Fluid-present partial melting of Paleoproterozoic Okbang Amphibolite in the Yeongnam Massif, Korea

The waning stage of a long-lived collisional orogeny is commonly governed by an extensional regime in association with high-temperature metamorphism, anatexis, and magmatism. Such a late-orogenic process is well-recorded in the Okbang amphibolite, Yeongnam Massif, Korea, where thin layers or irregular patches of tonalitic leucosomes are widespread particularly in association with ductile shear zones. Various microstructures including interstitial felsic phases and former melt patches indicate that leucosomes are the product of partial melting. These leucosomes are aligned en echelon and contain large (up to ∼2 cm) grains of peritectic hornblende, suggesting synkinematic fluid-present anatexis. The leucosomes are enriched in Na2O and Sr contents compared to the amphibolite but depleted in rare earth and high field-strength elements. P-T conditions of the anatexis were estimated at 4.6-5.2 kbar and 650-730°C, respectively, based on hornblende-plagioclase geothermobarometry. Sensitive high-resolution ion microprobe U-Pb analyses of zircon from an amphibolite and a leucosome sample yielded weighted mean 207Pb/206Pb ages of 1866±4 Ma and 1862±2 Ma, which are interpreted as the times for magmatic crystallization and subsequent anatexis of mafic protolith, respectively. The latter is consistent with the time of partial melting determined from a migmatitic gneiss and a biotite-sillimanite gneiss at 1861±4 Ma and 1860±9 Ma, respectively. The leucosomes are transected by an undeformed pegmatitic dyke dated at 1852±3 Ma; by this time, extensional ductile shearing has ceased. Initial εHft values of zircon from the amphibolite range from 4.2 to 6.0, suggesting juvenile derivation of basaltic melt from the mantle. In contrast, lower εHft values (-0.1 to 3.5) in leucosome zircons indicate a mixing of crust-derived melt. Taken together, the Okbang amphibolite has experienced synkinematic fluid-present melting during the waning stage of Paleoproterozoic hot orogenesis prevalent in the Yeongnam Massif as well as the North China Craton.