Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Article
  • Published:

Metamorphic record of catastrophic pressure drops in subduction zones

Nature Geoscience volume 10, pages 46–50 (2017)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

When deeply buried in subduction zones, rocks undergo mineral transformations that record the increase of pressure and temperature. The fact that high-pressure metamorphic parageneses are found at the Earth’s surface proves that rock burial is followed by exhumation. Here we use analysis of available data sets from high-pressure metamorphic rocks worldwide to show that the peak pressure is proportional to the subsequent decompression occurring during the initial stage of retrogression. We propose, using a simple mechanical analysis, that this linear relationship can be explained by the transition from burial-related compression to extension at the onset of exhumation. This major switch in orientation and magnitude of principal tectonic stresses leads to a catastrophic pressure drop prior to actual rock ascent. Therefore, peak pressures are not necessarily, as commonly believed, directly dependent on the maximum burial depth, but can also reflect a change of tectonic regime. Our results, which are in agreement with natural data, have significant implications for rock rheology, subduction zone seismicity, and the magnitudes of tectonic pressures sustained by rocks. Current views of subduction dynamics could be reconsidered in that perspective.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: P–T–t path, peak pressure and pressure drop.
Figure 2: State of stress during subduction–exhumation process driven by slab rollback (left) or upper plate extension (right).
Figure 3: Pressure drop occurring at peak pressure.
Figure 4: New interpretation of P-T paths.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Ernst, W. G. Blueschist metamorphism and P–T regimes in active subduction zones. Tectonophysics 17, 255–272 (1973).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Powell, R. P. & Holland, T. Using equilibrium thermodynamics to understand metamorphism and metamorphic rocks. Elements 6, 309–314 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Ernst, W. G., Hacker, B. R. & Liou, J. G. Petrotectonics of ultrahigh-pressure crustal and upper-mantle rocks—Implications for Phanerozoic collisional orogens. Geol. Soc. Am. 433, 27–49 (2007).

    Google Scholar 

  4. Chopin, C. Ultrahigh-pressure metamorphism: tracing continental crust into the mantle. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 212, 1–14 (2003).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Agard, P., Yamato, P., Jolivet, L. & Burov, E. Exhumation of oceanic blueschists and eclogites in subduction zones: timing and mechanisms. Earth-Sci. Rev. 92, 53–79 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Chopin, C. Coesite and pure pyrope in high-grade blueschists of the western Alps: a first record and some consequences. Contrib. Mineral. Petrol. 96, 253–274 (1984).

    Google Scholar 

  7. Smith, D. Coesite in clinopyroxene in the Caledonides and its implications for geodynamics. Nature 310, 641–644 (1984).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Hacker, B. R. & Gerya, T. V. Paradigms, new and old, for ultrahigh-pressure tectonism. Tectonophysics 603, 79–88 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Petrini, K. & Podladchikov, Y. Lithospheric pressure-depth relationship in compressive regions of thickened crust. J. Metamorph. Geol. 18, 67–77 (2000).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Mancktelow, N. S. Tectonic pressure: theoretical concepts and modelled examples. Lithos 103, 149–177 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Schmalholz, S. M. & Podladchikov, Y. Metamorphism under stress: the problem of relating minerals to depth. Geology 42, 733–734 (2014).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Gerya, T. Tectonic overpressure and underpressure in lithospheric tectonics and metamorphism. J. Metamorph. Geol. 33, 785–800 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Reuber, G., Kaus, B. J. P., Schmalholz, S. M. & White, R. W. Nonlithostatic pressure during subduction and collision and the formation of (ultra)high-pressure rocks. Geology 44, 343–346 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Andersen, T. B., Jamtveit, B., Dewey, J. F. & Swensson, E. Subduction and eduction of continental crust: major mechanisms during continent–continent collision and orogenic extensional collapse, a model based on the south Norwegian Caledonides. Terra Nova 3, 303–310 (1991).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Brun, J. P. & Faccenna, C. Exhumation of high-pressure rocks driven by slab rollback. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 272, 1–7 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Duretz, T. et al. Thermo-mechanical modeling of the obduction process based on the Oman ophiolite case. Gondwana Res. 32, 1–10 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Chemenda, A. I., Mattauer, M., Malavieille, J. & Bokun, A. N. A mechanism for syn-collisional rock exhumation and associated normal faulting: results from physical modelling. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 132, 225–232 (1995).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Hacker, B. R. et al. High-temperature deformation during continental-margin subduction exhumation: the ultrahigh-pressure Western Gneiss Region of Norway. Tectonophysics 480, 149–171 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Philippon, M., Gueydan, F., Pitra, P. & Brun, J. P. Preservation of subduction-related prograde deformation in lawsonite pseudomorph-bearing rocks. J. Metamorph. Geol. 31, 571–583 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Rubatto, D. & Hermann, J. Exhumation as fast as subduction? Geology 29, 3–6 (2001).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Ford, M., Duchêne, S., Gasquet, D. & Vanderhaeghe, O. Two-phase orogenic convergence in the external and internal SW Alps. J. Geol. Soc. Lond. 163, 815–826 (2006).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Vrijmoed, J. C., Podladchikov, Y. Y., Andersen, T. B. & Hartz, E. B. An alternative model for ultra-high pressure in the Svartberget Fe–Ti garnet-peridotite, Western Gneiss Region, Norway. Eur. J. Mineral. 21, 1119–1133 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Pleuger, J. & Podladchikov, Y. Y. A purely structural restoration of the NFP20-East cross-section and potential tectonic overpressure in the Adula nappe (central Alps). Tectonics 33, 656–685 (2014).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Agard, P. et al. Plate interface rheological switches during subduction infancy: control on slab penetration and metamorphic sole formation. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 451, 208–220 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Little, T. A. et al. Diapiric exhumation of Earth’s youngest (UHP) eclogites in the gneiss domes of the D’Entrecasteaux Islands, Papua New Guinea. Tectonophysics 510, 39–68 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Austrheim, H. & Boundy, T. M. Pseudotachylytes generated during seismic faulting and eclogitization of the deep crust. Science 265, 82–83 (1994).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. John, T. & Schenk, V. Interrelations between intermediate-depth earthquakes and fluid flow within subducting oceanic plates: constraints from eclogite facies pseudotachylytes. Geology 34, 557–560 (2006).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Angiboust, S., Agard, P., Yamato, P. & Raimbourg, H. Eclogite breccias in a subducted ophiolite: a record of intermediate-depth earthquakes? Geology 40, 707–710 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Yang, J. J., Huang, M. X., Wu, Q. Y. & Zhang, H. R. Coesite-bearing eclogite breccia: implication for coseismic ultrahigh-pressure metamorphism and the rate of the process. Contrib. Mineral. Petrol. 167, 1013 (2014).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Stöckhert, B. Stress and deformation in subduction zone: insight from the record of exhumed metamorphic rocks. Geol. Soc. Lond. Spec. Publ. 200, 255–274 (2002).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Austrheim, H. Fluid and deformation induced metamorphic processes around Moho beneath continent collision zones: examples from the exposed root zone of the Caledonian mountain belt, W-Norway. Tectonophysics 609, 620–635 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Mancktelow, N. S. How ductile are ductile shear zones? Geology 34, 345–348 (2006).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Green, H. W. & Houston, H. The mechanics of deep earthquakes. Ann. Rev. Earth Planet. Sci. 23, 169–213 (1995).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Hacker, B. R., Peacock, S. M., Abers, G. A. & Holloway, S. D. Subduction factory 2. Are intermediate-depth earthquakes in subducting slabs linked to metamorphic dehydration reactions? J. Geophys. Res. 108, 2030 (2003).

    Google Scholar 

  35. Kelemen, P. & Hirth, G. A. Periodic shear-heating mechanism for intermediate-depth earthquakes in the mantle. Nature 446, 787–790 (2007).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  36. John, T. et al. Generation of intermediate-depth earthquakes by self-localizing thermal runaway. Nat. Geosci. 2, 137–140 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  37. Mancktelow, N. S. Tectonic overpressure in competent mafic layers and the development of isolated eclogites. J. Metamorph. Geol. 11, 801–812 (1993).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  38. Byerlee, J. Friction of rocks. Pure Appl. Geophys. 116, 615–626 (1978).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  39. Jaeger, J. C. & Cook, N. G. W. Fundamentals of Rock Mechanics (Chapman Hall, 1979).

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank T. Duretz for scientific advice and K. Gallagher for style checking.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Géosciences Rennes, Université de Rennes 1, UMR 6118, Rennes Cedex 35042, France

    P. Yamato & J. P. Brun

Authors
  1. P. Yamato
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. J. P. Brun
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

P.Y. conceived the study and realized the compilation of the natural data. Both authors discussed the results and interpretations, and wrote the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to P. Yamato.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

Supplementary Information (PDF 258 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Yamato, P., Brun, J. Metamorphic record of catastrophic pressure drops in subduction zones. Nature Geosci 10, 46–50 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2852

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2852

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing