Eventlike exhumation of high-grade blocks in the young Franciscan subduction zone

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Rutte ◽  
Joshua Garber ◽  
Andrew Kylander-Clark ◽  
Paul Renne
Keyword(s):  
Subduction Zone ◽  
Sierra Nevada ◽  
Subduction Zones ◽  
Amphibolite Facies ◽  
Return Flow ◽  
High Grade ◽  
Metamorphic Overprint ◽  
Franciscan Complex ◽  
Metamorphic History ◽  
State Process

<p>The metamorphic history of exhumed high-grade rocks provides invaluable insight into the thermomechanical processes of subduction zones. While subduction in most orogens has been terminated by continent collision entailing variably strong overprint of related units, the Franciscan Complex of California allows studying a >150 Myr long subduction history that started at ~175 Ma and ended by transformation into a transform plate boundary (San Andreas fault) without significant metamorphic overprint. The highest grade metamorphic rocks of the Franciscan Complex of California are found as blocks in serpentinite and shale matrix mélanges. They include amphibolites, eclogites, blueschists, and blueschist facies metasediments. These Franciscan mélanges inspired the subduction channel return-flow model, but other processes e.g., buoyancy-driven serpentinite diapirism have been argued to be concordant with our current understanding of their metamorphic history, too.</p><p>We investigate a suite of metabasite blocks from serpentinite and shale matrix mélanges of the Califonia Coast Ranges. Our new dataset consists of U-Pb dates of metamorphic zircon and <sup>40</sup>Ar/<sup>39</sup>Ar dates of calcic amphibole and white mica. Combined with published geochronology, particularly prograde Lu-Hf garnet ages from the same blocks, we can reconstruct the timing and time scales of prograde and retrograde metamorphism of individual blocks. We find: (i) Exhumation from the eclogite-amphibolite facies occurred only in a short episode at 165­–160 Ma with an apparent southward younging trend. (ii) Exhumation of the blocks was uniform and fast in the eclogite-amphibolite facies with rates of 2–8 km/Myr. In the blueschist facies exhumation of the blocks was less uniform and slowed by an order of magnitude. (iii) The age of amphibole in a metasomatic reaction zone indicates that at least one amphibolite was enclosed in a serpentinite matrix by ~155 Ma. Considering the entire subduction zone system, the high-grade exhumation temporally correlates with a significant pulse of magmatism in the respective magmatic arc (Sierra Nevada) and termination of forearc spreading (Coast Range Ophiolite).</p><p>Our findings do not support a steady-state process that is continuously exhuming high-grade rocks. Instead the subduction zone system changed with an eventlike character resulting in exhumation of high-grade rocks enclosed in serpentinite.</p>

scholarly journals Forearc strike-slip displacement as an alternative to subduction erosion, with examples from Mexico and California (sinistral Nacimiento fault)

2019 ◽  
Vol 56 (12) ◽  
pp. 1285-1296 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raymond V. Ingersoll
Keyword(s):  
Sierra Nevada ◽  
Continental Margin ◽  
Subduction Zones ◽  
Strike Slip ◽  
Southern Mexico ◽  
Flat Slab ◽  
Franciscan Complex ◽  
Flat Slab Subduction ◽  
Subduction Erosion ◽  
Convergent Plate Margin

Slip on the Nacimiento fault of the central Coast Ranges of California has been variably interpreted as dextral, sinistral, or reverse. The currently prevailing interpretation is that the Nacimiento fault represents subduction erosion, by which the central to eastern part of the Cretaceous California batholith was thrust over the western part of the batholith and forearc basin, resulting in juxtaposition of the Salinian batholithic block against the Franciscan Complex, concurrently with Laramide flat-slab subduction (75–55 Ma) and underplating of the Pelona-Orocopia-Rand schist. No modern convergent plate margin includes such overthrusting. The closest modern analog to the likely configuration of the Salinian continental margin near the end of the Laramide deformation is southern Mexico, where arc plutons are exposed near the trench. Although commonly considered an example of subduction erosion, this margin is “missing” parts of the plutonic arc and forearc because they have been displaced to the southeast by sinistral slip. By analogy, the Nacimiento forearc was modified as a trench-trench-transform triple junction migrated southeastward along the continental margin during flat-slab subduction. This model makes testable predictions involving northwest-to-southeast younging of deep-marine deposits on batholithic crust underlain by contemporaneous schist. Correct restoration of later Cenozoic primarily dextral slip and Maastrichtian – Early Eocene primarily sinistral slip must result in realignment of north–south-trending belts of the Sierra Nevada – Salinia – Peninsular Ranges batholith, Great Valley forearc, and Franciscan Complex. These modern and ancient examples suggest that several “erosional” subduction zones are more plausibly explained by strike-slip truncation of forearcs.

DO HIGH-GRADE BLOCKS RECORD THE COOLING OF THE FRANCISCAN SUBDUCTION ZONE?

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Howard W. Day ◽  
◽  
Sean R. Mulcahy ◽  
Jesslyn K. Starnes ◽  
Francisco E. Apen
Keyword(s):  
Subduction Zone ◽  
High Grade

scholarly journals Up the down escalator: the exhumation of (ultra)-high pressure terranes during on-going subduction

2012 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 745-781 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. J. Warren
Keyword(s):  
High Pressure ◽  
Subduction Zone ◽  
Continental Crust ◽  
Subduction Zones ◽  
Crustal Material ◽  
Time And Space ◽  
Ultra High Pressure ◽  
Tectonic Environment ◽  
Tectonic Style ◽  
Weak Material

Abstract. The exhumation of high and ultra-high pressure rocks is ubiquitous in Phanerozoic orogens created during continental collisions, and is common in many ocean-ocean and ocean-continent subduction zone environments. Three different tectonic environments have previously been reported, which exhume deeply buried material by different mechanisms and at different rates. However it is becoming increasingly clear that no single mechanism dominates in any particular tectonic environment, and the mechanism may change in time and space within the same subduction zone. In order for buoyant continental crust to subduct, it must remain attached to a stronger and denser substrate, but in order to exhume, it must detach (and therefore at least locally weaken) and be initially buoyant. Denser oceanic crust subducts more readily than more buoyant continental crust but exhumation must be assisted by entrainment within more buoyant and weak material such as serpentinite or driven by the exhumation of structurally lower continental crustal material. Weakening mechanisms responsible for the detachment of crust at depth include strain, hydration, melting, grain size reduction and the development of foliation. These may act locally or may act on the bulk of the subducted material. Metamorphic reactions, metastability and the composition of the subducted crust all affect buoyancy and overall strength. Subduction zones change in style both in time and space, and exhumation mechanisms change to reflect the tectonic style and overall force regime within the subduction zone. Exhumation events may be transient and occur only once in a particular subduction zone or orogen, or may be more continuous or occur multiple times.

The Pikwitonei Granulite Domain, Manitoba: a giant Neoarchean high-grade terrane in the northwest Superior ProvinceThis article is one of a series of papers published in this Special Issue on the theme of Geochronology in honour of Tom Krogh.N. Machado, T.E. Krogh, and W. Weber are deceased.

2011 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 205-245 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. M. Heaman ◽  
Ch. O. Böhm ◽  
N. Machado ◽  
T. E. Krogh ◽  
W. Weber ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Granulite Facies ◽  
Superior Province ◽  
High Grade ◽  
Metamorphic Zircon ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Metamorphic History ◽  
Zircon Growth ◽  
The World ◽  
Northwestern Margin ◽  
History Of

The Pikwitonei Granulite Domain located at the northwestern margin of the Superior Province is one of the largest Neoarchean high-grade terranes in the world, with well-preserved granulite metamorphic assemblages preserved in a variety of lithologies, including enderbite, opdalite, charnockite, and mafic granulite. U–Pb geochronology has been attempted to unravel the protolith ages and metamorphic history of numerous lithologies at three main localities; Natawahunan Lake, Sipiwesk Lake, and Cauchon Lake. The U–Pb age results indicate that some of the layered enderbite gneisses are Mesoarchean (3.4–3.0 Ga) and the more massive enderbites are Neoarchean. The high-grade metamorphic history of the Pikwitonei Granulite Domain is complex and multistage with at least four episodes of metamorphic zircon growth identified: (1) 2716.1 ± 3.8 Ma, (2) 2694.6 ± 0.6 Ma, (3) 2679.6 ± 0.9 Ma, and (4) 2642.5 ± 0.9 Ma. Metamorphic zircon growth during episodes 2 and 3 are interpreted to be regional in extent, corresponding to M1 amphibolite- and M2 granulite-facies events, respectively, consistent with previous field observations. The youngest metamorphic episode at 2642.5 Ma is only recognized at southern Cauchon Lake, where it coincides with granite melt production and possible development of a major northeast-trending deformation zone. The timing and multistage metamorphic history recorded in the Pikwitonei Granulite Domain is similar to most Superior Province high-grade terranes and marks a fundamental break in Archean crustal evolution worldwide at the termination of prolific global Neoarchean greenstone belt formation.

scholarly journals Analysis of Stress Drop Variations in Fault and Subduction Zones of Maluku and Halmahera Earthquakes in 2019

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 152
Author(s):  
Rahmat Setyo Yuliatmoko ◽  
Telly Kurniawan
Keyword(s):  
Subduction Zone ◽  
Stress Drop ◽  
Subduction Zones ◽  
Slip Rate ◽  
Disaster Mitigation ◽  
Mitigation Measures ◽  
Reverse Fault ◽  
Nonlinear Inversion ◽  
Rock Structure ◽  
Geological Conditions

The amount of stress released by an earthquake can be calculated with a stress drop, the stress ratio before and after an earthquake where the stress accumulated in a fault or a subduction zone is immediately released during an earthquake. The purpose of this research is to calculate the amount of stress drop in faults and subduction in Maluku and Halmahera and their variations and relate them to the geological conditions in the area so that the tectonic characteristics in the area can be identified. This research employed mathematical analysis and the Nelder Mead Simplex nonlinear inversion methods. The results show that Maluku and Halmahera are the area with complex tectonic conditions and large earthquake impacts. The Maluku sea earthquake generated a stress drop of 0.81 MPa with a reverse fault mechanism in the zone of subduction, while for the Halmahera earthquake the stress drop value was 52.72 MPa, a typical strike-slip mechanism in the fault zone. It can be concluded that there is a difference in the stress drop between the subduction and fault zones; the stress drop in the fault was greater than that in the subduction zone due to different rock structure and faulting mechanisms as well as differences in the move slip rate that plays a role in the process of holding out the stress on a rock. This information is very important to know the amount of pressure released from the earthquake which has a very large impact as part of disaster mitigation measures.

scholarly journals The Coulon deposit: quantifying alteration in volcanogenic massive sulphide systems modified by amphibolite-facies metamorphism

2016 ◽  
Vol 53 (12) ◽  
pp. 1443-1457 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucie Mathieu ◽  
Rose-Anne Bouchard ◽  
Vital Pearson ◽  
Réal Daigneault
Keyword(s):  
Mass Balance ◽  
Massive Sulphide ◽  
Amphibolite Facies ◽  
High Grade ◽  
Bay Area ◽  
Volcanogenic Massive Sulphide ◽  
High Grade Metamorphism ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Superior Craton ◽  
Ore Zones

The Coulon deposit is a volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) system in the James Bay area, Superior craton, Quebec, that was metamorphosed to amphibolite-facies conditions. The chemistry and mineralogy of the VMS-related alteration halo proximal to the mineralized sulphide lenses are investigated, using samples collected in the field and 5583 chemical analyses provided by Osisko Ltd. Alteration is quantified using mass balance and normative calculations, and the application and performance of these methods in an exploration context are investigated. In VMS systems, altered rocks proximal to the ore zones are characterized by multi-element metasomatism, which is best quantified by mass balance methods that have been successfully applied in the study area. However, mass balance calculations necessitate the documentation of a precursor, which is not always possible in an exploration context; therefore, an alternative method (i.e., alteration indices) was also evaluated. In most VMS systems, proximal alteration is characterized by chlorite (chloritization), muscovite (sericitization), and quartz (silicification), while at the Coulon deposit, altered rocks contain mostly cordierite, biotite, sillimanite, and quartz. Alteration indices were calculated using observed and normative minerals, and provide satisfactory results similar to those obtained with mass balance calculations. Using these results, recommendations are made to estimate the intensity of alteration in the core shack using the proportions of observed minerals. Alteration indices are sensitive to the composition of precursors; and because of high-grade metamorphism, chloritization and sericitization are not precisely quantified. Recognizing these limitations is essential to successful quantification of alteration in areas metamorphosed to high-grade conditions.

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