High-pressure mafic oceanic rocks from the Makbal Complex, Tianshan Mountains (Kazakhstan & Kyrgyzstan): Implications for the metamorphic evolution of a fossil subduction zone Melanie Meyer a, ⁎, Reiner Klemd a , Dmitry Konopelko b a GeoZentrum Nordbayern, Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Schlossgarten 5a, D-91054 Erlangen, Germany b Geological Faculty, St. Petersburg State University, 7/9 University Embankment, St. Petersburg, 199034, Russia abstract article info Article history: Received 26 February 2013 Accepted 21 June 2013 Available online 28 June 2013 Keywords: Makbal HP/UHP Complex Tianshan Mountains P–T pseudosection Thermobarometry Garnet isopleth thermobarometry The Makbal Complex in the western Tianshan Mountains of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan consists of HP/UHP metasedimentary host rocks which enclose various HP mafic blocks or boudins. These mafic rocks comprise rare eclogites (sensu stricto and sensu lato), garnet amphibolites (retrograded eclogites) and a newly discov- ered glaucophanite (glaucophane–garnet–omphacite bearing rock). So far the Makbal Complex has been interpreted to predominantly consist of continental lithologies and the mafic rocks were considered as dismembered dikes intruding continental metasediments. This interpretation is mainly based on the geological relationship and bulk rock chemistry of the different rock types. It was fur- ther suggested that the continental lithologies of the Makbal Complex underwent eclogite-facies metamor- phism in a former subduction zone. In the present study we combined conventional geothermometry, P–T pseudosection modeling and major and trace element whole rock geochemistry for different mafic samples (glaucophanite and eclogites (sensu lato)) in order to shed light on both the metamorphic evolution and the protoliths of the mafic HP rocks in the Makbal Complex. Prograde to peak-pressure clockwise P–T paths of glaucophanite and eclogites (sensu lato) were modeled using garnet isopleth thermobarometry. The results show that the glaucophanite and eclogite (sensu lato) samples experienced similar prograde P–T paths and slightly different peak metamorphic conditions at ~560 °C at 2.4 GPa for the former and between ~520 °C at 2.2 GPa and ~555 °C at ~2.5 GPa for the latter, corresponding to burial depths between 70 and 85 km. Whole rock major and trace element analyses and petrological evidence imply that the various rock types at the Makbal Complex most likely originated from different precursor rocks. Eclogites (sensu lato) are believed to represent strongly retrogressed former eclogite-facies rocks that had never been eclogites (sensu stricto, i.e. N 70 vol.% garnet and omphacite) due to an unfavorable alkali-poor bulk composition (Na 2 O b 1 wt.%). The four high-pressure mafic samples investigated in this study originated from oceanic crust (Zr/Hf ratio of 33 to 35) which contradicts all previous studies suggesting a continental protolith for all mafic HP/UHP rocks at Makbal. The present study indicates that the mafic high-pressure rocks represent incoherent segments of exhumed oceanic crust. Juxtaposition of different mafic oceanic (this study) and continental rocks is suggested to be due to buoyancy-driven exhumation of the metasedimentary host rock in the subduction channel where dismembered fragments of the subducted oceanic crust were captured in different depths. © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction The occurrence of HP/UHP (high-pressure/ultra high-pressure) metamorphic rocks in orogenic belts provides the opportunity to gain insight into subduction zone processes at great depth (> ca. 80 km) as they are the only natural, direct witness of such processes. The Makbal Complex is one of several HP/UHP metamorphic com- plexes in the Tianshan orogenic belt (e.g., Gao and Klemd, 2003; Hegner et al., 2011; Klemd et al., 2011; Tagiri et al., 1995; Volkova and Budanov, 1999; Wei et al., 2009). Former studies on the Makbal Complex focused on UHP metasedimentary rocks (garnet– chloritoid–talc schists), eclogites and garnet amphibolites, the latter two normally occurring as exotic blocks or lenses in the former (Konopelko et al., 2012; Tagiri et al., 1995, 2010). Eclogites which are suggested to have experienced UHP metamorphism due to deeper subduction are rarely described (coesite pseudomorph in garnet, Lithos 177 (2013) 207–225 ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: meyer@fau.de (M. Meyer), reiner.klemd@fau.de (R. Klemd), konopelko@inbox.ru (D. Konopelko). 0024-4937/$ – see front matter © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.lithos.2013.06.015 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Lithos journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/lithos