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Experimental evidence of decompression melting during exhumation of subducted continental crust

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Abstract

Experiments have been carried out on a metagreywacke at 800, 850 and 900°C, in the pressure range 0.5–5 GPa to locate the solidus and the eclogite/amphibolite facies transition in felsic rocks, identify the nature of the reactions responsible for major mineralogical changes, and determine the proportions of phases as a function of pressure. The mineral assemblage phengite + clinopyroxene + garnet + quartz/coesite is stable above 2.3 GPa while biotite + plagioclase + garnet + quartz is stable below 2 GPa. The model reaction for the eclogite/amphibolite facies transition in metagreywackes is:

$$ {\text{Phe}} + {\text{Cpx}} + {\text{Qtz}} = {\text{Bt}} + {\text{Pl}} + {\text{Grt}} + {\text{melt}} $$

with melt on the low pressure–high temperature side of the reaction. The modal proportion and calcium content of garnet change with pressure. Both decrease from 5 to 2.5 GPa, then increase at the eclogite/amphibolite facies transition, and finally decrease with decreasing pressure below 2.3 GPa. The grossular content in garnet is thus a potential marker of the eclogite/amphibolite facies transition during retrogression. The modal proportion of melt progressively increases with decreasing pressure from 5 to 2.5 GPa, then shows a sudden and marked increase between 2.5 and 2.3 GPa, and finally decreases between 2.3 and 1 GPa. Thus, a melting pulse occurs at the eclogite/amphibolite facies transition during decompression of subducted continental crust. A survey of the main UHP metamorphic regions and the P–T paths followed during their geotectonic history indicates that partial melting may have played a role during their exhumation. A striking feature of retrogressed UHP felsic rocks is that garnet rims are commonly enriched in grossular. Our experiments explain this observation and demonstrate that a grossular-rich growth zone in garnet is not necessarily indicative of highest pressures reached during metamorphism but may correspond to a decompression stage.

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Notes

  1. In this paper, ‘low/high’ temperature or pressure terminology is relative to the experimentally studied P–T range. LT: < ca. 850°C; LP: < ca. 2 GPa.

  2. Most minerals involved in this study are complex solid-solutions; the subscripts in the mineral abbreviations are used to indicate the main end member implied in the reaction.

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Acknowledgements

This work is part of a PhD thesis prepared by E. Auzanneau at Université Blaise Pascal under the supervision of D.V. Experiments above 3.5 GPa were carried out in the CNRS-INSU multi-anvil national instrument at Clermont-Fd. This work has been supported by CNRS-INSU through grants DyETI 2001/021 and DyETI 2002 to D.V. We thank M. Veschambre, J-L. Devidal and F. Faure for assistance with the electron microprobe and the scanning electron microscope. J.M. Montel and R. Kryza participated in some experiments and provided some mineral analyses; they are gratefully acknowledged. We thank P. Luffi and P.J. Wyllie for some helpful comments of an early version of the manuscript and S. Harley, J. Hermann and an anonymous reviewer for their reviews.

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  1. Laboratoire Magmas et Volcans, OPGC, CNRS et Université Blaise Pascal, 5 rue Kessler, 63038, Clermont-Ferrand, France

    E. Auzanneau

  2. CRMCN-CNRS, Campus de Luminy, Case 913, 13288, Marseille cedex 9, France

    D. Vielzeuf

  3. Institute for Mineralogy and Petrology, ETH, 8092, Zurich, Switzerland

    M. W. Schmidt

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Auzanneau, E., Vielzeuf, D. & Schmidt, M.W. Experimental evidence of decompression melting during exhumation of subducted continental crust. Contrib Mineral Petrol 152, 125–148 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00410-006-0104-5

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