Na-rich Partial Melts from Newly Underplated Basaltic Crust: the Cordillera Blanca Batholith, Peru

The late Miocene Cordillera Blanca Batholith lies directly overthick (50 km) crust, inboard of the older Cretaceous CoastalBatholith. Its peraluminous ‘S’ type mineralogyand its position suggest recycling of continental crust, whichis commonly thought to be an increasingly important componentin magmas inboard of continental margins. However, the peraluminous,apparent ‘S’ type character of the batholith isan artefact of deformation and uplift along a major crustallineament. The batholith is a metaluminous ‘I’ typeand the dominant high-silica rocks (>70%) are Na rich withmany of the characteristics of subducted oceanic slab melts.However, the position of the batholith and age of the oceaniccrust at the trench during the Miocene preclude slab melting.Instead, partial melting of newly underplated Miocene crustis proposed. In this dynamic model newly underplated basalticmaterial is melted to produce high-Na, low HREE, high-Al ‘trondhjemitic’type melts with residues of garnet, clinopyroxene and amphibole.Such Na-rich magmas are characteristic of thick Andean crust;they are significantly different from typical cole-alkaline,tonalite-grano-diorite magmas, and their presence along thespine of the Andes provokes questions about models of trondhjemitegenesis by melting of subducted oceanic crust, as well as anygeneralized, circum-Pacific model involving consistent isotopicor chemical changes inboard from the trench. KEY WORDS: batholith; modified ‘I’ type granite; Na-rich magma; thick crust ^* Corresponding author.