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Abstract: Hydrothermally altered rocks are products of fluid–rock interactions, and typically preserve numerous quartz veins that formed as chemical precipitates from fluids that fill up cracks. Thus, quartz veins are the record of the fluid system that involved fracture flow in the direction of changing temperature or pressure. In order to decipher the fluid activity in the Sulu ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) terrane in eastern China, quartz veins together with an adjacent eclogite lens and the host gneiss were studied. In one location a deformed quartz vein is located at the boundary between the host gneiss and the eclogite lens. The amphibolite-facies overprinting of the eclogite lens decreases from the rim to the core of the lens, with fresh eclogite preserved in the core. The foliated biotite gneiss contains felsic veins and residual phengites. Zircon rims from the gneiss are characterized by melt-related signatures with steep HREE patterns, high Hf contents and negative Eu anomalies, and a pool of weighted average 206Pb/238U analyses reveal an age of 219±3Ma (2σ), which is younger than the UHP metamorphic age (236±2Ma, 2σ) recorded by zircons from the eclogite lens. This suggests that the gneiss in the Sulu UHP terrane could have suffered from partial melting due to phengite dehydration during the “hot” exhumation stage. The formation age of the quartz vein (219±2Ma, 2σ) defined by zircon rims agrees well with the partial melting time (219±3Ma, 2σ) of the host gneiss. The initial 176Hf/177Hf ratios of zircon rims from the quartz vein are obviously lower than zircons from the eclogite lens, but overlap with the coeval zircon domains from the nearby granite dikes produced by partial melting of orthogneiss. These observations suggest that the quartz vein and corresponding fluid flow could be associated with partial melting of the host gneiss. On the other hand, amphibole-bearing and HREE-rich zircon rims from the amphibolite pool an amphibolite-facies metamorphic age of 217±5Ma (2σ), overlap with the formation age of the quartz vein. This implies that retrogression of the eclogite lens could have been caused by melting-induced fluid flow. Based on the above observations, we speculate that partial melting of the gneiss in the continental subduction-related UHP belt could have induced a significant fluid flow during the exhumation stage, and thus contributed significantly to the extensive retrogression of eclogites in the Sulu UHP terrane. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Rutile and zircon in eclogites from the main hole of the Chinese Continental Scientific Drilling (CCSD-MH) were analyzed by laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) and electron microprobe (EMP). Both single spot and profile analyses of large matrix rutiles (>60μm) generally demonstrate core–rim variability of Pb, Sr, Zr and U. Pb and Sr show enrichment at the rims, while Zr and U decrease in concentration from the cores to the rims. Correspondingly, temperatures estimated by Zr-in-rutile geothermometers are higher within the cores (mainly in the range of 680–740°C) than at the rims by 10–30°C. We note that estimated temperatures within the cores of matrix rutiles correlate positively with grain diameter. This suggests that the Zr content in rutiles is not only dependent on temperature and pressure, but is also affected by fluid activity and Zr diffusion. Estimated temperatures within the cores of matrix rutiles merely represent lower limits of the peak ultra-high pressure (UHP) metamorphic temperatures. Combined with Th/U and Ce/Lu ratios, rare earth element (REE) patterns and 206Pb/238U ages, Ti-in-zircon geothermometers can be used to distinguish the thermal evolution of eclogites during the UHP metamorphism. Zircons of 745±8.0Ma (2σ, n =3) show evidence of the temperatures at which they crystallized from the original magma. Zircons of 240±7.0Ma (2σ, n =11) with flat HREE patterns suggest a definite temperature range (689±18°C (2σ, n =11)) for the prograde metamorphism. Although 226Ma is generally considered the time of the peak UHP metamorphism for the Dabie–Sulu orogen, except for a few grains with a maximum temperature of 744°C, most of the 226±2.0Ma (2σ, n =12) zircons indicate lower temperatures (average=698±12°C (2σ, n =12)). These data imply that the 226Ma zircons were probably not products of the peak UHP metamorphism, but might instead be associated with the pressure decrease in the post-peak metamorphism. The youngest zircons (<220Ma) provide evidence for temperatures (682±14°C (2σ, n =11)) associated with the retrograde metamorphism. Geothermometers that incorporate both rutile and zircon indicate that there may have been experienced a locally short-lived heating event for eclogites from the CCSD-MH. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]