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We demonstrate a case of eclogite exhumation in a partially molten, low-viscosity fold nappe within high-grade metamorphosed crust in the Eastern Segment of the Sveconorwegian orogen. The nappe formed during tectonic extrusion, melt-weakening assisted exhumation and foreland-directed translation of eclogitized crust, and stalled at 35-40 km depth within the collisional belt. The eclogites are structurally restricted to a regional recumbent fold in which stromatic orthogneiss with pods of amphibolitized eclogite make up the core. Hightemperature mylonitic gneiss with remnants of kyanite eclogite (P N 15 kbar) composes a basal shear zone 50 km long and b 4 km wide. Heterogeneously sheared and partly migmatized augen gneiss forms a tectonostratigraphic marker in front of and beneath the nappe, and is in turn structurally enveloped by a composite sequence of orthogneisses and metabasites. The entire tectonostratigraphic pile underwent near-pervasive deformation and recrystallization under high-pressure granulite and upper amphibolite conditions. U-Pb SIMS metamorphic zircon ages of eclogite and stromatic orthogneiss constrain the time of eclogitization at 988 ± 6 Ma and 978 ± 7 Ma. Migmatization, concomitant deformation, and exhumation are dated at 976 ± 6 Ma, and crystallization of post-kinematic melt at 956 ± 7 Ma. Orthogneiss protoliths are dated at 1733 ± 11 and 1677 ± 10 Ma (stromatic gneiss) and 1388 ± 7 Ma (augen gneiss in footwall), demonstrating origins indigenous to the Eastern Segment. Eclogitization and exhumation were coeval with the Rigolet phase of the Grenvillian orogeny, reflecting the late stage of continental collision during construction of the supercontinent Rodinia.

Phase equilibria modelling of post‐peak metamorphic mineral assemblages in (ultra)high‐P mafic eclogite from the Tso Morari massif, Ladakh Himalaya, northwest India, has provided new insights into the potential behaviour and source of metamorphic fluid during exhumation, and constrained the P–T conditions of hydration. A series of P–M(H2O) pseudosections constructed in the Na2O–CaO–K2O–FeO–MgO–Al2O3–SiO2–H2O–TiO2–O (NCKFMASHTO) system show that a number of petrographically distinct hydration episodes occurred during exhumation from peak P–T conditions (~640 °C, 27–28 kbar), resulting in the formation of abundant compositionally zoned amphibole and minor clinozoisite poikiloblasts at the expense of a peak assemblage dominated by garnet and omphacite. Initial hydration is interpreted to have occurred as a result of the destabilization of talc following isothermal decompression to ~23 kbar, which led to the formation of barroisite–winchite amphibole core domains. An episode of fluid infiltration from an external source at ~19 kbar, with or without syn‐decompressional cooling to ~560 °C, resulted in further barroisitic–winchitic amphibole growth, followed by the formation of clinozoisite poikiloblasts. Continued buoyancy‐driven exhumation to the base of the lower crust is constrained to have taken place with no additional fluid input. A final hydration event is characterized by the formation of magnesiohornblende rims on the barroisite–winchite cores, with the former interpreted to have formed during later prograde overprinting in the middle crust associated with the final stages of exhumation. Notably, the vast majority of externally sourced H2O, comprising just over half of the current bulk rock fluid content, was added during this later hydration event. In a middle crustal setting, this is interpreted as the result of devolatilization reactions occurring in migmatitic host orthogneiss and/or metasedimentary units, or following the crystallization of partial melt.

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The island of Naxos, Greece, has been previously considered to represent a Cordilleran-style metamorphic core complex that formed during Cenozoic extension of the Aegean Sea. Although lithospheric extension has undoubtedly occurred in the region since 10 Ma, the geodynamic history of older, regional-scale, kyanite- and sillimanite-grade metamorphic rocks exposed within the core of the Naxos dome is controversial. Specifically, little is known about the pre-extensional prograde evolution and the relative timing of peak metamorphism in relation to the onset of extension. In this work, new structural mapping is presented and integrated with petrographic analyses and phase equilibrium modeling of blueschists, kyanite gneisses, and anatectic sillimanite migmatites. The kyanite-sillimanite–grade rocks within the core complex record a complex history of burial and compression and did not form under crustal extension. Deformation and metamorphism were diachronous and advanced down the structural section, resulting in the juxtaposition of several distinct tectono-stratigraphic nappes that experienced contrasting metamorphic histories. The Cycladic Blueschists attained ∼14.5 kbar and 470 °C during attempted northeast-directed subduction of the continental margin. These were subsequently thrusted onto the more proximal continental margin, resulting in crustal thickening and regional metamorphism associated with kyanite-grade conditions of ∼10 kbar and 600–670 °C. With continued shortening, the deepest structural levels underwent kyanite-grade hydrous melting at ∼8–10 kbar and 680–750 °C, followed by isothermal decompression through the muscovite dehydration melting reaction to sillimanite-grade conditions of ∼5–6 kbar and 730 °C. This decompression process was associated with top-to-the-NNE shearing along passive-roof faults that formed because of SW-directed extrusion. These shear zones predated crustal extension, because they are folded around the migmatite dome and are crosscut by leucogranites and low-angle normal faults. The migmatite dome formed at lower-pressure conditions under horizontal constriction that caused vertical boudinage and upright isoclinal folds. The switch from compression to extension occurred immediately following doming and was associated with NNE-SSW horizontal boudinage and top-to-the-NNE brittle-ductile normal faults that truncate the internal shear zones and earlier collisional features. The Naxos metamorphic core complex is interpreted to have formed via crustal thickening, regional metamorphism, and partial melting in a compressional setting, here termed the Aegean orogeny, and it was exhumed from the midcrust due to the switch from compression to extension at ca. 15 Ma.

Despite active transport into Earth's mantle, water has been present on our planet's surface for most of geological time. Yet water disappeared from the Martian surface soon after its formation. Although some of the water on Mars was lost to space via photolysis following the collapse of the planet's magnetic field, the widespread serpentinization of Martian crust suggests that metamorphic hydration reactions played a critical part in the sequestration of the crust. Here we quantify the relative volumes of water that could be removed from each planet's surface via the burial and metamorphism of hydrated mafic crusts, and calculate mineral transition-induced bulk-density changes at conditions of elevated pressure and temperature for each. The metamorphic mineral assemblages in relatively FeO-rich Martian lavas can hold about 25 per cent more structurally bound water than those in metamorphosed terrestrial basalts, and can retain it at greater depths within Mars. Our calculations suggest that in excess of 9 per cent by volume of the Martian mantle may contain hydrous mineral species as a consequence of surface reactions, compared to about 4 per cent by volume of Earth's mantle. Furthermore, neither primitive nor evolved hydrated Martian crust show noticeably different bulk densities compared to their anhydrous equivalents, in contrast to hydrous mafic terrestrial crust, which transforms to denser eclogite upon dehydration. This would have allowed efficient overplating and burial of early Martian crust in a stagnant-lid tectonic regime, in which the lithosphere comprised a single tectonic plate, with only the warmer, lower crust involved in mantle convection. This provided an important sink for hydrospheric water and a mechanism for oxidizing the Martian mantle. Conversely, relatively buoyant mafic crust and hotter geothermal gradients on Earth reduced the potential for upper-mantle hydration early in its geological history, leading to water being retained close to its surface, and thus creating conditions conducive for the evolution of complex multicellular life.

Dehydration melting of muscovite in metasedimentary sequences is the initially dominant mechanism of granitic melt generation in orogenic hinterlands. In dry (vapour‐absent) crust, muscovite reacts with quartz to produce K‐feldspar, sillimanite, and monzogranitic melt. When water vapour is present in excess, sillimanite and melt are the primary products of muscovite breakdown, and any K‐feldspar produced is due to melt crystallization. Here we document the reaction mechanisms that control nucleation and growth of K‐feldspar, sillimanite, and silicate melt in the metamorphic core of the Himalaya, and outline the microstructural criteria used to distinguish peritectic K‐feldspar from K‐feldspar grains formed during melt crystallization. We have characterized four stages of microstructural evolution in selected psammitic and pelitic samples from the Langtang and Everest regions: (a) K‐feldspar nucleates epitaxially on plagioclase while intergrowths of fibrolitic sillimanite and the remaining hydrous melt components replace muscovite. (b) In quartzofeldspathic domains, K‐feldspar replaces plagioclase by K+–Na+ cation exchange, while melt and intergrowths of sillimanite+quartz form in the aluminous domains. (c) At 7–8 vol.% melt generation, the system evolves from a closed to open system and all phases coarsen by up to two orders of magnitude, resulting in large K‐feldspar porphyroblasts. (d) Preferential crystallization of residual melt on K‐feldspar porphyroblasts and coarsened quartz forms an augen gneiss texture with a monzogranitic‐tonalitic matrix that contains intergrowths of sillimanite+tourmaline+muscovite+apatite. Initial poikiloblasts of peritectic K‐feldspar trap fine‐grained inclusions of quartz and biotite by replacement growth of matrix plagioclase. During subsequent coarsening, peritectic K‐feldspar grains overgrow and trap fabric‐aligned biotite, resulting in a core to rim coarsening of inclusion size. These microstructural criteria enable a mass balance of peritectic K‐feldspar and sillimanite to constrain the amount of free H2O present during muscovite dehydration. The resulting modal proportion of K‐feldspar in the Himalayan metamorphic core requires vapour‐absent conditions during muscovite dehydration melting and leucogranite formation, indicating that the generation of large volumes of granitic melts in orogenic belts is not necessarily contingent on an external source of fluids.

subduction scenarios. With respect to the early Earth, this conclusion supports the viability of subduction, and models of subduction zone initiation that invoke the concept of oceanic lithosphere being primed to subduct. However, we also show that decreases to lithosphere thickness and slab length, and reduced crustal hydration, progressively reduce slab negative buoyancy. These results highlight the need for robust estimates of early Earth lithospheric properties when considering whether subduction was operative at this time. Nevertheless, our findings suggest that subduction processes on the early Earth may have been uniformitarian.