Search results for "Blueschist"

Emergence of blueschists on Earth linked to secular changes in oceanic crust composition

2015

The oldest blueschists—metamorphic rocks formed during subduction—are of Neoproterozoic age1, and 0.7–0.8 billion years old. Yet, subduction of oceanic crust to mantle depths is thought to have occurred since the Hadean, over 4 billion years ago2. Blueschists typically form under cold geothermal gradients of less than 400 °C GPa−1, so their absence in the ancient rock record is typically attributed to hotter pre-Neoproterozoic mantle prohibiting such low-temperature metamorphism; however, modern analogues of Archaean subduction suggest that blueschist-facies metamorphic conditions are attainable at the slab surface3. Here we show that the absence of blueschists in the ancient geological rec…

Early exhumation of high-pressure rocks in extrusion wedges: Cycladic blueschist unit in the eastern Aegean, Greece, and Turkey

2007

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…

Timing of deformational events in the Río San Juan complex: implications for the tectonic controls on the exhumation of high-P rocks in the northern …

2013

An integrated structural, petrological and geochronological study was undertaken to constrain the tectonic history and controls on the exhumation of the high-P rocks of the Río San Juan complex in the northern Caribbean subduction–accretionary wedge. In the main structural units of the complex, microtextural analyses were performed to identify the fabrics formed at peak ofmetamorphismin eclogite-facies conditions and during the main retrogressive event toward the low-P amphibolite or blueschist/greenschist-facies conditions. U–Pb SHRIMP dating on zircon rims (71.3 ± 0.7 Ma) coupled with 40Ar–39Ar analyses on phengite (~70– 69 Ma) in felsic sills placed temporal constraints on the exhumation…

Fast extension but little exhumation: the Vari detachment in the Cyclades, Greece

2003

Markedly different cooling histories for the hanging- and footwall of the Vari detachment on Syros and Tinos islands, Greece, are revealed by zircon and apatite fission-track data. The Vari/Akrotiri unit in the hangingwall cooled slowly at rates of 5–15 °C Myr−1 since Late Cretaceous times. Samples from the Cycladic blueschist unit in the footwall of the detachment on Tinos Island have a mean zircon fission-track age of 10.0±1.0 Ma, which together with a published mean apatite fission-track age of 9.4±0.5 Ma indicates rapid cooling at rates of at least ∼60 °C Myr−1. We derive a minimum slip rate of ∼6.5 km Myr−1 and a displacement of <∼20 km and propose that the development of the detach…

Coeval high-pressure metamorphism, thrusting, strike-slip, and extensional shearing in the Tauern Window, Eastern Alps

2008

[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…

METAMORPHIC EVOLUTION OF SPESSARTINE QUARTZITES (COTICULES) IN THE HIGH-PRESSURE, LOW-TEMPERATURE COMPLEX AT BAHIA MANSA, COASTAL CORDILLERA OF SOUTH…

2001

Lenses of spessartine quartzites (coticules) are associated with greenschist intercalations in coastal exposures at Bahia Mansa within the mainly metapsammopelitic Western Series, which forms most of the basement in the Coastal Cordillera of central to southern Chile. The chemical compositions of the coticules can be explained by protoliths formed from ferriferous and manganiferous hydrothermal precipitates mixed with aluminous alteration-derived material on top of oceanic crust. The peak conditions of metamorphism were calculated with multivariant reactions: 270–370 °C, 6–8 kbar. A retrograde P–T evolution was marked by decompression to 2 kbar during cooling below 300°C, influx of an exter…

Omphacite textures in eclogites of the Tauern Window: Implications for the exhumation of the Eclogite Zone, Eastern Alps

2008

Abstract We discuss the relationship of omphacite lattice preferred orientation (LPO) patterns in eclogite and kinematic indicators in the matrix surrounding the eclogite during the very rapid exhumation of the deeply buried Eclogite Zone in the Tauern Window of the Eastern Alps. LPO patterns are presented from profiles parallel to the eclogite stretching lineation across the Eclogite Zone. The omphacite textures show symmetric patterns across the entire Eclogite Zone; only in few cases slight asymmetries are observed. The patterns are characterized by an alignment of {110} with the foliation and a maximum of 〈001〉 close to the lineation and are indicative of deformation by intracrystalline…

Vertical ductile thinning and its contribution to the exhumation of high-pressure rocks: the Cycladic blueschist unit in the Aegean

2008

The contribution of vertical ductile thinning to the exhumation of high-pressure rocks is evaluated by estimating finite strain in 75 exhumed high-pressure rocks of the Cycladic blueschist unit in the Aegean Sea, Greece, and western Turkey. Strain data indicate heterogeneous deformation; principal stretches are 1.24–5.03 for S X , 0.63–2.53 for S Y and 0.10–0.81 for S Z , with a tensor average of S X : S Y : S Z =1.52:1.28:0.51. A 1D numerical model, which integrates velocity gradients along a vertical flow path with a steady-state orogen, is used to estimate the contribution of ductile thinning of the overburden of the high-pressure rocks to exhumation. Using a strain-rate law that is prop…

How to resist subduction: evidence for large-scale out-of-sequence thrusting during Eocene collision in western Turkey

2001

Significant along-strike variations have locked large parts of the Alpine subduction complex in the Eastern Mediterranean in the Eocene, and defined the end of high-pressure accretion in western Turkey. Structural analysis reveals that the Anatolide belt in western Turkey formed under greenschist facies metamorphic conditions in the Eocene when a high-pressure metamorphic fragment of the Adriatic plate (the Cycladic blueschist unit) was thrust onto the imbricated mid-crustal units of the Anatolian microcontinent (the Menderes nappes). The contact between the Cycladic blueschist unit and the Menderes nappes, the Cyclades–Menderes thrust, represents an out-of-sequence ramp which cuts up-sect…

2001

The roles of volume loss, coaxial versus noncoaxial flow, and blueschist exhumation in subduction-related accretionary wedges are still poorly understood. In our study at Leech Lake Mountain in the Eastern belt of the Franciscan subduction complex, we focus on these subjects. In the specific example of the Franciscan, the tectonic significance of the boundary between the Eastern and Central belts remains controversial. The Leech Lake Mountain area in northern California is situated immediately above this boundary and, therefore, appears to be of crucial importance for understanding aspects of the tectonic evolution of the Franciscan. The structural development at Leech Lake Mountain is char…