Partial melting of deeply subducted eclogite from the Sulu orogen in China.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 25517619.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/ncomms6604 and PMC identifier 4284643.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
We report partial melting of an ultrahigh pressure eclogite in the Mesozoic Sulu orogen, China. Eclogitic migmatite shows successive stages of initial intragranular and grain boundary melt droplets, which grow into a three-dimensional interconnected intergranular network, then segregate and accumulate in pressure shadow areas and then merge to form melt channels and dikes that transport magma to higher in the lithosphere. Here we show, using zircon U-Pb dating and petrological analyses, that partial melting occurred at 228-219 Myr ago, shortly after peak metamorphism at 230 Myr ago. The melts and residues are complimentarily enriched and depleted in light rare earth element (LREE) compared with the original rock. Partial melting of deeply subducted eclogite is an important process in determining the rheological structure and mechanical behaviour of subducted lithosphere and its rapid exhumation, controlling the flow of deep lithospheric material, and for generation of melts from the upper mantle, potentially contributing to arc magmatism and growth of continental crust.