The structural evolution of the Fyfe Hills‐Khmara Bay region,Enderby Land,East Antarctica

The Table Hill Volcanics of the Officer Basin were first dated as approximately 1100 m.y. from Rb‐Sr model ages for total‐rock samples of basalt from the Yowalga No. 2 bore. Later regional mapping, however, places the Volcanics as Marinoan (very late Precambrian) or younger, and receives support from discordant K‐Ar ages ranging from 330 m.y. to 445 m.y. New total‐rock analyses confirm the original Rb‐Sr data, but analyses of separated minerals do not confirm the low value for the initial ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr that had been assumed to calculate the 1100 m.y. model age. Instead, apparently‐unaltered primary pyroxenes indicate that the initial ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr could be as high as 0.718. Combined with the total‐rock results, this yields an apparent age for the basalt of 575 ± 40 m.y. It is possible in principle that the high ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr in the pyroxenes could be due to Sr isotope exchange during a Palaeozoic metamorphism, but there is absolutely no field or petrological evidence for such an event. Consequently, and in view of the stratigraphic evidence for their age, the Rb‐Sr data are best interpreted as signifying an original extrusion of the basalts at 575 ± 40 m.y., together with a prehistory of the magma that includes contamination with radiogenic Sr and alkalis from Precambrian crustal material.     

Petroi Metabasalt: Alkaline within‐plate mafic rocks from the Nambucca Slate Belt,northeastern New South Wales

The Petroi Metabasalt comprises approximately 2000 m of massive and pillowed metabasalt flows, breccias, and metadolerite sills that overlie and are intercalated with Early Permian epiclastic rocks of the Nambucca Slate Belt. Both the basaltic rocks and associated sedimentary material were multiply deformed and metamorphosed to pumpellyite‐actinolite facies grade at about 255 Ma. Metamorphism and earlier sea‐floor alteration of these mafic rocks have led to hydration, carbonation and oxidation and considerable redistribution of the major elements and the more labile traces, notably Rb, Ba and Sr. However, abundances of TiO₂, the high field strength trace elements, Ni, Cr and V, the light rare earths and yttrium are interpretable as being the largely unmodified magmatic abundances of mildly alkaline within‐plate basalts. This interpretation is supported by the composition of relic Ca‐rich pyroxenes in the metadolerites which fall in the fields of mildly alkaline basalts. The field relationships, age and composition of these rocks suggest either eruption on oceanic crust covered by a thick sequence of epiclastic rocks and subsequent incorporation into an accretionary subduction complex, or generation during rifting of the eastern part of the New England Fold Belt and accumulation, together with the associated sedimentary rocks, in a graben. The chemical and mineral characteristics of the igneous rocks indicate that the volcanism was not related to magmatic arc activity, and their presence demonstrates the rocks of the Nambucca Slate Belt are neither fore‐arc basin nor slope‐basin deposits.     

东昆仑造山带晚三叠世岩浆混合作用：以和勒冈希里克特花岗闪长岩体为例

东昆仑造山带晚华力西期-印支期花岗质岩石中广泛发育暗色微粒包体.本文以东昆仑东段和勒冈希里克特花岗闪长岩体为例,对暗色微粒包体及其寄主岩进行了详细研究.包体的野外产出特征、形态、结构构造和矿物学特征表明,他们是基性岩浆进入中酸性岩浆快速冷凝结晶的产物,和寄主花岗岩有着相似的稀土元素配分模式,显示轻稀土富集,重稀土亏损,轻重稀土元素分馏明显的特征,微量元素蛛网图也具有明显的相似性,富集大离子亲石元素,亏损高场强元素,反映了岩浆混合作用的特征;LA-ICP-MS锆石U-Pb同位素年代学研究显示,暗色微粒包体的形成年龄为(224.9±4.1)Ma,与寄主岩的同位素年龄值(225±5)Ma在误差范围内一致,表明了在晚三叠世期间东昆仑地区存在着后碰撞阶段壳-幔岩浆混合作用.     

高压麻粒岩相变质作用及深熔作用:以柴北缘都兰地区为例

在一些俯冲/碰撞造山带中,高压麻粒岩相变质作用通常伴随着广泛的深熔作用。本文以柴北缘超高压变质带都兰地区的基性高压麻粒岩和浅色体为研究对象,在详细的野外观察的基础上,结合岩相学和年代学等研究方法,探讨高压麻粒岩相变质作用与深熔作用的关系及形成机制。从野外关系来看,浅色体主要呈层状、似脉状、补丁状或网络状分布在暗色的基性高压麻粒岩(残留体,residuumormelanosome)中,或与基性高压麻粒岩在露头上互层产出,并显示出混合岩的特征。基性高压麻粒岩主要由石榴子石、单斜辉石、斜长石和石英等矿物组成,在不同样品中还可含有少量蓝晶石、角闪石、金红石、黝帘石/斜黝帘石、黑云母、方柱石、绿泥石;浅色体主要由斜长石、钾长石和石英等矿物组成,一些样品中也含有少量的石榴子石和蓝晶石,与典型的长英质高压麻粒岩的矿物组合特征较为相似。锆石成因年代学结果显示浅色体中既发育深熔锆石,也有变质锆石生长,但两种锆石给出的年龄结果基本一致,其加权平均年龄为434±2Ma(MSWD=1.1),与前人获得的高压麻粒岩相变质作用和深熔作用时代基本一致。因此,综合野外关系、岩相学、地球化学特征及年代学结果,我们推测高压麻粒岩相变质作用及深熔作用可能形成于同一动力学过程,即在俯冲带的上盘环境,(变)基性岩石中的含水矿物(如角闪石、帘石或云母类矿物等)脱水熔融形成高Sr/Y熔体,而基性高压麻粒岩为残留体。     

Petrogenesis of post – orogenic Lower Permian andesites in southern Europe: insights into the collapse of the Variscan range

In the post-Variscan Early Permian deposits of southwestern Europe, andesites belong to successions characterized by the constant occurrence of a basal rhyolite ignimbrite, followed by andesites, and by abundant dacite-rhyodacite products, interbedded with lacustrine sediments. The subalkaline andesite to K-andesite volcanism developed within intramontane basins following the collapse of the Variscan orogen. The compositional features, including trace element ratios and initial Sr (and Nd) of post-Variscan intermediate products allow excluding continental or island arc settings. The andesite composition of Lower Permian lavas was reproduced starting from two potential primary magmas: picrobasaltic and enriched MORB compositions. In particular, the picrobasalt was modified, by adding incremental amounts of a felsic granulite, from the lower continental crust. Mixing and fractional crystallization (MFC) were modelled by the MELTS software in a closed system under isobaric, isenthalpic conditions (P = 0.3 GPa). The computed residual liquid evolves to match closely the composition of Lower Permian andesite lavas after ~34 % crystallization by adding ~27 % of contaminant to the parental magma.     

P–T evolution in greenstone‐belt mafic amphibolites: an example from Plutonic Gold Mine,Marymia Inlier,Western Australia

The metamorphosed mafic rocks of Archean greenstone belts host major orogenic gold deposits, and may record information about changing pressure–temperature (P–T) conditions that could contribute to understanding of Archean geodynamic processes. Until recently, it was difficult to obtain good constraints on pressure and temperature from these rocks. Here we present results of P–T pseudosection calculations in the NCFMASHTOS (Na₂O–CaO–FeO–MgO–Al₂O₃–SiO₂–H₂O–TiO₂–O–SO₂) system, using as an example typical amphibolite facies metabasaltic rocks from the Plutonic Gold Mine in the Neoarchean Plutonic Well Greenstone Belt (PWGB), Marymia Inlier, Western Australia. The pseudosections together with observed mineral compositions and mineral assemblages in the rocks are used to argue that a previously unrecognized steep pressure increase (from ～3–4 kbar at ～500 °C to ≥8 kbar at ～600 °C) accompanied metamorphism to peak temperatures. The P–T data presented here could be the result of either horizontal or vertical tectonics. Existing models for the early evolution of the PWGB involve nappe stacking supported by relatively cold strong crust, with little overall change in thickness. While the available evidence from the study area and the wider region is not yet sufficient to confirm whether the peak metamorphic conditions were attained by horizontal or vertical tectonic means, the P–T data presented here can provide region‐specific constraints for computer modelling that may provide a more definite answer in the future.     

The thermal structure of continental crust in active orogens: insight from Miocene eclogite and granulite xenoliths of the Pamir Mountains

Rare ultrahigh‐temperature–(near)ultrahigh‐pressure (UHT–near‐UHP) crustal xenoliths erupted at 11 Ma in the Pamir Mountains, southeastern Tajikistan, preserve a compositional and thermal record at mantle depths of crustal material subducted beneath the largest collisional orogen on Earth. A combination of oxygen‐isotope thermometry, major‐element thermobarometry and pseudosection analysis reveals that, prior to eruption, the xenoliths partially equilibrated at conditions ranging from 815 °C at 19 kbar to 1100 °C at 27 kbar for eclogites and granulites, and 884 °C at 20 kbar to 1012 °C at 33 kbar for garnet–phlogopite websterites. To reach these conditions, the eclogites and granulites must have undergone mica‐dehydration melting. The extraction depths exceed the present‐day Pamir Moho at ～65 km depth and suggest an average thermal gradient of ～12–13 °C km^?1. The relatively cold geotherm implies the introduction of these rocks to mantle depths by subduction or gravitational foundering (transient crustal drip). The xenoliths provide a window into a part of the orogenic history in which crustal material reached UHT–(U)HP conditions, partially melted, and then decompressed, without being overprinted by the later post‐thermal relaxation history.     

Granulite facies xenoliths from the Yuhuashan complex,central Jiangxi,South China: constraints on Late Palaeozoic orogeny and middle‐lower crust components

The Cretaceous Yuhuashan igneous complex contains abundant xenoliths of high‐grade metamorphic rocks, with the assemblage garnet ± hypersthene + biotite + plagioclase + K‐feldspar + quartz. The biotite in these samples has high TiO₂ (>3.5%), indicating high‐T metamorphism (623–778 °C). P–T calculations for two felsic granulites indicate that the peak metamorphism took place at 880–887 °C and 0.64–0.70 GPa, in the low pressure/high temperature (LP‐HT) granulite facies. Phase equilibrium modelling gives equilibrium conditions for the peak assemblage of a felsic granulite of >0.6 GPa and >840 °C, consistent with the P–T calculations, and identifies an anticlockwise P–T–t path. LA‐ICPMS U–Pb dating of metamorphic and detrital zircon from one xenolith reveals that the granulite facies metamorphism took place at 273.6 ± 2.2 Ma, and the protolith was a sedimentary rock deposited later than 683 Ma. This represents the first Late Palaeozoic (Variscan) granulite facies event identified in the South China Block (SCB). Coupled with other geological observations, the LP‐HT metamorphic conditions and anticlockwise P–T–t path suggest that Variscan metamorphism probably occurred in a post‐orogenic or intraplate extensional tectonic setting associated with the input of external heat, related to the underplating of mantle‐derived magma. Based on P–T estimates and the comparison of the protolith composition with mid‐ to low‐grade metamorphic rocks in the area, it is suggested that the mid‐lower crust under the Xiangshan–Yuhuashan area consists mainly of these felsic granulites and gneisses, whose protoliths were probably subducted to these depths during the Early Palaeozoic orogeny in the SCB, and underwent two episodes of metamorphism during Early Palaeozoic and Late Palaeozoic time.