Field relations, geochemistry, origin and emplacement of the Baltoro granite, Central Karakoram

AbstractThe Miocene Baltoro granite forms a massive plutonic unit within the Karakoram batholith, and is composed of comagmatic monzogranites and leucogranites with a mineralogy consisting of quartz-K-feldspar-plagioclase-biotite ± muscovite ± garnet, with accessory sphene, zircon, monazite and opaques. Geochemically the Baltoro granites are mildly peraluminous, and show a calc-alkaline trend on trace-element normalised diagrams with high LIL/HFS element ratios and negative Nb, P and Ti anomalies. REE are strongly fractionated with little or no Eu anomaly. Leucogranites are depleted in most elements compared to monzogranites with notable exceptions being Rb, K and the HREEs. Initial 87Sr/86Sr ratios are 0·7072-0·7128, considerably lower than High Himalayan leucogranites (0·74-0·79), and are indicative of a lower continental crust source. The probable petrogenesis of the Baltoro granite involves dehydration melting of a biotite-rich pelite to produce a voluminous, hot, water-undersaturated magma which could then separate from its source and intrude through an already thickened and still hot crust. Fractional crystallisation of the monzogranites produced the leucogranites and a pegmatite dyke swarm. A suite of lamprophyre dykes including amphibolerich vogesites and biotite-rich minettes intrude the country rock, dominantly to the north, around the Baltoro granite. These calc-alkaline shoshonitic lamprophyres are volatile-rich mantle-derived melts intruded around the same time as the granite, indicating simultaneous melting of the mantle and lower crust beneath the Karakoram during the Miocene, approximately 30 Ma after the India-Asia collision which initially caused the crustal thickening. Intrusion of mantle melts provided heat to promote crustal melting and may have selectively contaminated the granite magma.The Baltoro granite intrudes sillimanite gneisses with melt pods along the southern margin indicating temperatures above 700°C at the time of intrusion. Locally, internal fabrics and numerous aligned xenoliths along the southern margin in the Biafo glacier region indicate steep, southward-directed thrusting during emplacement. Along the northern contact, the Baltoro granite intrudes anchimetamorphic to greenschist facies metasedimentary rocks with an andalusite-bearing contact aureole. Northward-directed culmination collapse normal faulting during Miocene emplacement is inferred, in order to explain the P-T differences either side of the pluton. This also provided an extensional stress regime in the upper crust to accommodate the rising magma.

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Un diatrème phréatomagmatique montérégien dans les Appalaches du Québec

Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences ◽

10.1139/e96-048 ◽

1996 ◽

Vol 33 (5) ◽

pp. 649-655

Author(s):

David Morin ◽

Michel Jébrak ◽

Robert Marquis

Keyword(s):

Surface Water ◽

Country Rock ◽

Near Surface ◽

Metasedimentary Rocks ◽

North East ◽

The North ◽

Devonian Age ◽

Fault Network ◽

Alkaline Lamprophyres ◽

East West

A subcircular positive magnetic anomaly and breccias affecting a basanite and its country-rock metasedimentary rocks reveal the presence of a diatreme with a diameter of approximately 420 m, at Eastman, in the Quebec Appalachians. The post-Middle Devonian age, the position in the line of the Monteregian plutons, and the basanite composition, which is comparable to that of the Cretaceous Monteregian alkaline lamprophyres, suggest that the diatreme is related to the Monteregian magmatism. It is located at the junction of two orthogonal tectonic corridors: the north-north-east Baie Verte – Brompton line and an east−west fault network along the prolongation of the Ottawa−Bonnechère Graben. These structures are zones of weakness that probably served as a conduit for the ascending magma and near-surface water to trigger phreatomagmatic eruptions.

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Newly identified Jurassic–Cretaceous migmatites in the Liaodong Peninsula: unravelling a Mesozoic anatectic event related to the lithospheric thinning of the North China Craton

Geological Magazine ◽

10.1017/s0016756820000552 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 1-17

Author(s):

Jin Liu ◽

Jian Zhang ◽

Chang-Qing Yin ◽

Chang-Quan Cheng ◽

Jia-Hui Qian ◽

...

Keyword(s):

North China Craton ◽

North China ◽

Thermal Anomaly ◽

Thin Layers ◽

Crustal Thickening ◽

Late Triassic ◽

Metasedimentary Rocks ◽

Lithospheric Thinning ◽

The North ◽

Liaodong Peninsula

Abstract A suite of Jurassic–Cretaceous migmatites was newly identified in the Liaodong Peninsula of the eastern North China Craton (NCC). Anatexis is commonly associated with crustal thickening. However, the newly identified migmatites were formed during strong lithospheric thinning accompanied by voluminous magmatism and intense deformation. Field investigations show that the migmatites are spatially associated with low-angle detachment faults. Numerous leucosomes occur either as isolated lenses or thin layers (dykes), parallel to or cross-cutting the foliation. Peritectic minerals such as titanite and sillimanite are distributed mainly along the boundaries of reactant minerals or are accumulated along the foliation. Most zircons show distinct core–rim structures, and the rims have low Th/U ratios (0.01–0.24). Zircon U–Pb dating results indicate that the protoliths of the migmatites were either the Late Triassic (224–221 Ma) diorites or metasedimentary rocks deposited sometime after c. 1857 Ma. The zircon overgrowth rims record crystallization ages of 173–161 Ma and 125 Ma, which represent the formation time of leucosomes. These ages are consistent with those reported magmatic events in the Liaodong Peninsula and surrounding areas. The leucosomes indicate a strong anatectic event during the Jurassic–Cretaceous period. Partial melting occurred through the breakdown of muscovite and biotite with the presence of water-rich fluid under a thermal anomaly regime. The possible mechanism that caused the 173–161 Ma and 125 Ma anatectic events was intimately related to the regional crustal extension during the lithospheric thinning of the NCC. Meanwhile, the newly generated melts further weakened the rigidity of the crust and enhanced the extension.

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Major and trace element compositions and Sr-Nd-Pb systematics of crystalline rocks from the Dawson Range, Yukon, Canada

Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences ◽

10.1139/e99-058 ◽

1999 ◽

Vol 36 (9) ◽

pp. 1463-1481 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

David Selby ◽

Robert A Creaser ◽

Bruce E Nesbitt

Keyword(s):

Late Cretaceous ◽

Geochemical Data ◽

Crustal Material ◽

Calc Alkaline ◽

Origin And Evolution ◽

Metasedimentary Rocks ◽

The North ◽

New Information ◽

Continental Arc ◽

Metaigneous Rocks

Geochemical (major, trace, and rare earth elements) and isotopic (Nd, Sr, and Pb) data of the Devono-Mississippian Wolverine Creek Metamorphic Suite, mid-Cretaceous Dawson Range batholith, mid-Cretaceous Casino Plutonic Suite, and Late Cretaceous plutons provide new information on the origin and evolution of the rocks from the Dawson Range in west-central Yukon, northern Canadian Cordillera. Isotopic and other geochemical data for the Wolverine Creek Metamorphic Suite metasedimentary rocks indicate that the detrital components were derived from two distinct provenances: (1) the North America craton, which contributed evolved felsic, upper crustal material; and (2) a calc-alkaline arc, which shed juvenile mafic-intermediate material. The geochemical affinity of the metaigneous rocks indicates that the Yukon-Tanana terrane represented a continental arc during Devonian-Mississippian times, with magmas derived from geochemically primitive sources and partial melting of the Yukon-Tanana terrane supracrustal rocks. The Dawson Range batholith likely represents crustally derived magmas from the Yukon-Tanana terrane during the mid-Cretaceous, with the contemporaneous Casino Plutonic Suite representing a late-stage fractionate of these magmas. The Late Cretaceous porphyry Cu mineralization is genetically related to plutons derived from mantle-source magmas related to active subduction.

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Palaeomagnetic and anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility data bearing on the emplacement of the Western Granite, Isle of Rum, NW Scotland

Geological Magazine ◽

10.1017/s0016756808005827 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 146 (3) ◽

pp. 419-436 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

M. S. PETRONIS ◽

B. O'DRISCOLL ◽

V. R. TROLL ◽

C. H. EMELEUS ◽

J. W. GEISSMAN

Keyword(s):

Magnetic Susceptibility ◽

Country Rock ◽

Anisotropy Of Magnetic Susceptibility ◽

Magnetic Fabric ◽

Contact Aureole ◽

Data Set ◽

The North ◽

Early Paleocene ◽

Magma Emplacement

AbstractThe Western Granite is the largest of several granitic bodies around the margin of the Rum Central Igneous Complex. We report palaeomagnetic and anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS) data that bear on the emplacement and deformation of the Western Granite. The collection includes samples from 27 sites throughout the Western Granite, five sites in adjacent feldspathic peridotite, and two sites in intermediate to mafic hybrid contact aureole rocks. Palaeomagnetic data from 22 of the 27 sites in the granite provide an in situ group mean D = 213.2°, I = −69.5°, α95 = 5.5° that is discordant to an early Paleocene reverse polarity expected field (about 184°, −66°, α95 = 4.3°). The discrepancy is eliminated by removing an inferred 15° of northwest-side-down tilting about a best fit horizontal tilt axis trending 040°. Data from the younger peridotite and hybrid rocks of the Rum Layered Suite provide an in situ group mean of D = 182.6°, I = −64.8°, α95 = 4.0°, which is statistically indistinguishable from an early Paleocene expected field, and imply no post-emplacement tilting of these rocks since remanence acquisition. The inferred tilt recorded in the Western Granite, which did not affect the younger Layered Suite, suggests that emplacement of the ultrabasic rocks resulted in roof uplift and associated tilt of the Western Granite to make space for mafic magma emplacement. Magnetic fabric magnitude and susceptibility parameters yield two subtle groupings in the Western Granite AMS data set. Group 1 data, defined by rocks from exposures to the east and south, have comparatively high bulk susceptibilities (Kmean, 29.51 × 10−3 in SI system), stronger anisotropies (Pj, 1.031) and oblate susceptibility ellipsoids. Group 2 data, from rocks in the west part of the pluton, have lower values of Kmean (15.89 × 10−3 SI) and Pj (1.014), and triaxial susceptibility ellipsoids. Magnetic lineations argue for emplacement of the granite as a tabular sheet from the south–southeast toward the north and west. Moderate to steeply outward-dipping magnetic foliations, together with deflection of the country rock bedding in the north, are consistent with doming accompanying magma emplacement.

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Petrochemical constrains on the origin and tectonic setting of mafic to intermediate dykes from Tikar plain, Central Cameroon Shear Zone

SN Applied Sciences ◽

10.1007/s42452-021-04265-5 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 3 (2) ◽

Author(s):

Benjamin Ntieche ◽

M. Ram Mohan ◽

Amidou Moundi ◽

Pauline Wokwenmendam Nguet ◽

Mahomed Aziz Mounjouohou ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Shear Zone ◽

Tectonic Setting ◽

Potassium Feldspar ◽

Crustal Thickening ◽

Alkaline Basalt ◽

Calc Alkaline ◽

Mafic Dykes ◽

The North ◽

Basement Rocks ◽

Northern Edge

AbstractThe Tikar plain is located on the Cameroon Central Shear Zone. It is also part of the North Equatorial Pan-African Belt. It is formed of granitoids intruded in places by mafic and intermediate dykes. The mafic dykes are essentially banded gabbros composed of plagioclases, pyroxenes, amphiboles, biotites and opaques. Their textures range from porphyroblastic to porphyritic. The intermediate dykes are monzonites and monzodiorites and are characterized, respectively, by cataclastic and mylonitic textures. The minerals identified are amphiboles, potassium feldspar, pyroxenes, epidotes, sphenes and opaques. Seritization reaction is mostly present on the mafic and intermediate dykes, while chloritization is much more pronounced on the intermediate dykes. The Tikar plain dykes are high-k calc-alkaline to shoshonitic. They are characterized by low to moderate SiO2 content (42.08–61.96 wt%), low to high TiO2 (0.47–2 wt%) and low Ni (1.48–99.18 ppm) contents. The mafic dykes show fractional trends with negative anomalies of Zr, U and P and positive Rb, Ba, Ta, Pb and Sr in multi-element diagrams, while the intermediate dykes present negative anomalies of Nb, Ta, Zr, Sr P and Ti and relative positive anomalies of Rb, Ba and Pb. The rare-earth elements (REE) patterns show positive Eu anomalies for the mafic dykes and negative anomalies for the intermediate dykes. The REE spectrum of all the dykes shows enrichment in LREE with relatively flat HREE, which can indicate arc magmatism. In the Zr–Ti/100–Sr/2 diagram, the mafic dykes plot in the island arc tholeiite and calc-alkaline basalt fields. The Th, Nb and LREE concentrations indicate that the subducted lithosphere with crustal component contributed to generation of the intermediate dykes of the Tikar plain. The geochemical characteristics of the mafic to intermediate dykes suggest their derivation from a various degree of partial melting in the garnet spinel facies, probably between depths of 80 and 100 km. The collision between the Central African Fold Belt and the northern edge of the Congo craton resulting in crustal thickening, sub-crustal lithospheric delamination and upwelling of the asthenosphere may have been the principal process in the generation of the intermediate dykes in the Tikar plain. The magma for the mafic and intermediate dyke would have migrated through the faults network of the Central Cameroon Shear Zone before crystallizing in the granito-gneissic basement rocks.

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Emplacement, rapid burial, and exhumation of 90-Ma plutons in southeastern Alaska

Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences ◽

10.1139/e03-087 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 41 (1) ◽

pp. 87-102 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Glen R Himmelberg ◽

Peter J Haeussler ◽

David A Brew

Keyword(s):

Structural Analysis ◽

Country Rock ◽

Crustal Thickening ◽

Thermal Decay ◽

Pluton Emplacement ◽

The North ◽

Regional Deformation ◽

Mineral Assemblages ◽

Accreted Terranes ◽

Gravina Belt

In southeastern Alaska, granodioritetonalite plutons of the AdmiraltyRevillagigedo belt intruded the JurassicCretaceous Gravina belt along the eastern side of the Alexander terrane around 90 Ma. These plutons postdate some deformation related to a major contractional event between the previously amalgamated Wrangellia and Alexander terranes and the previously accreted terranes of the North American margin. We studied the aureole mineral assemblages of these plutons near Petersburg, Alaska, determined pressure and temperature of equilibration, and examined structures that developed within and adjacent to these plutons. Parallelism of magmatic and submagmatic fabrics with fabrics in the country rock indicates synchroneity of pluton emplacement with regional deformation and suggests that magma transport to higher crustal levels was assisted by regional deformation. Replacement of andalusite by kyanite or sillimanite indicates crustal thickening soon after pluton emplacement. Regional structural analysis indicates the crustal thickening was accomplished by thrust burial. Thermobarometric analyses indicate the aureoles reached near-peak temperatures of 525 to 635 °C at pressures of 570 to 630 MPa. Consideration of the rate of thermal decay of the aureoles suggests that burial was rapid and occurred at rates around 5 to 8 mm/year. Structural observations indicate there was contractional deformation before, during, and after emplacement of the 90-Ma plutons. Initial exhumation of the AdmiraltyRevillagigedo belt in the Petersburg area may have occurred along a thrust west of the pluton belt within the Gravina belt.

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Chronology of Cadomian tectonothermal activity in the baie de Saint-Brieuc (north Brittany), France: evidence from 40Ar/39Ar mineral ages

Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences ◽

10.1139/e91-066 ◽

1991 ◽

Vol 28 (5) ◽

pp. 762-773 ◽

Cited By ~ 23

Author(s):

R. D. Dallmeyer ◽

R. A. Strachan ◽

R. S. D'Lemos

Keyword(s):

West African ◽

Quartz Diorite ◽

Contact Aureole ◽

Metasedimentary Rocks ◽

Late Precambrian ◽

The North ◽

Granite Emplacement ◽

Continental Arc ◽

Armorican Massif ◽

Isotope Correlation

The late Precambrian Cadomian Orogen exposed in the North Armorican Massif (northwest France) is a collage of displaced terranes that, in part, developed during amalgamation of continental-arc and marginal-basin complexes. 40Ar/39Ar mineral ages reported here place new constraints on the timing of Cadomian tectonothermal activity in the southern part of the St Brieuc terrane. In the baie de Saint-Brieuc area Brioverian supracrustal units were deformed, metamorphosed, and intruded by calc-alkaline plutonic complexes. Metamorphic hornblende from a metabasic amphibolite sheet within Brioverian rocks records an isotope correlation age of 568.4 ± 2.6 Ma (interpreted to date postmetamorphic cooling through appropriate argon closure temperatures). Similar isotope correlation cooling ages are recorded by metamorphic hornblende within both an amphibolite sheet intrusive into the Penthièvre complex (567.5 ± 1.2 Ma) and the La Croix Gibat amphibolite (574.8 ± 2.1 Ma). Igneous hornblende from the late tectonic to posttectonic St Quay quartz diorite and muscovite from Brioverian metasedimentary rocks in the contact aureole record isotope correlation ages of ca. 565–570 Ma. These and a ca. 568 Ma isotope correlation age determined for hornblende from the foliated Fort de la Latte quartz diorite are interpreted to date postmagmatic cooling.The 40Ar/39Ar ages indicate that Cadomian tectonothermal activity within southern parts of the St Brieuc terrane occurred prior to ca. 570 Ma. This is markedly older than the ca. 540 Ma date previously suggested for peak Cadomian metamorphism and granite emplacement in the adjacent St Malo terrane and is consistent with palinspastic separation of the contrasting Cadomian elements until at least the latest Precambrian. A pre-570 Ma age for Cadomian tectonothermal activity in the St Brieuc terrane suggests correlation with similar-aged orogenic activity in other circum-Atlantic, late Precambrian Gondwanan marginal terranes (including southern portions of the Iberian massif and various sectors of the West African orogens).

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40Ar–39Ar dating of alkali basaltic dykes along the southwest coast of Greenland: Cretaceous and Tertiary igneous activity along the eastern margin of the Labrador Sea

Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland Bulletin ◽

10.34194/ggub.v184.5227 ◽

1999 ◽

pp. 19-29 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Lotte Melchior Larsen ◽

David C. Rex ◽

W. Stuart Watt ◽

Philip G. Guise

Keyword(s):

Alkali Basalt ◽

Dyke Swarm ◽

Labrador Sea ◽

Precambrian Basement ◽

Stress Regime ◽

Southwest Coast ◽

Eastern Margin ◽

Step Heating ◽

Igneous Activity ◽

Break Up

NOTE: This article was published in a former series of GEUS Bulletin. Please use the original series name when citing this article, for example: Melchior Larsen, L., Rex, D. C., Watt, W. S., & Guise, P. G. (1999). 40Ar–39Ar dating of alkali basaltic dykes along the southwest coast of Greenland: Cretaceous and Tertiary igneous activity along the eastern margin of the Labrador Sea. Geology of Greenland Survey Bulletin, 184, 19-29. https://doi.org/10.34194/ggub.v184.5227 _______________ A 380 km long coast-parallel alkali basalt dyke swarm cutting the Precambrian basement in south-western Greenland has generally been regarded as one of the earliest manifestations of rifting during continental stretching prior to break-up in the Labrador Sea. Therefore, the age of this swarm has been used in models for the evolution of the Labrador Sea, although it has been uncertain due to earlier discrepant K–Ar dates. Two dykes from this swarm situated 200 km apart have now been dated by the 40Ar–39Ar step-heating method. Separated biotites yield plateau ages of 133.3 ± 0.7 Ma and 138.6 ± 0.7 Ma, respectively. One of the dykes has excess argon. Plagioclase separates confirm the biotite ages but yield less precise results. The age 133– 138 Ma is earliest Cretaceous, Berriasian to Valanginian, and the dyke swarm is near-coeval with the oldest igneous rocks (the Alexis Formation) on the Labrador shelf. A small swarm of alkali basalt dykes in the Sukkertoppen (Maniitsoq) region of southern West Greenland was also dated. Two separated kaersutites from one sample yield an average plateau age of 55.2 ± 1.2 Ma. This is the Paleocene–Eocene boundary. The swarm represents the only known rocks of that age within several hundred kilometres and may be related to changes in the stress regime during reorganisation of plate movements at 55 Ma when break-up between Greenland and Europe took place.

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