Ordovician ferrosilicic magmas: Experimental evidence for ultrahigh temperatures affecting a metagreywacke source

Peculiar magmatic rocks were erupted and emplaced at depth at the margin of the Gondwana supercontinent during the Cambro-Ordovician transition. These rocks are characterized by high contents in silica and iron but they do not have equivalents in the high-silica members of the calc-alkaline series. They have particular geochemical signatures, with Al saturation index, ASI > 1, FeO > 2.5 wt.%, MgO > 0.8 wt.% for very low contents in calcium (CaO < 2.0 wt.%), supporting a derivation from near-total melting (> 80 vol.% melt) of metagreywackes. The results from inverse experiments indicate that the most plausible conditions are within the range 1000 °C (excess water) and 1100–1200 °C (subsaturated and dry) at pressures of 1.5 to 2.0 GPa. A tectonic scenario implying melting of subducted sediments within an ascending mantle-wedge plume is suggested for the generation of primary ferrosilicic melts at the Gondwana continental margin during Upper Cambrian to Lower Ordovician times.     

Variable involvements of mantle plumes in the genesis of mid-Neoproterozoic basaltic rocks in South China: A review

Ca. 825–720 Ma global continental intraplate magmatism is generally linked to mantle plumes or a mantle superplume that caused rifting and fragmentation of the supercontinent Rodinia. Widespread Neoproterozoic igneous rocks in South China are dated at ca. 825–760 Ma. There is a hot debate on their petrogenesis and tectonic affiliations, i.e., mantle plume/rift settings or collision/arc settings. Such competing interpretations have contrasting implications to the position of South China in the supercontinent Rodinia and in Rodinia reconstruction models.Variations in the bulk-rock compositions of primary basaltic melts can provide first order constraints on the mantle thermal–chemical structure, and thus distinguish between the plume/rift and arc/collision models. Whole-rock geochemical data of 14 mid-Neoproterozoic (825–760 Ma) basaltic successions are reviewed here in order to (1) estimate the primary melts compositions; (2) calculate the melting conditions and mantle potential temperature; and (3) identify the contributions of subcontinental lithosphere mantle (SCLM) and asenthospheric mantles to the generation of these basaltic rocks.In order to quantify the mantle potential temperatures and percentages of decompression melting, the primary MgO, FeO, and SiO₂ contents of basalts are calculated through carefully selecting less-evolved samples using a melting model based on the partitioning of FeO and MgO in olivine. The mid-Neoproterozoic (825–760 Ma) potential temperatures predicted from the primary melts range from 1390 °C to 1630 °C (mostly > 1480 °C), suggesting that most 825–760 Ma basaltic rocks in South China were generated by melting of anomalously hot mantle sources with potential temperatures 80–200 °C higher than the ambient Middle Ocean Ridge Basalt (MORB)-source mantle.The mantle source regions of these Neoproterozoic basaltic rocks have complex histories and heterogeneous compositions. Enriched mantle sources (e.g., pyroxenite and eclogite) are recognized as an important source for the Bikou and Suxiong basalts, suggesting that their generations may have involved recycled components. Trace elements variations show that interactions between asthenospheric mantle (OIB-type mantle) and SCLM played a very important role in generation of the 825–760 Ma basalts. Our results indicate that the SCLM metasomatized by subduction-induced melts/fluids during the 1.0–0.9 Ga orogenesis as a distinct geochemical reservoir that contributed significantly to the trace-elements and isotope inventory of these basalts.The continental intraplate geochemical signatures (e.g., OIB-type), high mantle potential temperatures and recycled components suggest the presence of a mantle plume beneath the Neoproterozoic South China block. We use the available data to develop an integrated plume-lithosphere interaction model for the ca. 825–760 Ma basalts. The early phases of basaltic rocks (825–810 Ma) were most likely formed by melting within the metasomatized SCLM heated by the rising mantle plume. The subsequent continental rift allowed adiabatic decompression partial melting of an upwelling mantle plumes at relatively shallow depth to form the widespread syn-rifting basaltic rocks at ca. 810–800 Ma and 790–760 Ma.     

Alkaline-ultrabasic mantle-derived magmas, their sources, and crystallization features: Data of melt inclusion studies

To find out the reasons responsible for the diversity of igneous rocks forming the alkaline-ultrabasic carbonatite Krestovskiy massif (the Maimecha–Kotui province, Russia) we have studied melt inclusions in clinopyroxene of trachydolerites, porphyric melanephelinites, and tholeiites. It was established that the homogenization temperatures of inclusions in these rocks are rather close: 1140–1180 °C, 1190–1230 °C, and 1150–1210 °C, respectively. Compositions of melt inclusions in clinopyroxenes from different rocks are significantly different. The chemical composition of clinopyroxene of trachydolerites corresponds to that of trachybasalts and their derivatives. The inclusions are enriched in Sr, Ba, P, and S and their total sum of alkalies (at K ≥ Na) is never less than 5–6 wt.%. Inclusions from the rims of clinopyroxene phenocrysts in porphyric melanephelinites are similar in composition also to inclusions in trachydolerites. But in the cores of clinopyroxene phenocrysts the composition of inclusions corresponds to nephelinite melt. The composition of some melt inclusions in the intermediate and cores zones of clinopyroxene from porphyric melanephelinite has high SiO₂ (53–55 wt.%), MgO (8–9 wt.%) and a low (1–2 wt.%) total sum of alkalies (at Na ≥ K) and is depleted in Al₂O₃ (6–7 wt.%), which is similar to the composition of basaltic komatiites. The composition of inclusions in tholeiites is also basic, highly magnesian, and low-alkaline, Sr and Ba are rare to absent. Compared to the inclusions of basaltic komatiite composition, the inclusions in tholeiites are enriched in Al and depleted in Ca, Ti, and P. The melts trapped in clinopyroxenes from different rocks contain low (0.014–0.018 wt.%) water but they are enriched in F: from 0.37 wt.% in nephelinite melts to 0.1–0.06 wt.% in tholeiite and basaltic komatiite melts. Inclusions in all the rocks under study, host clinopyroxene, and the rocks themselves are significantly enriched in incompatible elements (1–2 orders of magnitude relative to the mantle norm). In tholeiites, the partitioning of these elements is rather uniform, while in trachydolerites and especially in melanephelinites it is contrasting with a drastic depletion in HREE relative to LREE, MREE, and HFSE. A conclusion is made that the Krestovskiy massif was formed by no less than three mantle-derived magmas: melanephelinite, tholeiite and basaltic komatiite. Magmas were generated in different magma sources at different depths with various degrees of enrichment in incompatible elements. These magmas were, most likely, dominated by melanephelinite magma. In intermediate chambers this magma differentiated to form derivative melts of nephelinite, trachydolerite–trachyandesite–trachyte compositions. Komatiite-basalt melts were, most likely, derivatives of primitive meimechite magmas.     

Fluid inclusion and stable isotope study of the Cobre–Babilonia polymetallic epithermal vein system, Taxco district, Guerrero, Mexico

The Cobre–Babilonia vein system formed during a single major hydrothermal stage and is part of the Taxco district in Guerrero, southern Mexico. Homogenization and ice melting temperatures range from 160 to 290 °C and from − 11.6 to − 0.5 °C, respectively. We determined an approximate thermal gradient of 17 to 20 °C per 100 m using fluid inclusions. A thermal peak marked by the 290 °C isotherm is interpreted as a major feeder channel to the veins. The highest content of Zn + Pb in ore coincides with the 220 and 240 °C isotherms. Salinities of mineralizing fluids range from 0.8 to 15.6 wt.% NaCl equiv, and are distributed in two populations that can be related with barren or ore-bearing vein sections, with 0.8 to 6 wt.% NaCl equiv and 7 to 15.6 wt.% NaCl equiv, respectively. δ¹³C and δ¹⁸O water values from calcite from the Cobre–Babilonia vein system and the Esperanza Vieja and Guadalupe mantos range − 5.4‰ to − 10.4‰ and 9.9‰ to 13.4‰, respectively. δ³⁴S values range from 0‰ to 3.2‰ and − 0.7‰ to − 4.3‰ in sphalerite, − 4‰ to 0.9‰ in pyrite, and − 1.4‰ to − 5.5‰ in galena. Both fluid inclusion and stable isotope data are compatible with magmatic and meteoric sources for mineralizing fluids. Also, sulfur isotope compositions suggest both magmatic and sedimentary sources for sulfur.     

A fission-track and (U–Th)/He thermochronometric study of the northern margin of the South China Sea: An example of a complex passive margin

Zircon fission track (ZFT), apatite fission track (AFT) and (U–Th)/He thermochronometric data are used to reconstruct the Cenozoic exhumation history of the South China continental margin. A south to north sample transect from coast to continental interior yielded ZFT ages between 116.6 ± 4.7 Ma and 87.3 ± 4.0, indicating that by the Late Cretaceous samples were at depths of 5–6 km in the upper crust. Apatite FT ages range between 60.9 ± 3.6 and 37.3 ± 2.3 Ma with mean track lengths between 13.26 ± 0.16 µm and 13.95 ± 0.19 µm whilst AHe ages are marginally younger 47.5 ± 1.9–15.3 ± 0.5 Ma. These results show the sampled rocks resided in the top 1–1.5 km of the crust for most of the Cenozoic. Thermal history modeling of the combined FT and (U–Th)/He datasets reveal a common three stage cooling history which differed systematically in timing inland away from the rifted margin. 1) Initial phase of rapid cooling that youngs to the north, 2) a period of relative (but not perfect) thermal stasis at ~ 70–60 °C which increases in duration from the south to the north; 3) final-stage cooling to surface temperatures that initiated in all samples between 15 and 10 Ma. The timing and pattern of rock uplift and erosion does not fit with conventional passive margin landscape models that require youngest exhumation ages to be concentrated at or close to the rifted margin. The history of South China margin is more complex aided by weakened crust from the active margin period that immediately preceded rifting and opening of the South China Sea. This rheological inheritance created a transition zone of steeply thinned crust that served as a flexural filter disconnecting the northern margin of the South China block and site of active rifting to the south. Consequently whilst the South China margin displays many features of a rifted continental margin its exhumation history does not conform to conventional images of a passive margin.     

Ultrahigh-temperature metamorphism in the Achankovil Zone: Implications for the correlation of crustal blocks in southern India

The Achankovil Zone of southern India, a NW–SE trending lineament of 8–10 km in width and > 100 km length, is a kinematically debated crustal feature, considered to mark the boundary between the Madurai Granulite Block in the north and the Trivandrum Granulite Block in the south. Both these crustal blocks show evidence for ultrahigh-temperature metamorphism during the Pan-African orogeny, although the exhumation styles are markedly different. The Achankovil Zone is characterized by discontinuous strands of cordierite-bearing gneiss with an assemblage of cordierite + garnet + quartz + plagioclase + spinel + ilmenite + magnetite ± orthopyroxene ± biotite ± K-feldspar ± sillimanite. The lithology preserves several peak and post-peak metamorphic assemblages including: (1) orthopyroxene + garnet, (2) perthite and/or anti-perthite, (3) cordierite ± orthopyroxene corona around garnet, and (4) cordierite + quartz symplectite after garnet. We estimate the peak metamorphic conditions of these rocks using orthopyroxene-bearing geothermobarometers and feldspar solvus which yield 8.5–9.5 kbar and 940–1040 °C, the highest P–T conditions so far recorded from the Achankovil Zone. The retrograde conditions were obtained from cordierite-bearing geothermobarometers at 3.5–4.5 kbar and 720 ± 60 °C. From orthopyroxene chemistry, we record a multistage exhumation history for these rocks, which is closely comparable with those reported in recent studies from the Madurai Granulite Block, but different from those documented from the Trivandrum Granulite Block. An evaluation of the petrologic and geochronologic data, together with the nature of exhumation paths leads us to propose that the Achankovil Zone is probably the southern flank of the Madurai Granulite Block, and not a unit of the Trivandrum Granulite Block as presently believed. Post-tectonic alkali granites that form an array of “suturing plutons” along the margin of the Madurai Granulite Block and within the Achankovil Zone, but are absent in the Trivandrum Granulite Block, suggest that the boundary between the Madurai Granulite Block and the Trivandrum Granulite Block might lie along the Tenmalai shear zone at the southern extremity of the Achankovil Zone.     

Conflicting structural and geochronological data from the Ibituruna quartz-syenite (SE Brazil): Effect of protracted “hot” orogeny and slow cooling rate?

The Ibituruna quartz-syenite was emplaced as a sill in the Ribeira-Araçuaí Neoproterozoic belt (Southeastern Brazil) during the last stages of the Gondwana supercontinent amalgamation. We have measured the Anisotropy of Magnetic Susceptibility (AMS) in samples from the Ibituruna sill to unravel its magnetic fabric that is regarded as a proxy for its magmatic fabric. A large magnetic anisotropy, dominantly due to magnetite, and a consistent magnetic fabric have been determined over the entire Ibituruna massif. The magmatic foliation and lineation are strikingly parallel to the solid-state mylonitic foliation and lineation measured in the country-rock. Altogether, these observations suggest that the Ibituruna sill was emplaced during the high temperature (~ 750 °C) regional deformation and was deformed before full solidification coherently with its country-rock. Unexpectedly, geochronological data suggest a rather different conclusion. LA-ICP-MS and SHRIMP ages of zircons from the Ibituruna quartz-syenite are in the range 530–535 Ma and LA-ICP-MS ages of zircons and monazites from synkinematic leucocratic veins in the country-rocks suggest a crystallization at ~ 570–580 Ma, i.e., an HT deformation > 35My older than the emplacement of the Ibituruna quartz-syenite. Conclusions from the structural and the geochronological studies are therefore conflicting. A possible explanation arises from ⁴⁰Ar–³⁹Ar thermochronology. We have dated amphiboles from the quartz-syenite, and amphiboles and biotites from the country-rock. Together with the ages of monazites and zircons in the country-rock, ⁴⁰Ar–³⁹Ar mineral ages suggest a very low cooling rate: < 3 °C/My between 570 and ~ 500 Ma and ~ 5 °C/My between 500 and 460 Ma. Assuming a protracted regional deformation consistent over tens of My, under such stable thermal conditions the fabric and microstructure of deformed rocks may remain almost unchanged even if they underwent and recorded strain pulses separated by long periods of time. This may be a characteristic of slow cooling “hot orogens” that rocks deformed at significantly different periods during the orogeny, but under roughly unchanged temperature conditions, may display almost indiscernible microstructure and fabric.     

Anatomy of a Cambrian suture in Gondwana: Pacific-type orogeny in southern India?

Southern India occupies a central position in the Late Neoproterozoic–Cambrian Gondwana supercontinent assembly. The Proterozoic mosaic of southern India comprises a collage of crustal blocks dissected by Late Neoproterozoic–Cambrian crust-scale shear/suture zones. Among these, the Palghat–Cauvery Suture Zone (PCSZ) has been identified as the trace of the Cambrian suture representing Mozambique Ocean closure during the final phase of amalgamation of the Gondwana supercontinent. Here we propose a model involving Pacific-type orogeny to explain the Neoproterozoic evolution of southern India and its final amalgamation within the Gondwana assembly. Our model envisages an early rifting stage which gave birth to the Mozambique Ocean, followed by the initiation of southward subduction of the oceanic plate beneath a thick tectosphere-bearing Archean Dharwar Craton. Slices of the ocean floor carrying dunite–pyroxenite–gabbro sequence intruded by mafic dykes representing a probable ophiolite suite and invaded by plagiogranite are exposed at Manamedu along the southern part the PCSZ. Evidence for the southward subduction and subsequent northward extrusion are preserved in the PCSZ where the orogenic core carries high-pressure and ultrahigh-temperature metamorphic assemblages with ages corresponding to the Cambrian collisional orogeny. Typical eclogites facies rocks with garnet + omphacite + quartz and diagnostic ultrahigh-temperature assemblages with sapphirine + quartz, spinel + quartz and high alumina orthopyroxene + sillimanite + quartz indicate extreme metamorphism during the subduction–collision process. Eclogites and UHT granulites in the orogenic core define P–T maxima of 1000 °C and up to 20 kbar. The close association of eclogites with ultramafic rocks having abyssal signatures together with linear belts of iron formation and metachert in several localities within the PCSZ probably represents subduction–accretion setting. Fragments of the mantle wedge were brought up through extrusion tectonics within the orogenic core, which now occur as suprasubduction zone/arc assemblages including chromitites, highly depleted dunites, and pyroxene bearing ultramafic assemblages around Salem. Extensive CO₂ metasomatism of the ultramafic units generated magnesite deposits such as those around Salem. High temperature ocean floor hydrothermal alteration is also indicated by the occurrence of diopsidite dykes with calcite veining. Thermal metamorphism from the top resulted in the dehydration of the passive margin sediments trapped beneath the orogenic core, releasing copious hydrous fluids which moved upward and caused widespread hydration, as commonly preserved in the Barrovian amphibolite facies units in the PCSZ. The crustal flower structure mapped from PCSZ supports the extrusion model, and the large scale north verging thrusts towards the north of the orogenic core may represent a fold-thrust belt. Towards the south of the PCSZ is the Madurai Block where evidence for extensive magmatism occurs, represented by a number of granitic plutons and igneous charnockite massifs of possible tonalite–trondhjemite–granodiorite (TTG) setting, with ages ranging from ca. 750–560 Ma suggesting a long-lived Neoproterozoic magmatic arc within a > 200 km wide belt. All these magmatic units were subsequently metamorphosed, when the Pacific-type orogeny switched over to collision-type in the Cambrian during the final phase of assembly of the Gondwana supercontinent. One of the most notable aspects is the occurrence of arc magmatic rocks together with high P/T rocks, representing the deeply eroded zone of subduction. The juxtaposition of these contrasting rock units may suggest the root of an evolved Andean-type margin, as in many arc environments the roots of the arc comprise ultramafic/mafic cumulates and the felsic rocks represent the core of the arc. The final phase of the orogeny witnessed the closure of an extensive ocean — the Mozambique Ocean — and the collisional assembly of continental fragments within the Gondwana supercontinent amalgam. The tectonic history of southern India represents a progressive sequence from Pacific-type to collision-type orogeny which finally gave rise to a Himalayan-type Cambrian orogen with characteristic magmatic, metasomatic and metamorphic factories operating in subduction–collision setting.     

Petrology and CHIME geochronology of Pan-African high K and Sr/Y granitoids in the Nkambe area, Cameroon

The Central African Belt in the Nkambe area, northwestern Cameroon represents a collisional zone between the Saharan metacraton and the Congo craton during the Pan-African orogeny, and exposes a variety of granitoids including foliated and massive biotite monzogranites in syn- and post-kinematic settings. Foliated and massive biotite monzogranites have almost identical high-K calc-alkaline compositions, with 73–67 wt.% SiO₂, 17–13 wt.% Al₂O₃, 2.1–0.9 wt.% CaO, 4.4–2.7 wt.% Na₂O and 6.3–4.4 wt.% K₂O. High concentrations of Rb (264–96 ppm), Sr (976–117 ppm), Ba (3680–490 ppm) and Zr (494–99 ppm), with low concentrations of Y (mostly< 20 ppm with a range 54–6) and Nb (up to 24 ppm) suggest that the monzogranites intruded in collisional and post-collisional settings. The Sr/Y ratio ranges from 25 to 89. K, Rb and Ba resided in a single major phase such as K-feldspar in the source. Garnet was present in the source and remained as restite at the site of magma generation. This high K₂O and Sr/Y granitic magma was generated by partial melting of a granitic protolith under high-pressure and H₂O undersaturated conditions where garnet coexists with K-feldspar, albitic plagioclase. CHIME (chemical Th–U-total Pb isochron method) dating of zircon yields ages of 569 ± 12–558 ± 24 Ma for the foliated biotite monzogranite and 533 ± 12–524 ± 28 Ma for the massive biotite monzogranite indicating that the collision forming the Central African Belt continued in to Ediacaran (ca 560 Ma).     

Neoproterozoic adakitic plutons in the northern margin of the Yangtze Block, China: Partial melting of a thickened lower crust and implications for secular crustal evolution

Numerous Neoproterozoic felsic and mafic–ultramafic intrusions occur in the Hannan region at the northern margin of the Yangtze Block. Among these, the Wudumen and Erliba plutons consist of granodiorites and have SHRIMP zircon U–Pb ages of  735 Ma. The rocks have high K₂O (0.8–3.6 wt.%) and Na₂O (4.4–6.4 wt.%) and low MgO (0.4–1.7 wt.%). They also have high Sr/Y (32–209) and (La/Yb)_n ratios (4.4–38.6). Their εNd values range from − 0.41 to − 0.92 and zircon initial ¹⁷⁶Hf/¹⁷⁷Hf ratios from 0.282353 to 0.282581. These geochemical features are similar to those of adakitic rocks produced by partial melting of a thickened lower crust. Our new analytical results, combined with the occurrence of voluminous arc-related mafic–ultramafic intrusions emplaced before 740 Ma, lead us to propose that the crustal evolution in the northern margin of the Yangtze Block during Neoproterozoic involved: (1) rapid crustal growth and thickening by underplating of mafic magmas from the mantle which was modified by materials coming from the subducting oceanic slab from  1.0 to  0.74 Ga, and (2) partial melting of the thickened lower crust due to a thermal anomaly induced by upwelling of asthenosphere through an oceanic slab window, producing the  735 Ma adakitic Wudumen and Erliba plutons. Our model suggests that the crustal thickness was more than 50 km at the northern margin of the Yangtze Block at  735 Ma, and rule out the possibility of a mantle plume impact causing the > 735 Ma magmatism in the region.     

Copper mineralization around the Ahar batholith, north of Ahar (NW Iran): Evidence for fluid evolution and the origin of the skarn ore deposit

This investigation presents and interprets fluid inclusion data from different lithological units of the Cu skarn deposits at Mazraeh, north of Ahar, Azarbaijan, NW Iran. The results provide an assessment of the P–T conditions and mineral–fluid evolution and suggest new exploration parameters. Five types of inclusions are recognized from quartz and garnet. The temperature of homogenization of Type I inclusions with daughter minerals halite and sylvite ranges from 312° to 470 °C with total salinity of 52 to 63 wt.% NaCl equiv.; Type II and III inclusions with halite have homogenization temperatures of 230° to 520 °C and salinity of 31 to 50 wt.% NaCl equiv. The salinity of Types IV and V biphase (liquid + vapor) inclusions, based on their final ice melting temperature, varies between 10.2 to 20.8 wt.% NaCl equiv. T_h vs. salinity plots of inclusions show that the salinity of the fluids correlates positively with temperature. The inclusions formed at low pressure. Changes in the temperature and salinity of the fluids can be reconstructed from the inclusions. Highly saline, high-temperature fluids were most abundant during the main chalcopyrite ore-forming phase in the skarn and mineralized quartz veins. Low-salinity aqueous fluids were abundant in barren veins, in which there is no evidence for early hot high-salinity brine, and might have resulted from late-stage dilution and mixing of hydrothermal fluids with meteoric water. Based on petrographic features and fluid-inclusion data, early-stage magnetite deposition is related to boiling of fluid at temperatures of about 500 °C. At a later stage, boiling at temperatures of around 320° to 400 °C favored the deposition of sulfides and Fe mobility was decreased at these lower temperatures. The following inclusion characteristics may be used as exploration parameters in the Mazraeh area. (i) Presence of high-temperature, salt-bearing inclusions, with T_h between 300 and 500 °C; (ii) High-salinity fluid inclusions; and (iii) Inclusions showing evidence of boiling of the fluid. In addition, the presence of magnetite is an important exploration parameter.     

Geochemistry and geochronology of the Neoproterozoic Pan-African Transcaucasian Massif (Republic of Georgia) and implications for island arc evolution of the late Precambrian Arabian–Nubian Shield

The Transcaucasian Massif (TCM) in the Republic of Georgia includes Neoproterozoic–Early Cambrian ophiolites and magmatic arc assemblages that are reminiscent of the coeval island arc terranes in the Arabian–Nubian Shield (ANS) and provides essential evidence for Pan-African crustal evolution in Western Gondwana. The metabasite–plagiogneiss–migmatite association in the Oldest Basement Unit (OBU) of TCM represents a Neoproterozoic oceanic lithosphere intruded by gabbro–diorite–quartz diorite plutons of the Gray Granite Basement Complex (GGBC) that constitute the plutonic foundation of an island arc terrane. The Tectonic Mélange Zone (TMZ) within the Middle-Late Carboniferous Microcline Granite Basement Complex includes thrust sheets composed of various lithologies derived from this arc-ophiolite assemblage. The serpentinized peridotites in the OBU and the TMZ have geochemical features and primary spinel composition (0.35) typical of mid-ocean ridge (MOR)-type, cpx-bearing spinel harzburgites. The metabasic rocks from these two tectonic units are characterized by low-K, moderate-to high-Ti, olivine-hypersthene-normative, tholeiitic basalts representing N-MORB to transitional to E-MORB series. The analyzed peridotites and volcanic rocks display a typical melt-residua genetic relationship of MOR-type oceanic lithosphere. The whole-rock Sm–Nd isotopic data from these metabasic rocks define a regression line corresponding to a maximum age limit of 804 ± 100 Ma and εNd_int = 7.37 ± 0.55. Mafic to intermediate plutonic rocks of GGBC show tholeiitic to calc-alkaline evolutionary trends with LILE and LREE enrichment patterns, Y and HREE depletion, and moderately negative anomalies of Ta, Nb, and Ti, characteristic of suprasubduction zone originated magmas. U–Pb zircon dates, Rb–Sr whole-rock isochron, and Sm–Nd mineral isochron ages of these plutonic rocks range between  750 Ma and 540 Ma, constraining the timing of island arc construction as the Neoproterozoic–Early Cambrian. The Nd and Sr isotopic ratios and the model and emplacement ages of massive quartz diorites in GGBC suggest that pre-Pan African continental crust was involved in the evolution of the island arc terrane. This in turn indicates that the ANS may not be made entirely of juvenile continental crust of Neoproterozoic age. Following its separation from ANS in the Early Paleozoic, TCM underwent a period of extensive crustal growth during 330–280 Ma through the emplacement of microcline granite plutons as part of a magmatic arc system above a Paleo-Tethyan subduction zone dipping beneath the southern margin of Eurasia. TCM and other peri-Gondwanan terranes exposed in a series of basement culminations within the Alpine orogenic belt provide essential information on the Pan-African history of Gondwana and the rift-drift stages of the tectonic evolution of Paleo-Tethys as a back-arc basin between Gondwana and Eurasia.     

Fluid inclusion study of the Plomositas–Los Arcos polymetallic epithermal vein tract, Plomosas district, Sinaloa, Mexico

The most important deposit in the Plomosas–Rosario district, Sinaloa, is the vein tract named Plomositas–Plomosas–Los Arcos. These are NNW–SSE striking veins hosted in rocks of the Lower Volcanic Supergroup (LVS), and also in rocks at the bottom of the Upper Volcanic Supergroup (UVS). Both supergroups belong to the Sierra Madre Occidental. These veins evolved from an early intermediate sulfidation stage (1), rich in base metal sulfides, to a low sulfidation stage (2), rich in silver sulfides and sulfosalts. There is also a 45 m-wide stockwork with native silver and gold. Stage 1 is found in the deeper portion of the veins whereas stage 2 is found in the most shallow portion of the deposit. These stages record fluid inclusion salinities ranging from 7 to 12 wt.% NaCl equiv., and from 0.2 to 3.5 wt.% NaCl equiv., respectively. Homogenization temperatures range from 120 °C for surface samples to 200 °C at a depth of 320 m. The low homogenization temperatures recorded, and the dispersion of veins within host rocks as veinlets, suggest that this deposit formed at shallow depths and was probably blind.     

Late Paleozoic–Early Triassic magmatism on the western margin of Gondwana: Collahuasi area, Northern Chile

The basement in the ‘Altiplano’ high plateau of the Andes of northern Chile mostly consists of late Paleozoic to Early Triassic felsic igneous rocks (Collahuasi Group) that were emplaced and extruded along the western margin of the Gondwana supercontinent. This igneous suite crops out in the Collahuasi area and forms the backbone of most of the high Andes from latitude 20° to 22°S. Rocks of the Collahuasi Group and correlative formations form an extensive belt of volcanic and subvolcanic rocks throughout the main Andes of Chile, the Frontal Cordillera of Argentina (Choiyoi Group or Choiyoi Granite-Rhyolite Province), and the Eastern Cordillera of Peru.Thirteen new SHRIMP U–Pb zircon ages from the Collahuasi area document a bimodal timing for magmatism, with a dominant peak at about 300 Ma and a less significant one at 244 Ma. Copper–Mo porphyry mineralization is related to the younger igneous event.Initial Hf isotopic ratios for the ~ 300 Ma zircons range from about − 2 to + 6 indicating that the magmas incorporated components with a significant crustal residence time. The 244 Ma magmas were derived from a less enriched source, with the initial Hf values ranging from + 2 to + 6, suggestive of a mixture with a more depleted component. Limited whole rock ¹⁴⁴Nd/¹⁴³Nd and ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr isotopic ratios further support the likelihood that the Collahuasi Group magmatism incorporated significant older crustal components, or at least a mixture of crustal sources with more and less evolved isotopic signatures.     

He–Ar and Nd–Sr isotopic compositions of late Pleistocene felsic plutonic back arc basin rocks from Ulleungdo volcanic island, South Korea: Implications for the genesis of young plutonic rocks in a back arc basin

We report analyses of noble gases and Nd–Sr isotopes in mineral separates and whole rocks of late Pleistocene (< 0.2 Ma) monzonites from Ulleungdo, South Korea, a volcanic island within the back arc basin of the Japan island arc. A Rb–Sr mineral isochron age for the monzonites is 0.12 ± 0.01 Ma. K–Ar biotite ages from the same samples gave relatively concordant ages of 0.19 ± 0.01and 0.22 ± 0.01 Ma. ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar yields a similar age of 0.29 ± 0.09 Ma. Geochemical characteristics of the felsic plutonic rocks, which are silica oversaturated alkali felsic rocks (av., 12.5 wt% in K₂O + Na₂O), are similar to those of 30 alkali volcanics from Ulleungdo in terms of concentrations of major, trace and REE elements. The initial Nd–Sr isotopic ratios of the monzonites (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr = 0.70454–0.71264, ¹⁴³Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd = 0.512528–0.512577) are comparable with those of the alkali volcanics (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr = 0.70466–0.70892, ¹⁴³Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd = 0.512521–0.512615) erupted in Stage 3 of Ulleungdo volcanism (0.24–0.47 Ma). The high initial ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr values of the monzonites imply that seawater and crustally contaminated pre-existing trachytes may have been melted or assimilated during differentiation of the alkali basaltic magma.A mantle helium component (³He/⁴He ratio of up to 6.5 RA) associated with excess argon was found in the monzonites. Feldspar and biotite have preferentially lost helium during slow cooling at depth and/or during their transportation to the surface in a hot host magma. The source magma noble gas isotopic features are well preserved in fluid inclusions in hornblende, and indicate that the magma may be directly derived from subcontinental lithospheric mantle metasomatized by an ancient subduction process, or may have formed as a mixture of MORB-like mantle and crustal components. The radiometric ages, geochemical and Nd–Sr isotopic signatures of the Ulleungdo monzonites as well as the presence of mantle-derived helium and argon, suggests that these felsic plutonic rocks evolved from alkali basaltic magma that formed by partial melting of subcontinental lithospheric mantle beneath the back arc basin located along the active continental margin of the southeastern part of the Eurasian plate.     

Pressure–temperature evolution of lawsonite eclogite in Sivrihisar; Tavşanlı Zone–Turkey

The Cretaceous blueschist belt, Tavşanlı Zone, representing the subducted and exhumed northern continental margin of the Anatolide–Tauride platform is exposed in Western Anatolia. The Sivrihisar area east of Tavşanlı is made up of tectonic units consisting of i) metaclastics and conformably overlying massive marbles (coherent blueschist unit), ii) blueschist-eclogite unit, iii) marble–calcschist intercalation and iv) metaperidotite slab. The metaclastics are composed of jadeite–lawsonite–glaucophane and jadeite–glaucophane–chloritoid schists, phengite phyllites, and calcschists with glaucophane–lawsonite metabasite layers. The blueschist-eclogite unit representing strongly sheared, deeply buried and imbricated tectonic slices of accreted uppermost levels of the oceanic crust with minor metamorphosed serpentinite bodies consists of lawsonite-bearing eclogitic metabasites (approximately 90% of the field), lawsonite eclogites, metagabbros, serpentinites, pelagic marbles, omphacite–glaucophane–lawsonite metapelites and metacherts. The mineral assemblage of the lawsonite eclogite (garnet + omphacite > 70%) is omphacite, garnet, lawsonite, glaucophane, phengite and rutile. Lawsonite eclogite lenses are enclosed by garnet–lawsonite blueschist envelopes.Textural evidence from lawsonite eclogites and country rocks reveals that they did not leave the stability field of lawsonite during subduction and exhumation. The widespread preservation of lawsonite in eclogitic metabasites and eclogites can be attributed to rapid subduction and subsequent exhumation in a low geothermal gradient of the oceanic crust material without experiencing a thermal relaxation. Peak P–T conditions of lawsonite eclogites are estimated at 24 ± 1 kbar and 460 ± 25 °C. These P–T conditions indicate a remarkably low geotherm of 6.2 °C/km corresponding to a burial depth of 74 km.     

Geochronological problems related to polymetamorphism in the Limpopo Complex, South Africa

The integration of new and published geochronologic data with structural, magmatic/anatectic and pressure–temperature (P–T) process information allow the recognition of high-grade polymetamorphic granulites and associated high-grade shear zones in the Central Zone (CZ) of the Limpopo high-grade terrain in South Africa. Together, these two important features reflect a major high-grade D₃/M₃ event at ~ 2.02 Ga that overprinted the > 2.63 Ga high-grade Neoarchaean D₂/M₂ event, characterized by SW-plunging sheath folds. These major D₂/M₂ folds developed before ~ 2.63 Ga based on U–Pb zircon age data for precursors to leucocratic anatectic gneisses that cut the high-grade gneissic fabric. The D₃/M₃ shear event is accurately dated by U–Pb monazite (2017.1 ± 2.8 Ma) and PbSL garnet (2023 ± 11 Ma) age data obtained from syntectonic anatectic material, and from sheared metapelitic gneisses that were completely reworked during the high-grade shear event. The shear event was preceded by isobaric heating (P = ~ 6 kbar and T = ~ 670–780 °C), which resulted in the widespread formation of polymetamorphic granulites. Many efforts to date high-grade gneisses from the CZ using PbSL garnet dating resulted in a large spread of ages (~ 2.0–2.6 Ga) that reflect the polymetamorphic nature of these complexly deformed high-grade rocks.     

Influence of the precollisional stage on subduction dynamics and the buried crust thermal state: Insights from numerical simulations

At continental subduction initiation, the continental crust buoyancy may induce, first, a convergence slowdown, and second, a compressive stress increase that could lead to the forearc lithosphere rupture. Both processes could influence the slab surface P–T conditions, favoring on one side crust partial melting or on the opposite the formation of ultra-high pressure/low temperature (UHP-LT) mineral. We quantify these two effects by performing numerical simulations of subduction. Water transfers are computed as a function of slab dehydration/overlying mantle hydration reactions, and a strength decrease is imposed for hydrated mantle rocks. The model starts with an old oceanic plate ( 100 Ma) subducting for 145.5 Myr with a 5 cm/yr convergence rate. The arc lithosphere is thermally thinned between 100 km and 310 km away from the trench, due to small-scale convection occuring in the water-saturated mantle wedge. We test the influence of convergence slowdown by carrying on subduction with a decreased convergence rate (≤ 2 cm/yr). Surprisingly, the subduction slowdown yields not only a strong slab warming at great depth (> 80 km), but also a significant cooling of the forearc lithosphere at shallower depth. The convergence slowdown increases the subducted crust temperature at 90 km depth to 705 ± 62 °C, depending on the convergence rate reduction, and might thus favor the oceanic crust partial melting in presence of water. For subduction velocities ≤ 1 cm/yr, slab breakoff is triggered 20–32 Myr after slowdown onset, due to a drastic slab thermal weakening in the vicinity of the interplate plane base. At last, the rupture of the weakened forearc is simulated by imposing in the thinnest part of the overlying lithosphere a dipping weakness plane. For convergence with rates ≥ 1 cm/yr, the thinned forearc first shortens, then starts subducting along the slab surface. The forearc lithosphere subduction stops the slab surface warming by hot asthenosphere corner flow, and decreases in a first stage the slab surface temperature to 630 ± 20 °C at 80 km depth, in agreement with P–T range inferred from natural records of UHP-LT metamorphism. The subducted crust temperature is further reduced to 405 ± 10 °C for the crust directly buried below the subducting forearc. Such a cold thermal state at great depth has never been sampled in collision zones, suggesting that forearc subduction might not be always required to explain UHP-LT metamorphsim.     

Large P–T gap between Ballantrae blueschist/garnet pyroxenite and surrounding ophiolite, southern Scotland, UK: Diapiric exhumation of a Caledonian serpentinite mélange

The Ballantrae ophiolite in southern Scotland includes a NEE–SWW-trending serpentinite mélange that contains blocks of mafic blueschist and high-pressure, granulite facies, metapyroxenite (Sm–Nd metamorphic age: 576 ± 32 and 505 ± 11 Ma). Tectonic blocks of mafic schist are less than 3 × 3 m in size, and have greenschist, blueschist or epidote amphibolite facies assemblages corresponding to the high-pressure intermediate-type metamorphic facies series.Adjacent rocks of the serpentinite mélange are hydrothermally-altered MORB-like ophiolitic basalt (prehnite–pumpellyite facies), dolerite (actinolite–oligoclase sub-facies) and gabbro (amphibolite facies), all with assemblages that are diagnostic of the low-pressure metamorphic facies series.The difference in metamorphic facies series and parageneses of minerals between the high-pressure mafic blocks and the adjacent, low-pressure ophiolitic meta-basic rocks suggests that the former were exhumed from > 25 km depth within a cold subducted slab, and were juxtaposed with the latter, the bottom of a MORB-like ophiolite in the hanging wall of a trench. An ENE–WSW-trending, 501 ± 12 Ma volcanic arc belt extends for 3 km south of the serpentinite mélange. We suggest that ridge subduction associated with a slab window created arc-related gabbro (483 ± 4 Ma) at Byne Hill and within-plate gabbro (487 ± 8 Ma) at Millenderdale. Final continental collision created the duplex structure of the Ballantrae complex that includes the HP blocks and serpentinite mélange. These relations define diapiric exhumation in the Caledonian orogen of SW Scotland.     

The Paleoproterozoic North Hebei Orogen: North China craton's collisional suture with the Columbia supercontinent

Understanding the geologic history and position of the North China craton in the Paleoproterozoic Columbia supercontinent has proven elusive. Paleoproterozoic orogenic episodes (2.00–1.85 Ga) are temporally associated with ultimate stabilization of the North China craton (NCC), followed by the development of extensive craton-wide rift systems at 1.85–1.80 Ga. The age difference between the sedimentary cover and the metamorphic basement is up to 500–700 Ma, suggesting that uplift and doming of cratonic basement occurred in the latest Paleoproterozoic. Mafic dike swarms (1.80–1.77 Ga) and anorogenic magmatism (1.80–1.70 Ga) record the extensional breakup and dispersal of the North China craton during this stage. The late Paleoproterozoic tectonic framework and geological events documented provide important constraints for reconstruction of the NCC within the Late Paleoproterozoic supercontinent of Columbia.An east-west striking thousand kilometer long belt of khondalites (granulite facies metapelites) stretches along the northern margin of the North China craton, on the cratonward side of the Northern Hebei orogenic belt. This granulite belt includes Mg–Al (sapphirine bearing) granulites that reached ultrahigh-temperature “peak” metamorphic conditions of  1000 °C at 10 kbars at 1927 ± 11 Ma. Following peak ultrahigh-temperature conditions, the rocks underwent initial isobaric cooling and subsequent isothermal decompression, and these trajectories are interpreted to be part of an overall anti-clockwise P-T evolution indicating that the northern margin of the craton experienced continental collision at 1.93–1.92 Ga. The position of the khondalite belt south of the Northern Hebei orogenic belt makes it analogous to Tibet, a continental collision-related plateau characterized by double crustal thicknesses and granulite facies metamorphism at depth. We suggest that the tectonic evolution of the NCC during this period was closely related to the assembly and break-up of the Columbia supercontinent, and that the NCC was adjacent to the Baltic and Amazonian cratons in the period 2.00–1.70 Ga. Craton-wide extension occurred within 100–150 Ma of collision along the northern margin of the craton at 1.93–1.92 Ga. It is concluded that mantle upwellings are chiefly responsible for the breakup of the NCC from the Paleoproterozoic supercontinent.