The study of subduction channels:Progress,controversies,and challenges

The subduction channel is defined as a relatively thin and weak zone with coherent kinematics between the descending and overriding plates during subduction.The materials in the channel,showing the characteristics of mélange,consist of low-density,low-viscosity,highly sheared metasediments and/or serpentinite-rich matrix with relatively rigid blocks.The channel materials flow downwards and upwards,forming a kind of channel convection.Based on geophysical and geological observations on active oceanic subduction zones,combined with numerical simulations,the subduction channel model was initially set to shallow depths<30 km.With the development of numerical simulation technology and fossil subduction zone investigations,the subduction channel model was extended to depths of 80-100 km to describe deeper geodynamic environments of oceanic subduction zones and explore the exhumation of high to ultrahigh pressure metamorphic rocks.It is also extended to continental subduction zones in order to explain the exhumation of metamorphic rocks in different grades as well as fluid activity and crust-mantle interaction during continental subduction.Although there are a series of differences in material composition and slab/mantle interface property between the upper and lower plates,continental subduction channels exhibit many similarities in structure and dynamics to oceanic subduction channels.Existing studies have provided a fundamental understanding of the structural and dynamic characteristics of subduction channels,but many problems still need to be solved and clarified.In particular,the fundamental characteristics of subduction channels obtained by numerical simulation need to be confirmed and modified through geological investigations of fossil subduction channels.

Partial melting and crust-mantle interaction in subduction channels:Constraints from experimental petrology

It is proposed in the subduction channel model that the plate interface interaction is a basic mechanism for the mass and energy exchange between Earth’s surface and interior.The significant difference in composition and nature between continental lithosphere and oceanic lithosphere inevitably leads to variations in deep physical and chemical processes as well as crust-mantle interaction products in these two settings.Many studies of experimental petrology have provided constraints on the potential partial melting and crust-mantle interaction in oceanic subduction channels for silicate and carbonate rocks.The partial melts of mafic and felsic compositions are adakitic or non-adakitic granitic melts depending on melting pressure or depth.A trivial amount of CO2 can lower significantly the melting temperature of peridotites and lead to pronounced enrichment of incompatible elements in carbonate melt.The silica saturated or unsaturated melts can react with mantle-wedge peridotites in subduction channels to generate complex products.However,the existing experiments are mostly dedicated to island arc settings above oceanic subduction zones rather than dehydration melting above continental subduction zones.It is crucial to conduct high pressure and high temperature experiments to investigate all possible reactions between peridotites and crustal materials and their derivatives under the conditions responsible for the slab-mantle interface in continental subduction channels.Experimental results,combined with natural observations,are possible to elucidate the processes of metamorphic dehydration,partial melting and mantle metasomatism in continental subduction channels.

Petrology and metamorphism of glaucophane eclogites in Changning-Menglian suture zone, Bangbing area, southeast Tibetan Plateau: An evidence for Paleo-Tethyan subduction

High/ultrahigh-pressure(HP/UHP)metamorphic complexes,such as eclogite and blueschist,are generally regarded as significant signature of paleo-subduction zones and paleo-suture zones.Glaucophane eclogites have been recently identified within the Lancang Group characterized by accretionary mélange in the Changning-Menglian suture zone,at Bangbing in the Shuangjiang area of southeastern Tibetan Plateau.The authors report the result of petrological,mineralogical and metamorphism investigations of these rocks,and discuss their tectonic implications.The eclogites are located within the Suyi blueschist belt and occur as tectonic lenses in coarse-grained garnet muscovite schists.The major mineral assemblage of the eclogites includes garnet,omphacite,glaucophane,phengite,clinozoisite and rutile.Eclogitic garnet contains numerous inclusions,such as omphacite,glaucophane,rutile,and quartz with radial cracks around.Glaucophane and clinozoisite in the matrix have apparent optical and compositional zonation.Four stages of metamorphic evolution can be determined:The prograde blueschist facies(M_(1)),the peak eclogite facies(M_(2)),the decompression blueschist facies(M_(3))and retrograde greenschist facies(M_(4)).Using the Grt-Omp-Phn geothermobarometer,a peak eclogite facies metamorphic P-T condition of 3000–3270 MPa and 617–658℃ was determined,which is typical of low-temperature ultrahigh-pressure metamorphism.The comparison of the geological characteristics of the Bangbing glaucophane eclogites and the Mengku lawsonite-bearing retrograde eclogites indicates that two suites of eclogites may have formed from significantly different depths or localities to create the tectonic mélange in a subduction channel during subduction of the Triassic Changning-Menglian Ocean.The discovery of the Bangbing glaucophane eclogites may represent a new oceanic HP/UHP metamorphic belt in the Changning-Menglian suture zone.

In situ characterization of forearc serpentinized peridotite from the Sulu ultrahigh-pressure terrane: Behavior of fluid-mobile elements in continental subduction zone

Serpentinized peridotites in the Yangkou(YK),Suoluoshu(SLS) and Hujialin(HJL) areas in the Sulu ultrahighpressure terrane represent the relic of ancient subcontinental lithospheric mantle below the North China Craton.Their protoliths,harzburgite and dunite,were variably hydrated by aqueous fluids released from subducting Yangtze continent.The rocks are enriched in fluid-mobile elements(FME) including Sb(42–333 times the depleted mantle value) and Pb(30–476 times).The degrees of the FME enrichment are comparable to that of the Himalayan forearc serpentinites,and greater than forearc mantle serpentinites from Marianas,suggesting that the degrees of FME enrichment in the forearc serpentinites are greater in continental subduction zones than those in the oceanic subduction zones.Lizardite after olivine in the SLS serpentinite shows higher degrees of enrichment in Sb and As than those for antigorite after both olivine and orthopyroxene in the YK area.The antigorite has highly enriched in Pb,U,Cs,and LREE,but not for the lizardite.The abundance of FME in two different species of serpentine reflects the different temperature of hydration.At temperature lower than 300 ℃,formed lizardite at shallow depths of the mantle wedge incorporates elements that are fluid mobile at low temperatures,such as Sb and As.When the temperature greater than 300 ℃,formed antigorite at a relatively deep mantle wedge incorporate more FME from the subducting continental slab(or fragments),including Pb,U,Cs,LREE as well as Sb and As.The eventual breakdown of antigorite(600–700 ℃) in prograde metamorphism would discharge water as well as FME into the subducting channel and/or the overlying mantle.

Subduction of the primordial crust into the deep mantle

The primordial crust on the Earth formed from the crystallization of the surface magma ocean during the Hadean.However,geological surveys have found no evidence of rocks dating back to more than 4 Ga on the Earth＇s surface,suggesting the Hadean crust was lost due to some processes.We investigated the subduction of one of the possible candidates for the primordial crust,anorthosite and KREEP crust similar to the Moon,which is also considered to have formed from the crystallization of the magma ocean.Similar to the present Earth,the subduction of primordial crust by subduction erosion is expected to be an effective way of eliminating primordial crust from the surface.In this study,the subduction rate of the primordial crust via subduction channels is evaluated by numerical simulations.The subduction channels are located between the subducting slab and the mantle wedge and are comprised of primordial crust materials supplied mainly by subduction erosion.We have found that primordial anorthosite and KREEP crust of up to - 50 km thick at the Earth＇s surface was able to be conveyed to the deep mantle within 0.1-2 Gy by that mechanism.

Material transportation and fluid-melt activity in the subduction channel: Numerical modeling

The subduction channel is defined as a planar to wedge-like area of variable size,internal structure and composition,which forms between the upper and lower plates during slab subduction into the mantle.The materials in the channel may experience complex pressure,temperature,stress and strain evolution,as well as strong fluid and melt activity.A certain amount of these materials may subduct to and later exhume from>100 km depth,forming high to ultra-high pressure rocks on the surface as widely discovered in nature.Rock deformation in the channel is strongly assisted by metamorphic fluids activities,which change composition and mechanical properties of rocks and thus affect their subduction and exhumation histories.In this study,we investigate the detailed structure and dynamics of both oceanic and continental subduction channels,by conducting highresolution petrological-thermomechanical numerical simulations taking into account fluid and melt activities.The numerical results demonstrate that subduction channels are composed of a tectonic rock melange formed by crustal rocks detached from the subducting slab and the hydrated mantle rocks scratched from the overriding plate.These rocks may either extrude sub-vertically upward through the mantle wedge to the crust of the upper plate,or exhume along the subduction channel to the surface near the suture zone.Based on our numerical results,we first analyze similarities and differences between oceanic and continental subduction channels.We further compare numerical models with and without fluid and melt activity and demonstrate that this activity results in strong weakening and deformation of overriding lithosphere.Finally,we show that fast convergence of orogens subjected to fluid and melt activity leads to strong deformation of the overriding lithosphere and the topography builds up mainly on the overriding plate.In contrast,slow convergence of such orogens leads to very limited deformation of the overriding lithosphere and the mountain building mainly occurs on the subducting plate.

The Dabie-Sulu orogenic peridotites:Progress and key issues

Orogenic peridotites in the Dabie-Sulu orogenic belt are commonly subdivided into‘crustal’type and‘mantle’type.They exhibit distinct mineral textures,metamorphic evolution,and whole-rock and mineral compositions.Most‘mantle’type peridotites originated from the subcontinental lithospheric mantle(SCLM)of the North China Craton and thus provide direct evidence of crust-mantle interactions in the continental subduction channel.In garnet peridotites,both garnet and Cr-spinel can be equilibrated at peak pressure conditions.Their stabilities are mainly controlled by the refertilized degree of whole-rock;therefore,spinel composition cannot be used to discriminate the partial melting degree of orogenic peridotites.Refractory mantle-derived dunites contain the textures of low Mg and high Ca olivine veins that crosscut orthopyroxene porphyroblasts,which is considered as evidence for silica-undersaturated melt-rock reactions.Such reactions occurring before subduction may potentially affect Re-Os isotopic compositions.Rutile,Ti-clinohumite and zircon in mantle-derived peridotites or pyroxenites provide direct mineralogical evidence for the transport of high field strength elements(HFSEs)from the subducted crust into the mantle wedge.Based on detailed in situ element and isotope analyses,we can constrain the source of metasomatic agents,the metasomatic time and the process of mass transfer.The mantle wedge above continental subduction zones has a wide range of oxygen fugacity values(FMQ=?5.50–1.75),showing a roughly negative correlation with the subducted depths.However,the calculated results of oxygen fugacity are significantly affected by mineral assemblages,P-T conditions and dehydrogenation-oxidation of nominally anhydrous mantle olivine during exhumation.Although significant progress has been made in the study of orogenic peridotites in the Dabie-Sulu orogenic belt,many critical questions remain.With new approaches and advanced technologic applications,additional knowledge of the phase relation in the peridotite-pyroxenite complex system,the mantle geodynamic process before continental subduction,the effects of crustal metasomatism on chemical composition,the oxygen fugacity,and the physical properties of the mantle wedge is anticipated.