THE EARLY PRECAMBRIAN EFFECT OF OCEANIC CRUSTAL THICKNESS ON THE SUBDUCTION STYLE OBTAINED BY NUMERICAL PETROLOGICAL AND THERMOMECHANICAL MODELING

Eclogitization of magmatic rocks in the oceanic crust plays a key role in the mechanism of the lithospheric plate movement. This effect (as well as its kinetic delay) is particularly important in the Precambrian subduction when oceanic crust could be several times thicker than today. This paper presents the results of numerical modeling of the Early Precambrian subduction beneath the continent, at elevated (by ΔT=150–250 °C relative to today’s) mantle potential temperature and different oceanic crustal thicknesses, based on discrete eclogitization of the rocks in the oceanic-crust basaltic and gabbroid layers, as well as on mantle depletion. The modeling has shown for the first time that the oceanic crustal thickness has a profound effect on the Precambrian subduction regime. The thick-crust (18–24 km) models exhibit flat subduction at all values of ΔT. The thin-crust (7 km) models show flat subduction only at ΔT=250 °C, whereas at ΔT=150–200 °C flat subduction is typical only for subduction initiation with a further flat to steep transition in subduction style, accompanied by processes of slab rollback and magmatism at an active margin with the dominance of acid magmatism over basite magmatism. These data imply that the present-day steep (or steep-like) subduction zones could occur in the Early Precambrian where the plates with thin (like today) oceanic crust were subducting.

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