Subduction and accumulation of lawsonite eclogite and garnet blueschist in eastern Australia

Lawsonite eclogite and garnet blueschist occur as metre‐scale blocks within serpentinite mélange in the southern New England Orogen (SNEO) in eastern Australia. These high‐P fragments are the products of early Palaeozoic subduction of the palaeo‐Pacific plate beneath East Gondwana. Lu–Hf, Sm–Nd, and U–Pb geochronological data from Port Macquarie show that eclogite mineral assemblages formed between c. 500 and 470 Ma ago and became mixed together within a serpentinite‐filled subduction channel. Age data and P–T modelling indicate lawsonite eclogite formed at ~2.7 GPa and 590°C at c. 490 Ma, whereas peak garnet in blueschist formed at ~2.0 GPa and 550°C at c. 470 Ma. The post‐peak evolution of lawsonite eclogite was associated with the preservation of pristine lawsonite‐bearing assemblages and the formation of glaucophane. By contrast, the garnet blueschist was derived from a precursor garnet–omphacite assemblage. The geochronological data from these different aged high‐P assemblages indicate the high‐P rocks were formed during subduction on the margin of cratonic Australia during the Cambro‐Ordovician. The rocks however now reside in the Devonian–Carboniferous southern SNEO, which forms the youngest and most outboard of the eastern Gondwanan Australian orogenic belts. Geodynamic modelling suggests that over the time‐scales that subduction products accumulated, the high‐P rocks migrated large distances (~>1,000 km) during slab retreat. Consequently, high‐P rocks that are trapped in subduction channels may also migrate large distances prior to exhumation, potentially becoming incorporated into younger orogenic belts whose evolution is not directly related to the formation of the exhumed high‐P rocks.Renée Tamblyn, Martin Hand, David Kelsey, Robert Anczkiewicz, David Oc

Radiogenic heat production drives Cambrian–Ordovician metamorphism of the Curnamona Province, south-central Australia: Insights from petrochronology and thermal modelling

Multi-mineral petrochronology can effectively track changes in the thermochemical environment experienced by rocks during metamorphism. We demonstrate this concept using garnet–chlorite schists from the Walter-Outalpa Shear Zone of the southern Curnamona Province, South Australia, which reveal a cryptic and protracted (c. 39 Myr) record of high thermal gradient metamorphism. Petrochronological data including in situ monazite U–Pb and garnet Lu–Hf and Sm–Nd dating suggest elevated geotherms were persistent between at least c. 519–480 Ma, throughout the duration of garnet growth. Additional in situ xenotime U–Pb dating implies that partial garnet breakdown occurred between c. 480–440 Ma, likely induced by fluid-rock interaction or exhumation. Although metamorphism temporally overlaps with the timing of the regional Delamerian Orogeny (c. 520–480 Ma), the thermal mechanism to sustain elevated temperatures has remained enigmatic. One-dimensional thermal models are used to appraise the role of radiogenic heat production in driving the observed high thermal gradient metamorphism. The models reveal that with only modest crustal thickening during orogenesis, the endogenous radiogenic heat production hosted within the basement rocks could plausibly provide the thermal impetus for metamorphism

New Evidence of 'Anomalous' Vertical Movements along the Hinterland of the Atlantic NW African Margin

Low‐temperature thermochronology studies revealed major exhumation events affecting domains in the hinterland of the Central Atlantic margins, where Palaeozoic and/or Precambrian basement is exposed. Thus, domains traditionally assumed to be stable since at least the Variscan and juxtaposed to subsiding Meso‐Cenozoic basins, appear to be affected by km‐scale vertical movements during the Atlantic rifting and after the Early Jurassic breakup in the Central Atlantic. In this contribution, we investigate the extent and the magnitude of these motions along the NW African margin by presenting the first low‐temperature thermochronology data from west Mauritania. The analysed 22 samples were collected along the Mauritanides, N‐S trending Variscan Belt separating the cratonic Taoudeni Basin in the east from the Atlantic coastal basin in the west. The obtained apatite fission track (AFT) ages range between 236 and 90 Ma, with mean track lengths between 11.22 and 12.81 μm and Dpar comprised between 1.6 and 2.1 μm. The uncorrected (U‐Th‐Sm)/He (AHe) ages vary between 261 and 33 Ma. Inverse thermal modelling of the AFT and AHe data indicates that the hinterland of the Mauritanian Atlantic margin experienced (i) burial between the Permian and the Late Triassic, (ii) km‐scale exhumation during Middle‐Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous, (iii) burial during the Palaeogene‐‐early Miocene, and (iv) exhumation between mid‐Miocene and present‐day. We argue that these vertical movements are primarily driven by the tectonic evolution of the Atlantic rift and the subsequent geodynamic evolution of the Central Atlantic Ocean and the African plate

Exhumation history of the Red River shear zone in northern Vietnam: New insights from zircon and apatite fission-track analysis

A new set of zircon and apatite fission-track ages from the Ailao Shan and Day Nui Con Voi (DNCV) metamorphic massifs of the Red River shear zone (RRSZ) and neighboring rocks in northern Vietnam is presented. A complex, along-strike diachronous, denudation history is revealed. The southern sector of the DNCV cooled to about 100 °C by the Late Oligocene, whereas its central compartment was affected by the later thermotectonic evolution of the Song Chay dome to the E of the RRSZ, whose final exhumation occurred during the Early Miocene. The northern sector of the RRSZ is characterized by the 35 Ma Phan Si Pang pre- to synkinematic intrusion. Fission-track ages from a vertical section within the Phan Si Pang granite indicate rapid exhumation and cooling. The Paleozoic tectonic block to the west of the RRSZ (fission-track ages between 40 and 30 Ma) was exhumed and cooled earlier than the fault mylonite belt (fission track ages of 30 Ma and younger) and also than the eastern block. Its structural level is consistent with field observations that suggest the RRSZ in northern Vietnam to be a transtensional system, with a regional NE-SW oriented extension component. © 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Exhumation history of a garnet Pyroxenite-bearing mantle section from a continent-ocean transition(Northern Apennine ophiolites, Italy)

Garnet clinopyroxenite and garnet websterite layers occur locally within mantle peridotite bodies from the External Liguride Jurassic ophiolites (Northern Apennines, Italy). These ophiolites were derived from an ocean–continent transition similar to the present day western Iberian margin. The garnet clinopyroxenites are mafic rocks with a primary mineral assemblage of pyrope-rich garnet + sodic Al-augite (Na2O ca. 2.5 wt %, Al2O3 ca.12.5 wt %), with accessory graphite, Fe–Ni sulphides and rutile. Decompression caused Na-rich plagioclase (An50–45) exsolution in clinopyroxene porphyroclasts and extensive development of symplectites composed of secondary orthopyroxene + plagioclase (An85–72) þ Al-spinel ± clinopyroxene ± ilmenite at the interface between garnet and primary clinopyroxene. Further decompression is recorded by the development of an olivine + plagioclase-bearing assemblage, locally under syn-kinematic conditions, at the expense of two-pyroxenes þ Al-spinel. Mg-rich garnet has been also found in the websterite layers, which are commonly characterized by the occurrence of symplectites made of orthopyroxene þ Al-spinel ± clinopyroxene. The enclosing peridotites are Ti-amphibole-bearing lherzolites with a fertile geochemical signature and a widespread plagioclase-facies mylonitic foliation, which preserve in places a spinel tectonite fabric. Lu–Hf and Sm–Nd mineral isochrons (220 ± 13 Ma and 186.0 ± 1.8 Ma, respectively) have been obtained from a garnet clinopyroxenite layer and interpreted as cooling ages. Geothermobarometric estimates for the high-pressure equilibration have yielded T ca.1100°C and P ca. 2.8 GPa. The early decompression was associated with moderate cooling, corresponding to T ca. 950°C, and development of a spinel tectonite fabric in the lherzolites. Further decompression associated with plagioclase–olivine growth in both peridotites and pyroxenites was nearly isothermal. The shallow evolution occurred under a brittle regime and led to the superposition of hornblende to serpentine veining stages. The garnet pyroxenite-bearing mantle from the External Liguride ophiolites represents a rare tectonic sampling of deep levels of subcontinental lithosphere exhumed in an oceanic setting. The exhumation was probably accomplished through a two-step process that started during Late Palaeozoic continental extension. The low-pressure portion of the exhumation path, probably including also the plagioclase mylonitic shear zones, was related to the Mesozoic (Triassic to Jurassic) rifting that led to continental break-up. In Jurassic times, the studied mantle sequence became involved in an extensional detachment process that resulted in sea-floor denudatio

Exhumation history of a garnet pyroxenite-bearing mantle section from a continent-ocean transition (Northern Apennine ophiolites, Italy)

Garnet clinopyroxenite and garnet websterite layers occur locally within mantle peridotite bodies from the External Liguride Jurassic ophiolites (Northern Apennines, Italy). These ophiolites were derived from an ocean–continent transition similar to the present day western Iberian margin. The garnet clinopyroxenites are mafic rocks with a primary mineral assemblage of pyrope-rich garnet + sodic Al-augite (Na2O ca. 2.5 wt %, Al2O3 ca.12.5 wt %), with accessory graphite, Fe–Ni sulphides and rutile. Decompression caused Na-rich plagioclase (An50–45) exsolution in clinopyroxene porphyroclasts and extensive development of symplectites composed of secondary orthopyroxene + plagioclase (An85–72) þ Al-spinel ± clinopyroxene ± ilmenite at the interface between garnet and primary clinopyroxene. Further decompression is recorded by the development of an olivine + plagioclase-bearing assemblage, locally under syn-kinematic conditions, at the expense of two-pyroxenes þ Al-spinel. Mg-rich garnet has been also found in the websterite layers, which are commonly characterized by the occurrence of symplectites made of orthopyroxene þ Al-spinel ± clinopyroxene. The enclosing peridotites are Ti-amphibole-bearing lherzolites with a fertile geochemical signature and a widespread plagioclase-facies mylonitic foliation, which preserve in places a spinel tectonite fabric. Lu–Hf and Sm–Nd mineral isochrons (220 ± 13 Ma and 186.0 ± 1.8 Ma, respectively) have been obtained from a garnet clinopyroxenite layer and interpreted as cooling ages. Geothermobarometric estimates for the high-pressure equilibration have yielded T ca.1100°C and P ca. 2.8 GPa. The early decompression was associated with moderate cooling, corresponding to T ca. 950°C, and development of a spinel tectonite fabric in the lherzolites. Further decompression associated with plagioclase–olivine growth in both peridotites and pyroxenites was nearly isothermal. The shallow evolution occurred under a brittle regime and led to the superposition of hornblende to serpentine veining stages. The garnet pyroxenite-bearing mantle from the External Liguride ophiolites represents a rare tectonic sampling of deep levels of subcontinental lithosphere exhumed in an oceanic setting. The exhumation was probably accomplished through a two-step process that started during Late Palaeozoic continental extension. The low-pressure portion of the exhumation path, probably including also the plagioclase mylonitic shear zones, was related to the Mesozoic (Triassic to Jurassic) rifting that led to continental break-up. In Jurassic times, the studied mantle sequence became involved in an extensional detachment process that resulted in sea-floor denudatio