Petrofabrics and Water Contents of Peridotites from the Western Gneiss Region (Norway): Implications for Fabric Transition of Olivine in Continental Subduction Zones
Abstract
The Western Gneiss Region (WGR) of Norway lies within the Caledonian collision zone, which was subjected to the eclogites-facies metamorphism during the Silurian-Devonian continental collision of Baltica and Laurentia. Exhumed from depths of 80-200 km, the peridotites enclosed in Proterozoic gneisses in the WGR can be divided into two groups: garnet-free Archean dunites with extremely depleted compositions, and garnet-bearing peridotites that resulted from refertilization of the dunites during the Proterozoic time (Beyer et al., 2006). Therefore peridotites from the WGR provide a unique window to investigate petrofabrics of the upper mantle with different compositions and deformation history. Using the electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) technique, we measured lattice-preferred orientations of 10 peridotite samples from the WGR. The water contents of olivine were determined by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy in Paterson’s calibration (1982). For dunites from Almklovdalen in the southern WGR, one sample with water content of 0.5 ppm H2O displays the [100](010) (the A-type) olivine fabric, while the other two samples with water contents of 5-7 ppm H2O developed [001](010) (the B-type) fabric. In contrast, garnet lherzolites and wehrlites with various water content of 0.2-7 ppm H2O from Almklovdalen and Gurskøy yield the B-type fabric. The [001](100) (the C-type) fabric of olivine was observed in garnet harzburgite with very low water content (1.4 ppm H2O) from Otrøy in the northern WGR, where coesite, majoritic garnet and microdiamond were found by previous studies. Compared with the fabric diagram of olivine proposed by Jung and Karato (2001), all 10 peridotite samples came from dry conditions, under which the A-type or the D-type fabric is expected at low or high stress, respectively. Clearly, our results indicate that water is not the key to producing the different fabrics in the WGR peridotites, and the Proterozoic refertilization did not significantly affect the fabric development of peridotites during the continental collision. Combined with field observations in the WGR and recent deformation experiments on olivine, we propose that the B- and C-type fabrics of olivine were formed during the subduction of the Baltic plate in fluid-limited conditions. The combination of UHP and low temperature plays a more important role than water to promote [001] slip in continental subduction zones. The spatial distribution of olivine fabrics in the WGR could be related with the increasing pressure from south to north, i.e., the HP to UHP metamorphism transition. It is probable that in continental subduction zones, the B- and C-type fabrics will predominate over the A-type fabric with increasing depths of the subducting lithospheric mantle, and the C-type fabric is more easily to activated at pressure higher than 4 GPa on low geothermal gradients. Therefore the olivine C-type fabric may be a marker of ultradeep subduction.
- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2010
- Bibcode:
- 2010AGUFM.V13D2384W
- Keywords:
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- 3625 MINERALOGY AND PETROLOGY / Petrography;
- microstructures;
- and textures;
- 3654 MINERALOGY AND PETROLOGY / Ultra-high pressure metamorphism;
- 3902 MINERAL PHYSICS / Creep and deformation;
- 8170 TECTONOPHYSICS / Subduction zone processes