Mafic-ultramafic intrusion formed by multi-stage evolution of hydrous basaltic melts

Author(s):  
Qi-Wei Li ◽  
Jun-Hong Zhao ◽  
Mei-Fu Zhou ◽  
Jian-Feng Gao

The magmatic processes beneath the active continental margins are very complicated and affect structures and compositions of the arc roots. Neoproterozoic igneous rocks are widely distributed around the margins of the Tarim Block in NW China. The Xingdier mafic-ultramafic intrusion is a composite body, located at the northern margin of the Tarim Block, and consists of gabbro, pyroxenite, and peridotite units. The gabbro unit has a secondary ion mass spectrometry zircon U-Pb age of 727 ± 5 Ma. Rocks from the Xingdier intrusion have a large range of MgO (12.9−32.8 wt%) and SiO2 (43.0−57.9 wt%), and low K2O+Na2O (0.11−2.25 wt%) contents. They have right inclined chondrite-normalized rare earth element patterns with (La/Yb)N ratios of 2.2−8.6. Their primitive mantle normalized trace element patterns show arc-affinity geochemical features characterized by enrichment in Rb, Ba, Th, U, and Pb and depletion in Nb, Ta, and Ti. They have variable initial 87Sr/86Sr ratios (0.7063−0.7093), εNd(t) values (−2.9 to −7.8), 206Pb/204Pb (17.08−17.80), 207Pb/204Pb (15.42−15.49), and 208Pb/204Pb ratios (37.48−38.05), forming an evolution trend from the peridotite unit to the gabbro and pyroxenite units. Clinopyroxene in the three units is chemically similar to those formed in hydrous magmas. The spinel inclusions in olivine from the peridotite unit show unmixing texture and have high Al contents and oxygen fugacity of ∼FMQ+1. Therefore, the parental magma was probably derived from a lithospheric mantle enriched by slab-derived fluids. Rocks from the gabbro and peridotite units are proposed to have been derived from olivine-normative melts, whereas rocks from the pyroxenite unit are cumulates from the quartz-normative melts. Such contrasting parental magmas resulted from variable degrees of crustal contamination and fractional crystallization in the arc root.

1986 ◽  
Vol 23 (8) ◽  
pp. 1169-1189 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Picard ◽  
Michel Piboule

In the western part of the Chapais syncline (Abitibi East, Quebec), the Opemisca Group unconformably overlies the Roy Group at a low angle. It consists of a thick turbidite sequence covered by an interdigitated sequence of lavas and alluvial cone sediments. The subaerial lavas include two sequences evolving from porphyric metabasalts to metatrachyandesites and porphyric metatrachytes (lower sequence) or to K-rich aphanitic meta-andesites (upper sequence). These lavas, with calc-alkaline to shoshonitic affinity, have high K2O, Ba, Sr, and Th contents and show highly enriched LREE spectra.The behaviour of major elements, trace elements, and lanthanides suggests an origin from partial melting of a mantle source consisting of a garnet lherzolite enriched in K, Sr, Rb, Ba, and Th by volatile elements and also by crustal contamination and by fractional crystallization mechanisms. The evolution of the lavas of the lower sequence, progressively deficient in Y, seems to have been controlled by fractional crystallization of a plagioclase, clinopyroxene, and olivine mixture; this was followed for the metatrachyandesites and metatrachytes by high H2O activity of a feldspar, amphibole, titanomagnetite, and apatite mixture. The evolution of lavas enriched in Y in the upper sequence seems to have been controlled by weak H2O activity of the anhydrous plagioclase, clinopyroxene, and olivine assemblage.The petrographic and geochemical data suggest an emplacement similar to that occurring on the active continental margins of the central Andes and implies the existence of a late-stage ensialic arc. [Translated by the journal]


1995 ◽  
Vol 132 (3) ◽  
pp. 321-337 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernard Briand ◽  
Jean-Luc Bouchardon ◽  
Houssa Ouali ◽  
Michel Piboule ◽  
Paul Capiez

AbstractHigh-grade basic and acidic meta-igneous rocks are widespread in the bimodal amphibolitic—felsic gneiss complexes, which are characteristic formations of the ‘Middle Allochthonous Unit’ from eastern and southern French Massif Central. The metabasites from the Lyonnais and Doux complexes are chemically diverse and range from N-MORB type tholeiitic to transitional types. The two populations are not related by fractional crystallization or crustal contamination processes and their chemical characteristics reflect differences in their mantle sources. An ensialic setting is supported by the crustally-derived character of some of the associated felsic rocks, but the presence of N-MORB-type metabasites argues for an extensional environment. This bimodal association compares well with the magmatism of rifted continental margins and may reflect a transitional stage between continental rifting and oceanic crust formation during the Cambro-Ordovician spreading event.


Author(s):  
A. V. Maslov ◽  
V. N. Podkovyrov ◽  
E. Z. Gareev ◽  
A. D. Nozhkin

The bulk chemical composition of synrift sandstones and associated clayey rocks has been analized, and the distribution of the fields they form has been studied on discriminant paleogeodynamic SiO2K2O/Na2O [Roser, Korsch, 1986] and DF1DF2 [Verma, Armstrong-Altrin, 2013] diagrams. The studied sandstones in terms of bulk chemical composition mainly correspond to greywacke, lititic, arkose and subarkose psammites; Sublitites and quartz arenites are also found. A significant part in the analyzed data massif consists of psammites, in which log(Na2O/K2O)-1.0; missing on the Pettijohn classification chart. This confirms our conclusion, based on the results of mineralogical and petrographic studies, that the sedimentary infill of rift structures unites immature sandstones, the detrital framework of which was formed due to erosion of local sources, represented by various magmatic and sedimentary formations. Synrift clayey rocks, compared with sandstones, are composed of more mature fine-grained siliciclastics. As follows from the distribution of figurative data points of clayey rocks on the F1F2 diagram [Roser, Korsch, 1988], its sources were mainly sedimentary deposits. The content of most of the main rock-forming oxides in the synrift sandstones is almost the same as in silt-sandstone rocks present in the Upper Precambrian-Phanerozoic sedimentary mega-complex of the East European Plate, but at the same time differs significantly from the Proterozoic and Phanerozoic cratonic sediments, as well as from the average composition upper continental crust. It is shown that the distribution of the fields of syntift sandstones and clayey rocks on the SiO2K2O/Na2O diagram does not have any distinct features, and their figurative data points are localized in the areas of terrigenous rocks of passive and active continental margins. On the DF1DF2 diagram, the fields of the studied psammites and clayey rocks are located in areas of riftogenous and collisional environments. We have proposed a different position of the border between these areas in the diagram, which will require further verification.


2019 ◽  
Vol 56 (2) ◽  
pp. 111-128
Author(s):  
Ai Li ◽  
Jian Wang ◽  
Yue Song

The Hongqiling magmatic Ni–Cu sulfide deposit, situated on the southern margin of the eastern Central Asian Orogenic Belt (CAOB), is composed of over 30 mafic–ultramafic intrusions. These ore-bearing intrusions are composed mainly of harzburgite, lherzolite, websterite, orthopyroxenite, and norite (gabbro). The constituent minerals are olivine, diopside, bronzite, calcic-hornblende, plagioclase, and spinel with orthopyroxene as a dominant mineral in these intrusions. These ore-bearing intrusions are not Alaskan-type complexes. Spinel and clinopyroxene both exhibit different chemical compositions from those in the Alaskan-type complexes. The rocks that make up the intrusions have high contents of MgO (average value = 25.20 wt.%) and low TiO2 (average value = 0.58 wt.%). The high MgO contents of the minerals and the high Mg# (71) of the calculated melt in equilibrium with olivine demonstrate that the parental magma of the Hongqiling mafic–ultramafic intrusions was a high-Mg tholeiitic magma. The Hongqiling ore-bearing mafic–ultramafic intrusions and the calculated “trapped liquids” for the olivine-orthopyroxene cumulate rocks are all enriched in large-ion lithophile elements and depleted in high field strength elements. The Ce/Pb, Ta/La, Th/Yb, and (La/Sm)PM values and the depletion of Nb and Ta suggest that the magma experienced crustal contamination. The Hongqiling ore-bearing intrusions display many similarities with mafic–ultramafic intrusions that formed in a post-collisional extensional environment in the western CAOB (e.g., Huangshanxi). Common features include their whole-rock compositions and mineral chemistry. Combined with the evolutionary history of the eastern segment of the CAOB, we believe that the Late Triassic Hongqiling mafic–ultramafic intrusions formed in a post-collisional extensional environment.


1993 ◽  
Vol 30 (6) ◽  
pp. 1110-1122 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. E. Camiré ◽  
J. N. Ludden ◽  
M. R. La Flèche ◽  
J. -P. Burg

In the northwestern Pontiac Subprovince, metavolcanic rocks are exposed within a metagraywacke sequence that is intruded by metamorphosed mafic dykes. The metavolcanics are Al-undepleted komatiites ([La/Sm]N = 0.3, [Tb/Yb]N = 0.9) and tholeiitic Fe-basalts ([La/Sm]N = 0.8 and [Tb/Yb]N = 0.8). The nearly flat chondrite-normalized distributions of high field strength elements (HFSE), Ti and P, the constant Zr/Y, Nb/Th, Ti/Zr, and Ti/P ratios, and the lack of depletion of HFSE relative to rare-earth elements (REE) in both ultramafic and mafic metavolcanics, imply that crustal assimilation and magma mixing with crustal melts were not significant during differentiation and argue against the presence of subduction-related magmatic components. Contemporaneous volcanism and sedimentation in the northwestern Pontiac Subprovince are unlikely. The metavolcanics do not show any evidence of crustal contamination and likely represent a structurally emplaced, disrupted assemblage, chemically similar to early volcanics of the adjacent southern Abitibi Subprovince.Metamorphosed mafic dykes intruding the metagraywackes are not genetically related to the metavolcanics. The dykes have high CaO, P2O5, K2O, Ba, Rb, and Sr, intermediate Cr and Ni contents, and strongly fractionated REE patterns ([La/Yb]N = 10.8). Normalized to the primitive mantle, they display pronounced negative Nb, Ta, Ti, Zr, and Hf anomalies. These amphibolites are metamorphosed equivalents of Mg-rich calc-alkaline lamprophyre dykes, most likely derived from a hybridized mantle source. Mantle metasomatism was probably related to a subduction event prior to the peak of compressional Kenoran deformation in the Pontiac Subprovince.


Author(s):  
E.G. Grosch ◽  
J. Slama

Abstract This study presents new field and petrological observations combined with geochemical data on a range of komatiitic to tholeiitic volcanic rocks from the ca. 3.48 Ga mid-lower Komati Formation type-section of the Barberton Greenstone Belt, South Africa. A range of mafic-ultramafic rocks is identified across a 1.44 km profile, leading to the proposition of a new preliminary volcanic architecture for the mid-lower Komati Formation type-section. Major, trace and rare earth element (REE) data in conjunction with Lu-Hf isotopic constraints indicate that the tholeiites, newly recognized high-magnesium basalts, basaltic komatiites and komatiites in the volcanic sequence have a primitive mantle signature with no geochemical affinity to Archaean or modern-day supra-subduction zone boninites. The whole rock initial εHf values of spinifex and massive komatiite flows in the lowermost part of the Komati type-section are negative, ranging between -1.9 and -3.1, whereas the second overlying spinifex and massive flow unit records positive initial εHf values between +0.5 and +4.7. A new geodynamic model involving crustal contamination of the mafic-ultramafic lavas is proposed for the Barberton mid-lower Komati Formation type-section, involving mantle plume-crust interaction. The new observations and data indicate that the komatiites erupted as a result of a mantle plume from a hot (>1 600oC) mid-Archaean mantle, in which the earliest volcanic flows were variably affected by crustal contamination during their ascent and eruption. The possibility of incorporation of lower crustal material and/or recycled crust residing in the mantle source region cannot be excluded. This indicates that modern-style plate tectonic processes, such as subduction, may not have been a requirement for the formation of the 3.48 Ga Barberton komatiite suite, with implications for the hydration state, geodynamic processes and secular thermal evolution of the Archaean mantle.


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