From oceanic subduction to continental collision: An overview of HP-UHP metamorphic rocks in the North Qaidam UHP belt, NW China

The North Qaidam UHPM belt is unique among " continental type" subduction zones in showing well-preserved subducted oceanic relics that predate continental subduction and collision. We review petrologic, thermobarometric, geochemical and geochronological studies for the Yuka, Luliang Shan, Xitieshan and Dulan terranes in this belt. UHP conditions are demonstrated by coesite inclusions in eclogite and country gneiss, and diamond inclusions from garnet peridotite. The relict subducted oceanic lithology crops out in the Shaliuhe cross-section in Dulan terrane; it originated as the floor of a Paleo-Qilian Ocean that existed between Qaidam and Qilian blocks before the early Ordovician. Whereas most eclogites of this belt are derived from mafic rocks of either a Neoproterozoic continental rift or incipient oceanic basin setting, which were subducted along with continental rocks in the early Paleozoic. The data, especially the two protolith sources for eclogites, demonstrate tectonic evolution of the North Qaidam UHPM belt from oceanic subduction to continental collision.