Retrograde Metamorphism in the Greek Cycladic Islands as a Window into Exhumation Mechanisms of High Pressure Terranes

University Of Texas At Austin, Austin TX

Investigators

Abstract

Subduction zones carry oceanic and continental lithosphere to depths of arc magma genesis and beyond. However, not all subducted material reaches these depths and rocks are often returned to Earth's surface and preserved as exhumed high-pressure and ultra-high-pressure terranes in orogenic belts. The mechanism(s) by which these rocks return to the surface remains enigmatic. Knowledge of exhumation mechanisms is fundamental for a complete understanding of subduction zone dynamics. Although the research focus is on a particular part of the Aegean, the results will have implications for the general tectonic and geochemical processes operative in other exhumed subduction complexes as well as modern and ancient subduction zones. For example, modern observations of subduction zones reveal a spectrum of deformational and seismic behaviors along the subduction interface that are a function of interface effective width, rheological and metamorphic heterogeneities, and fluid distribution. The exhumed rock record on Syros and Tinos samples this subduction interface allowing us to better understand the linkage among mass transport, fluids, deformation and seismic behavior during the return-flow of material. In addition to the intellectual impacts of improved understanding of material transfer in subductions zone, the broader impacts consist of two key components: 1) international collaboration with colleagues at the University of Athens and 2) minority student support/outreach via training of two Ph.D. students (one minority and one female) and support for a minority undergraduate summer internship program for students from the University of Puerto Rico. It is commonly accepted that metamorphic rocks on Syros and Tinos record prograde metamorphism due to subduction during the Eocene (~ 50 Ma), followed by exhumation from mid-crustal levels during Miocene (~25 Ma) extensional detachment faulting. However, the processes responsible for exhuming these rocks from mantle depths to the middle crust during substantial window of time (~25 m.y.) between subduction and core-complex-capture remain enigmatic and the pressure and temperature conditions are poorly constrained. In addition, there are several cryptic phases of retrograde metamorphism that are likely associated with this time gap, and that record different mineral assemblages, deformation fabrics, and degrees of fluid infiltration and fluid sources. THe researchers will determine the pressure-temperature-time-deformation-fluid-source paths for several outcrops on Syros and Tinos, in order to decipher the exhumation mechanisms responsible for the early retrograde history and provide a high resolution snapshot of the Eo-Oligocene exhumation history of the Cycladic Blueschist Unit. The researchers will use a multi-disciplinary suite of approaches, including field structural geology, petrology, geochronology, and geochemistry, to decipher the early exhumation mechanisms of high pressure metamorphic rocks on Syros and Tinos. Field structural geology will focus on establishing deformation stages, strain distributions and kinematics; petrology, thermobarometry and microstructural analysis will be used to link particular fabrics identified in outcrop to their pressure-temperature conditions of deformation; in-situ and multi-mineral-isochron geochronology will provide constraints on the timing of development of particular retrograde fabrics; and stable isotope geochemistry will allow us to decipher the fluid sources that facilitated the retrogression process.