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The possible subduction of continental material to depths greater than 200 km

Nature volume 407, pages 734–736 (2000)Cite this article

Abstract

Determining the depth to which continental lithosphere can be subducted into the mantle at convergent plate boundaries is of importance for understanding the long-term growth of supercontinents as well as the dynamic processes that shape such margins. Recent discoveries of coesite and diamond in regional ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) metamorphic rocks has demonstrated that continental material can be subducted to depths of at least 120 km (ref. 1), and subduction to depths of 150–300 km has been inferred from garnet peridotites in orogenic UHP belts based on several indirect observations2,3,4,5. But continental subduction to such depths is difficult to trace directly in natural UHP metamorphic crustal rocks by conventional mineralogical and petrological methods because of extensive late-stage recrystallization and the lack of a suitable pressure indicator. It has been predicted from experimental work, however, that solid-state dissolution of pyroxene should occur in garnet at depths greater than 150 km (refs 6,7,8). Here we report the observation of high concentrations of clinopyroxene, rutile and apatite exsolutions in garnet within eclogites from Yangkou in the Sulu UHP metamorphic belt, China. We interpret these data as resulting from the high-pressure formation of pyroxene solid solutions in subducted continental material. Appropriate conditions for the Na2O concentrations and octahedral silicon observed in these samples are met at depths greater than 200 km.

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Figure 1: Transmitted light photomicrographs of garnet (grt) with exsolution rods of clinopyroxene (cpx), rutile (rut) and apatite (ap) along crystallographically controlled planes.

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Acknowledgements

We thank P. Xu for programming microprobe analyses, and H. W. Green for comments that significantly improved this Letter. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China

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  1. Laboratory of Lithosphere Tectonic Evolution, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, PO Box 9825, Beijing, 100029, China

    Kai Ye, Bolin Cong & Danian Ye

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Correspondence to Kai Ye.

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Ye, K., Cong, B. & Ye, D. The possible subduction of continental material to depths greater than 200 km. Nature 407, 734–736 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1038/35037566

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