Early exhumation of high-pressure rocks in extrusion wedges: Cycladic blueschist unit in the eastern Aegean, Greece, and Turkey
Structural, metamorphic, and geochronologic work shows that the Ampelos/Dilek nappe of the Cycladic blueschist unit in the eastern Aegean constitutes a wedge of high-pressure rocks extruded during early stages of orogeny. The extrusion wedge formed during the incipient collision of the Anatolian microcontinent with Eurasia when subduction and deep underthrusting ceased and the Ampelos/Dilek nappe was thrust southward over the greenschist-facies Menderes nappes along its lower tectonic contact, the Cycladic-Menderes thrust, effectively cutting out a ∼30- to 40-km-thick section of crust. The upper contact of the Ampelos/Dilek extrusion wedge is the top-to-the-NE Selcuk normal shear zone, alon…
Diffusion versus recrystallization processes in Rb–Sr geochronology: Isotopic relics in eclogite facies rocks, Western Gneiss Region, Norway
Abstract Rb–Sr and U–Pb isotopic data for granulite facies rocks, forming textural relics with respect to eclogite facies metamorphism in the Western Gneiss Region (WGR) of Norway, highlight the importance of textures and mineral reaction kinetics for the interpretation of geochronological data. Studied rocks from Bardsholmen, southern WGR, were subjected to granulite facies metamorphism at 955 ± 3 Ma (U–Pb, zircon). Later on, they experienced a subduction-related, kinetically stranded eclogitization ( T > 650 °C at ∼20 kbar) at 404 ± 2 Ma (Rb–Sr multimineral internal isochron data), followed by exhumation through amphibolite facies conditions. Full conversion of granulite to eclogite was …
Coeval high-pressure metamorphism, thrusting, strike-slip, and extensional shearing in the Tauern Window, Eastern Alps
[1] Recent findings for a young (31.5 ± 0.7 Ma) age of high-pressure metamorphism at ∼90 km depths in the Eclogite Zone of the Tauern Window, Eastern Alps, prompt the question about the timing of the structural development of the Tauern Window and its relation to high-pressure metamorphism. We show that all major structures in the Tauern Window, resulting from strong N-S lithospheric shortening and simultaneous minor E-W extension, began developing coevally with high-pressure metamorphism in the Eclogite Zone. Large-scale strike-slip shear zones started to form at ∼32–30 Ma and facilitated the spatial accommodation of simultaneous shortening and extension. At least some of the strike-slip a…
Petrogenesis of orogenic lamproites of the Bohemian Massif: Sr–Nd–Pb–Li isotope constraints for Variscan enrichment of ultra-depleted mantle domains
Abstract During convergence of Gondwana-derived microplates and Laurussia in the Palaeozoic, subduction of oceanic and continental crusts and their sedimentary cover introduced material of regionally contrasting chemical and isotopic compositions into the mantle. This slab material metasomatised the local mantle, producing a highly heterogeneous lithospheric mantle beneath the European Variscides. The eastern termination of the European Variscides (Moldanubian and Saxo-Thuringian zones of Austria, Czech Republic, Germany and Poland) is unusual in that the mantle was modified by material from several subduction zones within a small area. Orogenic lamproites sampled this lithospheric mantle, …
The extensional Messaria shear zone and associated brittle detachment faults, Aegean Sea, Greece
Structural, thermochronological and metamorphic data are used to elucidate the tectonic nature and evolution of the ductile extensional Messaria shear zone and the associated brittle Messaria and Fanari detachment faults, which exhumed their footwall from mid-crustal depths on the island of Ikaria in the Aegean. Thermobarometric data indicate that the Messaria shear zone formed at 350–>400 °C and 3–4 kbar (i.e. at a depth of c . 15 km). Normal faulting was accompanied by the intrusion of two granites, which together with the thermobarometric data indicate a relatively high thermal field gradient of 25–35 °C km −1 . Zircon and apatite fission-track and apatite (U–Th)/He ages demonstrate rapi…
The extensional Messaria shear zone and associated brittle detachment faults, Aegean Sea, Greece
Structural, thermochronological and metamorphic data are used to elucidate the tectonic nature and evolution of the ductile extensional Messaria shear zone and the associated brittle Messaria and Fanari detachment faults, which exhumed their footwall from mid-crustal depths on the island of Ikaria in the Aegean. Thermobarometric data indicate that the Messaria shear zone formed at 350–>400 °C and 3–4 kbar (i.e. at a depth of c. 15 km). Normal faulting was accompanied by the intrusion of two granites, which together with the thermobarometric data indicate a relatively high thermal field gradient of 25–35 °C km−1. Zircon and apatite fission-track and apatite (U–Th)/He ages demonstrate rapi…