Progress and Controversy in the Study of HP-UHP Metamorphic Terranes in the West and Middle Central China Orogen

During the past ten years, various types of HP-UHP metamorphic rocks have been discovered in the South Altyn Tagh, the North Qaidam and the North Qinling (sic) in the West and Middle Central China orogen. The UHP rocks, as lentoid bodies in regional gneisses, include eclogite (garnet-bearing pyroxenite), garnet peridotite and various pelitic or felsic gneisses. There are many records of minerals and microstructures of exsolution indicate the UHP metamorphism, such as coesite (or its pseudomorph), diamond, exsolution of clinopyroxene/amphibole/+rutile or rutile+quartz+apatite in garnet, exsolution of quartz in omphacite and exsolution of kyanite+spinel in precursor stishovite. The discovery of microstructure evidence for the presence of precursor stishovite in typical Alrich gneiss from the South Altyn Tagh reveals continental subduction and exhumation to and from a depth of more than 350 km. It is the petrological record of the deepest subduction and exhumation of continental rock in the world. The in situ zircon U-Pb dating using LA-ICP-MS or SHRIMP methods shows that the metamorphic ages of the HP-UHP rocks in the South Altyn Tagh, the North Qaidam and the North Qinling are 475-509,420-457, and 485-514 Ma, respectively. The metamorphic ages of HP-UHP rocks in the North Qaidam are 20-80 Ma younger than those in the South Altyn Tagh and the North Qinling, and the metamorphic ages do not systematically increase or decrease from the South Altyn Tagh through the North Qaidam to the North Qinling. The absence of time transgressive variety of the metamorphism in the three regions does not support the hypothesis that the HP-UHP rocks in these regions form the same HP-UHP metamorphic zone. And the HP-UHP rocks in these regions can not be simply correlated to the collision between the North China plate and the South China plate. At present, the study of the HP-UHP rocks in the West and Middle Central China orogen faces several key issues or challenges, such as: (1) the continental subduction to the mantle depth of stishovite stability field (>9 GPa) is occasional or universal; (2) the mechanism of exhumation for the continental rocks subducted to the depth of stishovite stability field (>300 km); (3) the tectonic setting and geodynamical mechanism of producing the HP-UHP metamorphic zones in the South Altyn Tagh, the North Qaidam and the North Qinling. Further studies aiming at these problems will make important progress not only in metamorphism of the HP-UHP rocks in the West and Middle Central China orogen, but also in continental deep subduction and exhumation in solid earth science. It will also contribute to the establishment of the theory of continental deep subduction.