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.

Various Ages of Recycled Material in the Source of Cenozoic Basalts in SE China: Implications for the Role of the Hainan Plume

Subduction processes introduce crustal materials into the mantle, and mantle plumes return them to the surface. However, when and how the subducted materials were recorded in the plume-related basalts remains unclear. Here we investigate geochronology, bulk-rock composition, and Sr–Nd–Pb isotopes of Cenozoic basalts from Southeast China, occurring near the west Pacific subduction zone and the seismically detected Hainan plume. Volcanism beginning in the late Oligocene in the continental margin of SE China consistently becomes younger landward. Together with a compilation of published results on the synchronous basalts from the South China Sea seamounts and the Indochina peninsula, the volcanoes close to the Pacific subduction zone exhibit more radiogenic Pb and Sr isotopes associated with less radiogenic Nd isotopes compared with those of the inland volcanoes. Such spatiotemporal variations in radiogenic isotopes imply oceanic crusts of different ages in the source, each corresponding to a different geographical volcanic belt. Major-element features such as low CaO, high TiO2 and high Fe/Mn ratios imply that pyroxenite/eclogite could serve as a source lithology of the SE China basalts. Specific trace-element signatures reveal the important roles of recycled oceanic crust along with surface sediment, which was inconsistently dehydrated during subduction. A geologically, geochemically, and geophysically plausible scenario is proposed to illustrate the time–space–source correlation of the late Cenozoic basaltic lavas in SE Asia. The Hainan plume delivered the ancient subducted crust (1·5 Ga) from the core–mantle boundary and, subsequently, the subducted Pacific plate crustal materials from the mantle transition zone to the shallow mantle as a result of mantle convection induced by continuous subduction of the Pacific plate. Such recycled materials of different ages contributed to the geographical compositional heterogeneities of the late Cenozoic basaltic lavas in SE Asia.

Australasian impact crater buried under the Bolaven volcanic field, Southern Laos

The crater and proximal effects of the largest known young meteorite impact on Earth have eluded discovery for nearly a century. We present 4 lines of evidence that the 0.79-Ma impact crater of the Australasian tektites lies buried beneath lavas of a long-lived, 910-km3 volcanic field in Southern Laos: 1) Tektite geochemistry implies the presence of young, weathered basalts at the site at the time of the impact. 2) Geologic mapping and 40Ar-39Ar dates confirm that both pre- and postimpact basaltic lavas exist at the proposed impact site and that postimpact basalts wholly cover it. 3) A gravity anomaly there may also reflect the presence of a buried ∼17 × 13-km crater. 4) The nature of an outcrop of thick, crudely layered, bouldery sandstone and mudstone breccia 10–20 km from the center of the impact and fractured quartz grains within its boulder clasts support its being part of the proximal ejecta blanket.