Formation and evolution of a subduction-related mélange: The example of the Rocca Canavese Thrust Sheets (Western Alps)

2019 ◽  
Vol 132 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 884-896 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manuel Roda ◽  
Michele Zucali ◽  
Alessandro Regorda ◽  
Maria Iole Spalla
Keyword(s):  
Numerical Model ◽  
Mantle Wedge ◽  
Western Alps ◽  
Metamorphic History ◽  
Orogenic Wedge ◽  
Thrust Sheets ◽  
History Of ◽  
Natural Data ◽  
Formation And Evolution ◽  
Subduction Wedge

Abstract In the Sesia-Lanzo Zone, Western Alps, the Rocca Canavese Thrust Sheets (RCT) subunit is characterized by a mixture of mantle- and crust-derived lithologies, such as metapelites, metagranitoids, metabasics, and serpentinized mantle slices with sizes ranging from meters to hundreds of meters. Structural and metamorphic history suggests that the RCT rocks experienced a complex evolution. In particular, two different peak conditions were obtained for the metabasics, representing different tectono-metamorphic units (TMUs), namely, D1a under eclogite facies conditions and D1b under lawsonite-blueschist-facies conditions. The two TMUs were coupled during the syn-D2 exhumation stage under epidote-blueschist-facies conditions. The different rocks and metamorphic evolutions and the abundance of serpentinites in the tectonic mixture suggest a possible subduction-related mélange origin for the RCT. To verify whether a subduction-related mélange can record tectono-metamorphic histories similar to that inferred for the RCT, we compare the pressure-temperature evolutions with the results of a 2-D numerical model of ocean-continent subduction with mantle wedge serpentinization. The predictions of the numerical model fully reproduce the two peak conditions (D1a and D1b) and the successive exhumation history of the two TMUs within the subduction wedge. The degree of mixing estimated from field data is consistent with that predicted by the numerical simulation. Finally, the present-day location of the RCT, which marks the boundary between the orogenic wedge (Penninic and Austroalpine domains) and the southern hinterland (Southalpine domain) of the Alpine chain, is reproduced by the model at the end of the exhumation in the subduction wedge. Therefore, the comparison between natural data and the model results confirms the interpretation of the RCT as a subduction-related mélange that occurred during exhumation within a serpentinized mantle wedge.

scholarly journals Blueschist mylonitic zones accommodating syn-subduction exhumation of deeply buried continental crust: the example of the Rocca Canavese Thrust Sheets Unit (Sesia–Lanzo Zone, Italian Western Alps)

2021 ◽  
Vol 114 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Manuel Roda ◽  
Michele Zucali ◽  
Luca Corti ◽  
Roberto Visalli ◽  
Gaetano Ortolano ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Microstructural Analysis ◽  
Oceanic Lithosphere ◽  
Western Alps ◽  
White Mica ◽  
X Ray ◽  
Metamorphic History ◽  
Thrust Sheets ◽  
History Of ◽  
Tectonic Contact ◽  
Elemental Maps

AbstractThe Rocca Canavese Thrust Sheets Unit (RCTU) is a subduction-related mélange that represents the eastern-most complex of the Sesia–Lanzo Zone (SLZ), bounded by the Periadriatic (Canavese) Lineament that separates the Alpine subduction complex from the Southalpine domain. The RCTU is limited to the south by the Lanzo Massif (LM) and to the east by the Eclogitic Micaschists Complex (EMC). Particularly the tectonic contact area of the RCTU, adjacent to the neighbouring SLZ and the LM is characterised by a 100–200-m-thick mylonitic to ultra-mylonitic zone (MZ) that was active under blueschist-to greenschist-facies conditions. Despite the dominant mylonitic structure, some rocks (garnet-bearing gneiss, garnet-free gneiss and orthogneiss) still preserve pre-mylonitic parageneses in meter-sized domains. The scarcity of superposed structures and the small size of relicts impose a detailed microstructural analysis supported by chemical investigation to reconstruct the tectono-metamorphic history of the MZ. Therefore, we integrated the classical meso- and microstructural analysis approach with a novel quantitative technique based on the Quantitative X-Ray Map Analyzer (Q-XRMA), used to classify rock-forming minerals starting from an array of X-ray elemental maps, both at whole thin section and micro-domain scale, as well as to calibrate the maps for pixel-based chemical analysis and end-member component maps, relevant for a more robust conventional geothermobarometer application as well for calculating reliable PT pseudosections. Pre-Alpine relicts are garnet and white mica porphyroclasts in the garnet-bearing gneiss and biotite and K-feldspar porphyroclasts in garnet-free gneiss and orthogneiss, respectively, providing no PT constraints. The Alpine evolution of the MZ rocks, has been subdivided in three deformation and metamorphic stages. The first Alpine structural and metamorphic equilibration stage (D1 event) occurred at a pressure of ca. 1.25–1.4 GPa and at a temperature of ca. 420–510 °C, i.e. under blueschist-facies conditions. The D2 event, characterised by a mylonitic foliation that is pervasive in the MZ, occurred at ca. 0.95–1.1 GPa and ca. 380–500 °C, i.e. under epidote-blueschist-facies conditions. The D2 PT conditions in the MZ rocks are similar to those predicted for the blocks that constitute the RCTU mélange, and they overlap with the exhumation paths of the EMC and LM units. Therefore, the RCTU, EMC and LM rocks became coupled together during the D2 event. This coupling occurred during the exhumation of the different tectono-metamorphic units belonging to both continental and oceanic lithosphere and under a relatively cold thermal regime, typical for an active oceanic subduction zone, pre-dating Alpine continental collision.

How Himalayan collision stems from subduction

Geology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Soret ◽  
K.P. Larson ◽  
J. Cottle ◽  
A. Ali
Keyword(s):  
Foreland Basin ◽  
Continental Collision ◽  
Ultrahigh Pressure ◽  
Metamorphic Rocks ◽  
Conductive Heat ◽  
Plate Interface ◽  
Continental Subduction ◽  
Metamorphic History ◽  
Orogenic Wedge ◽  
History Of

The mechanisms and processes active during the transition from continental subduction to continental collision at the plate interface are largely unknown. Rock records of this transition are scarce, either not exposed or obliterated during subsequent events. We examine the tectono-metamorphic history of Barrovian metamorphic rocks from the western Himalayan orogenic wedge. We demonstrate that these rocks were buried to amphibolite-facies conditions from ≤47 Ma to 39 ± 1 Ma, synchronously with the formation (46 Ma) and partial exhumation (45–40 Ma) of the ultrahigh-pressure eclogites. This association indicates that convergence during continental subduction was accommodated via development of a deep orogenic wedge built through successive underplating of continental material, including the partially exhumed eclogites, likely in response to an increase in interplate coupling. This process resulted in the heating of the subduction interface (from ~7 to ~20 °C/km) through advective and/or conductive heat transfer. Rapid cooling of the wedge from 38 Ma, coeval with the formation of a foreland basin, are interpreted to result from indentation of a promontory of thick Indian crust.

scholarly journals Use of thermal modeling to assess the tectono-metamorphic history of the Lugo and Sanabria gneiss domes, Northwest Iberia

2009 ◽  
Vol 180 (3) ◽  
pp. 179-197 ◽  
Author(s):  
James E. Alcock ◽  
José R. Martínez Catalán ◽  
Ricardo Arenas ◽  
Alejandro Díez Montes
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Relaxation ◽  
Thermal Response ◽  
Crustal Thickening ◽  
Gneiss Domes ◽  
Metamorphic History ◽  
Thrust Sheets ◽  
History Of ◽  
Granite Magmatism ◽  
Geochronological Evidence ◽  
Northwest Iberia

Abstract The Lugo and Sanabria domes in Northwest Iberia have well constrained metamorphic and structural histories. Both occur in the Iberian autochthon and resulted from late-Variscan extensional collapse following crustal thickening related to the Variscan collision. The two domes developed beneath large thrust sheets, are cored by sillimanite-orthoclase anatectic gneiss, preserve evidence of a steep thermal gradient (≈ 1 °C MPa−1), and exhibit a distinct decrease in metamorphic grade to the east in the direction of nappe movement. Geochronological evidence indicates that the lower crust melted within ≈ 30 Ma of initial crustal thickening and that dome formation occurred within 50 Ma. The histories of the two domes are considered as the basis for one-dimensional finite-difference models of thermal response to changes in crustal thickness. Results from thermal models suggest that thickening was limited to the crust, provide a numeric explanation for timing and nature of granite magmatism, and indicate that high-temperature metamorphism and crustal anatexis may result directly from thermal relaxation, eliminating the need for significant mantle thermal contribution. Also, the models show that small differences in thickness of large, wedge-shaped thrust sheets can explain distinct P-T paths experienced by different limbs of the domes.

scholarly journals Direct dating reveals the early history of opium poppy in western Europe

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Aurélie Salavert ◽  
Antoine Zazzo ◽  
Lucie Martin ◽  
Ferran Antolín ◽  
Caroline Gauthier ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Western Europe ◽  
Western Alps ◽  
Western Mediterranean ◽  
Opium Poppy ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Macrobotanical Remains ◽  
History Of ◽  
Temperate Europe ◽  
Radiocarbon Chronology ◽  
Botanical Remains

AbstractThis paper aims to define the first chrono-cultural framework on the domestication and early diffusion of the opium poppy using small-sized botanical remains from archaeological sites, opening the way to directly date minute short-lived botanical samples. We produced the initial set of radiocarbon dates directly from the opium poppy remains of eleven Neolithic sites (5900–3500 cal BCE) in the central and western Mediterranean, northwestern temperate Europe, and the western Alps. When possible, we also dated the macrobotanical remains originating from the same sediment sample. In total, 22 samples were taken into account, including 12 dates directly obtained from opium poppy remains. The radiocarbon chronology ranges from 5622 to 4050 cal BCE. The results show that opium poppy is present from at least the middle of the sixth millennium in the Mediterranean, where it possibly grew naturally and was cultivated by pioneer Neolithic communities. Its dispersal outside of its native area was early, being found west of the Rhine in 5300–5200 cal BCE. It was introduced to the western Alps around 5000–4800 cal BCE, becoming widespread from the second half of the fifth millennium. This research evidences different rhythms in the introduction of opium poppy in western Europe.

Tectono-metamorphic history of the ophiolitic Lento unit (northern Corsica): evidences for the complexity of accretion-exhumation processes in a fossil subduction system

2007 ◽  
Vol 20 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 99-118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicola Levi ◽  
Alessandro Malasoma ◽  
Michele Marroni ◽  
Luca Pandolfi ◽  
Matteo Paperini
Keyword(s):  
Metamorphic History ◽  
History Of ◽  
Subduction System

scholarly journals Monazite U–Th–Pb geochronology of the Central Metasedimentary Belt Boundary Zone (CMBbz), Grenville Province, Ontario Canada

2018 ◽  
Vol 55 (9) ◽  
pp. 1063-1078 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle J. Markley ◽  
Steven R. Dunn ◽  
Michael J. Jercinovic ◽  
William H. Peck ◽  
Michael L. Williams
Keyword(s):  
Shear Zone ◽  
Crustal Thickening ◽  
Boundary Zone ◽  
Grenville Province ◽  
Metamorphic History ◽  
Crustal Thinning ◽  
Tectonic Significance ◽  
History Of ◽  
Central Gneiss Belt ◽  
Scale Shear

The Central Metasedimentary Belt boundary zone (CMBbz) is a crustal-scale shear zone that juxtaposes the Central Gneiss Belt and the Central Metasedimentary Belt of the Grenville Province. Geochronological work on the timing of deformation and metamorphism in the CMBbz is ambiguous, and the questions that motivate our study are: how many episodes of shear zone activity did the CMBbz experience, and what is the tectonic significance of each episode? We present electron microprobe data from monazite (the U–Th–Pb chemical method) to directly date deformation and metamorphism recorded in five garnet–biotite gneiss samples collected from three localities of the CMBbz of Ontario (West Guilford, Fishtail Lake, and Killaloe). All three localities yield youngest monazite dates ca. 1045 Ma; most of the monazite domains that yield these dates are high-Y rims. In comparison with this common late Ottawan history, the earlier history of the three CMBbz localities is less clearly shared. The West Guilford samples have monazite grain cores that show older high-Y domains and younger low-Y domains; these cores yield a prograde early Ottawan (1100–1075 Ma) history. The Killaloe samples yield a well-defined prograde, pre- to early Shawinigan history (i.e., 1220–1160 Ma) in addition to some evidence for a second early Ottawan event. In other words, the answers to our research questions are: three events; a Shawinigan event possibly associated with crustal thickening, an Ottawan event possibly associated with another round of crustal thickening, and a late Ottawan event that resists simple interpretation in terms of metamorphic history but that coincides chronologically with crustal thinning at the base of an orogenic lid.

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