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Detailed mapping and structural observations on the Cycladic Blueschist Unit (CBU) on Iraklia Island integrated with detrital zircon (DZ) U-Pb ages elucidate the Mesozoic pre-subduction and the Cenozoic orogenic evolution. Iraklia tectonostratigraphy includes a heterogeneous Lower Schist Fm., juxtaposed against a Marble Fm. and an overlying Upper Schist Fm. The contact is an extensional ductile-to-brittle-ductile, top-to-N shear zone, kinematically associated with the Oligo-Miocene exhumation. The DZ spectra of the Lower Schist have Gondwanan/peri-Gondwanan provenance signatures and point to Late Triassic Maximum Depositional Ages (MDAs). A quartz-rich schist lens yielded Precambrian DZ ages exclusively and is interpreted as part of the pre-Variscan metasedimentary Cycladic Basement, equivalent to schists of the Ios Island core. The Upper Schist represents a distinctly different stratigraphic package with late Cretaceous MDAs and dominance of Late Paleozoic DZ ages, suggestive of a more internal Pelagonian source. The contrast in the DZ U-Pb record between Lower and Upper Schist likely reflects the difference between a Paleotethyan and Neotethyan geodynamic imprint. The Triassic DZ input from eroded volcanic material is related to the final Paleotethys closure and Pindos/CBU rift basin opening, while late Cretaceous metamorphic/magmatic zircons and 48-56 Ma zircon rims constrain the onset of Neotethyan convergence and high-pressure subduction metamorphism.

Zircon U-Pb dating is a powerful and widely used geochronologic technique to constrain the timing and rates of magmatic and high and lower-grade metamorphic processes, as well as sediment provenance. Zircon trace element (TE) compositions also record magmatic and metamorphic processes during zircon growth. In this study, zircon laser ablation split-stream (LA-SS)-ICP-MS U-Pb and TE depth-profiling and novel two-dimensional zircon mapping techniques are used in combination with oxygen isotope analyses (secondary ion mass spectrometry, SIMS) to reconstruct the timing and metamorphic conditions recorded by recrystallization and growth of zircon rims, which provide valuable insight into the petro-tectonic evolution of high-pressure/low-temperature (HP/LT) metamorphic rocks formed in subduction zones. These techniques are applied to zircon grains from HP/LT metamorphic rocks of the Cycladic Blueschist Unit (CBU) and Cycladic Basement (CB) on Sikinos and Ios islands, Greece, which experienced metamorphism and deformation associated with subduction and subsequent back-arc exhumation. Zircon records multiple episodes of non-magmatic zircon rim growth at similar to 50 Ma and similar to 26 Ma. Eocene metamorphic rims are associated with HP/LT metamorphism and are observed in both units, suggesting likely juxtaposition prior to or during subduction and associated HP metamorphism. The similarity between TE concentrations and delta O-18 values of the Eocene rims and their corresponding cores is an indicator for recrystallization and precipitation as a mechanism of zircon growth. In contrast, Oligocene zircon rims appear to be restricted to a < 0.5 km thick zone along the CB-CBU contact, characterized by garnet break-down, and show HREE enrichment and higher delta O-18 values in the rims compared to the cores, consistent with a model suggesting metasomatic infiltration of fluids derived from dehydrating sedimentary rocks during progressive subduction and underplating prior to back-arc extension. This metamorphism appears to be static in nature and does not support major late Cenozoic reactivation of the contact as an extensional shear zone during back-arc extension.