Abstract
The Sulu Orogen constitutes the eastern part of the Sulu-Dabie Orogen formed by Triassic collision between the Sino-Korean and Yangtze plates. An HP Slice I and two UHP slices II and III with contrasting subduction and exhumation histories within the Sulu Orogen were postulated. This study presents the metamorphic P-T paths of eclogites from the two UHP belts constructed by petrography, mineral chemistry and Perple_X P-T pseudosection modeling in the MnC(K)NFMASHO system. Eclogites from Slice III mainly consist of omphacite, garnet and quartz, with minor rutile, ilmenite, amphibole and phengite. Eclogites from Slice II show a porphyroblastic texture with epidote porphyroblasts and garnet, omphacite, phengite, quartz and rutile in matrix. Pseudosection modeling reveals that eclogites from Slice II witness a peak metamorphism of eclogite-facies under conditions of 3.1–3.3 GPa and 660–690 ºC, and a retrograde cooling decompression process. The eclogites from Slice III record a heating decompressive P-T path with a peak-P stage of 3.2 GPa and 840 ºC and a peak-T stage of 2.4 GPa and 950 ºC, suggesting an apparent granulite-facies metamorphism overprint during exhumation. Both eclogites recorded clockwise P-T paths with peak P-T conditions suggesting a subduction beneath the Sino-Korean Plate to ~100–105 km depth. Combined with tectonic scenarios from previous studies, it is concluded that the two UHP crustal slices in the Sulu terrane have a similar geodynamic evolution, but the UHP rocks in Slice II exhumed after the eclogitic peak-pressure conditions earlier than that of Slice III. The existence of Slice II diminished the buoyancy force on Slice III, resulting in a granulite-facies overprint on Slice III. The Sulu orogenic belt is made up of different crustal slices that underwent different subduction and exhumation histories, rather than a single unit.
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Acknowledgements
We are indebted to Dr. Rong-Guo Hu from the Department of Earth Sciences, VU Amsterdam for his help with sample preparation for XRF analysis. We gratefully acknowledge the careful and insightful comments of the three anonymous reviewers, which considerably improved the manuscript. This study was funded by the National Key R & D Program of China (No. 2016YFC0600403), the State Scholarship Fund of the China Scholarship Council (CSC) to Yilong Li, and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, China University of Geosciences (Wuhan) (Nos. CUGL170404, CUG160232). Fieldwork and sample collection were supported by the KNAWCAS China Exchange Program to Jan R. Wijbrans, Fraukje M. Brouwer, and Hua-Ning Qiu, and the NWO Meervoud Program to Fraukje M. Brouwer. The final publication is available at Springer via https://doi.org/10.1007/s12583-018-0845-x.
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Li, Z., Li, Y., Wijbrans, J.R. et al. Metamorphic P-T Path Differences between the Two UHP Terranes of Sulu Orogen, Eastern China: Petrologic Comparison between Eclogites from Donghai and Rongcheng. J. Earth Sci. 29, 1151–1166 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12583-018-0845-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12583-018-0845-x