In general, Archean rocks exhibit rather ordinary moderate-P-high-T facies series metamorphism; neither blueschists nor any record of deep continental subduction and return are documented. However, the abundance and scale of ultrahigh-temperature (UHT) metamorphic belts from the Neoarchean to the Cambrian imply a significant change in geodynamics during the Neoarchean Era, after which transient sites of high heat flow were available at intervals throughout this period of Earth evolution. Many Neoproterozoic-Cambrian UHT metamorphic belts appear to have developed in settings analogous to modern backarcs that were closed and inverted during crustal aggregation and formation of the Gondwana supercontinent. If backarcs were the general setting for UHT metamorphism, then on a hotter Earth the cyclic formation of supercratons (in the Neoarchean Era) and supercontinents (in the Proterozoic Eon) required the destruction of oceans floored by thinner lithosphere that may have generated hotter backarcs than those as...

Metamorphic Conditions in Orogenic Belts: A Record of Secular Change

Exhumation of oceanic blueschists and eclogites in subduction zones :Timing and mechanisms

A Late Cretaceous and Cenozoic reconstruction of the Southwest Pacific region: Tectonics controlled by subduction and slab rollback processes

A recent thermodynamic model for the Na–Ca clinoamphiboles in the system Na2O–CaO–FeO–MgO–Al2O3–SiO2–H2O–O (NCFMASHO), is improved, and extended to include cummingtonite–grunerite and the orthoamphiboles, anthophyllite and gedrite. The clinoamphibole model in NCMASH is adopted, but the extension into the FeO- and Fe2O3-bearing systems is revised to provide thermodynamic consistency and better agreement with natural assemblage data. The new model involves order–disorder of Fe–Mg between the M2, M13 and M4 sites in the amphibole structure, calibrated using the experimental data on site distributions in cummingtonite–grunerite. In the independent set of end-members used to represent the thermodynamics, grunerite (rather than ferroactinolite) is used for FeO, with two ordered Fe–Mg end-members, and magnesioriebeckite (rather than ferritschermakite) is used for Fe2O3. Natural assemblage data for coexisting clinoamphiboles are used to constrain the interaction energies between the various amphibole end-members. For orthamphibole, the assumption is made that the site distributions and the non-ideal formulation is the same as for clinoamphibole. The data set end-members anthophyllite, ferroanthophyllite and gedrite, are used; for the others, they are based on the clinoamphibole end-members, with the necessary adjustments to their enthalpies constrained by natural assemblage data for coexisting clino- and orthoamphiboles. The efficacy of the models is illustrated with P–T grids and various pseudosections, with a particular emphasis on the prediction of mineral assemblages in ferric-bearing systems.

A new thermodynamic model for clino- and orthoamphiboles in the system Na2O?CaO?FeO?MgO?Al2O3?SiO2?H2O?O

The transfer of fluid and elements from subducting crust to the overlying mantle wedge is a fundamental process affecting arc magmatism and the chemical differentiation of the Earth. While the production of fluid by breakdown of hydrous minerals is well understood, the liberation of trace elements remains generally unconstrained. In this paper, we evaluate the behaviour of trace elements during prograde metamorphism and dehydration using samples of high-pressure, low-temperature metamorphic rocks from New Caledonia. Samples examined include mafic and pelitic rock-types that range in grade from lawsonite blueschist to eclogite facies, and represent typical lithologies of subducting crust. Under lawsonite blueschist facies conditions, the low temperatures of metamorphism inhibit equilibrium partitioning between metamorphic minerals and allow for the persistence of igneous and detrital minerals. Despite this, the most important hosts for trace-elements include lawsonite, (REE, Pb, Sr), titanite (REE, Nb, Ta), allanite (LREE, U, Th), phengite (LILE) and zircon (Zr, Hf). At epidote blueschist to eclogite facies conditions, trace-element equilibrium may be attained and epidote (REE, Sr, Th, U, Pb), garnet (HREE), rutile (Nb, Ta), phengite (LILE) and zircon (Zr, Hf) are the major trace-element hosts. Chlorite, albite, amphibole and omphacite contain very low concentrations of the investigated trace elements. The comparison of mineral trace-element data and bulk-rock data at different metamorphic grades indicates that trace elements are not liberated in significant quantities by prograde metamorphism up to eclogite facies. Combining our mineral trace-element data with established phase equilibria, we show that the trace elements considered are retained by newly-formed major and accessory minerals during mineral breakdown reactions to depths of up to 150 km. In contrast, significant volumes of fluid are released by dehydration reactions. Therefore, there is a decoupling of fluid release and trace element release in subducting slabs. We suggest that the flux of trace elements from the slab is not simply linked to mineral breakdown, but results from complex fluid-rock interactions and fluid-assisted partial melting in the slab.

Redistribution of trace elements during prograde metamorphism from lawsonite blueschist to eclogite facies; implications for deep subduction-zone processes

The high-P, medium-T  Pouebo terrane of the Pam Peninsula, northern New Caledonia includes barroisite- and glaucophane-bearing eclogite and variably rehydrated equivalents. The metamorphic evolution of the Pouebo terrane is inferred from calculated P–T  and P–T –XH2O pseudosections for bulk compositions appropriate to these rocks in the model system CaO–Na2O–FeO–MgO–Al2O3–SiO2–H2O. The eclogites experienced a clockwise P–T  path that reached P≈19 kbar and T ≈600 °C. The eclogitic mineral assemblages are preserved because reaction consequent upon decompression consumed the rocks’ fluid. Extensive reaction occurred only in rocks with fluid influx during decompression of the Pouebo terrane.

Calculated mineral equilibria for eclogites in CaO–Na2O–FeO–MgO–Al2O3–SiO2–H2O: application to the Pouébo Terrane, Pam Peninsula, New Caledonia

Garnet glaucophanite and greenschist facies assemblages were formed by the recrystallization of barroisite-bearing eclogite facies metabasites in northern New Caledonia. The mineralogical evolution can be modelled by calculated P–T and P–XH2O diagrams for appropriate bulk rock compositions in the model system CaO–Na2O–FeO–MgO–Al2O3–SiO2–H2O. The eclogites, having developed in a clockwise P–T path that reached P≈19 kbar and T ≈590 °C, underwent decompression with the consumption of free H2O as the volume of hydrous minerals increased. Eclogite is preserved in domains that experienced no fluid influx following the loss of this fluid. Garnet glaucophanite formed at P≈16 kbar during semi-pervasive fluid influx. Fluid influx, after further isothermal decompression, was focused in shear zones, and resulted in chlorite–albite-bearing greenschist facies mineral assemblages that reflect P≈9 kbar.

Hydration of eclogite, Pam Peninsula, New Caledonia

A number of sources of uncertainty are involved in thermobarometric calculations, the most important of which are associated with analytical precision, activity–composition (a–x) relationships, and thermodynamic data. Statistical treatment of these uncertainties results in relatively large uncertainties on the calculated values of pressure and temperature. Little can be done, at least in the short term, about the magnitude of such uncertainties, and any thermobarometric calculations in which they are not taken into account should be treated with caution. Given that uncertainties associated with a–x models and thermodynamic data are systematic when applied to multiple samples with the same mineral assemblage, a solution to the problem of imprecise absolute thermobarometry can be obtained via a relative thermobarometric technique referred to as the ΔPT  approach. The ΔPT  approach offers a major improvement in the precision of thermobarometry if the calculations can be presented in a ΔPT  context.

Powell

Papers

Calculated mineral equilibria for eclogites in CaO–Na2O–FeO–MgO–Al2O3–SiO2–H2O: application to the Pouébo Terrane, Pam Peninsula, New Caledonia

Hydration of eclogite, Pam Peninsula, New Caledonia

High‐precision relative thermobarometry: theory and a worked example