New eclogite localities and new 40 Ar/ 39 Ar ages within the Western Gneiss Region of Norway define three discrete ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) domains that are separated by distinctly lower pressure, eclogite facies rocks. The sizes of the UHP domains range from c. 2500 to 100 km 2 ; if the UHP culminations are part of a continuous sheet at depth, the Western Gneiss Region UHP terrane has minimum dimensions of c. 165 · 50 · 5 km. 40 Ar/ 39 Ar mica and K-feldspar ages show that this outcrop pattern is the result of gentle regional-scale folding younger than 380 Ma, and possibly 335 Ma.The UHP and intervening high-pressure (HP) domains are composed of eclogite-bearing orthogneiss basement overlain by eclogite-bearing allochthons. The allochthons are dominated by garnet amphibolite and pelitic schist with minor quartzite, carbonate, calc-silicate, peridotite, and eclogite. Sm/Nd core and rim ages of 992 and 894 Ma from a 15-cm garnet indicate local preservation of Precambrian metamorphism within the allochthons. Metapelites within the allochthons indicate near-isothermal decompression following (U)HP metamorphism: they record upper amphibolite facies recrystallization at 12-17 kbar and c. 750°C during exhumation from mantle depths, followed by a low-pressure sillimanite + cordierite overprint at c. 5 kbar and c. 750°C. New 40 Ar/ 39 Ar hornblende ages of 402 Ma document that this decompression from eclogite-facies conditions at 410-405 Ma to mid-crustal depths occurred in a few million years. The short timescale and consistently high temperatures imply adiabatic exhumation of a UHP body with minimum dimensions of 20-30 km. 40 Ar/ 39 Ar muscovite ages of 397-380 Ma show that this extreme heat advection was followed by rapid cooling (c. 30°C Myr )1 ), perhaps because of continued tectonic unroofing.

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U-Pb geochronology for eclogites in two dif-

The Solund-Hyllestad-Lavik area affords an excellent opportunity to understand the ultrahigh-pressure Scandian orogeny because it contains a near-complete record of ophiolite emplacement, high-pressure metamorphism and large-scale extension. In this area, the Upper Allochthon was intruded by the c. 434 Ma Sogneskollen granodiorite and thrust eastward over the Middle ⁄ Lower Allochthon, probably in the Wenlockian. The Middle ⁄ Lower Allochthon was subducted to c. 50 km depth and the structurally lower Western Gneiss Complex was subducted to eclogite facies conditions at c. 80 km depth by c. 410-400 Ma. Within < 5-10 Myr, all these units were exhumed by the Nordfjord-Sogn detachment zone, producing shear strains > 100. Exhumation to upper crustal levels was complete by c. 403 Ma. The Solund fault produced the last few km of tectonic exhumation, bringing the nearultrahigh-pressure rocks to within c. 3 km vertical distance from the low-grade Solund Conglomerate.