A detailed metamorphic zonal mapping is being in progress on the Sanbagawa metamorphic belt in central Shikoku. The mapping is based upon the distribution of index minerals, garnet and biotite in pelitic schists, and on the sliding equilibrium among silicate and oxide minerals. The distribution of mineral zones has revealed a peculiar thermal structure of the metamorphic complex that the highest-grade rocks occur in the middle of apparent stratigraphy. A large scale recumbent fold, with south vergency and extending for more than 20km, is postulated as a possible structural interpretation.
It is concluded, as the most probable model we could imagine at the moment, that before the maximum temperature of metamorphism was reached, the Sanbagawa schists had been metamorphosed in more or less normal thermal regime that the temperature had increased downwards. Then a large scale recumbent fold took place, separating the higher-grade rocks from the heat source and bringing them in between the lower-grade ones. This recumbent fold was accompanied by the start of the uplift of the whole metamorphic complex, while continuing metamorphic reactions with decreasing temperature and pressure.
The fact that the Sanbagawa belt is overturned suggests that a very distinctive crustal shortening took place in the present day Sanbagawa terrain in the Mesozoic time, and that the present day distribution of pre-Tertiary geologic units in the outer zone of the south-western Japan can hardly be in situ.