Coupling of oceanic and continental crust during Eocene eclogite-facies metamorphism: evidence from the Monte Rosa nappe,western Alps |
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| Authors: | Thomas J Lapen Clark M Johnson Lukas P Baumgartner Giorgio V Dal Piaz Susanne Skora Brian L Beard |
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| Institution: | (1) Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, USA;(2) Institute of Mineralogy and Petrology, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland;(3) Department of Geology, Paleontology and Geophysics, University of Padova, Padova, Italy;(4) Department of Geosciences, Science and Research 1, University of Houston, 4800 Calhoun Rd, Houston, TX 77204, USA |
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| Abstract: | High precision U–Pb geochronology of rutile from quartz–carbonate–white mica–rutile veins that are hosted within eclogite
and schist of the Monte Rosa nappe, western Alps, Italy, indicate that the Monte Rosa nappe was at eclogite-facies metamorphic
conditions at 42.6 ± 0.6 Ma. The sample area Indren glacier, Furgg zone; Dal Piaz (2001) Geology of the Monte Rosa massif: historical review and personal comments. SMPM] consists of eclogite boudins that are exposed
inside a south-plunging overturned synform within micaceous schist. Associated with the eclogite and schist are quartz–carbonate–white
mica–rutile veins that formed in tension cracks in the eclogite and along the contact between eclogite and surrounding schist.
Intrusion of the veins at about 42.6 Ma occurred at eclogite-facies metamorphic conditions (480–570°C, >1.3–1.4 GPa) based
on textural relations, oxygen isotope thermometry, and geothermobarometry. The timing of eclogite-facies metamorphism in the
Monte Rosa nappe determined in this study is identical to that of the Gran Paradiso nappe Meffan-Main et al. (2004) J Metamorphic Geol 22:261–281], confirming that these two units have shared the same Alpine metamorphic history. Furthermore,
the Gran Paradiso and Monte Rosa nappes underwent eclogite-facies metamorphism within the same time interval as the structurally
overlying Zermatt-Saas ophiolite ∼50–40 Ma; e.g., Amato et al. (1999) Earth Planet Sci Lett 171:425–438; Mayer et al. (1999) Eur Union Geosci 10:809 (abstract); Lapen et al. (2003) Earth Planet Sci Lett 215:57–72]. The nearly identical P–T–t histories of the Gran Paradiso, Monte Rosa, and Zermatt-Saas units suggest that these units shared a common Alpine tectonic
and metamorphic history. The close spatial and temporal associations between high pressure (HP) ophiolite and continental
crust during Alpine orogeny indicates that the HP internal basement nappes in the western Alps may have played a key role
in exhumation and preservation of the ophiolitic rocks through buoyancy-driven uplift. Coupling of oceanic and continental
crust may therefore be critical in preventing permanent loss of oceanic crust to the mantle. |
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