The Proterozoic Glaucophane-Schist Belt and Some Eclogites of North Yangtze Craton, Central China

This book deals mainly with the petrological, mineralogical and geochemical studies of the glaucophane- schist belts in the northern margin of Yangtze Craton, Central China. It aims to highlight its petro-tectonic history through data thusfar obtained. The glaucophane-schist belt extends about 2000 km in E-W direction and represents as a bi-modal volcanism of Na-bearing volcanic series trapped within a sedimentary pile, showing a stratigraphic integrity, ranging from Mid-Late Proterozoic with an ensialic crystalline basement and a superposed cover of Sinian System. From the petrological evidence and geological context it is suggested that the glaucophane-schist belt has originated as an intracontinental rifted mobile belt within the Yangtze Craton. Crustal rupture caused by rift-and-sag process during Mid-Late Proterozoic age led to the formation of high pressure metamorphism which may be represented as a kind of intracontinental subduction during 600--800 Ma.