Limited Flow of Continental Crust at UHP Depths: Coupled Age and Trace-Element Analyses of Titanite in the Western Gneiss Region, Norway

Abstract:

Coupled age and trace-element data from titanites in the Western Gneiss Region (WGR) of Norway suggest that continental crust underwent limited recrystallization and ductile flow through ~40 My of deep subduction and subsequent exhumation. Precambrian igneous titanites in granitic to tonalitic orthogneisses from the WGR were metastably preserved though Caledonian ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) metamorphism and variably recrystallized through subsequent amphibolite-facies metamorphism from ~420–385 Ma. The inherited Precambrian titanites are not present everywhere but rather cluster primarily in a cooler “southern domain” (peak T ~650^oC) and a hotter “northern domain” (peak T ~750-800^oC).

Titanite data were collected using LASS (laser-ablation split stream inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometry) at UCSB, and a principal component analysis (PCA) was used to define age and trace-element populations. These data indicate that inherited titanites are LREE-enriched, HFSE-enriched, and have higher Th/U, consistent with Precambrian neocrystallization from a granitic melt. In contrast, the recrystallized titanites have generally lower Th/U and flat, LREE-depleted, or hump-shaped trace-element patterns. These data suggest that (1) Caledonian titanite recrystallization occurred in the presence of LREE-depleted melts or fluids, or that (2) recrystallization was accompanied by a “typical” granitic melt, but that titanite/bulk-rock distribution coefficients are different for neo- and recrystallization; on-going whole-rock analyses will clarify these hypotheses. Critically, the geochemical signature of recrystallized titanite in felsic orthogneisses is comparable across the entire WGR – emphasizing that the petrologic process of titanite recrystallization was similar orogen-wide, but was less extensive in the domains where inherited titanite was preserved. In this case, large volumes of crust outside of the “old domains” may also have retained metastable titanite during subduction that was subsequently erased upon exhumation, compatible with limited ductile flow at ≥2 GPa and ≥650^oC.