A counterclockwise PTt path of high-pressure/low-temperature rocks from the Coastal Cordillera accretionary complex of south-central Chile:: constraints for the earliest stage of subduction mass flow

Within the metamorphic basement of the Coastal Cordillera of central Chile, the Western Series constitutes the high-pressure (HP)/low-temperature (LT) part (accretionary prism) of a fossil-paired metamorphic belt dominated by metagreywackes. In its eastern part, blocks derived from small lenses of garnet amphibolite with a blueschist facies overprint are locally intercalated and associated with serpentinite and garnet mica-schist. Continuously developed local equilibria were evaluated applying various independent geothermobarometric approaches. An overall anticlockwise PT path results. The prograde path evolved along a geothermal gradient of similar to 15 degreesC/km, passing the high-pressure end of greenschist facies until a transient assemblage developed within albite-epidote amphibolite facies transitional to eclogite facies at peak metamorphic conditions (600-760 degreesC, I I - 16.5 kbar; stage 1). This peak assemblage was overprinted during an external fluid infiltration by an epidote blueschist facies assemblage at 350-500 degreesC, 10-14 kbar (stage 11) indicating nearly isobaric cooling. The retrograde equilibration stage was dated with a Rb-Sr mineral isochron at 305.3 +/- 3.2 Ma, somewhat younger (296.6 +/- 4.7 Ma) in an adjacent garnet micaschist. Localized retrograde equilibration continued during decompression down to - 300 degreesC, 5 kbar. The retrograde evolution is identical in the garnet amphibolite and the garnet mica-schist. The counterclockwise PT path contrasts the usual clockwise PT paths derived from rocks of the Western Series. In addition, their ages related to stage 11 are the oldest recorded within the fossil wedge at the given latitude. Its exotic occurrence is interpreted by the path of the earliest and deepest subducted material that was heated in contact with a still hot mantle. Later accreted and dehydrated material caused hydration and cooling of the earliest accreted material and the neighbouring mantle. After this change also related to rheological conditions, effective exhumation of the early subducted material followed at the base of the hydrated mantle wedge within a cooler environment (geothermal gradient around 10 - 15 degreesC/km) than during its burial. The exotic blocks thus provide important time markers for the onset of subduction mass circulation in the Coastal Cordillera accretionary prism during the Late Carboniferous. Continuous subduction mass flow lasted for nearly 100 Ma until the Late Triassic. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.