Abstract

We provide up-to-date information on the study of coesite ± diamond-bearing ultrahigh pressure metamorphic (UHPM) rocks from east central China. Geologic, petrologic, mineralogic, geochemical and geochronologic data are systematically summarized and compared based on previous studies for the Jiangsu (Su)-Shandong (Lu), the Dabie, and the Hongan regions where high pressure (HP) and UHP metamorphic rocks have been described. We also attempt, for the first time, to correlate the regional and metamorphic geology of the Dabie Mountains with the Su-Lu region. We also propose further research work for this HP and UHP metamorphic terrane.

Introduction

The widespread occurrences of coesite- and/or diamond-bearing metamorphic rocks in the Dabie Mountains (Dabie), Jiangsu (Su), Shandong (Lu), and Henan regions of east central China have attracted a great deal of attention since the first discovery of coesite in the Dabie Mountains in 1989. The Dabie-Su-Lu terrane is one of a few localities (Coleman and Wang, Chapter 1, this volume), including the Western Alps in Italy (Chopin, 1984), Western Gneiss Region in Norway (Smith, 1984), and Kokchetav Massif in Russia (Sobolev and Shatsky, 1990), where UHPM continental rocks have been documented.

Eclogite from east central China was first described in the early 1960s (Wang, 1963). Since then, information about its distribution and general characteristics had been accumulated through provincial geologic surveys but had not been published until recently (e.g., Regional Geological Survey of Anhui, 1987, 1988; Regional Geological Survey of Henan, 1989; Regional Geological Survey of Hubei, 1990).