Duration of Eo-Alpine metamorphic events obtained from multicomponent diffusion modeling of garnet: a case study from the Eastern Alps

Rocks from the Micaschist-Marble Complex of the Wolz Tauern, which are part of the middle Austroalpine unit, contain large (up to 2 cm) garnet crystals that show clear evidence of multistage growth. Isotopic dating indicates that a Variscan (similar to 270 Ma) garnet core was overgrown by new garnet formed during Eo-Alpine metamorphism at Cretaceous times. P-T paths for the Eo-Alpine metamorphism were obtained using the method of pseudosections (Powell and Holland in Metam Geol 16:309-343, 1998) and are consistent with earlier results from independent thermobarometry. Due to the large size of the garnets, growth zoning was preserved during amphibolite facies metamorphism at both Variscan and Alpine times. Full multicomponent diffusion modeling of compositional zoning at the interface of the Alpine and Pre-Alpine garnets in conjunction with the retrieved P-T paths allow average subduction/exhumation as well as heating/cooling rates to be retrieved. The modeling suggests that a minimum subduction/exhumation rate of similar to 4 cm/a and heating/cooling rates on the order of 100-260 degrees C/Ma for a 60 degrees C subduction angle are required to preserve the observed compositional zoning overall while modifying the zoning at the interface between two garnets to the extent observed. Such rapid rates of burial/exhumation are consistent with the results of direct GPS measurements of convergence rates at several orogenic belts as well as with inferred rates from modeling in the Alps and other areas. In combination, this indicates that such rapid rates are commonplace during metamorphism in collisional orogens and places important constraints on the rheological behavior of crustal blocks in such orogens.