Migmatite and leucogranite in a continental-scale exhumed strike-slip shear zone: Implications for tectonic evolution and initiation of shearing

Plutons within continental strike-slip shear zones bear important geological processes on late-stage plate transpression and continent-continent collision and associated lateral block extrusion. Where, when, and how intrusions and shearing along transpressional strike-slip shear zones respond to plate interactions, however, are often debated. In this study, we investigated migmatite associated leucogranite and pegmatite from the exhumed >1000-km-long Ailao Shan-Red River left-lateral strike-slip shear zone in Southeast Asia that was active during India-Eurasia plate convergence. Most zircons from the migmatites and leucogranitic intrusions present inherited core-rim structure. The depletion of rare earth element patterns and positive Eu anomalies suggest that leucosomes and leucogranites are the result of crustal anatexis. Zircon rims from the foliated migmatites and leucogranites record U-Pb ages of 41−28 Ma, revealing the timing of the Cenozoic crustal anatexis event along this strike-slip shear zone. Ages of the magmatic zircons from the unfoliated pegmatites provide the timing of the termination of a high-temperature tectono-thermal event and ductile left-lateral shearing at 26−23 Ma. The Cenozoic crustal anatexis along the Ailao Shan-Red River strike-slip shear zone indicates that thickened crust underneath the shear zone involved previously subducted crust. We propose that the Cenozoic thermal state has an important effect on the crustal anatexis and thus on the rheological behavior of the lithosphere by thermal weakening, which plays an essential role in localizing the initiation of the deep-seated lower-crustal shear zone.

The effects of source mixing and fractional crystallization on the composition of Eocene granites in the Himalayan orogen

Granites are generally the final products of crustal anatexis. The composition of the initial melts may be changed by fractional crystallization during magma evolution. Thus, it is crucial to retrieve the temperatures and pressures conditions of crustal anatexis on the basis of the composition of the initial melts rather than the evolved melts. Here we use a suite of ∼46–41 Ma granites from the Himalayan orogen to address this issue. These rocks can be divided into two groups in terms of their petrological and geochemical features. One group has high maficity (MgO + FeOt = 2–4 wt%) and mainly consists of two-mica granites, and is characterized by apparent adakite geochemical signatures, including high Sr concentrations, Sr/Y and La/Yb ratios; and low concentrations of HREE (heavy rare earth elements) and Y. The other group has low maficity (MgO + FeOt <1 wt%) and consists of subvolcanic porphyritic granites and garnet/tourmaline-bearing leucogranites. This group does not possess apparent adakite signatures. The low maficity group (LMG) has lower MgO + FeOt contents and the high maficity group (HMG) has higher Mg# compared with initial anatectic melts determined by experiment petrology and melt inclusions study. Petrological observations indicate that the HMG and the LMG can be explained as a crystal-rich cumulate and its fractionated melt, respectively, such that the initial anatectic melt is best represented by an intermediate composition. Such a cogenetic relationship is supported by the comparable Sr–Nd isotopic compositions of the two coeval groups. However, these compositions are also highly variable, pointing to a mixed source that was composed of amphibolite and metapelite with contrasting isotope compositions. We model the major and trace element compositions of anatectic melts generated by partial melting of the mixed source at four apparent thermobaric ratios of 600, 800, 1000 and 1200 °C/GPa. Modeling results indicate that melt produced at 1000 °C/GPa best matches the major and trace element compositions of the inferred initial melt compositions. In particular, a binary mixture generated from 10 vol% partial melting of amphibolite and 30 vol% melting of metapelite at 850 ± 50 °C and 8.5 ± 0.5 kbar gives the best match. Therefore, this study highlights that high thermobaric ratios and subsequent fractional crystallization are responsible for the generation of the apparent adakitic geochemical signatures, rather than melting at the base of the thickened crust as previously proposed. The thermal anomaly responsible for the Eocene magmatism in the Himalayan orogen was probably related to asthenosphere upwelling in response to rollback of the subducting Neo-Tethyan oceanic slab at the terminal stage of continental collision between India and Asia. As such, a transition in dynamic regime from compression to extension is necessary for the generation of high thermobaric ratios in the continental collision zone. Therefore, on the basis of evaluating the potential role of fractional crystallization in altering the composition of the initial melt, granite geochemistry coupled with thermodynamic modeling can better elucidate the petrogenesis of granites and the geodynamic mechanisms associated with anatexis at convergent plate boundaries.

A newly discovered Late Cretaceous metamorphic belt along the active continental margin of the Neo-Tethys ocean

High-grade metamorphic rocks and crustal melts provide crucial evidence for growth and differentiation of the continental crust, and are widespread in collisional orogens. However, their importance in the evolution of continental arcs remains poorly understood. Metamorphism and related anatexis in the preserved continental margin of the Neo-Tethys ocean serves as a key natural laboratory to investigate this process. Along the Neo-Tethyan arc margin, the Gaoligong shear zone, Yunnan region of China, is an important locality for linking Lhasa in the north with Sibumasu and Burma in the south. Here, Late Cretaceous granulite-facies metamorphism and crustal anatexis have been identified for the first time in the Gaoligong area. Zircon and monazite U-Pb dating indicates that S-type granites formed at 87−73 Ma, granites and buried pelitic sediments were simultaneously metamorphosed at 75−70 Ma during Neo-Tethyan subduction, and all lithologies were overprinted by a younger 40−30 Ma magmatic and strike-slip event related to India-Asia collision. Phase equilibria modeling of high-grade anatectic gneiss in the MnO-Na2O-CaO-K2O-FeO-MgO-Al2O3-SiO2-H2O-TiO2 system indicates peak pressure-temperature (P−T) conditions of 780−800 °C and 6.5−7.5 kbar and defines a cooling and decompressional P−T path for the metapelites. This demonstrates that sediments within the Neo-Tethyan active continental arc were buried to >20 km depth at 75−70 Ma. In combination with the metamorphic record of the Lhasa, Burma, and Sibumasu blocks, an extensive Late Cretaceous metamorphic belt must have formed along the Neo-Tethyan subduction zone. This spatially correlates with coeval gabbro-diorite suites exposed in the Gangdese, Sibumasu and Burma terranes that were triggered by thinning of the lithospheric mantle. This prolonged Late Cretaceous mantle-derived magmatism and lithospheric thinning may have provided a regional-scale heat source for high-grade metamorphism and crustal anatexis along the active continental margin of the Neo-Tethys ocean.

High–pressure granulite–facies metamorphism and anatexis of deep continental crust: new insights from the Cenozoic Ailaoshan–Red River shear zone, SE Asia

<p>Studies of crustal anatexis have given valuable insights into the evolution of metamorphism–deformation and the tectonic processes at convergent plate margins during orogeny. The transition of metatexite to diatexite migmatite records crucial information about the tectono–thermal evolution and rheology of the deep crust. Along the Ailao Shan–Red River shear zone, metatexite migmatites, diatexite migmatites and leucogranites are widely distributed within the upper amphibolite and granulite facies zones of the Diancang Shan metamorphic complex. The high–pressure granulite–facies metamorphism with mineral assemblage comprising garnet + kyanite + K–feldspar + plagioclase + biotite + quartz + melt is first recognized from the patch metatexite migmatites in the complex. Detailed petrographic evidence and phase diagram reveal that the migmatite underwent nearly isothermal decompression metamorphism, presenting a clockwise P–T path. The peak metamorphic P–T conditions are constrained by phase diagram at ca. 11 kbar and 810 °C, and the amount of melt generated during heating is up to 18 mol%. The extraction and segregation of melts are evidenced by the presence of leucosomes within migmatites and leucogranite dikes, which record the melt flow network through the crust. Zircons and monazites from migmatites record the ages of the melting episode that began at ca. 36 Ma and lasted to ca. 20 Ma. All these results are in accord with orogenic crust thickening accompanied by pervasive anatexis during the Later Eocene to the early Oligocene in the Ailao Shan–Red River shear zone. Combined with available data related to the other continental–exhumed shear zone, we propose that the crustal anatexis has an important effect on the thermal–state of deep–seated shear zones, is thus controlling the rheological behavior of the lithosphere and plays the essential role in the initial localizing of shearing in the lower crust.</p>