STRAIN PARTITIONING AND SHEAR ZONE LOCALIZATION ASSOCIATED WITH REACTIVE MELT MIGRATION IN MANTLE PERIDOTITES OF THE RED HILLS MASSIF, DUN MOUNTAIN OPHIOLITE BELT, NEW ZEALAND
In the upper section of the plagioclase-bearing lherzolite layer, numerous clinopyroxenite dikes are deformed into dextrally asymmetric, tight to isoclinal folds. Magmatic plagioclase defines a spaced foliation that is localized around the dikes, suggesting the two melts result from related focused and diffuse melt transport and that emplacement of clinopyroxenite dikes occurred while the peridotite massif had passed into the plagioclase lherzolite field. The plagioclase foliation is axial planar to the folds of the dikes, also suggesting deformation accompanied melt infiltration. Near the base of the plagioclase-bearing layer, the plagioclase foliation is perpendicular to the layer boundary of the lherzolites. However, towards the west of the complex, this foliation rotates into parallelism with the layer boundary and the intensity of the tectonite foliation becomes more pervasive. We interpret these structural patterns as representative of a massif-scale shear zone that accommodated top-to-the-N shear between the western, dunitic part of the massif and the eastern, harzburgite-dominated lithospheric mantle. Shear zone initiation likely occurred during initial exhumation of the massif, facilitated by the migration of late reactive partial melts resulting in strain localization.