Partial melting of ultrahigh-pressure metamorphic rocks at convergent continental margins: Evidences, melt compositions and physical effects

Ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) metamorphic rocks are distinctive products of crustal deep subduction, and are mainly exposed in continental subduction-collision terranes. UHP slices of continental crust are usually involved in multistage exhumation and partial melting, which has obvious influence on the rheological features of the rocks, and thus significantly affect the dynamic behavior of subducted slices. Moreover, partial melting of UHP rocks have significant influence on element mobility and related isotope behavior within continental subduction zones, which is in turn crucial to chemical differentiation of the continental crust and to crust-mantle interaction.;
Partial melting can occur before, during or after the peak metamorphism of UHP rocks. Post-peak decompression melting has been better constrained by remelting experiments; however, because of multiple stages of decompression, retrogression and deformation, evidence of former melts in UHP rocks is often erased. Field evidence is among the most reliable criteria to infer partial melting. Glass and nanogranitoid inclusions are generally considered conclusive petrographic evidence. The residual assemblages after melt extraction are also significant to indicate partial melting in some cases. Besides field and petrographic evidence, bulk-rock and zircon trace-element geochemical features are also effective tools for recognizing partial melting of UHP rocks. Phase equilibrium modeling is an important petrological tool that is becoming more and more popular in P-T estimation of the evolution of metamorphic rocks; by taking into account the activity model of silicate melt, it can predict when partial melting occurred if the P-T path of a given rock is provided.;
UHP silicate melt is commonly leucogranitic and peraluminous in composition with high SiO2, low MgO, FeO, MnO, TiO2 and CaO, and variable K2O and Na2O contents. Mineralogy of nanogranites found in UHP rocks mainly consists of plagioclase + K-feldspar + quartz, plagioclase being commonly albite-rich. Trace element pattern of the melt is characterized by significant enrichment of large ion lithophile elements (LILE), depletion of heavy rare earth elements (HREE) and high field strength elements (HFSE), indicating garnet and rutile stability in the residual assemblage. In eclogites, significant Mg-isotope fractionation occurs between garnet and phengite; therefore, Mg isotopes may become an effective indicator for partial melting of eclogites.