Project description

Extensive studies of metamorphic core complexes (MCCs) have highlighted a fundamental problem; the relationship between the mylonitic rocks in the footwall of the ductile low-angle detachment fault at its top, and the brittlely deformed to undeformedhangingwall unit. The project aims to set up a scheme between several possible end-member type cases of exhumation mechanisms of metamorphic core complexes, e.g., classification of different detachment modes (e.g., rolling hinges, initial low-angle detachment) and contribution of pure shear vs. simple shear modes of exhumation. The study areas arethe Naxos MCC in the Aegean Sea and the Rechnitz “window” MCC located at the transition between the Eastern Alps and the Pannonian basin. Orogen-type MCCs occur during the late stage of collision in the center of orogens, with the extension direction subparallel to the orogen, and roughly perpendicular to the regional shortening direction.Such MCCs often represent relay/overstep structures along regional strike-slip faults and, commonly, the final structure is governed by the complex superposition of shortening, related updomingand associated thrusting, and strike-slip displacement. The study area will be the DiancangShan MCC along the Ailao Shan-Red River shear zone. The principal goals of the proposed project are threefold: Study of
(1) the microstructures and textures of rock-forming minerals from the top of the detachment to the interior of the MCC to reveal the deformation regime (e.g., pure vs. simple shear),
(2) the microfabric formation and to date the exact age of shearing during exhumation of the MCCs, and
(3) the exhumation history (e.g. cooling and deformation) of MCCs using thermochronological tools along and across different types of MCCs to constrain the kinematics of the exhumation of rocks. We also want to build up a classification scheme of metamorphic core complexes using observational features and kinematics.