Remelting of subducted continental lithosphere: Petrogenesis of Mesozoic magmatic rocks in the Dabie-Sulu orogenic belt

Continental versus oceanic subduction zones

Subduction zones are tectonic expressions of convergent plate margins, where crustal rocks descend into and interact with the overlying mantle wedge. They are the geodynamic system that produces mafic arc volcanics above oceanic subduction zones but high- to ultrahigh-pressure metamorphic rocks in continental subduction zones. While the metamorphic rocks provide petrological records of orogenic processes when descending crustal rocks undergo dehydration and anataxis at forearc to subarc depths beneath the mantle wedge, the arc volcanics provide geochemical records of the mass transfer from the subducting slab to the mantle wedge in this period though the mantle wedge becomes partially melted at a later time. Whereas the mantle wedge overlying the subducting oceanic slab is of asthenospheric origin, that overlying the descending continental slab is of lithospheric origin, being ancient beneath cratons but juvenile beneath marginal arcs. In either case, the mantle wedge base is cooled down during the slab–wedge coupled subduction. Metamorphic dehydration is prominent during subduction of crustal rocks, giving rise to aqueous solutions that are enriched in fluid-mobile incompatible elements. Once the subducting slab is decoupled from the mantle wedge, the slab–mantle interface is heated by lateral incursion of the asthenospheric mantle to allow dehydration melting of rocks in the descending slab surface and the metasomatized mantle wedge base, respectively. Therefore, the tectonic regime of subduction zones changes in both time and space with respect to their structures, inputs, processes and products. Ophiolites record the tectonic conversion from seafloor spreading to oceanic subduction beneath continental margin, whereas ultrahigh-temperature metamorphic events mark the tectonic conversion from compression to extension in orogens.

Theoretical insight into chlorine adsorption on the Fe(100) surface

These results will help to understand and reduce the emission of iron chlorides from the use of commercial oil lubricants.

Postcollisional mafic igneous rocks record crust-mantle interaction during continental deep subduction

Findings of coesite and microdiamond in metamorphic rocks of supracrustal protolith led to the recognition of continental subduction to mantle depths. The crust-mantle interaction is expected to take place during subduction of the continental crust beneath the subcontinental lithospheric mantle wedge. This is recorded by postcollisional mafic igneous rocks in the Dabie-Sulu orogenic belt and its adjacent continental margin in the North China Block. These rocks exhibit the geochemical inheritance of whole-rock trace elements and Sr-Nd-Pb isotopes as well as zircon U-Pb ages and Hf-O isotopes from felsic melts derived from the subducted continental crust. Reaction of such melts with the overlying wedge peridotite would transfer the crustal signatures to the mantle sources for postcollisional mafic magmatism. Therefore, postcollisonal mafic igneous rocks above continental subduction zones are an analog to arc volcanics above oceanic subduction zones, providing an additional laboratory for the study of crust-mantle interaction at convergent plate margins.