@article{ScharfHandyZiemannetal.2013, author = {Scharf, Anke and Handy, Mark R. and Ziemann, Martin Andreas and Schmid, Stefan M.}, title = {Peak-temperature patterns of polyphase metamorphism resulting from accretion, subduction and collision (eastern Tauern Window, European Alps) - a study with Raman microspectroscopy on carbonaceous material (RSCM)}, series = {Journal of metamorphic geology}, volume = {31}, journal = {Journal of metamorphic geology}, number = {8}, publisher = {Wiley-Blackwell}, address = {Hoboken}, issn = {0263-4929}, doi = {10.1111/jmg.12048}, pages = {863 -- 880}, year = {2013}, abstract = {Raman microspectroscopy on carbonaceous material (RSCM) from the eastern Tauern Window indicates contrasting peak-temperature patterns in three different fabric domains, each of which underwent a poly-metamorphic orogenic evolution: Domain 1 in the northeastern Tauern Window preserves oceanic units (Glockner Nappe System, Matrei Zone) that attained peak temperatures (T-p) of 350-480 degrees C following Late Cretaceous to Palaeogene nappe stacking in an accretionary wedge. Domain 2 in the central Tauern Window experienced T-p of 500-535 degrees C that was attained either within an exhumed Palaeogene subduction channel or during Oligocene Barrovian-type thermal overprinting within the Alpine collisional orogen. Domain 3 in the Eastern Tauern Subdome has a peak-temperature pattern that resulted from Eo-Oligocene nappe stacking of continental units derived from the distal European margin. This pattern acquired its presently concentric pattern in Miocene time due to post-nappe doming and extensional shearing along the Katschberg Shear Zone System (KSZS). T-p values in the largest (Hochalm) dome range from 612 degrees C in its core to 440 degrees C at its rim. The maximum peak-temperature gradient (70 degrees Ckm(-1)) occurs along the eastern margin of this dome where mylonitic shearing of the Katschberg Normal Fault (KNF) significantly thinned the Subpenninic- and Penninic nappe pile, including the pre-existing peak-temperature gradient.}, language = {en} } @article{ScharfHandySchmidetal.2016, author = {Scharf, Andreas and Handy, Mark R. and Schmid, Stefan M. and Favaro, Silvia and Sudo, Masafumi and Schuster, Ralf and Hammerschmidt, Konrad}, title = {Grain-size effects on the closure temperature of white mica in a crustal-scale extensional shear - zone - Implications of in-situ Ar-40/Ar-39 laser-ablation of white mica for dating shearing and cooling (Tauern Window, Eastern Alps)}, series = {Tectonophysics : international journal of geotectonics and the geology and physics of the interior of the earth}, volume = {674}, journal = {Tectonophysics : international journal of geotectonics and the geology and physics of the interior of the earth}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Amsterdam}, issn = {0040-1951}, doi = {10.1016/j.tecto.2016.02.014}, pages = {210 -- 226}, year = {2016}, abstract = {In-situ Ar-40/Ar-39 laser ablation dating of white-mica grains was performed on samples from the footwall of a crustal-scale extensional fault (Katschberg Normal Fault; KNF) that accommodated eastward orogen-parallel displacement of Alpine orogenic crust in the eastern part of the Tauern Window. This dating yields predominantly cooling ages ranging from 31 to 13 Myr, with most ages clustering between 21 and 17 Myr. Folded white micas that predate the main Katschberg foliation yield, within error, the same ages as white-mica grains that overgrow this foliation. However, the absolute ages of both generations are older at the base (20 Myr) where their grain size is larger (300-500 mu m), than at the top and adjacent to the hangingwall (17 Myr) of this shear zone where grain size is smaller (<100-300 mu m). This fining-upward trend of white-mica grain size within the KNF is associated with a reduction of the closure temperature from the base (similar to 445 degrees C) to the top (<400 degrees C) and explains the counter-intuitive trend of downward-increasing age of cooling in the footwall. The new data show that rapid cooling within the KNF of the eastern Tauern Window started sometime before 21 Myr according to the Ar-40/Ar-39 white-mica cooling ages and between 25-21 Myr according to the new Rb/Sr white-mica ages, i.e., shortly after the attainment of the thermal peak in the Tauern Window at similar to 25 Myr ago. These new data, combined with literature data, support earlier cooling in the eastern part of then Tauem Window than in the western part by some 3-5 Myr. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.}, language = {en} } @article{KonradSchmolkeHandyBabistetal.2005, author = {Konrad-Schmolke, Matthias and Handy, Mark R. and Babist, Jochen and O'Brien, Patrick J.}, title = {Thermodynamic modelling of diffusion-controlled garnet growth}, issn = {0010-7999}, year = {2005}, abstract = {Numerical thermodynamic modelling of mineral composition and modes for specified pressure-temperature paths reveals the strong influence of fractional garnet crystallisation, as well as water fractionation, on garnet growth histories in high pressure rocks. Disequilibrium element incorporation in garnet due to the development of chemical inhomogeneities around porphyroblasts leads to pronounced episodic growth and may even cause growth interruptions. Discontinuous growth, together with pressure- and temperature-dependent changes in garnet chemistry, cause zonation patterns that are indicative of different degrees of disequilibrium element incorporation. Chemical inhomogeneities in the matrix surrounding garnet porphyroblasts strongly affect garnet growth and lead to compositional discontinuities and steep compositional gradients in the garnet zonation pattern. Further, intergranular diffusion-controlled calcium incorporation can lead to a characteristic rise in grossular and spessartine contents at lower metamorphic conditions. The observation that garnet zonation patterns diagnostic of large and small fractionation effects coexist within the same sample suggests that garnet growth is often controlled by small-scale variations in the bulk rock chemistry. Therefore, the spatial distribution of garnet grains and their zonation patterns, together with numerical growth models of garnet zonation patterns, yield information about the processes limiting garnet growth. These processes include intercrystalline element transport and dissolution of pre-existing grains. Discontinuities in garnet growth induced by limited element supply can mask traces of the thermobarometric history of the rock. Therefore, thermodynamic modelling that considers fractional disequilibrium crystallisation is required to interpret compositional garnet zonation in terms of a quantitative pressure and temperature path of the host rock}, language = {en} } @article{KonradSchmolkeBabistHandyetal.2006, author = {Konrad-Schmolke, Matthias and Babist, Jochen and Handy, Mark R. and O'brien, Patrick J.}, title = {The physico-chemical properties of a subducted slab from garnet zonation patterns (Sesia Zone, Western Alps)}, series = {Journal of petrology}, volume = {47}, journal = {Journal of petrology}, number = {11}, publisher = {Oxford Univ. Press}, address = {Oxford}, issn = {0022-3530}, doi = {10.1093/petrology/egl039}, pages = {2123 -- 2148}, year = {2006}, abstract = {Garnets in continentally derived high-pressure (HP) rocks of the Sesia Zone (Western Alps) exhibit three different chemical zonation patterns, depending on sample locality. Comparison of observed garnet zonation patterns with thermodynamically modelled patterns shows that the different patterns are caused by differences in the water content of the subducted protoliths during prograde metamorphism. Zonation patterns of garnets in water-saturated host rocks show typical prograde chemical zonations with steadily increasing pyrope content and increasing XMg, together with bell-shaped spessartine patterns. In contrast, garnets in water-undersaturated rocks have more complex zonation patterns with a characteristic decrease in pyrope and XMg between core and inner rim. In some cases, garnets show an abrupt compositional change in core-to-rim profiles, possibly due to water-undersaturation prior to HP metamorphism. Garnets from both water-saturated and water-undersaturated rocks show signs of intervening growth interruptions and core resorption. This growth interruption results from bulk-rock depletion caused by fractional garnet crystallization. The water content during burial influences significantly the physical properties of the subducted rocks. Due to enhanced garnet crystallization, water-undersaturated rocks, i.e. those lacking a free fluid phase, become denser than their water-saturated equivalents, facilitating the subduction of continental material. Although water-bearing phases such as phengite and epidote are stable up to eclogite-facies conditions in these rocks, dehydration reactions during subduction are lacking in water-undersaturated rocks up to the transition to the eclogite facies, due to the thermodynamic stability of such hydrous phases at high P-T conditions. Our calculations show that garnet zonation patterns strongly depend on the mineral parageneses stable during garnet growth and that certain co-genetic mineral assemblages cause distinct garnet zonation patterns. This observation enables interpretation of complex garnet growth zonation patterns in terms of garnet-forming reactions and water content during HP metamorphism, as well determination of detailed P-T paths.}, language = {en} } @article{HandySchmidBousquetetal.2010, author = {Handy, Mark R. and Schmid, Stefan M. and Bousquet, Romain and Kissling, Eduard and Bernoulli, Daniel}, title = {Reconciling plate-tectonic reconstructions of Alpine Tethys with the geological-geophysical record of spreading and subduction in the Alps}, issn = {0012-8252}, doi = {10.1016/j.earscirev.2010.06.002}, year = {2010}, abstract = {A new reconstruction of Alpine Tethys combines plate-kinematic modelling with a wealth of geological data and seismic tomography to shed light on its evolution, from sea-floor spreading through subduction to collision in the Alps. Unlike previous models, which relate the fate of Alpine Tethys solely to relative motions of Africa, Iberia and Europe during opening of the Atlantic, our reconstruction additionally invokes independent microplates whose motions are constrained primarily by the geological record. The motions of these microplates (Adria, Iberia, Alcapia, Alkapecia, and Tiszia) relative to both Africa and Europe during Late Cretaceous to Cenozoic time involved the subduction of remnant Tethyan basins during the following three stages that are characterized by contrasting plate motions and driving forces: (1) 131-84 Ma intra-oceanic subduction of the Ligurian part of Alpine Tethys attached to Iberia coincided with Eo-alpine orogenesis in the Alcapia microplate, north of Africa. These events were triggered primarily by foundering of the older (170-131 Ma) Neotethyan subduction slab along the NE margin of the composite African-Adriatic plate; subduction was linked by a sinistral transform system to E-W opening of the Valais part of Alpine Tethys; (2) 84-35 Ma subduction of primarily the Piemont and Valais parts of Alpine Tethys which were then attached to the European plate beneath the overriding African and later Adriatic plates. NW translation of Adria with respect to Africa was accommodated primarily by slow widening of the Ionian Sea; (3) 35 Ma-Recent rollback subduction of the Ligurian part of Alpine Tethys coincided with Western Alpine orogenesis and involved the formation of the Gibraltar and Calabrian arcs. Rapid subduction and arc formation were driven primarily by the pull of the gravitationally unstable, retreating Adriatic and African slabs during slow convergence of Africa and Europe. The upper European-Iberian plate stretched to accommodate this slab retreat in a very mobile fashion, while the continental core of the Adriatic microplate acted as a rigid indenter within the Alpine collisional zone. The subducted lithosphere in this reconstruction can be correlated with slab material imaged by seismic tomography beneath the Alps and Apennines, as well as beneath parts of the Pannonian Basin, the Adriatic Sea, the Ligurian Sea, and the Western Mediterranean. The predicted amount of subducted lithosphere exceeds the estimated volume of slab material residing at depth by some 10-30\%, indicating that parts of slabs may be superposed within the mantle transition zone and/or that some of this subducted lithosphere became seismically transparent.}, language = {en} }