High-pressure mafic oceanic rocks from the Makbal Complex, Tianshan Mountains (Kazakhstan & Kyrgyzstan): Implications for the metamorphic evolution of a fossil subduction zone

• Published in: Lithos Vol. 177; pp. 207 - 225
• Main Authors: Meyer, Melanie, Klemd, Reiner, Konopelko, Dmitry
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 01-09-2013
• Subjects: Garnet isopleth thermobarometry; Makbal HP/UHP Complex; P–T pseudosection; Thermobarometry; Tianshan Mountains; Kazakhstan; China, People's Rep., Xinjiang, Tianshan Mts; Kyrgyzstan; P–T pseudosection; Garnet isopleth thermobarometry; Tianshan Mountains; Thermobarometry; Makbal HP/UHP Complex
• ISSN: 0024-4937; 1872-6143
• DOI: 10.1016/j.lithos.2013.06.015

The Makbal Complex in the western Tianshan Mountains of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan consists of HP/UHP metasedimentary host rocks which enclose various HP mafic blocks or boudins. These mafic rocks comprise rare eclogites (sensu stricto and sensu lato), garnet amphibolites (retrograded eclogites) and a newly discovered glaucophanite (glaucophane–garnet–omphacite bearing rock).
So far the Makbal Complex has been interpreted to predominantly consist of continental lithologies and the mafic rocks were considered as dismembered dikes intruding continental metasediments. This interpretation is mainly based on the geological relationship and bulk rock chemistry of the different rock types. It was further suggested that the continental lithologies of the Makbal Complex underwent eclogite-facies metamorphism in a former subduction zone.
In the present study we combined conventional geothermometry, P–T pseudosection modeling and major and trace element whole rock geochemistry for different mafic samples (glaucophanite and eclogites (sensu lato)) in order to shed light on both the metamorphic evolution and the protoliths of the mafic HP rocks in the Makbal Complex.
Prograde to peak-pressure clockwise P–T paths of glaucophanite and eclogites (sensu lato) were modeled using garnet isopleth thermobarometry. The results show that the glaucophanite and eclogite (sensu lato) samples experienced similar prograde P–T paths and slightly different peak metamorphic conditions at ~560°C at 2.4GPa for the former and between ~520°C at 2.2GPa and ~555°C at ~2.5GPa for the latter, corresponding to burial depths between 70 and 85km.
Whole rock major and trace element analyses and petrological evidence imply that the various rock types at the Makbal Complex most likely originated from different precursor rocks. Eclogites (sensu lato) are believed to represent strongly retrogressed former eclogite-facies rocks that had never been eclogites (sensu stricto, i.e. >70 vol.% garnet and omphacite) due to an unfavorable alkali-poor bulk composition (Na2O <1wt.%). The four high-pressure mafic samples investigated in this study originated from oceanic crust (Zr/Hf ratio of 33 to 35) which contradicts all previous studies suggesting a continental protolith for all mafic HP/UHP rocks at Makbal.
The present study indicates that the mafic high-pressure rocks represent incoherent segments of exhumed oceanic crust. Juxtaposition of different mafic oceanic (this study) and continental rocks is suggested to be due to buoyancy-driven exhumation of the metasedimentary host rock in the subduction channel where dismembered fragments of the subducted oceanic crust were captured in different depths.
•The Makbal Complex in the Kazakh/Kyrgyz Tianshan represents a tectonic mélange.•UHP metasedimentary host rocks enclose HP mafic lenses.•‘Glaucophanites’ and eclogites s.l. stem from one subduction zone.•Mafic lenses in continental metasediments are discontinuous relics of oceanic crust.