Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Nature Publishing Group
Résumé : International audience
Carbon is transported from Earth's surface into its interior at subduction zones. Carbonates in sediments overlying hydrothermally altered rocks (including serpentinites) within the subducted slab are the main carriers of this carbon1. Part of the carbon is recycled back to the surface by volcanism, but some is transferred to the deep Earth1, 2. Redox transformations during shallow subduction control the transfer and long-term fate of carbon, but are poorly explored1, 3. Here we use carbon stable isotopes and Raman spectroscopy to analyse the reduction of carbonate in an exhumed serpentinite-sediment contact in Alpine Corsica, France. We find that highly crystalline graphite was formed during subduction metamorphism and was concentrated in the sediment, within a reaction zone in direct contact with the serpentinite. The graphite in this reaction zone has a carbon isotopic signature (δ13C) of up to 0.8±0.1‰, similar to that of the original calcite that composed the sediments, and is texturally associated with the calcium-bearing mineral wollastonite that is also formed in the process. We use mass-balance calculations to show that about 9% of the total carbonaceous matter in the sedimentary unit results from complete calcite reduction in the reaction zone. We conclude that graphite formation, under reducing and low-temperature conditions, provides a mechanism to retain carbon in a subducting slab, aiding transport of carbon into the deeper Earth.
ISSN: 1752-0894

hal-00903464
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00903464
DOI : 10.1038/NGEO1827

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Résumé : International audience
Andros is a key island for understanding both the timing of high-pressure–low-temperature(HP-LT) metamorphism and the dynamics of crustal-scale detachment systems exhuming high-gradeunits in the Cyclades (Greece). Using phengite 40Ar–39Ar geochronology coupled with thermobarometry,as well as data from literature, we constrain the pressure–temperature–time (P-T-t) paths of theMakrotantalon and Attic–Cycladic Blueschist units on Andros. Peak conditions of the HP-LT episodein the Makrotantalon unit are 550 °C and 18.5 kbar, dated at 116 Ma. We correlate this episode withEarly Cretaceous blueschist facies metamorphism recognized in the Pelagonian zone of continentalGreece. This is a new argument favouring a Pelagonian origin for the Makrotantalon unit. In the Attic–Cycladic Blueschist unit, the P-T-t path is characterized by: (1) exhumation after peak conditions inHP-LT conditions between 55 and 35 Ma; (2) isobaric heating at 7 kbar until 30 Ma; and (3) isothermaldecompression until 21 Ma. This thermal evolution and timing are similar to those of the neighbouringTinos Island, emphasizing major thermal re-equilibration at the transition between stable and retreatingsubduction. Modifications of the crustal thermal state played a major role in the evolution of the NorthCycladic Detachment System, below which Andros HP-LT units were exhumed.
ISSN: 0016-7568

insu-01114909
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01114909
DOI : 10.1017/S0016756814000661