Kanfenggou UHP Metamorphic Fragment in Eastern Qinling Orogen and Its Relationship to Dabie-Sulu UHP and HP Metamorphic Belts, Central China

In the Central Orogenic Belt, China, two UHP metamorphic belts are discriminated mainly based on a detailed structural analysis of the Kanfenggou UHP metamorphic fragment exposed in the eastern Qinling orogen, and together with previous regional structural, petrological and geochronological data at the scale of the orogenic domain. The first one corresponds to the South Altun North Qaidam North Qinling UHP metamorphic belt. The other is the Dabie Sulu UHP and HP metamorphic belts. The two UHP metamorphic belts are separated by a series of tectonic slices composed by the Qinling rock group, Danfeng rock group and Liuling or Foziling rock group etc. respectively, and are different in age of the peak UHP metamorphism and geodynamic implications for continental deep subduction and collision. Regional field and petrological relationships suggest that the Kanfenggou UHP metamorphic fragment that contains a large volume of the coesite and microdiamond bearing eclogite lenses is compatible with the structures recognized in the South Altun and North Qaidam UHP metamorphic fragments exposed in the western part of China, thereby forming a large UHP metamorphic belt up to 1 000 km long along the orogen strike. This UHP metamorphic belt represents an intercontinental deep subduction and collision belt between the Yangtze and Sino Korean cratons, occurred during the Paleozoic. On the other hand, the well constrained Dabie Sulu UHP and HP metamorphic belts occurred mainly during Triassic time (250-220 Ma), and were produced by the intracontinental deep subduction and collision within the Yangtze craton. The Kanfenggou UHP metamorphic fragment does not appear to link with the Dabie Sulu UHP and HP metamorphic belts along the orogen. There is no reason to assume the two UHP metamorphic belts as a single giant deep subduction and collision zone in the Central Orogenic Belt situated between the Yangtze and Sino Korean cratons. Therefore, any dynamic model for the orogen must account for the development of UHP metamorphic rocks belonging to the separate two tectonic belts of different age and tectono metamorphic history.

Late-Stage Ductile Deformation in Xiongdian-Suhe HP Metamorphic Unit, North-Western Dabie Shan, Central China

New structural and petrological data unveil a very complicated ductile deformation history of the Xiongdian-Suhe HP metamorphic unit, north-western Dabie Shan, central China. The fine-grained symplectic amphibolite-facies assemblage and coronal structure enveloping eclogite-facies garnet, omphacite and phengite etc., representing strain-free decompression and retrogressive metamorphism, are considered as the main criteria to distinguish between the early-stage deformation under HP metamorphic conditions related to the continental deep subduction and collision, and the late-stage deformation under amphibolite to greenschist-facies conditions occurred in the post-eclogite exhumation processes. Two late-stages of widely developed, sequential ductile deformations D 3 and D 4, are recognized on the basis of penetrative fabrics and mineral aggregates in the Xiongdian-Suhe HP metamorphic unit, which shows clear, regionally, consistent overprinting relationships. D 3 fabrics are best preserved in the Suhe tract of low post-D 3 deformation intensity and characterized by steeply dipping layered mylonitic amphibolites associated with doubly vergent folds. They are attributed to a phase of tectonism linked to the initial exhumation of the HP rocks and involved crustal shortening with the development of upright structures and the widespread emplacement of garnet-bearing granites and felsic dikes. D 4 structures are attributed to the main episode of ductile extension (D 1 4) with a gently dipping foliation to the north and common intrafolial, recumbent folds in the Xiongdian tract, followed by normal sense top-to-the north ductile shearing (D 2 4) along an important tectonic boundary, the so-called Majiawa-Hexiwan fault (MHF), the westward continuation of the Balifan-Mozitan-Xiaotian fault (BMXF) of the northern Dabie Shan. It is indicated that the two stages of ductile deformation observed in the Xiongdian-Suhe HP metamorphic unit, reflecting the post-eclogite compressional or extrusion wedge formation, the subhorizontal ductile extension and crustal thinning as well as the top-to-the north shearing along the high-angle ductile shear zones responsible for exhumation of the HP unit as a coherent slab, are consistent with those recognized in the Dabie-Sulu UHP and HP metamorphic belts, suggesting that they were closely associated in time and space. The Xiongdian-Suhe HP metamorphic unit thus forms part of the Triassic (250-230 Ma) collision orogenic belt, and can not connect with the South Altun-North Qaidam-North Qinling UHP metamorphic belt formed during the Early Paleozoic (500-400 Ma).