U-Pb zircon geochronology and phase equilibria modelling of a mafic eclogite from the Sumdo complex of south-east Tibet: Insights into prograde zircon growth and the assembly of the Tibetan plateau

The Sumdo complex is a Permian-Triassic eclogitic metamorphic belt in south-east Tibet, which marks the location of a suture zone that separates the northern and southern Lhasa terranes. An integrated geochronological and petrological study of a mafic eclogite from the complex has constrained its tectonometamorphic history and provides a case study of zircon growth in eclogite as a product of prograde dissolution-precipitation. In situ U-Pb geochronology indicates that the eclogite contains a single population of zircon with a crystallisation age of 273.6 ± 2.8 Ma. The morphology and chemistry of the zircon grains are consistent with growth by dissolution-precipitation of protolith magmatic zircon. The presence of zircon grains as inclusions in the cores of peak phases indicates that zircon dissolution-precipitation occurred during prograde metamorphism, and calculated pressure and temperature conditions over which mineral inclusions in zircon are stable suggest that the zircon most likely precipitated at ~15.5-16.5 kbar and 500-560 °C. Subsequent peak metamorphism is calculated to have reached pressure-temperature conditions of 27 ± 1 kbar and 670 ± 50 °C. Previous studies, which have documented a range of peak metamorphic conditions from high- to ultrahigh-pressure at c. 266-230 Ma, indicate that the Sumdo complex is a composite belt that experienced protracted eclogite exhumation. The results of this study are consistent with this interpretation, and extend the age range of high-pressure metamorphism in the complex to over 40 Myr. Analysis of published pressure-temperature-time data indicates two systematic behaviours within this spread. First, peak metamorphic temperatures declined over time. Second, eclogite exhumation occurred in two discrete intervals: soon after formation, and during the demise of the subduction zone. The latter behaviour serves as a reminder that eclogite exhumation is the exception rather than the rule.