Partial Melting in the Lower Crust: New Constraints on Crustal Contamination Processes in the Central Andes

Author(s):  
Chris Hawkesworth ◽  
Chris Clarke
Author(s):  
Jia Chang ◽  
Andreas Audétat ◽  
Jian-Wei Li

Abstract Two suites of amphibole-rich mafic‒ultramafic rocks associated with the voluminous intermediate to felsic rocks in the Early Cretaceous Laiyuan intrusive-volcanic complex (North China Craton) are studied here by detailed petrography, mineral- and melt inclusion chemistry, and thermobarometry to demonstrate an in-situ reaction-replacement origin of the hornblendites. Moreover, a large set of compiled and newly obtained geochronological and whole-rock elemental and Sr-Nd isotopic data are used to constrain the tectono-magmatic evolution of the Laiyuan complex. Early mafic‒ultramafic rocks occur mainly as amphibole-rich mafic‒ultramafic intrusions situated at the edge of the Laiyuan complex. These intrusions comprise complex lithologies of olivine-, pyroxene- and phlogopite-bearing hornblendites and various types of gabbroic rocks, which largely formed by in-situ crystallization of hydrous mafic magmas that experienced gravitational settling of early-crystallized olivine and clinopyroxene at low pressures of 0.10‒0.20 GPa (∼4‒8 km crustal depth); the hornblendites formed in cumulate zones by cooling-driven crystallization of 55‒75 vol% hornblende, 10‒20 vol% orthopyroxene and 3‒10 vol% phlogopite at the expense of olivine and clinopyroxene. A later suite of mafic rocks occurs as mafic lamprophyre dikes throughout the Laiyuan complex. These dikes occasionally contain some pure hornblendite xenoliths, which formed by reaction-replacement of clinopyroxene at high pressures of up to 0.97‒1.25 GPa (∼37‒47 km crustal depth). Mass balance calculations suggest that the olivine-, pyroxene- and phlogopite-bearing hornblendites in the early mafic‒ultramafic intrusions formed almost without melt extraction, whereas the pure hornblendites brought up by lamprophyre dikes required extraction of ≥ 20‒30 wt% residual andesitic to dacitic melts. The latter suggests that fractionation of amphibole in the middle to lower crust through the formation of reaction-replacement hornblendites is a viable way to produce adakite-like magmas. New age constraints suggest that the early mafic-ultramafic intrusions formed during ∼132‒138 Ma, which overlaps with the timespan of ∼126‒145 Ma recorded by the much more voluminous intermediate to felsic rocks of the Laiyuan complex. By contrast, the late mafic and intermediate lamprophyre dikes were emplaced during ∼110‒125 Ma. Therefore, the voluminous early magmatism in the Laiyuan complex was likely triggered by the retreat of the flat-subducting Paleo-Pacific slab, whereas the minor later, mafic to intermediate magmas may have formed in response to further slab sinking-induced mantle thermal perturbations. Whole-rock geochemical data suggest that the early mafic magmas formed by partial melting of subduction-related metasomatized lithospheric mantle, and that the early intermediate to felsic magmas with adakite-like signatures formed from mafic magmas through strong amphibole fractionation without plagioclase in the lower crust. The late mafic magmas seem to be derived from a slightly different metasomatized lithospheric mantle by lower degrees of partial melting.


2011 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. BROWN ◽  
K. SCHULMANN ◽  
R. W. WHITE
Keyword(s):  

1985 ◽  
Vol 122 (4) ◽  
pp. 389-396 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. S. Thorpe ◽  
R. Macdonald

AbstractThe Whin Sill comprises a major quartz tholeiite sill of late Carboniferous age underlying an area of c. 5000 km2 and with a volume of c. 200 km3, associated with contemporaneous dykes emplaced within Carboniferous sedimentary rocks in northeast England. New trace element analyses of chilled margins, sill interiors and dykes indicate that the Whin Sill complex magmas show significant chemical variations in terms of the relatively stable trace elements Th, Ce, Y, Zr, Nb and Ni. These data indicate that the complex was fed by a large number of compositionally distinct magma pulses, and that certain of the dykes may have formed feeder channels for the sill. The chemical characteristics of the sill and dyke samples are consistent with derivation by extensive polybaric fractional crystallization of olivine tholeiite magma derived by partial melting of compositionally heterogeneous mantle peridotite and/or crustal contamination of mantle-derived magmas.


2018 ◽  
Vol 55 (12) ◽  
pp. 1312-1323 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xinyun Zhao ◽  
Libo Hao ◽  
Qiaoqiao Wei ◽  
Qingqing Liu ◽  
Jian Zhou ◽  
...  

There are many Late Triassic mafic–ultramafic intrusions in the Hongqiling magmatic Ni–Cu sulfide deposit, Northeast China. Research on magma evolution leading to formation of these mafic–ultramafic intrusions is of great significance for understanding the mantle beneath Northeast China and associated Ni–Cu mineralization. A trace element study of the No. 1, 3, and 7 intrusions in the Hongqiling deposit reveals that these mafic–ultramafic intrusions are characterized by enrichment of incompatible elements, which however cannot be interpreted by subduction modification. Furthermore, model of batch partial melting of depleted mantle accompanied by upper crustal contamination can simulate the trace element patterns of these mafic–ultramafic intrusions, but partial melting of depleted mantle accompanied by lower crustal contamination model cannot work. In addition, Sr–Nd isotopic compositions of the Hongqiling No. 1, 3, and 7 intrusions also indicate that crustal contamination could have occurred mainly during the magma ascent. Consequently, a possible scenario for the magma evolution is that the primary mafic–ultramafic magma was derived from batch partial melting of a depleted mantle, and then contaminated by Cambrian–Ordovician metamorphic rocks of the Hulan Group during ascent. We conclude that the mantle source contained no significant crustal component in the Late Triassic and was also independent of substantial contribution from subducted material, and therefore the Mesozoic large-scale lithospheric delamination beneath eastern China may happen after a period of time of the Late Triassic.


Lithos ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 302-303 ◽  
pp. 312-328 ◽  
Author(s):  
Orhan Karsli ◽  
Faruk Aydin ◽  
Ibrahim Uysal ◽  
Abdurrahman Dokuz ◽  
Mustafa Kumral ◽  
...  

1969 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 427-440 ◽  
Author(s):  
Trevor H. Green

Experimental crystallization of anhydrous synthetic quartz diorite (≈andesite), gabbroic anorthosite, and high-alumina basalt has been conducted in their respective partial melting fields at high pressure. The quartz diorite composition shows a large field of crystallization of plagioclase from 0–13.5 kb, together with subordinate amounts of orthopyroxene and clinopyroxene and minor opaque minerals. In the gabbroic anorthosite, plagioclase is the main phase crystallizing from 0–22.5 kb, but at higher pressure it is replaced by aluminous clinopyroxene. Aluminous clinopyroxene is the main phase crystallizing from the high-alumina basalt from 9–18 kb and is joined by plagioclase at lower temperatures. At higher pressure it is joined by garnet. The albite content of the liquidus and near-liquidus plagioclase increases markedly with increasing pressure in each of the three compositions.The results for the high-alumina basalt and gabbroic anorthosite compositions preclude any major trends towards alumina enrichment and derivation of anorthositic plutons at crustal or upper mantle depths under anhydrous conditions. However, the results for the quartz diorite suggest that anorthositic complexes may form as a crystalline residuum from the partial melting of a lower crust of overall andesitic composition or from fractional crystallization of an andesitic magma. In either case a large separation of plagioclase crystals occurs (andesine – acid labradorite composition at lower crustal pressures), together with subordinate pyroxenes and ore minerals. Under appropriate temperature conditions separation of crystals and liquid by a filter-pressing mechanism during deformation may result in the genesis of igneous complexes containing rock types ranging in composition from gabbro through gabbroic anorthosite to anorthosite, together with associated acid rocks. The acid rocks need not necessarily remain spatially associated with the refractory gabbroic anorthosite and anorthosite. Where these processes have operated in the crust, anorthositic rocks may be left as the main component of the lower crust, while the low melting acidic fraction has intruded to higher levels.


2007 ◽  
Vol 48 (9) ◽  
pp. 1761-1791 ◽  
Author(s):  
Satoshi Saito ◽  
Makoto Arima ◽  
Takashi Nakajima ◽  
Keiji Misawa ◽  
Jun-Ichi Kimura

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