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Refining the timing of eclogite metamorphism: a geochemical, petrological, Sm-Nd and U-Pb case study from the Pohorje Mountains, Slovenia (Eastern Alps)

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Abstract

High-pressure metamorphism in the Pohorje Mountains of Slovenia (Austroalpine unit, Eastern Alps) affected N-MORB type metabasic and metapelitic lithologies. Thermodynamic calculations and equilibrium phase diagrams of kyanite–phengite-bearing eclogites reveal PT conditions of >2.1 GPa at T<750°C, but within the stability field of quartz. Metapelitic eclogite country rocks contain the assemblage garnet + phengite + kyanite + quartz, for which calculated peak pressure conditions are in good agreement with results obtained from eclogite samples. The eclogites contain a single population of spherical zircon with a low Th/U ratio. Combined constraints on the age of metamorphism come from U/Pb zircon as well as garnet–whole rock and mineral–mineral Sm-Nd analyses from eclogites. A coherent cluster of single zircon analyses yields a 206Pb/238U age of 90.7±1.0 Ma that is in good agreement with results from Sm-Nd garnet–whole rock regression of 90.7±3.9 and 90.1±2.0 Ma (εNd: +8) for two eclogite samples. The agreement between U-Pb and Sm-Nd age data strongly suggests an age of approximately 90 Ma for the pressure peak of the eclogites in the Pohorje Mountains. The presence of garnet, omphacite and quartz inclusions in unfractured zircon indicates high-pressure rather than ultrahigh pressure conditions. The analysed metapelite sample yields a Sm-Nd garnet–whole rock scatterchron age of 97±15 Ma. These data probably support a single P-T loop for mafic and pelitic lithologies of the Pohorje area and a late Cretaceous high-pressure event that affected the entire easternmost Austroalpine basement including the Koralpe and Saualpe eclogite type locality in the course of the complex collision of the Apulian microplate and Europe.

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Acknowledgements

We thank M. Jelenc (University of Vienna) for performing the Sr isotope analytical work and A. Zanetti (Pavia) for the LA-ICP-MS analyses. Rb-Sr and Sm-Nd analytical work was supported by the Austrian Science Foundation (FWF), project P13227-GEO, the U/Pb work by the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation. The University of Innsbruck funded the LA-ICP-MS analyses. Thoughtful reviews by K. Mezger and U. Schaltegger helped improve the manuscript.

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  1. Institut für Mineralogie und Petrographie, University of Innsbruck, Innrain 52, 6020, Innsbruck, Austria

    Christine Miller & Jürgen Konzett

  2. Berkeley Geochronology Center, 2455 Ridge Road, Berkeley, CA, 94709, USA

    Roland Mundil

  3. Institut für Geologische Wissenschaften, University of Vienna, Althanstrasse 14, 1090, Wien, Austria

    Martin Thöni

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  1. Christine Miller
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Correspondence to Christine Miller.

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Communicated by V. Trommsdorff

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Miller, C., Mundil, R., Thöni, M. et al. Refining the timing of eclogite metamorphism: a geochemical, petrological, Sm-Nd and U-Pb case study from the Pohorje Mountains, Slovenia (Eastern Alps). Contrib Mineral Petrol 150, 70–84 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00410-005-0004-0

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