Role of Water in Deformed Omphacite in UHP Eclogite from the Dabie Mountains,Eastern China

Omphacite grains from UHP eclogite of the Dabie Mountains in eastern China are elongated and show strong lattice preferred orientations (LPOs). Observations by the transmission electron microscopy (TEM) identified not only structures of plastic deformation occurring as free dislocation, dislocation loops and dislocation walls, but also bubbles of water present in the deformed omphacite. The bubbles attach to the dislocation loops which are often connected to one another via a common bubble. Using infrared spectroscopy (IR), two types of hydrous components are identified as hydroxyl and free-water in the omphacite. An analysis of deformation mechanism of microstructure in omphacite suggests that the mineral deformed plastically under UHP metamorphic conditions by dislocation creep through hydrolitic weakening.

Fabric and Deformation of Omphacite in Dabie Ultra-high-pressure Ecologites

The rheological characters of omphacites in Dabie ultra-high-pressure eclogite have been studied in terms of fabric, dislocation and micro-structures. 1. The eclogite has undergone high-temperature deformation, thus forming omphacite lattice preferred orientation. In addition to creep dislocation, the omphacite ductile deformation may have other mechanisms, such as diffusion creep and grain boundary migration. 2. The main-phase deformation of eclogite is coaxial, but asymmetry strain also exists due to strain partitioning in the Dabie orogenic belt. 3. The twin measured by the universal stage is (100), indicating that omphacite high-T deformation was superimposed by low-T deformation. 4. Subgrain structure is common in omphacite, but the deformation features of the omphacites in the Shuanghe area and Bixiling area are different, the latter being dominated by dynamic recrystallization. 5. The Flinn plots show that the strain of omphacite belongs to the constriction ellipsoid and stretching strain, which is similar to the result of the omphacite fabric analysis.

TEM and HRTEM Study of Microstructures in Omphacite from UHP Eclogites at Shima,Dabie Mountains,China

Transmission electron microscope (TEM) and high resolution transmission electron microscope (HRTEM) analyses have been performed on omphacite from ultra-high pressure (UHP) eclogites at the locality of Shima, Dabie Mountains, China. TEM reveals that the microstructures consist dominantly of dislocation substructures, including free dislocations, loops, tiltwalls, dislocation tangles and subboundaries. They were produced by high-temperature ductile deformation, of which the main mechanism was dislocation creep. Antiphase domain (APD) boundaries are common planar defects; an age of 470 ± 6 Ma for UHP eclogite formation has been obtained from the equiaxial size of APDs in ordered omphacites from Shima, coincident with ages given by single-zircon U-Pb dating (471 ± 2 Ma). HRTEM reveals C2/c and P2/n space groups in different parts of one single omphacite crystal, and no exsolution is observed in the studied samples, which is attributed to rapid cooling. It is suggested that the UHP eclogites underwent a long period of annealing at high temperatures, followed by relatively rapid cooling. These data provide valuable information for the formation and exhumation mechanism of UHP eclogites in the Dabie high-pressure (HP) and UHP metamorphic belt.

Genesis of excess argon in phengite and significance of ^(40)Ar-^(39)Ar age spectra for omphacite:A case study on UHP eclogite of South Dabie Terrain,China

The Ar-Ar dating of phengite and omphacite in ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) eclogite of Bixiling and Hengchong in the South Dabie Terrain shows that the content range of excess argon is as high as (0.4-1.3)×10 8 mol· g 1. The genesis of the excess argon is discussed. The Ar-Ar age spectra of omphacite could not support the opinion that the UHP metamorphism occurred in Caledon epoch and pre-Caledon epoch.

Microstructures and Phase Transition in Omphacite: Constraints on the P-T Path of Shuanghe Eclogite (Dabie Orogen)

Omphacite microstructures are important to decipher the metamorphic pressuretemperature(P-T)conditions of eclogite during subduction and exhumation processes.Here we present a systematic microstructural investigation of omphacite using transmission electron microscopy(TEM)in an ultrahigh-pressure(UHP)eclogite sample from Shuanghe,Dabie orogen,China.The omphacite can be divided into two phases:(1)Omp-1,exhibits as the main part of omphacite with P2/n space group containing small amount of dislocations and numerous antiphase domains(APDs).(2)Omp-2,shows as banded subgrains with C2/c space group containing large amount of dislocations.These two phases of omphacite have almost the same crystallography orientation and bounded by dislocation walls.Along these dislocation walls,we found some barroisite and albite microcrystals.The barroisite microcrystals contain large amount of dislocations and show a topological relation with host omphacite.While the albite microcrystals contain small amount of dislocations and does not show topological relation with host.These microstructures could give us the following metamorphic information to constrain the P-T path of eclogite:Firstly,this two omphacite space groups should be evolved from the same precursor C2/c omphacite,which had been underwent strongly plastic deformation during the syn-to late-peak metamorphic stage.Secondly,the precursor C2/c omphacite began to be retrograded and altered by small amount of barroisite microcrystals along its dislocation walls under the P-T condition of 2.2–2.6 GPa and 650–700℃ at the early amphibole eclogite stage.Thirdly,large amount of Na and other elements were exsolved from some precursor C2/c omphacite subgrains and crystallized numerous albite microcrystals at their boundaries,which is the necessary for the space group of C2/c surviving under the lower P-T conditions(1.7–1.9 GPa and 630–690 C)during the middle amphibole eclogite stage.Lastly,the rest of precursor C2/c omphacite subgrains were transformed into P2/n polymorph and formed the APDs structures under the P-T condition of^1.5 GPa and 650–680℃ during the late amphibole eclogite stage.

Determination of crystal structure of omphacite

The chemical formula of omphacite was expressed with （MⅡMⅠ）（Si, AI）2O6.Cations that occupied the MⅡ site were large cations such as Ca or Na, and Na/（Na+Ca） ratio ranged from 0.2 to 0.8; the 6-coordinated MⅠ site accommodated cations such as Mg, Fe2+,Al, Fe3+ ,and Al/（Al+Fe3+） ratio was more than 0.5 Omphacite space groups reported were C2/c, P2, P2/n, P2/c, cell parameters are a0 = 0.9600—0.9630 nm, b0 = 0.8750—0.8830 nm, C0 =0.5230—0.5290 nm,β = 106°40’—107°10’. The sample was picked up from the eclogites in Zhucheng County, Shangdong Province. The intensity data were collected with the RIGAKU RASA Ⅱ -S four-circle single crystal diffractometer. The correct structure model was obtained by using the Patterson method and Fourier synthesis, SHELX-76 program, structure refinement with 905 independent diffraction points （|F0|】 3σ|F0 |）. After the structure parameter refinement, the R-factor reduced to 0.0515. The crystal structure analysis indicates that omphacite has a new

Discovery of eclogites in Jinsha River suture zone, Gonjo County, eastern Tibet and its restriction on Paleo-Tethyan evolution

As the important component of the eastern Tethys tectonic region,the Jinsha River-Ailao Mountain suture zone is often considered to be an ophiolitic mé1ange belt.However,the P-T-t path and chronological framework of the metamorphic evolution in the collisional orogenetic process of this zone are still poorly understood owing to the lack of metamorphism research of symbolic high-pressure rocks.During a regional geological survey on a scale of 1:50000 in Gonjo County,Tibet Autonomous Region involved in this paper,(retrograde)eclogites lenses of different scales were found in Jinsha River suture zone,eastern Tibet for the first time.The(retrograde)eclogites can be divided into garnet-albite-chlorite-actinolite schists and eclogites according to retrograde degrees.The mainly mineral components of eclogites include garnet(45%-50%),clinopyroxene(about 25%),and hornblende(5%-10%)primarily,and biotite,quartz,rutile,and muscovite secondarily.According to the data of electron probe micro analysis(EPMA),clinopyroxenes feature high content of Na2O(5.6%-6%)and corresponding jadeite(Jd)molecules of 37%-44%,and they fall within the omphacite region in Quad-Jd-Ae diagram.The temperature and pressure of the metamorphism at peak are P≈2.2-2.34 GPa and T≈622-688℃respectively as measured with geobarometry Grt-Omp-Phe and geothermometer Grt-Omp.This will provide a new reference for the understanding of Paleo-Tethyan evolution.In this paper,two samples of eclogites were chosen for LA-ICP-MS zircon U-Pb dating and their 206pb/238U ages obtained are 240±3 Ma and 244±1 Ma respectively.Furthermore,the zircons feature extremely low Th/U ratio(<0.01),extremely low content ofNb,Ta,and HREE,and invisible negative Eu anomaly.Therefore,the genesis of the zircons shall be eclogites-facies metamorphism,indicating that the 240-245 Ma determined in this paper shall be the age of eclogites-facies metamorphism and may represent the westward subduction-collision epoch of Paleo-Tethys Ocean located between Zhongza Block and Qamdo Block.

Multiple Genesis of Fluid and Melt during Exhumation of Deeply-Subducted UHP Eclogite

Supercritical fluid and granitic melt are commonly generated as pressure decreases during exhumation of deeply subducted continental crust from mantle depths,promoting crust–mantle interaction,changing the rheology of material along much of the subduction channel and,in a feedback loop,facilitating ongoing exhumation.However.

Principle and Technique of Calculating Seismic Velocities from Lattice Preferred Orientation (LPO) Data of Minerals

Deducing seismic velocity anisotropy from LPO (lattice preferred orientation) data of deformed rock samples, a significant link between geology and seismology in geoscience researches, has extensive and promising application. In this paper, the principle and programming technique are highlighted to illustrate the comprehensive automatization procedure. In computer algorithm, two aspects of the programs commonly used in the world are improved: (1) the addition of a pre processing subroutine makes the straightforward calculation realizable from universal stage readings to geographic azimuths and thus to solution of all crystal axes, even for non orthorhombic a and c axes in monoclinic systems. (2) the simplification and perfection of programming can be implemented in the light of Visual Basic (VB) resource. The algorithm has been verified with results from practical data of omphacite samples.

Eclogites and their country gneisses: studies on inclusions in the accessory minerals of country gneisses

The mineral inclusions in accessory minerals of the country gneisses have been studied in order to interpret relation between eclogites and their country gneissic rocks. Omphacite inclusions have been identified in titanite and zircon, which indicates that the present mineral assemblages of country gneisses are the last retrograded assemblages and eclogites and their country gneissic rocks probably have a same metamorphic history.