelitic source rock can occur alternatively the results from the gneiss experiments suggest continual draining of biotite derived magma from the lower crust with melt migration paths controlled by structural anisotropies in the protolith

the inception and growth of leucosomes microstructure at the start of melt segregation in migmatites the beginning stages of melt segregation and the formation of leucosomes are rarely preserved in migmatites most arrays of leucosomes record a more advanced stage where flow dominates over segregation however the early stages in the formation of leucosomes and the segregation of melt are preserved in a partially melted meta argillite from the metatexite zone 800 c of the contact aureole around the duluth complex minnesota the rock contains 2 4 modal leucosome in a matrix consisting of 40 5 in situ neosome and 57 1 cordierite plagioclase framework the domainal microstructure in the matrix is a pre anatectic feature resulting from the bulk composition terminal chlorite reactions produced a large volume of cordierite which with plagioclase formed a framework that enclosed patches of biotite quartz plagioclase k feldspar upon melting these fertile domains became patches of in situ neosome plagioclase in the neosome is less sodic than in the leucosome hence segregation of melt occurred during crystallization not melting segregation was delayed because the cordierite plagioclase framework was strong enough to resist dilatation and compaction until after crystallization started the leucosomes are small i e they are microleucosomes and display a systematic progression in morphology as length and aspect ratio increase from 1 to 19 mm and from 2 5 to 30 respectively small equant micropores form first and in places these coalesce into small 1 mm aspect ratio 2 5 isolated blunt ended elliptical microleucosomes in the next stage micropores develop ahead of and at 45 to the left and right of the blunt tip of a microleucosome one of these develops into an elliptical leucosome and an en echelon array of either a left or right stepping elliptical microleucosome forms each elliptical microleucosome in the en echelon arrays is separated by a bridge of matrix next microleucosomes of greater length 4 mm and aspect ratio 5 form when the bridges of cordierite plagioclase matrix rupture and the elliptical microleucosomes link together to form a zigzag shaped microleucosome finally still longer microleucosomes with greater aspect ratios 30 are formed by the joining of zigzag arrays such a progression is characteristic of the way ductile fractures grow the segregation of melt was driven by the pressure gradient between the dilatant fracture and an adjacent in situ neosome which drew melt to the growing fracture thereby creating a microleucosome the microleucosomes are filled arrays of ductile fractures melt was contiguous only between microleucosomes and adjacent patches of in situ neosome the length scale of segregation was 5 mm the size of a typical patch of in situ neosome and restricted by the surrounding impermeable cordierite plagioclase framework the melt in the microleucosome was the most fractionated and the last to crystallize all microleucosomes contain entrained minerals as a consequence of their mechanism of growth rupture of the bridges resulted in the entrainment of pre anatectic phases however microleucosomes that cross patches of in situ neosome are also contaminated with peritectic phases that were transported with the melt

on the rheologically critical melt fraction abstract with increasing melt fraction the strength of partially molten granite decreases from a value characteristic of solid competent rock to a value nearly equal to that of the melt previously published mechanical and microstructural data indicate that deformation in partially molten rocks often involves brittle processes thus the pressure in the melt is expected to be important in determining strength when the volume changes during deformation strength and fluid flow will be coupled by such parameters as permeability k storage capacity per unit volume or storativity s melt compressibility f grain size d fluid viscosity and strain rate experiments on brittle rock at low temperatures show that the strain rate at which the internal fluid pressure can be maintained constant is approximately proportional to k s an evaluation of published experimental data suggests that this relation also holds for partially molten granites indicating that the strength of these rocks depends on their transport properties since the permeability is related to below a critical melt fraction rcmf the melt pressure will change if deformation is not iso volumetric by assuming a power law relationship between k and we estimate that rcmf f d m 1 n 1 where m and n relate permeability to grain size and respectively

multiple transition zone seismic discontinuities and low velocity layers below western united states with p to s converted waves recorded at seismic stations of the us transportable array we image the fine structure of upper mantle and transition zone tz beneath the western us we map the topographies of seismic discontinuities by stacking data by common conversion points along profiles systematic depth and amplitude measurements are performed not only for the well known 410 and 660 interfaces but also for minor seismic discontinuities identified around 350 590 and 630 km depths the amplitude of conversion suggests shear wave velocity vs increase by 4 at the 410 and the 660 the observed 660 velocity contrast is smaller than expected from the 6 in iasp91 but consistent with a pyrolitic model of mantle composition the gorda plate subducted under northern california is tracked to the tz where it seems to flatten and induce uplift of the 410 under northern nevada maps of 410 660 amplitude topography reveal that the tz is anomalous beneath the geographical borders of washington oregon and idaho with i a thickened tz ii a sharp change in depth of the 660 iii a reduced 410 conversion amplitude in the north and iv a positive 630 discontinuity such anomalous structure might be inherited from the past history of plate subduction accretion a thinned tz under the yellowstone suggests higher than average temperatures perhaps due to a deep thermal plume both the 350 and the 590 negative discontinuities extend over very large areas they might be related either to an increased water content in the tz a significant amount of oceanic material accumulated through the past 100 my or both

topography of the mantle transition zone discontinuities beneath alaska and its geodynamic implications constraints from receiver function stacking the 410 and 660 km discontinuities d410 and d660 respectively beneath alaska and adjacent areas are imaged by stacking 75 296 radial receiver functions recorded by 438 broadband seismic stations with up to 30 years of recording period when the 1 d iasp91 earth model is used for moveout correction and time depth conversion significant and spatially systematic variations in the apparent depths of the d410 and d660 are observed the mean apparent depth of the d410 and d660 for the entire study area is 417 12 km and 665 12 km respectively and the mean mantle transition zone mtz thickness is 248 8 km which is statistically identical to the global average for most of the areas the undulations of the apparent depths of the d410 and d660 are highly correlated indicating that lateral velocity variations in the upper mantle above the d410 contribute to the bulk of the observed apparent depth variations by affecting the traveltimes of the p to s converted phases from both discontinuities beneath central alaska a broad zone with greater than normal mtz thicknesses and shallower than normal d410 is imaged implying that the subducting pacific slab has reached the mtz and is fragmented or significantly thickened within the proposed northern cordilleran slab window an overall thinner than normal mtz is observed and is most likely the result of a depressed d410 this observation when combined with results from seismic tomography investigations may indicate advective thermal upwelling from the upper mtz through the slab window

seismic discontinuities in the mantle transition zone and at the top of the lower mantle beneath eastern china and korea influence of the stagnant pacific slab we have analyzed broadband data to identify and determine mantle discontinuities in the mantle transition zone mtz beneath eastern china where the pacific slab is stagnant the depths of the 410 and 660 km discontinuities are generally shallower and deeper respectively than the global averages in and near the pacific slab beneath eastern china the mtz is thicker in the slab than the global average this observation is consistent with the thermally controlled olivine to wadsleyite transformation for the 410 km discontinuity and the post spinel transformation for the 660 km discontinuity other discontinuities appear from 690 to 750 km in the lower mantle part of the pacific slab recent mineralogical experiments indicate that the most plausible interpretation of these deep discontinuities is that they represent the ilmenite to perovskite transformation in a cold environment such as that in the pacific slab

monazite in situ 207pb 206pb geochronology using a small geometry high resolution ion probe application to archaean and proterozoic rocks this paper reports the application of secondary ion mass spectrometry sims using a small geometry cameca ims4f ion probe to provide reliable in situ 207pb 206pb ages on monazite populations of archaean and proterozoic age the reliability of the sims technique has been assessed on two samples previously dated by the conventional id tims method at 2661 1 ma for monazites extracted from a pelitic schist from the jimperding metamorphic belt yilgarn craton western australia and 1083 3 ma for monazites from a high grade paragneiss from the northampton metamorphic complex pinjarra orogen western australia sims results provide 207pb 206pb weighted mean ages of 2659 3 ma n 28 and 1086 6 ma n 21 in close agreement with id tims reference values for the main monazite growth event monazites from the northampton complex document a complex history the spatial resolution of about 30 m and the precision achieved successfully identify within grain heterogeneities and indicate that monazite growth and recrystallisation occurred during several events this includes detection of one inherited grain dated at ca 1360 ma which is identical to the age of the youngest group of detrital zircons in the paragneiss younger ages at ca 1120 ma are tentatively interpreted as dating a growth event during the prograde stages of metamorphism these results demonstrate that the closure temperature for lead diffusion in monazite can be as high as 800 c at last ages down to ca 990 ma are coeval with late pegmatitic activity and may reflect either lead losses or partial recrystallisation during the waning stages of metamorphism a third unknown sample was analysed to test the capability of the in situ method to date younger monazite populations the sample a pelitic metatexite from northwestern hoggar algeria contains rounded metamorphic monazites that provide a 207pb 206pb weighted mean age of 603 11 ma n 20 this age is interpreted as recording emplacement of a gabbronoritic body during amphibolite facies regional metamorphism and is representative of the late pulse of the pan african tectonometamorphic evolution in the western part of the tuareg shield in situ sims analyses using a widely available small geometry ion probe can thus be successfully used to accurately determine ages for complex precambrian monazite populations

seismically deduced thermodynamics phase diagrams for the mantle transition zone abstract seismic discontinuities at 410 and 660 km depth are usually attributed to solid phase changes within the olivine component of the mantle the clapeyron slopes 410 and 660 i e the thermal dependence of the depths of reactions have been shown experimentally to be of opposite signs yet their values are not well constrained by laboratory measurements seismological observations have not been more precise due to the difficulty to separate the competing effects of background wave velocities and of temperature on the topography of discontinuities in this study we use conversion imaging of interfaces under western us we propose a new approach to derive a seismological estimate of the clapeyron slopes with respect to 410 for the major and minor phase changes of the transition zone we obtain 660 3 mpa k 1 for 410 3 mpa k 1 we construct seismic phase diagrams of the transition zone that can be directly compared with experimental phase diagrams we also apply a z transform to better constrain the clapeyron slopes of the minor phase changes although tenuous signals in seismic phase diagrams suggest that minor phase transitions both in the olivine and the non olivine component of the mantle have visible seismic expressions they can tentatively be described as follows the 410 is overlaid at low temperature by an interface corresponding to a decrease of velocity with depth and 3 mpa k 1 the 660 widens at high temperature and is preceded at low temperature by an interface the 620 with 7 mpa k 1 a 520 is suggested with 2 3 mpa k 1 these last two interfaces correspond to velocity increases with depth at last near 590 km depth an interface may be associated with a velocity reduction showing a weak dependence on temperature 0 mpa k 1

microprobe monazite geochronology putting absolute time into microstructural analysis abstract high resolution compositional mapping and dating of monazite on the electron microprobe is a powerful addition to microstructural analysis and an increasingly important tool for tectonic analysis microprobe monazite geochronology can be an efficient reconnaissance tool for evaluating metamorphic and deformational age domains but more importantly its in situ nature and high spatial resolution offer an entirely new level of structurally and texturally specific geochronologic data that can be used to put absolute time constraints on p t d paths constrain the rates of metamorphic and deformational processes and provide new links between metamorphism and deformation microprobe geochronology is particularly applicable to three persistent microstructural microtextural problem areas 1 constraining the chronology of metamorphic assemblages 2 constraining the timing of deformational fabrics and 3 interpreting other geochronological results although some monazite generations can be directly tied to metamorphism or deformation at present the most common constraints rely on monazite inclusion relations in porphyroblasts that in turn can be tied to the deformation and or metamorphic history microprobe mapping and dating allow geochronology to be incorporated into the routine microstructural analytical process resulting in a new level of integration of time t into p t d histories

time calibration of a p t path from a variscan high temperature low pressure metamorphic complex bayerische wald germany and the detection of inherited monazite a temperature time path was constructed for high temperature low pressure ht lp migmatites of the bayerische wald internal zone of the variscan belt germany the migmatites are characterised by prograde biotite dehydration melting peak metamorphic conditions of approximately 850 c and 0 5 0 7 gpa and retrograde melt crystallisation at 800 c the time calibration of the pressure temperature path is based on u pb dating of single zircon and monazite grains and titanite separates on 40ar 39ar ages obtained by incremental heating experiments on hornblende separates single grains of biotite and k feldspar and on 40ar 39ar spot fusion ages of biotite determined in situ from sample sections additionally crude estimates of the duration of peak metamorphism were derived from garnet zoning patterns suggesting that peak temperatures of 850 c cannot have prevailed much longer than 2 5 ma the temperature time paths obtained for two areas approximately 30 km apart do not differ from each other considerably u pb zircon ages reflect crystallisation from melt at 850 800 c at 323 ma southeastern area and 326 ma northwestern area the u pb ages of monazite mainly coincide with those from zircon but are complicated by variable degrees of inheritance the preservation of inherited monazite and the presence of excess 206pb resulting from the incorporation of excess 230th in monazite formed during ht lp metamorphism suggest that monazite ages in the migmatites of the bayerische wald reflect crystallisation from melt at 850 800 c and persistence of older grains at these temperatures during a comparatively short thermal peak the u pb ages of titanite 321 ma and 40ar 39ar ages of hornblende 322 316 ma and biotite 313 309 ma reflect cooling through the respective closure temperatures of approximately 700 570 500 and 345 310 c published in the literature most of the feldspars ages 305 296 ma probably record cooling below 150 300 c while two grains most likely have higher closure temperatures the temperature time paths are characterised by a short thermal peak by moderate average cooling rates and by a decrease in cooling rates from 100 c my at temperatures between 850 800 and 700 c to 11 16 c my at temperatures down to 345 310 c further cooling to feldspar closure for ar was probably even slower the lack of decompressional features the moderate average cooling rates and the decline of cooling rates with time are not easily reconciled with a model of asthenospheric heating rapid uplift and extension due to lithospheric delamination as proposed elsewhere instead the high peak temperatures at comparatively shallow crustal levels along with the short thermal peak require external advective heating by hot mafic or ultramafic material

electron microprobe observations of pb diffusion in metamorphosed detrital monazites electron microprobe analyses have been made on monazite grains from paragneiss samples in the andalusite sillimanite transition 620 15 c and sillimanite orthoclase 680 15 c zones of the cretaceous ryoke metamorphic belt southwest japan monazites from pelitic gneisses are of metamorphic origin euhedral to subhedral and chronologically homogeneous giving chemical th u total pb isochron chime ages of 98 8 3 3 98 0 3 2 ma two psammitic gneisses of individual metamorphic grade contain both metamorphic monazite grains and detrital ones as old as ca 1700 ma most detrital monazite grains are heterogeneous in the tho2 and uo2 concentrations and have multiple or single rims as young as ca 100 ma several detrital monazite grains are well rounded in form exhibit homogeneous th and u distributions and show a pb diffusion profile in the margin the width of the diffusion zones is approximately constant throughout grains from each psammitic gneiss 18 22 m for 620 c and 48 58 m for 680 c assuming the isothermal diffusion of pb from homogeneous monazite spheres during a 5 ma duration of peak metamorphism we obtain diffusion coefficients of 1 9 0 3 10 21 and 1 5 0 3 10 20 cm2 s at 620 c and 680 c respectively these data derive an activation energy of 2 44 2 85 1 26 105 j mol and a frequency factor of 3 4 10 7 8 5 10 12 2 2 107 cm2 s taking account of uncertainties of 15 c in the temperatures and of 20 in the diffusion coefficients the diffusion parameters obtained from natural samples in this study provide a reliable insight into the closure temperature for pb in monazite that has been poorly understood so far

pb diffusion in monazite a combined rbs sims study abstract we report measurements of pb diffusion in both synthetic cepo4 and natural monazites run under dry 1 atm conditions powdered mixtures of prereacted cepo4 and pbzro3 were used as the source of pb diffusant for in diffusion experiments conducted in sealed pt capsules for durations ranging from a few hours to several weeks following the diffusion anneals pb concentration profiles were measured with rutherford backscattering spectroscopy rbs and supplemented by measurements with secondary ion mass spectrometry sims in order to evaluate potential compositional effects upon pb diffusivity and simulate diffusional pb loss that might occur in natural systems we also conducted out diffusion experiments on pb bearing natural monazites in these experiments monazite grains were surrounded by a synthetic zircon powder to act as a sink monazites from these experiments were analyzed with sims over the temperature range 1100 to 1350 c the arrhenius relation determined for in diffusion experiments on synthetic monazite is given by d 0 94 exp 592 39 kj mol 1 rt m 2 s 1 diffusivities for synthetic and natural monazites are similar as are results of measurements made on the same samples using both rbs and sims the activation energy for pb diffusion we determined is more than three times that for natural monazite reported previously with pb diffusivities at

high resolution transition zone structures of the gorda slab beneath the western united states implication for deep water subduction 1 the current data set from usarray provides an unprecedented opportunity to investigate mantle transition zone structures beneath the western united states we have made transition zone images with the common converted point ccp stacking method more than 9600 high quality receiver functions were stacked with reference to two different three dimensional tomography models and a one dimensional velocity model where the gorda plate passes through the transition zone the 410 discontinuity has been elevated 25 km and the 660 discontinuity has been depressed 35 km we interpret the transition zone topography in terms of mineral physics results in several different ways noting in particular that recent measurements on the clapeyron slope for the ringwoodite to perovskite phase transition under dry conditions give a phase boundary slope of 1 3 to 0 4 mpa k the 35 km deflection of the 660 discontinuity observed in the receiver functions seems to be the evidence that the subducted slab can carry abundant water from the surface to the transition zone and in the transition zone the water in the slab may be fully saturated e g the water content is 2 0 wt analyses of the velocity perturbations in the tomography models and the transition zone thickness indicate that the deep water is likely well confined within the subducted slab we infer that the presence of water in the subducted gorda slab might have contributed 15 km and the thermal anomaly in the slab might have contributed 20 km to the depression of the 660 discontinuity

sound velocities of hydrous ringwoodite to 16 gpa and 673 k article i nfo 0 026 si1 00h0 179o4 with 1 1 wt h2o using brillouin scattering combined with x ray diffraction in an externally heated diamond anvil cell up to 16 gpa and 673 k up to 12 gpa at 300 k the presence of 1 1 wt h2o lowers the elastic moduli of ringwoodite by 5 9 but does not affect the pressure derivatives of the elastic moduli compared to anhydrous ringwoodite the reduction caused by hydration is significantly enhanced when temperatures are elevated at high pressures at 12 gpa increasing temperature by t 100 k leads to a 1 3 2 4 reduction in the elastic moduli c11 c12 and c14 comparing our results with seismic observations we have evaluated the potential h2o content in the lower part of the transition zone our results indicate that the observed seismic velocity anomalies and related depth depression of the 660 km discontinuity could be attributed to thermal variations together with the presence of 0 1 wt h2o 2012 elsevier b v all rights reserved

low velocity zone atop the 410 km seismic discontinuity in the northwestern united states the seismic discontinuity at 410 km depth in the earth s mantle is generally attributed to the phase transition of mg fe 2sio 4 from the olivine to wadsleyite structure variation in the depth of this discontinuity is often taken as a proxy for mantle temperature owing to its response to thermal perturbations for example a cold anomaly would elevate the 410 km discontinuity because of its positive clapeyron slope whereas a warm anomaly would depress the discontinuity but trade offs between seismic wave speed heterogeneity and discontinuity topography often inhibit detailed analysis of these discontinuities and structure often appears very complicated here we simultaneously model seismic refracted waves and scattered waves from the 410 km discontinuity in the western united states to constrain structure in the region we find a low velocity zone with a shear wave velocity drop of 5 on top of the 410 km discontinuity beneath the northwestern united states extending from southwestern oregon to the northern basin and range province this low velocity zone has a thickness that varies from 20 to 90 km with rapid lateral variations its spatial extent coincides with both an anomalous composition of overlying volcanism and seismic receiver function observations observed above the region we interpret the low velocity zone as a compositional anomaly possibly due to a dense partial melt layer which may be linked to prior subduction of the farallon plate and back arc extension the existence of such a layer could be indicative of high water content in the earth s transition zone

effect of water in depleted mantle on post spinel transition and implication for 660 km seismic discontinuity abstract we have determined the post spinel transition boundary in anhydrous and hydrous mg2sio4 in a temperature range from 1173 to 2023 k at 19 3 25 4 gpa using synchrotron in situ x ray diffraction measurements the phase boundary in mg2sio4 is located at 22 gpa and 1800 k and 22 1 gpa and 1500 k which is slightly lower 0 3 0 5 gpa than that determined in the previous in situ measurements using the same pressure scale e g katsura et al 2003 post spinel transition in mg2sio4 determined by high p t in situ x ray diffractometry phys earth planet inter 136 11 24 the clapeyron slope of mg2sio4 was found to be gentle i e between 0 4 and 0 7 mpa k which is also consistent with previous in situ measurements but inconsistent with diamond anvil cell experiments and theoretical estimations the phase boundary in mg2sio4 2 wt h2o which is relevant to fe free depleted harzburgitic composition is located between 23 4 and 23 6 gpa and 1500 k which shifts the hydrous boundary to the higher pressures relative to anhydrous mg2sio4 from 1 3 to 1 0 gpa the result for hydrous mg2sio4 shows steeper clapeyron slope between 3 2 and 3 1 mpa k compared with anhydrous mg2sio4 and hydrous pyrolite system the present data suggest that water has a strong influence on 660 km discontinuity and the depressions observed at this boundary in several regions especially related to subduction zones can be explained by the presence of water in depleted harzburgite component

imaging mantle transition zone thickness with sds ss finite frequency sensitivity kernels summary we invert differential sds ss traveltime residuals measured from stacked waveforms and finitefrequency sensitivity kernels for topography on the 410 and 660 km discontinuities this approach yields higher resolution images of transition zone thickness than previous stacking methods which simply average smooth over topographic features apparent structure measured using simple stacking is highly dependent upon the bin size of each stack by inverting for discontinuity topography with a variety of bin sizes we can more accurately calculate the true structure the inverted transition zone model is similar to simple stack models with an average thickness of 242 km but the lateral variations in thickness are larger in amplitude and smaller in scale fast seismic velocities in 3 d mantle models such as sb4l18 correlate with areas of thicker transition zone the elongated curvilinear regions of thickened transition zone that occur near subduction zones are narrow and high amplitude which suggests relatively little lateral spreading and warming of subducted lithosphere within the transition zone the anomalously thin transition zone regions are laterally narrow and not broadly continuous if these variations in transition zone thickness are interpreted as thermal in nature then this model suggests significant temperature variations on small lateral scales

rheological transitions and the progress of melting of crustal rocks abstract high grade igneous and metamorphic systems which possess a variable percentage of melt may undergo a transition between crystal supported and fully fluid behavior the melt fraction interval over which this transition occurs is not well constrained we have conducted six series of numerical simulations of crustal melting using melt fraction intervals between 0 05 to 0 15 for this mechanical transition the results of these simulations demonstrate the dependence of convection and progress of melting on the rheological transition between solid and melt convective heat flux varied by a factor of 8 over the duration of the simulations 160 yr and the mass of melt produced varied by nearly a factor of 4 the onset of convection in simulations with the most gradual rheological transition was suppressed convective heat flux and progress of melting were more sensitive to the melt fraction interval for the rheological transition than to the composition of a range of crustal protoliths the rheological transition between solid and melt may be one of the dominant factors controlling the thermal evolution of high grade crustal rocks

overthrust terranes in the lachlan fold belt southeastern australia the paleozoic history of the lachlan fold belt involves terrane translation and accretion of discrete allochthonous fragments four major terranes developed adjacent to the gondwana continental margin and were overthrust in the middle devonian to form a partly composite crust for southeastern australia

some comments on the rheologically critical melt percentage abstract the concept of rheologically critical melt percentage rcmp originally proposed by arzi tectonophysics 44 1978 173 184 for partially molten granitic rocks is re examined it is shown that there is no experimental support to show the presence of rcmp the published experimental data suggest that the effective viscosity of partially molten granitic rocks is reduced rapidly and continuously with increasing melt fraction it is also shown that the experimental data may be modeled by means of the upper bound behavior the voigt bound of two phase material by assuming a melt localization which implies that there is no partitioning of strain between the solid and the melt

mantle transition zone discontinuities beneath the indochina peninsula implications for slab subduction and mantle upwelling while the northward indentation of the indian into eurasian plates has been intensively investigated its oblique subduction beneath the indochina peninsula icp and the role it played on mantle structure and dynamics remain enigmatic in this first regional scale receiver function study of the mantle transition zone mtz discontinuities beneath the icp and its surrounding areas we stack 12 000 receiver functions recorded at 33 stations using a non plane wave common conversion point stacking technique systematic spatial variations of mtz thickness with departures between 21 and 24 km from the globally averaged value are revealed providing independent evidence for the presence of slab segments in the mtz beneath the central and a slab window beneath the western icp the results also support the existence of broad mantle upwelling adjacent to the eastern edge of the slab segments which might be responsible for the widespread cenozoic volcanisms and pervasively observed upper mantle low velocities in the area

in situ x ray diffraction study of post spinel transformation in a peridotite mantle implication for the 660 km discontinuity abstract we present the phase relations in anhydrous cao mgo feo al2o3 sio2 pyrolite to examine the influence of compositional difference between pyrolite and mg2sio4 on the post spinel phase transformation it is shown that in the pyrolite system the transformation occurs at about 0 5 gpa lower pressure relative to mg2sio4 we have carried out several in situ x ray diffraction experiments on ringwoodite to mg perovskite ferropericlase and backward transformations and found that post spinel transformation boundary can be expressed as p gpa 0 0005 t k 23 54 using the gold equation of state by tsuchiya t tsuchiya first principles prediction of the p v t equation of state of gold and the 660 km discontinuity in earth s mantle j geophys res 108 2003 doi 10 1029 2003jb002446 the interval for coexisting ringwoodite and mg perovskite was found to be 0 1 0 5 gpa the discrepancy between our data and the depth of the seismic discontinuity global average 654 km is about 20 km at 1850 k based on the results of in situ measurements we confirmed that the difference in chemical composition between pyrolite and mg2sio4 cannot modify the clapeyron slope of the post spinel transformation using experimental data and assuming the average mantle temperature 1850 k at 660 km we can account for only a half of variations in the depth of the 660 km discontinuity in subduction zones and at hot spots an additional explanation for the observed seismological variations at the 660 km discontinuity is required and may reflect influence of other minor components or volatiles

melt segregation and matrix compaction the mush continuity equation compaction segregation time implications summary two phase aggregates a special case of which is partially molten systems are commonly modelled as an interpenetrating flow of two viscous liquids and are therefore described in terms of the fluid mechanics the governing equation set of fluid mechanics describing a two phase aggregate is incomplete as it consists of nine equations momentum and mass conservation equations for each phase and an energy conservation equation in ten unknowns six velocity components two pressures temperature and melt fraction in this paper the general equation closing the governing equation set is derived it explicitly expresses the condition of the coupling between the liquid percolation and porosity volume change due to which the medium continuity is maintained therefore the equation may be referred to as the mush continuity equation the character of the closed set solutions is demonstrated using 1 d isothermal models by examples of melt segregation inside a bounded low melting degree zone and sediment compaction at the bottom of a reservoir the compaction segregation style and time are controlled by the compaction segregation parameter c l c 2 and compaction segregation length depending on the mushy layer thickness l matrix permeability k characteristic porosity 0 and matrix and fluid viscosities at low c which approximately corresponds to low viscosity liquids kimberlites carbonatites the compaction segregation time scales as l 1 which effectively constrains the molten region thickness at the moment of the segregation and appears to explain the small volume and clustering of low viscosity magma eruptions characteristic of kimberlites at high c the porosity evolves through a formation of a series of isolated waves which could provide an explanation for the rhythmicity observed in large layered plutons

trans pacific temperature field in the mantle transition region derived from seismic and electromagnetic tomography abstract the trans pacific temperature field for the depth range 350 850 km was inferred from global seismic tomography and semi global electromagnetic tomography the seismic tomography incorporated millions of reported first arrival times and 7000 pp p differential travel times measured on broadband seismograms the electromagnetic tomography used voltage data from trans pacific submarine cables and magnetic field data from circum pacific geomagnetic observatories the resultant p wave velocity anomalies and electrical conductivity anomalies were converted to temperature anomalies using a proposed conversion formula and experimental results for mantle minerals respectively these conversions show consistently high temperature anomalies of 200 300 k in the mantle transition region beneath the hawaiian hotspot at subduction zones where slab related cold anomalies and wedge mantle related hot anomalies are likely to coexist in close proximity the seismic and electromagnetic tomography did not always give consistent features in part because of the preferred sensitivity of electromagnetic tomography to hot anomalies low temperature anomalies of 200 300 k associated with subducted slabs are clearly resolved in the seismic tomography but are less apparent in the electromagnetic tomography the high temperature anomaly in the intervening zone between the mariana and philippine slabs is very pronounced in the electromagnetic tomography but is marginal in the seismic tomography

flow of synthetic wet partially molten granite under undrained conditions an experimental study 1 major problems in experimental studies of the flow of partially molten granitic rocks are 1 maintaining control of the grain size of the matrix of solid grains 2 controlling the melt fraction and 3 controlling the melt viscosity closely linked to water content to overcome these problems we used a synthetic granitoid comprising a solid matrix of quartz grains 50 m grain size mixed with an albite quartz melt prepared from oxides with added water 2 5 wt dissolved in the melt phase viscosity 9 104 pa s experiments were performed undrained with melt fractions of 0 1 0 2 0 25 and 0 3 constant strain rate creep and stress relaxation experiments were carried out in a gas medium apparatus at 1273 and 1173 k mostly at 300 mpa confining pressure up to 15 shortening strain strain rates ranged between 10 4 to less than 10 7 s 1 and fully ductile mechanical behavior was observed melt fraction has a more profound effect on strength than water content temperature or total confining pressure low strain rate 10 6 s 1 data were fitted to an empirical flow law of the form d dt a exp b m exp h rt n with the parameters loga 1 39 m 3 n 1 8 b 192 h 220 kjmol 1 where d dt is strain rate s 1 is flow stress mpa is melt fraction and t is temperature k strength is expected to fall rapidly above about 0 4 melt fraction to levels characteristic of flow of the melt containing suspended crystallites extrapolation to geological strain rates using this flow law shows that in nature migmatites bearing granitic melt will be extremely weak much weaker than silicate rocks deforming by intracrystalline plasticity microstructural study shows grains remain equant at all strains with no discernable formation of a grain flattening fabric nor a large strain contribution from microfracturing thus bulk intracrystalline plasticity is of minor importance and intergranular sliding is implied the nonlinear flow observed is tentatively attributed to a combination of sintering of grain contacts and sliding failure of such contacts with a substantial contribution from diffusive transfer processes

reply to comment by brian stevens on evidence and timing of crustal extension versus shortening in the early tectonothermal evolution of a proterozoic continental rift sequence at broken hill australia

global variability of transition zone thickness 1 we analyze recordings from more than 3000 shallow earthquakes and measure s410s s660s differential travel times on a global scale these differential times are obtained using a novel cross correlation technique that eliminates effects associated with a priori assumptions of crustal thickness and velocity variations above the upper mantle transition zone our measurements show absolute perturbations up to 8 s from the global average 242 km which imply transition zone thickness variations of 20 km on a length scale of 2000 km the transition zone under major subduction zones e g the western pacific and south america is significantly thicker than the global average this could be associated with large scale depressions of the 660 km discontinuity due to the accumulation of cold oceanic lithosphere at the base of the upper mantle a narrow transition zone is observed under the central pacific and northern atlantic oceans we also observe a modest anticorrelation between s410s s660s times and the delay times of shear waves predicted using s12 wm13 su et al 1994 in the transition zone which suggests considerable thermal influence on the large scale topography of the 410 and 660 km discontinuities the lack of a stronger anticorrelation suggests that 1 compositional heterogeneities may be present and 2 a significant fraction of thermal anomalies near the transition zone do not extend through the transition zone and influence both the 410 and the 660 km discontinuities a regional analysis shows that the transition zone is on average 6 8 km thicker under continents than under oceans this implies a temperature difference of 50 70 c however we do not observe a clear correlation between thickness and the age of the crust

hot orogens tectonic switching and creation of continental crust many granulite terrains were too hot to have formed during continental collision rather along with many high grade metamorphic terrains that typify continental crust most formed in accretionary orogens during tectonic switching when prolonged lithospheric extension was interrupted by intermittent transient contraction based on modern and ancient examples tectonic switching occurs when slab retreat induces upper plate extension causing arc splitting formation of microcontinent slivers and backarc basins then intermittent arrival of buoyant oceanic plateaus induces transient flat subduction or slab flip and crustal thickening during slab retreat basaltic magmas produced from decompressed asthenosphere advect into the extending orogen causing granulite facies metamorphism and granite generation but subsequent thickening during flat subduction cools the region thickening is focused in the thermally softened backarc region and if sediment filled a hot short lived 10 m y narrow 50 100 km orogenic belt forms such thickening is often misleadingly ascribed to arc or microcontinent collision once slab retreat mode is reestablished lithospheric extension recommences and a new arc backarc system forms generally outboard arrival of another plateau will reverse the procedure and another short lived hot orogen will form within the orogenic system cycles of tectonic switching efficiently produce continental crust

structure of the mantle transition zone beneath the north china craton abstract detailed information on deep structural features can improve current understanding of lithospheric thinning and destruction of the north china craton in this study we analyzed receiver functions rfs from teleseismic p waveforms recorded by 246 seismic stations beneath the north china craton ncc to determine the topography of the mantle transition zone mtz the results reveal specific features in the 410 and 660 km discontinuities and outlined mtz thickness beneath the study area the mtz structure shows two anomalously thickened regions beneath the ncc up to 30 40 km thicker than the global average which are mainly concentrated in the eastern and western sections of the eastern ncc encc the thickened regions are discontinuous and separated by a distance of about 400 km double 660 km discontinuities also appear in the southeastern encc combining these results with previous findings we propose a model in which mtz thickening is caused by discrete remnants of the subducted western pacific slab discontinuities resulting from the stagnant slabs may retain evidence of changes in the rate of pacific plate subduction as well as the phase transition of the subducted slabs within the mtz

absence of density crossover between basalt and peridotite in the cold slabs passing through 660 km discontinuity 1 interaction between subducting slabs and surrounding mantle near 660 km discontinuity is one of the key issues in the dynamic of deep earth distinguishing phase transformations occur in the both major parts of the slab basaltic crust and underlying peridotite post spinel transformation in peridotite takes place at 660 km whereas post garnet transformation in basalt is considered to occur at 720 800 km creating density crossover in this paper we determined the post garnet phase boundary in mid ocean ridge basalt representative for oceanic crust by in situ x ray diffraction studies the phase boundary can be expressed as p gpa 0 0041 t k 17 92 the present results imply that the basaltic component of the cold slab transformed to perovskite assembly at lower pressure than the surrounding mantle and provide direct evidence for penetration of the oceanic crust into the lower mantle without gravitational separation from the peridotite body of the slab

subduction in the southern caribbean images from finite frequency p wave tomography 1 the eastern boundary of the caribbean plate is marked by subduction of the atlantic under the lesser antilles the southeastern plate boundary is characterized by a strike slip margin while different configurations of subduction of the southwest caribbean under south america have been proposed we investigate the slab geometry in the upper mantle using multiple frequency teleseismic p wave tomography waveforms from p and pkpdf phases from 285 mb 5 0 events occurring at epicentral distances from 30 to 90 and greater than 150 were bandpass filtered and cross correlated to obtain up to three sets of delay times for each event the delay times were inverted using approximate first fresnel zone sensitivity kernels our results show the subducting atlantic slab as well as a second slab in the west of the study area that we interpret as a subducting fragment of the caribbean plate both slabs have steep dips where imaged and can be traced to depths greater than 600 km these results are consistent with transition zone boundary topography as determined by receiver function analysis the atlantic slab extends continent ward south of the plate bounding strike slip margin we interpret this extension as continental margin lithospheric mantle that is detaching from beneath south america and subducting along with the oceanic atlantic slab the steep subduction of the caribbean occurs 500 km landward from the trench implying an initial stage of shallow subduction as far to the east as the lake maracaibo merida andes region as has been inferred from intermediate depth seismicity

experimental deformation of partially melted granitic aggregates abstract the effects of varying amounts of partial melt on the deformation of granitic aggregates have been tested experimentally at conditions 900 c 1500 mpa 10 4 to 10 6 s where melt free samples deform by dislocation creep with microstructures approximately equivalent to those of upper greenschist facies experiments were performed on samples of various grain sizes including an aplite 150 m and sintered aggregates of quartz albitemicrocline 10 50 and 2 10 m water was added to the samples to obtain various amounts of melt 1 15 in the aplite 1 5 in the sintered aggregates optical and tem observations of the melt distribution in hydrostatically annealed samples show that the melt in the sintered aggregates is homogeneously distributed along an interconnected network of triple junction channels while the melt in the aplites is inhomogeneously distributed the effect of partial melt on deformation depends an melt amount and distribution grain size and strain rate for samples deformed with 1 melt all grain sizes exhibit microstructures indicative of dislocation creep for samples deformed with 3 5 melt the 150 m and 10 50 m grain size samples also exhibit dislocation creep microstructures but the 2 10 m grain size samples exhibit abundant tem scale evidence of dissolution precipitation and little evidence of dislocation activity suggesting a switch in deformation mechanism to predominantly melt enhanced diffusion creep at natural strain rates melt enhanced diffusion creep would predominate at larger grain sizes although probably not for most coarse grained granites the effects of melt percentage and strain rate have been studied for the 150 m aplites for samples with 5 and 10 melt deformation at 10 6 s squeezes excess melt out of the central compressed region allowing predominantly dislocation creep conversely deformation at 10 5 s produces considerable cataclasis presumably because the excess melt cannot flow laterally fast enough and a high pore fluid pressure results for samples with 15 melt deformation at both strain rates produces cataclasis presumably because the inhomogeneous melt distribution resulted in regions of decoupled grains which would produce high stress concentrations at point contacts at natural strain rates there should be little or no cataclasis if an equilibrium melt texture exists and if the melt can flow as fast as the imposed strain rate however if the melt is confined and cannot migrate a high pore fluid pressure should promote brittle deformation

p and sh velocity structure in the upper mantle beneath northeast china evidence for a stagnant slab in hydrous mantle transition zone abstract using high dense regional body waves for three deep earthquakes that occurred around russia china border we investigate both s and p wave velocity structures in the mantle transition zone beneath northeast china and northern part of north china craton where the northwestern pacific plate is imaged to subhorizontally lie above the 660 km discontinuity we observe an increasing trend of s p travel time residuals along the epicentral distance within a distance range of 11 16 5 indicating a velocity anomaly in mtz we seek the simplest model that explains the observed broadband waveforms and relative travel times of triplication for a confined azimuth sector both sh and p data suggest a 140 20 km high velocity layer lying above a slightly depressed and broad 660 km discontinuity shear velocity reduction of 2 5 in the deeper part of the transition zone is required to compensate for the significantly large relative time between ab and cd triplicate branches and the increased trending of s p travel time residuals as well the mtz as a whole is featured by low shear velocity and high v p v s ratio a water rich mantle transition zone with 0 2 0 4 wt of h 2 o may account for the discrepancy between the observed v p and v s velocity structures our result supports the scenario of a viscosity dominated stagnant slab with an increased thickness of 140 km which was caused by the large viscosity contrast between the lower and upper mantles the addition of water and eastward trench retreat might facilitate stagnation of the subducting pacific slab beneath northeast china

thermal expansion of wadsleyite ringwoodite hydrous wadsleyite and hydrous ringwoodite abstract the thermal expansions of wadsleyite ringwoodite hydrous wadsleyite and hydrous ringwoodite have been determined by high temperature powder x ray diffraction at ambient pressure wadsleyite and ringwoodite persist up to 700 c and their thermal expansion coefficients are measured as 34 0 5 10 6 and 30 7 6 10 6 k 1 respectively values that are slightly larger than those measured by j phys earth 27 1979 53 j phys earth 28 1980 273 hydrous wadsleyite and hydrous ringwoodite were dehydrated at 450 and 400 c respectively below their dehydration temperatures their thermal expansion coefficients are 30 1 14 10 6 and 27 3 9 10 6 k 1 respectively which are slightly lower than those of their anhydrous forms using the present results combined with the previous thermoelastic data the seismic velocity contrast at the 410 km discontinuity has been calculated for both dry and wet mantle if a pyrolite composition is assumed a hydrous mantle transition zone better explains seismic constraints

the velay dome french massif central melt generation and granite emplacement during orogenic evolution this paper is a synthesis of available data on the velay dome that include both small and large scale lithologic and structural mapping strain analysis isotope geochemistry geochronology and pressure temperature estimates the velay dome one of the largest granite migmatite domes of the variscan belt formed during orogenic collapse at around 300 ma its study allows an assessment of the thermal and geodynamic context leading to voluminous crustal anatexis of the variscan orogenic crust a first melting stage developed in connection with south verging thrust zones during the early carboniferous leading to a crustal thickening estimated at 20 km minimum the involvement of fertile lithologies and the intrusion of plutons of deep origin contributed to the development of water saturated melts the volume of biotite granite extracted from melt during this period was limited the second phase of melting corresponded to generalized melting of gneiss achieved by biotite dehydration melting reactions and accompanied by the generation of cordierite bearing granites at this stage crustal scale detachment faults were activeandpartiallyobliteratedtheearlierstructures thenewstructureswereprogressivelytiltedtotheverticalatthemarginofthe velay dome due to the southward and lateral ballooning of the granitic dome the reconstructed p t path indicate that the large volume ofmelt produced was a consequence ofa significant increase in temperature at the onset of biotite dehydration melting at the base of the crust this melting event is coeval with granulite facies metamorphism associated to underplating of mantle derived magmas as suggested by the geochemical signature of late paleozoic lower crustal xenoliths sampled by cenozoic volcanoes and withtheisotopicsignatureofthelategraniticintrusions accordingly itisproposedthatasthenosphericupwellingwasresponsible for the temperature increase favoring melting of hydrous minerals d 2001 published by elsevier science b v