Metamorphic diamond from the northeastern margin of Gondwana: Paradigm shifting implications for one of Earth’s largest orogens

Edgar, Alexander, Sanislav, Ioan V., Dirks, Paul H.G.M., and Spandler, Carl (2022) Metamorphic diamond from the northeastern margin of Gondwana: Paradigm shifting implications for one of Earth’s largest orogens. Science Advances, 8 (27). eabo2811.

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Abstract

We describe the first occurrence of diamond-facies ultrahigh pressure metamorphism along the Gondwana-Pacific margin of the Terra Australis Orogen. Metamorphic garnet grains from Ordovician metasediments along the Clarke River Fault in northeastern Queensland contain inclusions of diamond and quartz after coesite, as well as exsolution lamellae of rutile, apatite, amphibole, and silica. These features constrain minimum pressure-temperature conditions to >3.5 gigapascals and ~860°C, although peak pressure conditions may have exceeded 5 gigapascals. On the basis of these data, we interpret the Clarke River Fault to represent a Paleozoic suture zone and at least parts of the Terra Australis Orogen to have formed through classic Wilson cycle processes. The growth of the Terra Australis Orogen during the Paleozoic is largely attributed to accretionary style tectonics. These previously unknown findings indicate that the Terra Australis Orogen was not just a simple accretionary style orogen but rather a complex system with multiple tectonic styles operating in tandem including collisional tectonics.

Item ID: 75445
Item Type: Article (Research - C1)
ISSN: 2375-2548
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Copyright Information: Copyright © 2022 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works. Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial License 4.0 (CC BY-NC).
Date Deposited: 25 Jul 2022 00:48
FoR Codes: 37 EARTH SCIENCES > 3705 Geology > 370503 Igneous and metamorphic petrology @ 50%
37 EARTH SCIENCES > 3705 Geology > 370511 Structural geology and tectonics @ 50%
SEO Codes: 28 EXPANDING KNOWLEDGE > 2801 Expanding knowledge > 280107 Expanding knowledge in the earth sciences @ 100%
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