Eclogite facies relics in metabasites from the Sierra de Guadarrama (Spanish Central System): P-T estimations and implications for the Hercynian evolution

Abstract

Relics of HP-MT eclogitic assemblages related to the first metamorphic stage of the Hercynian orogeny in the Sierra de Guadarrama (Spanish Central System, SCS) are preserved as boudins of pre-Ordovician metabasites enclosed by felsic gneisses. Textures indicate a multi-stage metamorphic history starting in the MT eclogite facies (as deduced from the presence of omphacite and rutile included in garnet) and continuing through medium to low pressure granulite and retrograde amphibolite-greenschist facies. Thermobarometric calculations in the eclogitic paragenesis yield pressures of ~14 kbar for temperatures in the range 725 7758C. Thermobarometry for the subsequent granulitic stage indicates a significant drop in pressure (P < 10 kbar) for similar temperatures of ~7508C. Metabasites vary from gabbro to leucotonalites showing the typical Fe enrichment of the tholeiitic series. Chemical characteristics indicate a derivation from low-pressure crystallization of tholeiitic melts more enriched than typical MORB compositions. Their original location far from continental margins as evidenced by the absence of ophiolitic material in the area and their association with platform sediments suggests that eclogitization was related to intracontinental crustal subduction and thickening. The P-T conditions estimated in the metabasites for the first metamorphic stage are similar to ones deduced for the surrounding metasediments and suggest that the Hercynian crust could have reached a thickness of ~70 80 km, which is more than the double the present thickness.