The Haiyangsuo area of the NE Sulu ultrahigh-pressure terrane, eastern China, consists of gneisses with minor granulite and amphibolite layers, metagabbros, and granitic dikes. The peak-stage assemblages of the granulites (garnet + orthopyroxene + clinopyroxene + plagioclase ± pargasite ± biotite ± quartz) formed at >750 °C and 9–11 kbar and were overprinted by amphibolite-facies phases characterized by well-developed corona layers of | garnet | amphibolite + quartz | at contacts between plagioclase and clinopyroxene or orthopyroxene, as well as by the exsolution of (orthopyroxene + ilmenite + amphibole) from clinopyroxene. These textures indicate a near-isobaric cooling history of the granulite-bearing gneiss terrane. The metagabbro preserves a relict igneous assemblage (orthopyroxene + clinopyroxene + plagioclase + pargasite ± ilmenite ± quartz) in its core, but in its margins has a metamorphic corona texture similar to the granulite that formed at ∼600–700 °C and 7–10 kbar. Sensitive high-resolution ion microprobe (SHRIMP) U-Pb dating of zircons indicates that the protolith age of the garnetbiotite gneiss is older than 2500 Ma, whereas the granulite-facies metamorphism (the first regional metamorphic event) occurred at 1846 ± 26 Ma. Gabbro intrusion took place at 1734 ± 5 Ma, and the formation of amphibolite assemblages in both metagabbro and granulite occurred at ca. 340–370 Ma. Both gneiss and metagabbro were intruded by granitic dikes, with one dated at 158 ± 3 Ma. These data, together with a lack of eclogitic assemblages, suggest that this granulite-amphibolite–facies complex is exotic relative to the Triassic Sulu high-pressure–ultrahigh-pressure terrane; juxtaposition took place in Jurassic time.

Abstract EPMA and LA-ICP-MS trace-element maps have been acquired from amphibolitized eclogites from the Diego de Almagro Metamorphic Complex (Chile). Several garnet growth pulses and garnet resorption stages are revealed by major elements chemical zoning and by heterogeneous Y and rare earth element (REE) behaviour, associated with subduction and exhumation of these rocks. Distribution of REE in prograde garnet is texturally and chemically coupled with the breakdown of REE-bearing minerals while formation of epidote and titanite generations during amphibolitization is recorded by complex textures involving new garnet generation and overprinting phases. The latest overprint stage is characterized by fine-grained intergrowth between garnet and epidote micro-veins, phengite, hornblende, albite and titanite. Garnet cracks have been gradually re-equilibrated during this event witnessing short-scale dissolution–transport–precipitation. Pseudosection modelling shows that local variability in water content during amphibolitization controls garnet stability at the expense of epidote. Overprinting microstructures are explained by the effect of locally-derived aqueous fluids that trigger the ‘unlocking’ of elements from the reacting eclogite-facies paragenesis. These findings highlight the microscopic characteristics of amphibolitization processes documented in exhumed eclogite-facies terranes and shed light on the importance of thorough micro-chemical investigations while undertaking pressure–temperature (PT) estimates on rocks with strong textural disequilibrium.