Schott, B. and H. Schmeling, 1998: Delamination and detachment of a lithospheric root. Tectonophysics, 296, 225 - 247.
Schott, B., D.A. Yuen and H. Schmeling, 1999: Viscous heating in heterogeneous
media as applied to thermal interaction between the crust and mantle. Geophys.
Res. Lett., 26, 513-516.
Top: temperature
field and some isotherms.
Middle: composition
by tracers,
blue = upper crust,
yellow = lower crust,
red = mantle;
in the mantle lithosphere
the initially vertical tracer columns
are almost not deformed
due to the high viscosity.
Bottom: viscous dissipation function
(non-dimensionallog10),
zoomed-in into the upper half of the model.
Thermal evolution of a stacked continental crust after
delamination of the mantle lithosphere
Often the late stage of an orogeny is associated with extensive heating
of the crust and granitic pluton emplacement. For example, the collisional
stage of the Variscan orogeny occured at the end of the Devonian (345 Ma),
while extensive high temperature - high/low pressure metamorphism, granitic
intrusions, volcanic activities and extension took place only 5 to 20 Ma
after the end of this stage. Here we propose delamination of
the mantle lithosphere and asthenospheric ascent up to a level immediate
beneath the thickend crust together with enhanced radiogenic heat generation
within the thickened crust as a mechanism of crustal heating. Because
our dynamical models show (Schott and Schmeling, 1998), that the process
of delamination and asthenospheric rise can be very fast (< 2 Ma), we
choose a stacked crust as initial condition , but introduce the emplacement
of a shallow asthenosphere by increasing the initial temperature to 1300°C
everywhere below 65 km. This is shown in the Figure (clicke on the Figure
to enlarge it):
THis Figure 4 shows the initial condition of a thermo-mechanical model,
consisting of a 2-layer overthrusted crust (black and dark green
markers), a 2-layer underthrusted crust (light green and orange markers)
and a lithospheric - asthenospheric mantle (red markers) beneath. Radiogenic
heating is applied to the crustal and mantle units. No lateral shortening
or widening is applied. Mimicking a situation immediately after delamination
of the mantle lithosphere, a hot shallow asthenosphere is introduced by
choosing 1300°C for all depths greater than 65 km.
As shown in the next Figure, the 2D model heats up fast, and melting
temperatures are exceeded in the lowermost part of the thickened crust
after 25.8 Ma. After 36 Ma the degree of melting has reached 14 %, and
the thickness of the molten region is 11 km. Due to buoyancy forces
of deep crustal material and melt, the crustal root begins to flatten by
ductile deformation. As can be seen from the marker field the deepest
part of the root has already risen by 10 km. This deformation is possible,
because the chosen rheologies lead to relatively low effective viscosities:
1020 - 21 Pa s in the mantle and 1021 - 22 Pa s in the crustal root. Other
runs with stronger crustal and mantle rheologies (e.g. amphibolite rheology
for the lower crusts or dry olivine rheology for the mantle) did not allow
for noticable deformation within the crustal root even after significant
heating. Click on the figure to enlarge it.
As the next Figure shows, at later times (71 Ma), further radiogenic
and advective heating due to a convecting asthenosphere have increased
the degree of melting up to 24% , however, further thinning of the lower
crust still confines melting to a 10 km thick layer of the underthrusted
crust. The total crustal thickness has reached approximately the average
value of 45 km (this rather large value is a consequence of not allowing
crustal material to escape to the sides of the model). Most of the crustal
deformation has taken place in the underthrusted crust, the overthrusted
crust is almost undeformed due to the strong rheology at low temperatures.
Within the underthrusted crust the marker field shows characteristic parabola
shaped features at both sides of the crustal root. These features indicate
a channel type of lower crustal flow.
Although buoyancy forces are present in the partially molten
lower crust, the viscosity of the overburden is too high to allow for diapiric
ascent. External tectonic forces (not acting in the present models)
might lead to weakening of the crust e.g. along fault zones, thereby enhancing
the potential of diapiric ascent.
The crustal models show, that extensive melting
is possible within a rather short time period comparable to the times proposed
for the late Variscan orogeny. However, radiogenic heat sources alone seem
to be insufficient, additional heating from a shallow asthenosphere is
needed. Another possible heat source has been suggested by Schott et al.
(1999), who showed that during delamination of the mantle lithosphere frictional
heating within the lower crust may locally increase the temperature by
several hundred degrees. (See the movie above). While the latest stage
of the Variscan orogeny is characterized by HT-LP-metmorphism, fast decompression
or ascent of lower crustal high-temperature rocks or molten material could
not be obtained in the present models. This is due to the fact that a)
no extension has been allowed for in the present models, and b) no erosion
has been included.