Abstract The Challis-Kamloops belt of south-central British Columbia is a regionally extensive (>65,000 km2) magmatic province that erupted within the North American Cordillera during the Eocene (55-45 Ma). The inland volcanic belt runs parallel to the coast, and the rocks were emplaced mainly within extensional basins indicating volcanism was attributed to rift-related decompressional melting. The rocks include both calc-alkaline and tholeiitic mafic and intermediate types (i.e., low-Fe, medium-Fe, and high-Fe suites). Voluminous volcanic units (Buck Creek, Goosly Lake, Swans Lake) of the Buck Creek volcanic complex (~3,000 km2 in area) within the Nechako plateau erupted within 1-2 million years and show significant internal chemical variability. All rock types have similar Sr-Nd isotopic (87Sr/86Sri=0.70435-0.70487; εNdt=+2.6-+4.0) ratios indicating they originated from the same sub-Cordilleran mantle source. Petrological modeling using the most primitive rocks of the Buck Creek, Goosly Lake, and Swans Lake magmatic pulses demonstrates that the chemical variability observed in each system can be explained by hydrous fractional crystallization in the upper crust (≤0.1 GPa) under moderately oxidizing to oxidizing conditions (ΔFMQ 0 to +0.7). The primary difference between the low-Fe to medium-Fe (calc-alkaline) Buck Creek suite model and the high-Fe to medium-Fe (tholeiitic) Swans Lake suite model is water content as the Swans Lake model has lower (H2O=0.75 wt.%) starting water than the Buck Creek and also the Goosly Lake models (H2O=1.25-2.00 wt.%). Moreover, the intermediate to silicic rocks of the complexes are compositionally similar to rocks associated with “slab failure” suggesting that rifting and mantle melting were related to asthenospheric upwelling through a slab tear. The implications are that the chemical variability of the rock suites are primarily related to fractional crystallization and that the mantle source is heterogeneous with respect to water content which is likely due to heterogeneities in the processes related to pre-Eocene subduction.
The Jurassic Dashibalbar granitoid pluton (∼300 km^2^) crops out in the Triassic North-Gobi rift of central Mongolia, just south of the 230 to 195 Ma Khentei batholith. The granitoids are shallow-seated dominantly, amphibole-bearing alkali feldspar granite that contain quartz-syenite/syenite enclaves. They are all composed of megacrystic mesoperthite, quartz, Ca-Na amphibole altered to biotite and rarely with pyroxene cores, magnetite and ilmenite. The pluton yielded a concordant U-Pb zircon age of 186 ± 1 Ma, which is similar to a published 189 ± 3 Ma ^40^Ar/^39^Ar amphibole age, and indicates rapid cooling through *ca.* 550 °C. This age is *ca.* 10 my younger than the 196 ± 4 Ma age of the bimodal volcanic complex intruded by the pluton. The volcanic complex is composed of augite-phyric transitional basalt and rhyolite/comendite. Both basalts and rhyolites/comendites are evolved within-plate varieties with positive ε~Nd(t)~ (∼ +2.5) values. The granitoids are evolved alkaline, A-type granites and quartz-syenites/syenites that are enriched in light REE9s, but show a distinct depletion in Eu, Sr and Ba, indicative of feldspar fractionation. The data are consistent with derivation of the granites from the syenites by an assimilation-fractional crystallization process involving a silicic crustal contaminant. The granitic rocks have ε~Nd(t)~ values of ∼ +0.8 to +1.2, which are slightly lower than ε~Nd(t)~ values +1.3 to +1.6 in the syenites, although both have similar T~DM~ model ages (∼800-970 Ma). The ∼800 Ma model ages of the basalt and rhyolite/comendite are comparable to those of the intrusion and enclaves. The compositions of all these rocks, including ε~Nd(t)~ and T~DM~, are within the range of A-type granites and volcanic complexes of the Early Mesozoic Mongolian-Transbaikalian igneous province. The results suggest derivation of a parent magma of the granitoids and felsic volcanic rocks from underplated, enriched, Neoproterozoic mantle-derived basaltic rocks in the lower crust, whereas the Dashibalbar basalts were derived from Neoproterozoic subcontinental lithospheric mantle; Neoproterozoic megablocks crop out in adjacent parts of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt. Melting of lower crust and subcontinental lithospheric mantle implies a rising heat source. Although such a heat source is consistent with both rifting and passage over the Mongolian mantle plume, only the latter explains the west-to-east migration of the magmatism and rifting.
Whole rock O-isotopes of the Panjal Traps are presented in order to assess the influence of crustal contamination and hydrothermal alteration in their genesis. The basalts from the eastern Kashmir Valley and Lidder Valley have enriched δ18OVSMOW values (9.0‰ to 12.0‰). The basalt with the lowest δ18OVSMOW values (9.0‰ and 9.2‰) were likely affected by deuteric alteration but their values could be close to the original melt composition as the rocks do not show trace element (Th/NbPM ≈0.8; Nb/U ≈ 50; Th/La ≈0.1) or isotopic evidence of crustal contamination (87Sr/86Sri = 0.7043 to 0.7045; εNd(t) = +1.1 to +1.3). The δ18OVSMOW (> 12‰) values and Nd isotopes (εNd(t) < −8.6) of the silicic Panjal Traps are consistent with derivation from continental crust. The remaining mafic rocks have enriched Sr-Nd-O isotopic values that indicate crustal (10–30%) contamination (εNd(t) = −1.9 to −6.1; 87Sr/86Sri = 0.7051 to 0.7087; δ18O = 10.1‰ to 12.0‰) with the upper flows exhibiting further enrichment by hydrothermal alteration. The basalts from the Pir Panjal Range, western Kashmir Valley, have variable Nd isotopic values (εNd(t) = −6.8 to +4.3) and the lowest δ18OVSMOW values (6.8‰ to 7.9‰) of the study. The results demonstrate that the rocks from the Pir Panjal Range preserved not only differences in radiogenic isotopes but also the O-isotopes as well. The change in the Nd and O isotopes of the basalt from Guryal Ravine and Lidder Valley to the more depleted values of the Pir Panjal Range is likely due to a transition from a chondritic mantle source to a depleted mantle source as the continental rift evolved to a sea-floor spreading environment.
Abstract Silicic volcanic rocks at Hadjer el Khamis, near Lake Chad, are considered to be an extension of the Cameroon volcanic line (CVL) but their petrogenetic association is uncertain. The silicic rocks are divided into peraluminous and peralkaline groups with both rock types chemically similar to within‐plate granitoids. In situ U/Pb zircon dating yielded a mean 206 Pb/ 238 U age of 74.4 ± 1.3 Ma indicating the magmas erupted ∼10 million years before the next oldest CVL rocks (i.e., ∼66 Ma). The Sr isotopes (i.e., I Sr = 0.7021–0.7037) show a relatively wide range but the Nd isotopes (i.e., 143 Nd/ 144 Nd i = 0.51268–0.51271) are uniform and indicate that the rocks were derived from a moderately depleted mantle source. Thermodynamic modeling shows that the silicic rocks likely formed by fractional crystallization of a mafic parental magma but that the peraluminous rocks were affected by low temperature alteration processes. The silicic rocks are more isotopically similar to Late Cretaceous basalts identified within the Late Cretaceous basins (i.e., 143 Nd/ 144 Nd i = 0.51245–0.51285) of Chad than the uncontaminated CVL rocks (i.e., 143 Nd/ 144 Nd i = 0.51270–0.51300). The age and isotopic compositions suggest the silicic volcanic rocks of the Lake Chad region are related to Late Cretaceous extensional volcanism in the Termit basin. It is unlikely that the silicic volcanic rocks are petrogenetically related to the CVL but it is possible that magmatism was structurally controlled by suture zones that formed during the opening of the Central Atlantic Ocean and/or the Pan‐African Orogeny.
Abstract Mantle xenoliths hosted in volcanic rocks from the island of Lutao offer a glimpse into the nature of the mantle beneath the northern Luzon volcanic arc. The xenoliths are spinel-bearing and composed mostly of harzburgite with one lherzolite and one olivine orthopyroxenite. The olivine (Fo92.5–88.9), orthopyroxene (Mg# = 94.6–89.2), and clinopyroxene (Wo49.1–38.1En57.0–45.4Fs3.0–11.0) compositions are similar to those of abyssal peridotites. The spinel compositions are variable and can be principally divided into high-Al (Cr# < 45) and low-Al (Cr# > 45) groupings. The whole rock compositions are similar to abyssal peridotite (Al2O3 = 0.95–2.07 wt %; Mg# = 88.5–90.9) and have U-shaped chondrite normalized rare earth element patterns. The Sr-Nd isotopes of the xenoliths are broadly chondritic (87Sr/86Sri = 0.704400–0.707908; εNd(t) = 0.0 − +1.5). The two-pyroxene equilibrium temperatures range from 900 to 1200 °C with the majority of temperature estimates >1000 °C. The olivine-orthopyroxene-spinel oxygen barometry estimates yielded ΔFMQ values from 0 to +2 and correspond to moderately oxidizing to oxidizing conditions. The xenoliths are likely derived from the Philippine Sea Plate lithospheric mantle that was modified by melt extraction and/or fluid enrichment processes. Trace element and isotopic mixing modeling indicate that 1–2% contamination by subducted South China Sea sediment can explain the Sr-Nd isotopic enrichment and Th and U elemental variability within the xenoliths assuming an initial composition similar to enriched depleted mid-ocean ridge mantle (E-DMM). The anomalously high two-pyroxene equilibrium temperatures of the Lutao xenoliths relative to other regions of the northern Luzon volcanic arc (Iraya <1000 °C) indicate that they were affected by a high-temperature event that was likely a consequence of recent intra-arc rifting that occurred after collision (<6 Ma) between the Luzon arc and the Eurasian margin.
Geochemical modeling using the basalt composition analyzed at the Vega 2 landing site indicates that intermediate to silicic liquids can be generated by fractional crystallization and equilibrium partial melting. Fractional crystallization modeling using variable pressures (0.01 GPa to 0.5 GPa) and relative oxidation states (FMQ 0 and FMQ -1) of either a wet (H2O = 0.5 wt%) or dry (H2O = 0 wt%) parental magma can yield silicic (SiO2 > 60 wt%) compositions that are similar to terrestrial ferroan rhyolite. Hydrous (H2O = 0.5 wt%) partial melting can yield intermediate (trachyandesite to andesite) to silicic (trachydacite) compositions at all pressures but requires relatively high temperatures (≥ 950°C) to generate the initial melt at intermediate to low pressure whereas at high pressure (0.5 GPa) the first melts will be generated at much lower temperatures (< 800°C). Anhydrous partial melt modeling yielded mafic (basaltic andesite) and alkaline compositions (trachybasalt) but the temperature required to produce the first liquid is very high (≥ 1130°C). Consequently, anhydrous partial melting is an unlikely process to generate derivative liquids. The modeling results indicate that, under certain conditions, the Vega 2 composition can generate silicic liquids that produce granitic and rhyolitic rocks. The implication is that silicic igneous rocks may form a small but important component of the northeast Aphrodite Terra.