从地壳上地幔构造看大陆岩石圈伸展与裂解

本篇讨论大陆岩石圈拆沉、伸展与裂解作用过程。由于大陆岩石圈厚度大而且很不均匀,产生裂谷的机制比较复杂。大陆碰撞远程效应的触发,岩石圈拆沉,以及板块运动的不规则性和地球应力场方向转折,都可能产生岩石圈断裂和大陆裂谷。岩石圈拆沉为在重力作用下"去陆根"的作用过程,演化过程可分为大陆根拆离、地壳伸展和岩石圈地幔整体破裂三个阶段。大陆碰撞带、俯冲的大陆和大洋板块、克拉通区域岩石圈,都可能产生岩石圈拆沉。大陆岩石圈调查表明,拉张区可见地壳伸展、岩石圈拆离、软流圈上拱和热沉降;它们是大陆岩石圈伸展与裂解早期的主要表现。从初始拉张的盆岭省到成熟的张裂省,拆离后地壳伸展成复式地堑,下地壳幔源玄武岩浆侵位,断裂带贯通并切穿整个岩石圈,表明地壳伸展进入成熟阶段。中国东北松辽盆地和西欧北海盆地曾处于成熟的张裂省。岩石圈破裂为岩浆侵位提供了阻力很小的通道网。岩浆侵位作用伴随岩石圈破裂和热流体上涌,成熟的张裂省可发展成大陆裂谷。多数的大陆裂谷带并没有发展成威尔逊裂谷带和洋中脊,普通的大陆裂谷要演化为威尔逊裂谷带,必须有来自软流圈的长期和持续的热流和玄武质岩浆的供应。威尔逊裂谷带岩石圈地幔和软流圈为地震低速带,其根源可能与来自地幔底部的地幔热羽流有关。     

盆地岩石圈结构与油气成藏及分布

本文综述了大陆岩石圈研究现状和克拉通盆地、裂谷盆地和前陆盆地的岩石圈结构特征,指出在古裂谷、褶皱带或区域性深断裂等陆壳构造薄弱带上发育起来的多期叠合盆地,具有很好的含油气前景。大型含油气盆地往往存在地幔上隆、地壳减薄和地壳内低速层,盆地基底沉降与盖层沉积厚度较大。适度的后期构造活动改造和岩浆活动有利于沉积盆地内油气生成与保存。     

Broken Hill Pb-Zn-Ag deposit — a product of mantle metasomatism

Broken Hill ore deposition occurred during the highest geothermal gradient coeval with an event of bimodal basic-rhydacitic volcanism. The depositional environment is interpreted as an ensialic rift on the basis of the sedimentary facies, ferro- and low-K tholeiitic basalts, and bimodal basic-calc alkaline (rhyolite, rhyodacite) volcanism. The orebody is of unusual composition characterised by abundant carbonate, fluorite and fluorapatite, abundant LIL-, K- and Rb-rich premetamorphic alteration assemblages, primordial S and Pb isotopic values, Sr isotopes possibly indicating a heterogeneous source, S : Se in the magmatic range, and zoning suggestive of cooling of the ore fluid.It is suggested that in the mature stage of rifting, propagation of deep fractures suddenly devolatilized the mantle, released CO₂ and other fluids which, together with basalts, ascended and caused crustal melting to form acid magmas. The resultant ore fluid exhalation and basaltic and rhyodacitic volcanism were therefore coeval. Rapid deposition of ore from a fluid of unusual composition in a basin or graben within the rift formed a deposit which is not too dissimilar in composition from a carbonatite.The composition of the associated basic rocks and younger alkaline rocks, the premetamorphic alteration assemblage, and the orebody chemistry all suggest that the Lower Proterozoic source area for the ore fluids was metasomatized mantle.     

A model for the three-dimensional evolution of continental rift basins,north-east Africa

Large areas of north-east Africa were dominated by regional extension in the Late Phanerozoic. Widespread rifting occurred in the Late Jurassic, with regional extension culminating in the Cretaceous and resulting in the greatest areal extent and degree of interconnection of the west, central and north African rift systems. Basin reactivation continued in the Paleocene and Eocene and new rifts probably formed in the Red Sea and western Kenya. In the Oligocene and Early Miocene, rifts in Kenya, Ethiopia and the Red Sea linked and expanded to form the new east African rift system.This complex history of rifting resulted in failed rift basins with low to high strain geometries, a range of associated volcanism and varying degrees of interaction with older structures. One system, the Red Sea rift, has partially attained active seafloor spreading. From a comparison of these basins, a general model of three-dimensional rift evolution is proposed. Asymmetrical crustal geometries dominated the early phases of these basins, accompanied by low angle normal faulting that has been observed at least locally in outcrop. As rifting progressed, the original fault and basin forms were modified to produce larger, more through-going structures. Some basins were abandoned, others experienced reversals in regional dip and, in general, extension and subsidence became focused along narrower zones near the rift axes. The final transition to oceanic spreading was accomplished in the Red Sea by a change to high angle, planar normal faulting and diffuse dike injection, followed by the organization of an axial magma chamber.     

Specifics of magmatism in marginal continental and marginal-sea pull-apart basins: Western periphery of the Pacific Ocean

The paper presents data on pull-apart (synchronous with strike-slip faulting) extensional structures formed in relation to Indo-Eurasian collision and including continental marginal rifts in East Asia and adjacent marginal sea basins. The evolution of Cenozoic pull-apart basins (developing synchronously with strike-slip faulting) in the western surroundings of the Pacific ocean corresponds to a basaltoid sequence in which the onset of rifting and the stage of maximum extension are marked by the first and last members of this sequence that have, respectively, calc-alkaline and tholeiitic depleted composition. The predominance of intermediate members with mixed isotopic-geochemical signatures testifies to the interaction of diverse magmatic melts. The opening of pull-apart basins (including those of marginal sea) was associated with magmatism whose sources were localized, judging from geochemical indicators, in the modified continental lithospheric mantle and depleted asthenosphere. The sources in the lithospheric mantle that was affected by long-lasting metasomatic recycling in the geological past dominated during the initial stages of continental extension and gave way to depleted asthenospheric sources. This model is consistent with the deep structure of the territories: extensional basins correspond to asthenospheric upwelling, with the ascent of asthenospheric diapirs positively correlated with the intensity of extension of the continental lithosphere and the degree of depletion of the accumulated basaltoids. The discovery of widespread calc-alkaline rocks (which are genetically related to the ancient metasomatized lithospheric mantle) in zones of continental rifting and marginal basins of the strike-slip fault nature significantly broadens the compositional range of volcanics typical of extensional geodynamic environments. At the same time, this testifies to the polygeodynamic nature of calc-alkaline volcanics, which can accumulate without any relations with coeval subduction zones.     

Crust-forming processes in the Hercynides of the Central Asian Foldbelt

The paper reports data on the evolutionary history of magmatism, its conditions, and sources in the process of the development of the Southern Mongolian Hercynides during the pre-accretion, continental-margin, and rifting stages within the time span from the Silurian to Early Permian. The Hercynian continental crust in the southern Mongolian segment of the Central Asian Foldbelt (CAFB) was determined to have grown in the environment of ensimatic island arcs, backarc basins, spreading centers, and oceanic islands or plateaus, with material coming from the depleted and, perhaps, also enriched mantle sources in the open ocean that surrounded the Siberian paleocontinent on the side of the Caledonian margin. This made it possible to recognize the Early-Middle Paleozoic epoch of juvenile crustal growth in CAFB and the corresponding isotopic crustal province with a total area of more than 200 thousand km². The principal differences between the composition and structure of the blocks surrounding the Hercynian regions (Caledonides in the Gobi Altai and Grenwillides in the South Gobi microcontinent) testify that the southern margin of the Caledonian Siberian continent and the Grenvillides of the South Gobi microcontinent had different geological histories and were spatially separated. The structural complex of the Paleoasian ocean, including the terranes of the South Gobi microcontinent, were transformed into a continental block in the latest Devonian-earliest Carboniferous, in relation with accretion processes, folding, metamorphism, and tectonic delamination along the boundaries of structurally heterogeneous domains. The subsequent recycling of the crust by magmatic processes was related to the development of an active continental margin (ACM). The development of an ACM in the Hercynides resulted from and was a continuation of the motions of the continental and oceanic lithospheric plates, i.e., processes that brought about the Hercynian accretion. The evolution history of the ACM was subdivided into two stages: early (a continental-margin stage proper) and late (rifting stage). The rocks of the early stage were produced at 350–330 Ma and compose a differentiated basalt-andesite-rhyodacite complex and related massifs of the granodiorite-plagiogranite and banatite (diorite-monzonite-granodiorite) associations. During the rifting stage at 320–290 Ma, a bimodal basalt-comendite-trachyrhyolite association was formed, along with accompanying alkali granite massifs. In the southern Mongolian segment of the Hercynides, the rocks of the rifting stage compose two subparallel rift zones: Gobi-Tien Shan, which extends along the boundaries of the South Gobi microcontinent, and the Main Mongolian lineament, which marks the boundaries between the Hercynides and Caledonides in the CAFB. The rift structures are made up of alkali granitoids and normal-alkalinity granitoids, which are atypical of rift zones. Their genesis is thought to have been related to crustal anatexis, a process that was triggered by rift-related magmas at an unusual combination of rifting and ACM tectonic setting. The basic rocks of the rift associations have geochemical signatures atypical of continental rifting. They show Ta and Nb minima and K and Pb maxima, as is typical of rocks generated at convergent plate boundaries. Nevertheless, the broad variations in the concentrations and ratios of some major and incompatible trace elements and in the Sr, Nd, and O isotopic composition of the rift basaltoids allowed us to distinguish their high-and low-Ti varieties, which were produced with the participation of three mantle sources: depleted mantle similar to the source of basalts in midoceanic ridges, enriched mantle like the source of basalts in oceanic islands, and the mantle material of the metasomatized mantle wedge. The origin of andesites in the rift zones is explained by the contamination of mantle basaltoid melts with sialic (predominantly sedimentary) material of the continental crust or the assimilation of anatectic partial granite melts.     

Speculations on the nature and cause of mantle heterogeneity

Hotspots and hotspot tracks are on, or start on, preexisting lithospheric features such as fracture zones, transform faults, continental sutures, ridges and former plate boundaries. Volcanism is often associated with these features and with regions of lithospheric extension, thinning, and preexisting thin spots. The lithosphere clearly controls the location of volcanism. The nature of the volcanism and the presence of ‘melting anomalies’ or ‘hotspots’, however, reflect the intrinsic chemical and lithologic heterogeneity of the upper mantle. Melting anomalies—shallow regions of ridges, volcanic chains, flood basalts, radial dike swarms—and continental breakup are frequently attributed to the impingement of deep mantle thermal plumes on the base of the lithosphere. The heat required for volcanism in the plume hypothesis is from the core. Alternatively, mantle fertility and melting point, ponding and focusing, and edge effects, i.e., plate tectonic and near-surface phenomena, may control the volumes and rates of magmatism. The heat required is from the mantle, mainly from internal heating and conduction into recycled fragments. The magnitude of magmatism appears to reflect the fertility, not the absolute temperature, of the asthenosphere. I attribute the chemical heterogeneity of the upper mantle to subduction of young plates, aseismic ridges and seamount chains, and to delamination of the lower continental crust. These heterogeneities eventually warm up past the melting point of eclogite and become buoyant low-velocity diapirs that undergo further adiabatic decompression melting as they encounter thin or spreading regions of the lithosphere. The heat required for the melting of cold subducted and delaminated material is extracted from the essentially infinite heat reservoir of the mantle, not the core. Melting in the upper mantle does not requires the instability of a deep thermal boundary layer or high absolute temperatures. Melts from recycled oceanic crust, and seamounts—and possibly even plateaus—pond beneath the lithosphere, particularly beneath basins and suture zones, with locally thin, weak or young lithosphere. The characteristic scale lengths—150 to 600 km—of variations in bathymetry and magma chemistry, and the variable productivity of volcanic chains, may reflect compositional heterogeneity of the asthenosphere, not the scales of mantle convection or the spacing of hot plumes. High-frequency seismic waves, scattering, coda studies and deep reflection profiles are needed to detect the kind of chemical heterogeneity and small-scale layering predicted from the recycling hypothesis.     

Style of active intraplate deformation from gravity and seismicity data: the Baikal Rift, Asia

To better understand how active deformation localizes within a continental plate in response to extensional and transtensional tectonics, a combined analysis of high-quality gravity (Bouguer anomaly) and seismicity data is presented consisting of about 35000 earthquakes recorded in the Baikal Rift Zone. This approach allows imaging of deformation patterns from the surface down to the Moho. A comparison is made with heat flow variations in order to assess the importance of lithospheric rheology in the style of extensional deformation. Three different rift sectors can be identified. The southwestern rift sector is characterized by strong gravity and topography contrasts marked by two major crustal faults and diffuse seismicity. Heat flow shows locally elevated values, correlated with recent volcanism and negative seismic P-velocity anomalies. Based on earthquake fault plane solutions and on previous stress field inversions, it is proposed that strain decoupling may occur in this area in response to wrench-compressional stress regime imposed by the India–Asia collision. The central sector is characterized by two major seismic belts; the southernmost one corresponds to a single, steeply dipping fault accommodating oblique extension; in the centre of lake Baikal, a second seismic belt is associated with several dip-slip faults and subcrustal thinning at the rift axis in response to orthogonal extension. The northern rift sector is characterized by a wide, low Bouguer anomaly which corresponds to a broad, high topographic dome and seismic belts and swarms. This topography can be explained by lithospheric buoyancy forces possibly linked to anomalous upper mantle. At a more detailed scale, no clear correlation appears between the surficial fault pattern and the gravity signal. As in other continental rifts, it appears that the lithospheric rheology influences extensional basins morphology. However, in the Baikal rift, the inherited structural fabric combined with stress field variations results in oblique rifting tectonics which seem to control the geometry of southern and northeastern rift basins.     

北祁连山奥陶纪弧后盆地火山岩浆成因

本文对北祁连山早古生代弧后盆地熔岩的岩石地球化学研究结果加以报道。样品的分布将南部弧后盆地拉伸最早阶段发育的岛弧裂谷化区和北部的弧后海底扩张区联系起来。熔岩的岩相学和地球化学特点反映了拉伸方式的改变,北部是典型的弧后盆地基性熔岩,向南则逐渐向岛弧熔岩过渡。海底扩张区以玻质(现已脱玻化)、少斑基性熔岩为特征,长英质熔岩和斑状基性熔岩产于南部岛弧裂谷化区。成熟岛弧部分(Y<20×10-6,TiO2<0.60%,Th/Yb>0.60)和弧后扩张区(Y>20×10-6,TiO2>1.0%,Th/Yb<0.60)在地球化学上相互有别。从由海底扩张形成的弧后盆地基性熔岩,向南经过逐渐与岛弧岩石相似的熔岩,直至裂谷区最南部的岛弧熔岩,它们的地球化学成分显示逐渐的变化。这种变化反映了弧后盆地形成过程中弧后盆地之下地幔对流方式和熔体产生作用的改变:从初始岛弧裂谷之下由消减板片俯冲引起的地幔下沉,转变为弧后海底扩张带之下的地幔上隆。早期岛弧裂谷阶段,裂谷轴捕获了岛弧岩浆流,从而使得喷出的熔岩在成分上与岛弧熔岩无法区分;随着弧后拉张继续,弧后盆地变宽,岛弧岩浆流逐渐离开裂谷轴,最终产生一个似洋中脊的减压熔融系统———弧后盆地岩浆系统。     

Plume-Lithosphere Interaction and the Origin of Continental Rift-related Alkaline Volcanism--the Chyulu Hills Volcanic Province, Southern Kenya

Geochemical data are presented for primitive alkaline lavasfrom the Chyulu Hills Volcanic Province of southern Kenya, situatedsome 100 km east of the Kenya Rift Valley. In addition to theirprimitive compositions, a striking and ubiquitous feature isa strong but variable depletion in K relative to other highlyincompatible elements when normalized to primitive mantle values.Semi-quantitative models are developed that best explain thepetrogenesis of these lavas in terms of partial melting of asource that contained residual amphibole (but not phlogopite).The presence of amphibole implies a source in the subcontinentallithosphere rather than the asthenosphere. It is suggested thatthe amphibole is of metasomatic origin and was precipitatedin the lithospheric mantle by infiltrating fluids and/or meltsderived from rising mantle plume material. A raised geothermas a consequence of the continued ascent of the plume materialled to dehydration melting of the metasomatized mantle and generationof the Chyulu Hills lavas. It is proposed that the Chyulu HillsVolcanic Province represents an analogue for the earliest stagesof continental rift initiation, during which interaction betweena plume and initially refractory lithosphere may lead to thegeneration of lithospheric melts. KEY WORDS: rift-related alkaline volcanism; residual amphibole; subcontinental lithosphere     

陆缘扩张型地洼盆地系构造-岩浆作用的独特性──以南海北部陆缘盆地系为例

南海北部陆缘扩张型地洼盆地系既显示了裂谷构造的某些一般性特征,又以其位于大陆壳体与大洋壳体相互作用的东亚陆缘地带;具有复杂的动力场和应力场环境;张裂发生于华夏型地洼余动期;发育由陆变海、陆海相交替的沉积建造;出现由钙碱性岩系、双峰式岩系到拉斑玄武岩和碱性玄武岩系的岩浆演化序列;形成宽阔而弥散的拉伸变形带,具条块状分割的构造格局,总体表现为由大陆盆岭型构造带（地壳张裂）发展到陆缘海盆地系（岩石圈张裂）的演变过程;强烈而持久的地壳运动,发生多幕式拉伸-造盆作用,晚期并在局部出现挤压（反转）构造;以及含丰富油气等矿产资源而展示特色。比较学研究进一步表明,地洼区的裂谷构造可以分出两种基本类型：①华夏型,其中包括东亚陆缘式和里奥格兰德陆内式两种亚型,它们是在地洼型挤压造山阶段之后发生拉伸裂陷;②东非型,它们是在古老克拉通（地台）基础上发生张裂,形成裂谷型地洼区。     

Sources of basaltoid magmas in rift settings of an active continental margin: Example from the bimodal association of the Noen and Tost ranges of the Late Paleozoic Gobi-Tien Shan rift zone, southern Mongolia

The bimodal volcanoplutonic (basalt-peralkaline rhyolite with peralkaline granites) association of the Noen and Tost ranges was formed 318 Ma ago in the Gobi-Tien Shan rift zone of the Late Paleozoic-Early Mesozoic central Asian rift system, the development of which was related to the movement of the continental lithosphere over a mantle hot spot. A specific feature of the Late Paleozoic rifting was that it occurred within the Middle-Late Paleozoic active continental margin of the northern Asian paleocontinent. Continental margin magmatism was followed after a short time delay by the magmatism of the Gobi-Tien Shan rift zone, which was located directly in the margin of the paleocontinent. Such a geodynamic setting of the rift zone was reflected in the geochemical characteristics of rift-related rocks. The distribution of major elements and compatible trace elements in the rift-related basic and intermediate rocks corresponds to a crystallization differentiation series. The distribution of incompatible trace elements suggests contributions from several sources. This is also supported by the heterogeneity of Sr and Nd isotopic compositions of the rift-related basaltoids: ε_Nd(T) ranges from 4.4 to 6.7, and (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr)₀, from 0.70360 to 0.70427. The geochemical characteristics of the rift-related basaltoids of the Noen and Tost ranges are not typical of rift settings (negative anomalies in Nb and Ta and positive anomalies in K and Pb) and suggest a significant role of the rocks of a metasomatized mantle wedge in their source. In addition, there are high-titanium rocks among the rift-related basaltoids, whose geochemical characteristics approach those of the basalts of mid-ocean ridges and ocean islands. This allowed us to conclude that the compositional variations of the rift-related basaltoids of the Noen and Tost ranges were controlled by three magma sources: the enriched mantle, depleted mantle (high-titanium basaltoids), and metasomatized mantle wedge (medium-Ti basaltoids). The medium-titanium basaltoids were formed in equilibrium with spinel peridotites, whereas the high-titanium magmas were formed at deeper levels both in the spinel and garnet zones. It terms of geodynamics, the occurrence of three sources of the rift-related basaltoids of the Noen and Tost ranges was related to the ascent of a mantle plume with enriched geochemical characteristics beneath a continental margin, where its influence caused melting in the overlying depleted mantle and the metasomatized mantle wedge. The formation of rift-related andesites in the Noen and Tost ranges was explained by the contamination of mantle-derived basaltoid melts with sialic (mainly sedimentary) continental crustal materials or the assimilation of anatectic granitoid melts.     

北祁连清水沟-白柳沟Fe-S和Pb-Zn-Cu型块状硫化物矿床形成环境探讨

青海祁连县清水沟—白柳沟新元古代寒武纪大陆裂谷双峰式海相火山岩中产有Fe-S和Pb-Zn-Cu型块状硫化物矿床.这两类矿床除受所在火山岩陆壳幔源区的部分熔融程度和火山作用旋回性不同影响外,主要受产生构造位置和火山岩浆源区物性条件所控制.其中产Fe-S型矿床的石头沟-香子沟穹窿火山作用,相对形成于近裂谷扩张中心的深海环境,以低K2O钙碱性的拉斑玄武质或英安质下地壳为物源区环境;郭米寺-白柳沟穹窿的Pb-Zn-Cu型火山作用形成于远离扩张中心的陆缘弧环境,源区为一种由地幔源和壳源共同构成的混合源.在矿床成因类型方面,前者近似塞浦路斯的铜黄铁矿,后者为较典型的日本黑矿型.     

Deep crustal cumulates reflect patterns of continental rift volcanism beneath Tanzania

Magmatism on Earth is most abundantly expressed by surface volcanic activity, but all volcanism has roots deep in the crust, lithosphere, and mantle. Intraplate magmatism, in particular, has remained enigmatic as the plate tectonic paradigm cannot easily explain phenomena such as large flood basalt provinces and lithospheric rupture within continental interiors. Here, I explore the role of deep crustal magmatic processes and their connection to continental rift volcanism as recorded in deep crustal xenoliths from northern Tanzania. The xenoliths are interpreted as magmatic cumulates related to Cenozoic rift volcanism, based on their undeformed, cumulate textures and whole-rock compositions distinct from melt-reacted peridotites. The cumulates define linear trends in terms of whole-rock major elements and mineralogically, can be represented as mixtures of olivine?+?clinopyroxene. AlphaMELTS modeling of geologically plausible parental melts shows that the end-member cumulates, clinopyroxenite and Fe-rich dunite, require fractionation from two distinct melts: a strongly diopside-normative melt and a fractionated picritic melt, respectively. The former can be linked to the earliest, strongly silica-undersaturated rift lavas sourced from melting of metasomatized lithosphere, whereas the latter is linked to the increasing contribution from the upwelling asthenospheric plume beneath East Africa. Thus, deep crustal cumulate systematics reflect temporal and compositional trends in rift volcanism, and show that mixing, required by the geochemistry of many rift lava suites, is also mirrored in the lavas’ cumulates.     

Two- and three-dimensional gravity modeling along western continental margin and intraplate Narmada-Tapti rifts: Its relevance to Deccan flood basalt volcanism

The western continental margin and the intraplate Narmada-Tapti rifts are primarily covered by Deccan flood basalts. Three-dimensional gravity modeling of +70mgal Bouguer gravity highs extending in the north-south direction along the western continental margin rift indicates the presence of a subsurface high density, mafic-ultramafic type, elongated, roughly ellipsoidal body. It is approximately 12.0 ±1.2 km thick with its upper surface at an approximate depth of 6.0 ±0.6 km, and its average density is {dy2935} kg/m³. Calculated dimension of the high density body in the upper crust is 300 ±30 km in length and 25 ±2.5 to 40 ±4 km in width. Three-dimensional gravity modeling of +10mgal to -30mgal Bouguer gravity highs along the intraplate Narmada-Tapti rift indicates the presence of eight small isolated high density mafic bodies with an average density of {dy2961} kg/m³. These mafic bodies are convex upward and their top surface is estimated at an average depth of 6.5 ±0.6 (between 6 and 8km). These isolated mafic bodies have an average length of 23.8 ±2.4km and width of 15.9 ±1.5km. Estimated average thickness of these mafic bodies is 12.4±1.2km. The difference in shape, length and width of these high density mafic bodies along the western continental margin and the intraplate Narmada-Tapti rifts suggests that the migration and concentration of high density magma in the upper lithosphere was much more dominant along the western continental margin rift. Based on the three-dimensional gravity modeling, it is conjectured that the emplacement of large, ellipsoidal high density mafic bodies along the western continental margin and small, isolated mafic bodies along the Narmada-Tapti rift are related to lineament-reactivation and subsequent rifting due to interaction of hot mantle plume with the lithospheric weaknesses (lineaments) along the path of Indian plate motion over the Réunion hotspot. Mafic bodies formed in the upper lithosphere as magma chambers along the western continental margin and the intraplate Narmada-Tapti rifts at estimated depths between 6 and 8 km from the surface (consistent with geological, petrological and geochemical models) appear to be the major reservoirs for Deccan flood basalt volcanism at approximately 65 Ma.     

The Xiong'er volcanic belt at the southern margin of the North China Craton: Petrographic and geochemical evidence for its outboard position in the Paleo-Mesoproterozoic Columbia Supercontinent

The Xiong'er volcanic belt, covering an area of more than 60,000 km² along the southern margin of the North China Craton, has long been considered an intra-continental rift zone and recently interpreted as part of a large igneous province formed by a mantle plume that led to the breakup of the Paleo-Mesoproterozoic supercontinent Columbia. However, such interpretations cannot be accommodated by lithology, mineralogy, geochemistry and geochronology of the volcanic rocks in the belt. Lithologically, the Xiong'er volcanic belt is dominated by basaltic andesite and andesite, with minor dacite and rhyolite, different from rock associations related to continental rifts or mantle plumes, which are generally bimodal and dominated by mafic components. However, they are remarkably similar to those rock associations in modern continental margin arcs. In some of the basaltic andesites and andesites, amphibole is a common phenocryst phase, suggesting the involvement of H₂O-rich fluids in the petrogenesis of the Xiong'er volcanic rocks. Geochemically, the Xiong'er volcanic rocks fall in the calc-alkaline series, and in most tectono-magmatic discrimination diagrams, the majority of the Xiong'er volcanic rocks show affinities to magmatic arcs. In the primitive mantle normalized trace-element diagrams, the Xiong'er volcanic rocks show enrichments in the LILE and LREE, and negative Nb–Ta–Ti anomalies, similar to arc-related volcanic rocks produced by the hydrous melting of metasomatized mantle wedge. Nd-isotope compositions of the Xiong'er volcanic rocks suggest that 5–15% older crust has been transferred into the upper lithospheric mantle by subduction-related recycling during Archean to Paleoproterozoic time. Available SHRIMP and LA-ICP-MS U–Pb zircon age data indicate that the Xiong'er volcanic rocks erupted intermittently over a protracted interval from 1.78 Ga, through 1.76–1.75 Ga and 1.65 Ga, to 1.45 Ga, though the major phase of the volcanism occurred at 1.78–1.75 Ga. Such multiple and intermittent volcanism is inconsistent with a mantle plume-driven rifting event, but is not uncommon in ancient and existing continental margin arcs. Taken together, the Xiong'er volcanic belt was most likely a Paleo-Mesoproterozoic continental magmatic arc that formed at the southern margin of the North China Craton. Similar Paleo-Mesoproterozoic continental magmatic arcs were also present at the southern and southeastern margins of Laurentia, the southern margin of Baltica, the northwestern margin of Amonzonia, and the southern and eastern margins of the North Australia Craton, which are considered to represent subduction-related episodic outbuilding on the continental margins of the Paleo-Mesoproterozoic supercontinent Columbia. Therefore, in any configuration of the supercontinent Columbia, the southern margin of the North China Craton could not have been connected to any other continental block as proposed in a recent configuration, but must have faced an open ocean whose lithosphere was subducted beneath the southern margin of the North China Craton.     

Were the Deccan Flood Basalts Derived in Part from Ancient Oceanic Crust Within the Indian Continental Lithosphere?

Deep mantle plumes supposedly incorporate deeply subducted eclogitized oceanic crust, and continental flood basalts (CFBs) are now thought by some to be derived from such eclogite-bearing peridotite plumes. Eclogite-peridotite mixtures have much lower solidi (and produce much greater melt fractions for a given temperature) than peridotite. Fe-rich (eclogite- or pyroxenite-bearing) sources have been inferred for many CFBs. However, plumes with considerable amounts of eclogite should have difficulty in upwelling owing to the high density of eclogite. Besides, CFBs are always located along pre-existing lithospheric structures (suture zones, edges of thick cratons) and commonly associated with lithospheric rifting and continental breakup. India's major late Mesozoic CFB, the Deccan Traps, erupted through rift zones and a new continental margin that had developed along ancient suture zones traversing the subcontinent. Many Deccan basalts are too Fe-rich to have been in equilibrium with a peridotite mantle source, and have commonly been considered to be significantly fractionated derivatives of picritic liquids. However, it is possible to view them as relatively less evolved liquids derived from a source with extra fertility (i.e., an Fe-rich source). A new non-plume, plate tectonic model for Icelandic hotspot volcanism involves melting of a shallowly recycled slab of eclogitized Iapetus oceanic crust formerly trapped along the Caledonian suture. The model explains the geochemical-petrological characteristics of Icelandic basalts, and is consistent with passive upper mantle upwelling under Iceland inferred from recent seismic tomography. Based on the petrological and geochemical features of the Deccan flood basalts of the type section, in the Western Ghats, I propose that old, eclogitized oceanic crust trapped in the ancient Indian suture zones could have produced voluminous basaltic melts during the Deccan event.     

Continental rift evolution: From rift initiation to incipient break-up in the Main Ethiopian Rift, East Africa

The Main Ethiopian Rift is a key sector of the East African Rift System that connects the Afar depression, at Red Sea–Gulf of Aden junction, with the Turkana depression and Kenya Rift to the South. It is a magmatic rift that records all the different stages of rift evolution from rift initiation to break-up and incipient oceanic spreading: it is thus an ideal place to analyse the evolution of continental extension, the rupture of lithospheric plates and the dynamics by which distributed continental deformation is progressively focused at oceanic spreading centres.The first tectono-magmatic event related to the Tertiary rifting was the eruption of voluminous flood basalts that apparently occurred in a rather short time interval at around 30 Ma; strong plateau uplift, which resulted in the development of the Ethiopian and Somalian plateaus now surrounding the rift valley, has been suggested to have initiated contemporaneously or shortly after the extensive flood-basalt volcanism, although its exact timing remains controversial. Voluminous volcanism and uplift started prior to the main rifting phases, suggesting a mantle plume influence on the Tertiary deformation in East Africa. Different plume hypothesis have been suggested, with recent models indicating the existence of deep superplume originating at the core-mantle boundary beneath southern Africa, rising in a north–northeastward direction toward eastern Africa, and feeding multiple plume stems in the upper mantle. However, the existence of this whole-mantle feature and its possible connection with Tertiary rifting are highly debated.The main rifting phases started diachronously along the MER in the Mio-Pliocene; rift propagation was not a smooth process but rather a process with punctuated episodes of extension and relative quiescence. Rift location was most probably controlled by the reactivation of a lithospheric-scale pre-Cambrian weakness; the orientation of this weakness (roughly NE–SW) and the Late Pliocene (post 3.2 Ma)-recent extensional stress field generated by relative motion between Nubia and Somalia plates (roughly ESE–WNW) suggest that oblique rifting conditions have controlled rift evolution. However, it is still unclear if these kinematical boundary conditions have remained steady since the initial stages of rifting or the kinematics has changed during the Late Pliocene or at the Pliocene–Pleistocene boundary.Analysis of geological–geophysical data suggests that continental rifting in the MER evolved in two different phases. An early (Mio-Pliocene) continental rifting stage was characterised by displacement along large boundary faults, subsidence of rift depression with local development of deep (up to 5 km) asymmetric basins and diffuse magmatic activity. In this initial phase, magmatism encompassed the whole rift, with volcanic activity affecting the rift depression, the major boundary faults and limited portions of the rift shoulders (off-axis volcanism). Progressive extension led to the second (Pleistocene) rifting stage, characterised by a riftward narrowing of the volcano-tectonic activity. In this phase, the main boundary faults were deactivated and extensional deformation was accommodated by dense swarms of faults (Wonji segments) in the thinned rift depression. The progressive thinning of the continental lithosphere under constant, prolonged oblique rifting conditions controlled this migration of deformation, possibly in tandem with the weakening related to magmatic processes and/or a change in rift kinematics. Owing to the oblique rifting conditions, the fault swarms obliquely cut the rift floor and were characterised by a typical right-stepping arrangement. Ascending magmas were focused by the Wonji segments, with eruption of magmas at surface preferentially occurring along the oblique faults. As soon as the volcano-tectonic activity was localised within Wonji segments, a strong feedback between deformation and magmatism developed: the thinned lithosphere was strongly modified by the extensive magma intrusion and extension was facilitated and accommodated by a combination of magmatic intrusion, dyking and faulting. In these conditions, focused melt intrusion allows the rupture of the thick continental lithosphere and the magmatic segments act as incipient slow-spreading mid-ocean spreading centres sandwiched by continental lithosphere.Overall the above-described evolution of the MER (at least in its northernmost sector) documents a transition from fault-dominated rift morphology in the early stages of extension toward magma-assisted rifting during the final stages of continental break-up. A strong increase in coupling between deformation and magmatism with extension is documented, with magma intrusion and dyking playing a larger role than faulting in strain accommodation as rifting progresses to seafloor spreading.     

Low-sulfide PGE and nickel sulfide metallogeny of Paleoproterozoic riftogenesis of the Fennoscandian Shield

By the end of the Archean, the period of active volcanism, plutonism, accretion, and cratonization had been completed by the construction of stable continental plates. Afterward, cratons were subject to intense extension owing to mainly mantle diapirism and ascent of asthenospheric flows, which gave rise to the formation of ensialic intracratonic basins, whereas other linear troughs were expressed in the formation of continental rifts. Zones of continental rifting are characterized by a wide spectrum of mineral resources (Cu, Ni, PGE, Co, Ti, V, etc.) related to igneous complexes. This paper is focused on metallogeny of nickel-sulfide and PGE mineralization in the Fennoscandian Shield. The results of metallogenic analysis of Paleoproterozoic riftogenesis, along with the account of previous achievements, have shown that the aforementioned mineralization is related to three consecutive plume-tectonic pulses of mantle activization, which are expressed in (i) upwelling of the subcontinental mantle enriched in LREE, (ii) intrusion of mafic and ultramafic melts derived from enriched and depleted Archean mantle sources, and (iii) formation of low-sulfide Pt–Pd and Pt-bearing Cu–Ni sulfide deposits.     

Wilson cycle passive margins: Control of orogenic inheritance on continental breakup

Rifts and passive margins often develop along old suture zones where colliding continents merged during earlier phases of the Wilson cycle. For example, the North Atlantic formed after continental break-up along sutures formed during the Caledonian and Variscan orogenies. Even though such tectonic inheritance is generally appreciated, causative physical mechanisms that affect the localization and evolution of rifts and passive margins are not well understood.We use thermo-mechanical modeling to assess the role of orogenic structures during rifting and continental breakup. Such inherited structures include: 1) Thickened crust, 2) eclogitized oceanic crust emplaced in the mantle lithosphere, and 3) mantle wedge of hydrated peridotite (serpentinite).Our models indicate that the presence of inherited structures not only defines the location of rifting upon extension, but also imposes a control on their structural and magmatic evolution. For example, rifts developing in thin initial crust can preserve large amounts of orogenic serpentinite. This facilitates rapid continental breakup, exhumation of hydrated mantle prior to the onset of magmatism. On the contrary, rifts in thicker crust develop more focused thinning in the mantle lithosphere rather than in the crust, and continental breakup is therefore preceded by magmatism. This implies that whether passive margins become magma-poor or magma-rich, respectively, is a function of pre-rift orogenic properties.The models show that structures of orogenic eclogite and hydrated mantle are partially preserved during rifting and are emplaced either at the base of the thinned crust or within the lithospheric mantle as dipping structures. The former provides an alternative interpretation of numerous observations of ‘lower crustal bodies’ which are often regarded as igneous bodies. The latter is consistent with dipping sub-Moho reflectors often observed in passive margins.