The Volcano‐Tectonic Evolution of the Macquarie Ridge Complex, Australia‐Pacific Plate Boundary South of New Zealand

<p>The Macquarie Ridge Complex (MRC) forms the submarine expression of the Australia‐Pacific plate boundary south of New Zealand, comprising a rugged bathymetry made up of numerous seamounts along its length. Tectonic plate reconstructions show that the plate boundary evolved from divergent to transpressional relative plate motion from ca. 40 – 6 Ma. However, only limited geological observation of the products of past seafloor spreading and present transpressional deformation has been achieved. This study presents new high-resolution multibeam, photographic, petrologic and geochemical data for 10 seamounts located along the MRC in order to elucidate the current nature and evolution of the plate boundary. Seamounts are oriented parallel to the plate boundary, characterized by elongate forms, and deformed by transform faulting. Three guyot‐type seamounts display summit plateaux that were formed by wave and current erosion. MRC seafloor is composed of alkaline to sub‐alkaline basaltic pillow, massive and sheet lava flows, lava talus, volcaniclastic breccia, diabase and gabbro. This oceanic crust was formed during effusive mid‐ocean ridge volcanism at the relic Macquarie spreading centre and has since been sheared, accreted and exhumed along the modern transpressional plate boundary. Major element systematics indicate samples originated from spatially distinct magmatic sources and have since been juxtaposed at seamounts due to transpressional relative plate motion. MRC seamounts have formed as discrete elevations as a result of dip‐slip and strike‐slip faulting of the ridge axis. Thus, MRC seamounts are volcanic in origin but are now the morphological manifestations of tectonic and geomorphic processes. Petrologic and geochemical characteristics of volcanic glass samples from the MRC indicate that both effusive and explosive eruption styles operated at the relic Macquarie spreading centre. Primitive and sub‐alkaline to transitional basaltic magma that rose efficiently to the seafloor was erupted effusively and cooled to form lava flows with low vesicle and phenocryst contents or was granulated on contact with seawater to form hyaloclasts deposited in volcaniclastic breccias. More alkaline magmas that underwent crystal fractionation and volatile exsolution in shallow reservoirs were fragmented and erupted during submarine hawaiian‐type eruptions. Such a scenario is likely to have occurred during the final stages of magmatism at the Australia‐Pacific plate boundary south of New Zealand when seafloor spreading was ultraslow or had ceased, which induced low degrees of partial melting and retarded magma ascent rates. All MRC samples display enriched mid‐ocean ridge basalt (E‐MORB) trace element characteristics. The sample suite can be divided into two groups, with Group 1 samples distinguished from Group 2 samples by their lower concentrations of highly incompatible trace elements, flatter LREE slopes, higher MgO contents and lower alkali element contents. Group 1 basalts were derived from low degree partial melting of spinel lherzolite generated during the late stages of mid‐ocean ridge volcanism at the plate boundary when seafloor spreading rates were slow to ultraslow (full spreading rate < 20 mm yr⁻¹). Group 2 basalts were derived from low degree partial melting of spinel lherzolite, mixed with small amounts of very low degree partial melting of garnet lherzolite, during post‐spreading volcanism at the MRC. Remnant heat from previous seafloor spreading induced buoyant ascent of the sub‐ridge mantle and enriched heterogeneities were preferentially tapped by the ensuing low melt fractions. Magma ascent was stalled due to the cessation of extension at the ridge and the melts underwent crystal fractionation prior to eruption, which accounts for the lower MgO contents of Group 2 basalts. The pervasive incompatible element‐enrichment of MRC basalts and similarity to lavas from fossil spreading ridges in the eastern Pacific Ocean may reflect regional enrichment of the Pacific upper mantle.</p>

The Volcano‐Tectonic Evolution of the Macquarie Ridge Complex, Australia‐Pacific Plate Boundary South of New Zealand

<p>The Macquarie Ridge Complex (MRC) forms the submarine expression of the Australia‐Pacific plate boundary south of New Zealand, comprising a rugged bathymetry made up of numerous seamounts along its length. Tectonic plate reconstructions show that the plate boundary evolved from divergent to transpressional relative plate motion from ca. 40 – 6 Ma. However, only limited geological observation of the products of past seafloor spreading and present transpressional deformation has been achieved. This study presents new high-resolution multibeam, photographic, petrologic and geochemical data for 10 seamounts located along the MRC in order to elucidate the current nature and evolution of the plate boundary. Seamounts are oriented parallel to the plate boundary, characterized by elongate forms, and deformed by transform faulting. Three guyot‐type seamounts display summit plateaux that were formed by wave and current erosion. MRC seafloor is composed of alkaline to sub‐alkaline basaltic pillow, massive and sheet lava flows, lava talus, volcaniclastic breccia, diabase and gabbro. This oceanic crust was formed during effusive mid‐ocean ridge volcanism at the relic Macquarie spreading centre and has since been sheared, accreted and exhumed along the modern transpressional plate boundary. Major element systematics indicate samples originated from spatially distinct magmatic sources and have since been juxtaposed at seamounts due to transpressional relative plate motion. MRC seamounts have formed as discrete elevations as a result of dip‐slip and strike‐slip faulting of the ridge axis. Thus, MRC seamounts are volcanic in origin but are now the morphological manifestations of tectonic and geomorphic processes. Petrologic and geochemical characteristics of volcanic glass samples from the MRC indicate that both effusive and explosive eruption styles operated at the relic Macquarie spreading centre. Primitive and sub‐alkaline to transitional basaltic magma that rose efficiently to the seafloor was erupted effusively and cooled to form lava flows with low vesicle and phenocryst contents or was granulated on contact with seawater to form hyaloclasts deposited in volcaniclastic breccias. More alkaline magmas that underwent crystal fractionation and volatile exsolution in shallow reservoirs were fragmented and erupted during submarine hawaiian‐type eruptions. Such a scenario is likely to have occurred during the final stages of magmatism at the Australia‐Pacific plate boundary south of New Zealand when seafloor spreading was ultraslow or had ceased, which induced low degrees of partial melting and retarded magma ascent rates. All MRC samples display enriched mid‐ocean ridge basalt (E‐MORB) trace element characteristics. The sample suite can be divided into two groups, with Group 1 samples distinguished from Group 2 samples by their lower concentrations of highly incompatible trace elements, flatter LREE slopes, higher MgO contents and lower alkali element contents. Group 1 basalts were derived from low degree partial melting of spinel lherzolite generated during the late stages of mid‐ocean ridge volcanism at the plate boundary when seafloor spreading rates were slow to ultraslow (full spreading rate < 20 mm yr⁻¹). Group 2 basalts were derived from low degree partial melting of spinel lherzolite, mixed with small amounts of very low degree partial melting of garnet lherzolite, during post‐spreading volcanism at the MRC. Remnant heat from previous seafloor spreading induced buoyant ascent of the sub‐ridge mantle and enriched heterogeneities were preferentially tapped by the ensuing low melt fractions. Magma ascent was stalled due to the cessation of extension at the ridge and the melts underwent crystal fractionation prior to eruption, which accounts for the lower MgO contents of Group 2 basalts. The pervasive incompatible element‐enrichment of MRC basalts and similarity to lavas from fossil spreading ridges in the eastern Pacific Ocean may reflect regional enrichment of the Pacific upper mantle.</p>

Geochemistry of Volcanic Rocks of Beka, North East of Ngaoundéré (Adamawa Plateau, Cameroon): Petrogenesis and Geodynamic Context

Beka area is situated in the Adamaoua Plateau of Cameroon in central Arica. Lavas in this area has not been studied before the present work.The volcanism of Beka is characterized by basalt, trachyte and phonolite domes and flows. The petrographic study shows that basaltic lavas have porphyritic microlitic textures. The felsic lavas indicate trachytic textures.The rocks are composed of olivine, clinopyroxene, plagioclase and irontitanium oxide minerals for the basalts; clinopyroxene, alkali feldspar (including foids), sphene and titanomagnetite for the felsic lavas. Chemical analyses show that basaltic lavas are basanites. Felsic lavas contain modal feldspathoid (nepheline in phonolites). All these lavas belong to the same series, because the felsic lavas are derived from the differentiation of basaltic lavas by fractional crystallization. They show an alkaline nature according to their geochemistry. Trace elements including Rare Earth Elements characteristics show that rocks emplaced in the Winthin Plate volcanic zone. They derived from an evolved parent magma showing a low degree of partial melting and characteristics closer to a modified and evolved primitive spinel lherzolite.

Eocene Arc-related Magmatism within the Neotethys Subduction System in NW Iran; Geochemistry and SHRIMP zircon U-Pb Dating on Magmatic Phases in the Shahjahan Batholith

Granitoids of the composite Shahjahan batholith in the northernmost part of the Urmia-Dokhtar magmatic arc of Iran, and southernmost of the Lesser Caucasus (South Armenia) show SHRIMP zircon ages of 37.1±1.2 to 47.1±4.5 Ma. Dioritic rocks of the pluton with an age of 46.6 ± 4.6 to 47.1 ± 4.5 Ma are calk-alkaline to high-K calc-alkaline, metaluminous and I-type. They show arc-related affinities, characterized by LREE and LILE enrichment and HREE and HFSE depletion, especially negative Ti, Nb and Ta anomalies (TNT effect) in the normalized spider diagrams. low Ce/Pb, Nb/La and high Ba/Nb, U/Th and Hf/Zr ratios along with positive Pb, K, Th and Sr anomalies in the normalized spider diagrams for the studied samples are compatible with magma contamination with crustal materials during ascend to the lower crustal levels. Felsic dikes with granodiorite and syenite compositions and 37.1 ± 1.2 to 38.57 ± 0.41 Ma old, are characterized by high-K calc-alkaline to shoshonitic, metaluminous, and A2- type affinities which show post-collision tectonic setting geochemical features. The REE patterns for all studied samples and the composition of the trace element ratios indicate a geochemically enriched spinel-lherzolite lithospheric mantle source for the magmas, which underwent a low degree of partial melting. Dating arc-related dioritic samples and post collision felsic dikes put constrain on timing of Neotethys Ocean closure in NW Iran. Based on the present study, Middle to Upper Eocene is suggested as closure time of the Neotethys Ocean, Arabia and Central Iran plates’ collision and crustal thickening in Northwest Iran.

Isotopic evolution of prehistoric magma sources of Mt. Etna, Sicily: Insights from the Valle Del Bove

Mount Etna in NE Sicily occupies an unusual tectonic position in the convergence zone between the African and Eurasian plates, near the Quaternary subduction-related Aeolian arc and above the down-going Ionian oceanic slab. Magmatic evolution broadly involves a transition from an early tholeiitic phase (~ 500 ka) to the current alkaline phase. Most geochemical investigations have focussed on either historic (> 130-years old) or recent (< 130-years old) eruptions of Mt. Etna or on the ancient basal lavas (ca. 500 ka). In this study, we have analysed and modelled the petrogenesis of alkalic lavas from the southern wall of the Valle del Bove, which represent a time span of Mt. Etna’s prehistoric magmatic activity from ~ 85 to ~ 4 ka. They exhibit geochemical variations that distinguish them as six separate lithostratigraphic and volcanic units. Isotopic data (143Nd/144Nd = 0.51283–0.51291; 87Sr/86Sr = 0.70332–0.70363; 176Hf/177Hf = 0.28288–0.28298; 206Pb/204Pb = 19.76–20.03) indicate changes in the magma source during the ~ 80 kyr of activity that do not follow the previously observed temporal trend. The oldest analysed Valle del Bove unit (Salifizio-1) erupted basaltic trachyandesites with variations in 143Nd/144Nd and 87Sr/86Sr ratios indicating a magma source remarkably similar to that of recent Etna eruptions, while four of the five subsequent units have isotopic compositions resembling those of historic Etna magmas. All five magma batches are considered to be derived from melting of a mixture of spinel lherzolite and pyroxenite (± garnet). In contrast, the sixth unit, the main Piano Provenzana formation (~ 42–30 ka), includes the most evolved trachyandesitic lavas (58–62 wt% SiO2) and exhibits notably lower 176Hf/177Hf, 143Nd/144Nd, and 206Pb/204Pb ratios than the other prehistoric Valle del Bove units. This isotopic signature has not yet been observed in any other samples from Mt. Etna and we suggest that the parental melts of the trachyandesites were derived predominantly from ancient pyroxenite in the mantle source of Etna.

Mafic rocks with back-arc E-MORB affinity from the Chotanagpur Granite Gneiss Complex of India: relicts of a Proterozoic Ophiolite suite

The Proterozoic Chotanagpur Granite Gneiss Complex (CGGC) at the northern boundary of the Central Indian Tectonic Zone (CITZ) of the eastern Indian shield preserves relics of fossilized oceanic back-arc crust. We describe the field, petrographical and geochemical characteristics of the mafic rocks comprising pillow basalts and dolerites from the Bathani area of the northern fringe of the CGGC, eastern India. The basalts consist of plagioclase feldspar, hornblende, opaque minerals (Fe–Ti oxide) and chlorite, and the dolerite consists of plagioclase, hornblende and opaque minerals. Our data indicate that the Bathani mafic rocks have tholeiitic to transitional composition and are overprinted by greenschist facies metamorphic conditions; however, REE and fluid immobile elements preserve their primary geochemical signatures. The (La/Sm)N ratios (1.38–2.15) and chondrite-normalized REE patterns point to an enriched mid-ocean ridge basalt (E-MORB) mantle source. Geochemical characteristics indicate a mixed signature of MORB and arc tholeiite with enrichment of Ba, Th, Eu and Sr, similar to that of back-arc supra-subduction zone ophiolites. These mafic rocks are the product of MORB-like magma derived from a depleted mantle corresponding to < 2% partial melting of spinel lherzolite, enriched by subduction-induced slab metasomatism and melting. The Bathani mafic rocks are representative of the upper part of a supra-subduction zone columnar ophiolite section, which was emplaced onto the present-day northern margin of the CGGC during suturing of the northern and southern Indian block at c. 1.9 Ga during the Nuna amalgamation.

Numerical Insights into the Formation and Stability of Cratons

&lt;div&gt;Geophysical, geochemical, and geological investigations have attributed the stable behaviour of Earth's continents to the presence of strong and viscous cratons underlying the continental crust. The cratons are underlain by thick and cold mantle keels, which are composed of melt-depleted and low density peridotite residues [1]. Progressive melt extraction increases the magnesium number Mg# in the residual peridotite, thereby making the roots of cratons chemically buoyant [2, 3] and counteracting their negative thermal buoyancy. Recent global models have shown the production of Archean continental crust by two-step mantle differentiation, however this primordial crust gets recycled and no stable continents form [4]. This points to the missing ingredient of cratonic lithosphere in these models, which could act as a stable basement for the crustal material to accumulate on and may also help with the transition of global regime from &quot;vertical tectonics'' to &quot;horizontal tectonics''. Based on the bulk FeO and MgO content of the residual peridotites, it has been proposed that cratonic mantle formed by hot shallow melting with mantle potential temperature, which was higher by 200-300 &amp;#176;C than present-day [5]. We introduce Fe-Mg partitioning between mantle peridotite and melt to track the Mg# variation through melting, and parametrise craton formation using the corresponding P-T formation conditions. Using self-consistent global convection models, we show the dynamic formation of cratons as a result of naturally occurring lateral compression and thickening of the lithosphere, which has been suggested by geochemical and petrological data. To allow for the material to compact and thicken, but prevent it from collapsing under its own weight, a combination of lithospheric strength, plastic yielding, dehydration strengthening, and depletion-induced density reduction of the depleted mantle material is necessary.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&amp;#160;[1] Boyd, F. R. High-and low-temperature garnet peridotite xenoliths and their possible relation to the lithosphere- asthenosphere boundary beneath Africa. In Nixon, P. H. (ed.) &lt;em&gt;Mantle Xenolith&lt;/em&gt;, 403&amp;#8211;412 (John Wiley &amp; Sons Ltd., 1987).&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;[2] Jordan, T. H. Mineralogies, densities and seismic velocities of garnet lherzolites and their geophysical implications. In &lt;em&gt;The Mantle Sample: Inclusion in Kimberlites and Other Volcanics&lt;/em&gt;, 1&amp;#8211;14 (American Geophysical Union, Washington, D. C., 1979).&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;[3] Schutt, D. L. &amp; Lesher, C. E. Effects of melt depletion on the density and seismic velocity of garnet and spinel lherzolite. &lt;em&gt;Journal of Geophysical Research &lt;/em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;111&lt;/strong&gt; (2006).&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;[4] Jain, C., Rozel, A. B., Tackley, P. J., Sanan, P. &amp; Gerya, T. V. Growing primordial continental crust self-consistently in global mantle convection models. &lt;em&gt;Gondwana Research&lt;/em&gt; &lt;strong&gt;73&lt;/strong&gt;, 96&amp;#8211;122 (2019).&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;[5] Lee, C.-T. A. &amp; Chin, E. J. Calculating melting temperatures and pressures of peridotite protoliths: Implications for the origin of cratonic mantle. &lt;em&gt;Earth and Planetary Science Letters&lt;/em&gt; &lt;strong&gt;403&lt;/strong&gt;, 273&amp;#8211;286 (2014)&lt;/div&gt;

Early Carboniferous Paleo-Asian oceanic plate subduction: Implications from geochronology and geochemistry of early Carboniferous magmatism in southern West Junggar, NW China

&lt;p&gt;&amp;#160; &amp;#160; The subduction and closure of the Paleo-Asia Ocean generated the Central Asian Orogenic Belt (CAOB), which extends from the Urals in the west through Kazakhstan, northwestern China, Mongolia, and northeastern China to the Russian Far East. It is generally accepted that the CAOB comprises a complicated and varied collage of terranes, including island arcs, ophiolites, accretionary prisms, seamounts, and microcontinents. The CAOB is the world&amp;#8217;s largest accretionary orogen and is also considered a type area for studying Phanerozoic continental growth. The accretionary processes of the orogen might have resulted from either the progressive duplication of a single and long-lived island-arc system or the collision of several island arcs and micro-continents, similar to the complex archipelago systems in the modern southwestern Pacific. West Junggar is located in a key area of the CAOB, has been a focus of studies of the tectonic evolution and crustal growth of the orogenic belt. West Junggar has been considered by some geologists as a paleo-Asian intra-oceanic subduction system, whereas others have variously argued that West Junggar was formed by single subduction, arc&amp;#8211;arc collision, or ridge subduction, or by post-collisional processes after the early Carboniferous. An understanding of the Carboniferous tec-tonic setting is critical for determining the evolution of West Junggar. A series of early Carboniferous volcanic and intrusive rocks occur in the southern West Junggar. Our new zircon U&amp;#8211;Pb geochronological data reveal that diorite intruded at 334.1 &amp;#177; 1.1 Ma, and that basaltic andesite was erupted at 334.3 &amp;#177; 3.7 Ma. These intrusive and volcanic rocks are calc-alkaline, display moderate MgO (1.62&amp;#8211;4.18 wt.%) contents and Mg# values (40&amp;#8211;59), low Cr (14.5&amp;#8211;47.2 ppm) and Ni (7.5&amp;#8211;34.6 ppm) contents, and are characterized by enrichment in light rare-earth elements and large-ion lithophile elements and depletion in heavy rare-earth elements and high-field-strength elements, meaning that they belong to typical subduction-zone island-arc magma. The rocks show low initial &lt;sup&gt;87&lt;/sup&gt;Sr/&lt;sup&gt;86&lt;/sup&gt;Sr ratios (0.703649 to 0.705008), positive &amp;#400;&lt;sub&gt;Nd(t) &lt;/sub&gt;values (+4.8 to +6.2, mean +5.4), and young T&lt;sub&gt;DM&lt;/sub&gt; Nd model ages ranging from 1016 to 616 Ma, indicating a magmatic origin from depleted mantle involving partial melting of 10%&amp;#8211;25% garnet and spinel lherzolite. Combining our results with those of previous studies, we suggest that these rocks formed as a result of northwestward subduction of the Paleo-Asian Junggar oceanic plate, which caused partial melting of sub-arc mantle. We conclude that intra-oceanic arc magmatism was extensive in southern Paleo-Asian Ocean during the early Carboniferous.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;This study was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41772059) and the CAS &amp;#8220;Light of West China&amp;#8221; Program (2018-XBYJRC-003).&lt;/p&gt;

From the Finero phlogopite peridotite to the shoshonitic magmatism of the Dolomites: unveiling the evolution of the Sub-Continental Lithospheric Mantle beneath the Southern Alps (Northern Italy)

&lt;p&gt;The Mid-Triassic emplacement of shoshonitic magmas at the NE margin of the Adria plate in concomitance with extensional/transtensional tectonics is one of the most intriguing and peculiar aspects typifying the geodynamic evolution of the Western Tethyan realm. Although often hypothesized, the link between this magmatic event and the metasomatised Southern Alps Sub-Continental Lithospheric Mantle (SCLM) has never been constrained.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Geochemical and petrological analyses of lavas, dykes and ultramafic cumulates belonging to the shoshonitic magmatism of the Dolomites, coupled with pre-existing data on peridotite massifs (i.e. Finero, Balmuccia, Baldissero), were used to reconstruct the evolution of the Southern Alps SCLM between Carboniferous and Triassic. According to our model, a metasomatised amphibole + phlogopite-bearing spinel lherzolite, similar to the Finero phlogopite peridotite and likely generated by interaction between a depleted mantle and slab-derived components during the Variscan subduction, was able to produce magmas with orogenic-like affinity during Mid-Triassic. In this context, partial melting degrees of ca. 5-7% were required for producing primitive SiO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;-saturated to -undersaturated melts with shoshonitic affinity (&lt;sup&gt;87&lt;/sup&gt;Sr/&lt;sup&gt;86&lt;/sup&gt;Sr&lt;sub&gt;i&lt;/sub&gt; = 0.7032-0.7058; &lt;sup&gt;143&lt;/sup&gt;Nd/&lt;sup&gt;144&lt;/sup&gt;Nd&lt;sub&gt;i&lt;/sub&gt; = 0.51219-0.51235; Mg #~ 70; ~1.1 wt% H&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;O). As testified by the H&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;O content in mineral phases from the Finero phlogopite peridotite (Tommasi et al., 2017), the modelled Mid-Triassic fertile lithospheric mantle could have been able to preserve a significant enrichment and volatile content (600-800 ppm H&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;O) for more than 50 Ma, i.e. since the Variscan subduction-related metasomatism. During the Mid-Triassic partial melting event, the modelled Finero-like mantle exhausted the subduction-related signature inherited during the Variscan subduction. Around 20 Ma later, the same lithosphere portion was affected by an asthenospheric upwelling event related to the Late Triassic-Early Jurassic opening of the Alpine Tethys (Casetta et al., 2019).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Casetta, F., Ickert, R.B., Mark, D.F., Bonadiman, C., Giacomoni, P.P., Ntaflos, T., Coltorti, M., 2019. The alkaline lamprophyres of the Dolomitic Area (Southern Alps, Italy): markers of the Late Triassic change from orogenic-like to anorogenic magmatism. Journal of Petrology 60(6), 1263-1298.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Tommasi, A., Langone, A., Padr&amp;#243;n-Navarta, J.A., Zanetti, A., Vauchez, A., 2017. Hydrous melts weaken the mantle, crystallization of pargasite and phlogopite does not: Insights from a petrostructural study of the Finero peridotites, Southern Alps. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 477, 59-72.&lt;/p&gt;