Eclogites, blueschists and greenschists are found in close proximity to one another along a 1-km coastal section where the Cyclades Blueschist Unit (CBU) is exposed on SE Syros, Greece. Here, we show that the eclogites and blueschists experienced the same metamorphic history: prograde lawsonite blueschist facies metamorphism at 1.2-1.9 GPa and 410-530°C followed, at 43-38 Ma, by peak blueschist/eclogite facies metamorphism at 1.5-2.1 GPa and 520-580°C. We explain co-existence of eclogites and blueschists by compositional variation probably reflecting original compositional layering. It is also shown that the greenschists record retrogression at 0.34 ± 0.21 GPa and T = 456 ± 68°C. This was spatially associated with a shear zone on a scales of 10-100-m and veins on a scale of 1-10-cm. Greenschist facies metamorphism ended at (or shortly after) 27 Ma. We thus infer a period of metamorphic quiescence after eclogite/blueschist facies metamorphism and before greenschist facies retrogression which lasted up to 11-16 million years. We suggest that this reflects an absence of metamorphic fluid flow at that time and conclude that greenschist facies retrogression only occurred when and where metamorphic fluids were present. From a tectonic perspective, our findings are consistent with studies showing that the CBU is (a) a high-P nappe stack consisting of belts in which high-P metamorphism and exhumation occurred at different times and (b) affected by greenschist facies metamorphism during the Oligocene, prior to the onset of regional tectonic extension. K E Y W O R D Sbulk composition, Cyclades Blueschist Unit, HP-LT metamorphism, metamorphic fluids, Syros

Geothermobarometric and geochronological work indicates a complete Eocene/ early Oligocene blueschist/greenschist facies metamorphic cycle of the Cycladic Blueschist Unit on Naxos Island in the Aegean Sea region. Using the average pressure-temperature (P-T) method of THERMOCALC coupled with detailed textural work, we separate an early blueschist facies event at 576 AE 16 to 619 AE 32°C and 15.5 AE 0.5 to 16.3 AE 0.9 kbar from a subsequent greenschist facies overprint at 384 AE 30°C and 3.8 AE 1.1 kbar. Multi-mineral Rb-Sr isochron dating yields crystallization ages for near peak-pressure blueschist facies assemblages between 40.5 AE 1.0 and 38.3 AE 0.5 Ma. The greenschist facies overprint commonly did not result in complete resetting of age signatures. Maximum ages for the end of greenschist facies reworking, obtained from disequilibrium patterns, cluster near c. 32 Ma, with one sample showing rejuvenation at c. 27 Ma. We conclude that the high-P rocks from south Naxos were exhumed to upper mid-crustal levels in the late Eocene and early Oligocene at rates of 7.4 AE 4.6 km/Ma, completing a full blueschist-/greenschist facies metamorphic cycle soon after subduction within c. 8 Ma. The greenschist facies overprint of the blueschist facies rocks from south Naxos resulted from rapid exhumation and associated deformation/fluid-controlled metamorphic re-equilibration, and is unrelated to the strong high-T metamorphism associated with the Miocene formation of the Naxos migmatite dome. It follows that the Miocene thermal overprint had no impact on rock textures or Sr isotopic signatures, and that the rocks of south Naxos underwent three metamorphic events, one more than hitherto envisaged.

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Detecting zones of considerable early-orogenic displacement in rather monotonous rock sequences which have undergone a late and pervasive tectonometamorphic overprint is challenging. It has been proposed that the alleged Zas shear zone in the passive-margin sequence of the Cycladic Blueschist Unit (CBU) on Naxos Island, Greece, separates amphibolite-facies, non-high-P rocks (Koronos Unit) below from Eocene high-P rocks (Zas Unit) above the shear zone. We review existing pressure-temperature (P-T) data from the Koronos Unit and present new kinematic data from the anticipated Zas shear zone to evaluate the tectonic significance of this recently proposed structure. This has implications for unravelling the subduction history of rock units from tectonometamorphic data sets. Common to all P-T data from the Koronos Unit is a well-defined amphibolite-facies equilibration stage at 8-11 kbar and 600-700°C, followed by initial near-isothermal to slightly prograde decompression and subsequent pronounced cooling. This segment of the high-T P-T loop was associated with top-to-the-NNE extensional deformation in the footwall of the Miocene Naxos-Paros detachment. Little is known about metamorphism preceding the amphibolite-facies overprint in the Koronos Unit. Our review shows that it is likely that the rocks experienced a prior high-P metamorphic overprint that is typical for rocks of the CBU. Our kinematic data show that the Zas shear zone contains variably deformed rocks with dominantly top-to-the-NNE shear-sense indicators that developed under greenschist-facies metamorphism in the footwall of the Naxos-Paros detachment. No significant offset can be detected across the Zas shear zone and the geology on either side of it does not support large-scale movement across the shear zone. We discuss a model in which the Zas shear zone is considered a minor zone of deformed schist near the biotite-in isograd of Miocene high-T metamorphism. We conclude that there is no need to tectonically subdivide the CBU passive-margin sequence on Naxos.