Petrology and U-Pb Zircon Geochronology of Amphibole-rich Cumulates with Sanukitic Affinity from Husky Ridge (Northern Victoria Land, Antarctica): Insights into the Role of Amphibole in the Petrogenesis of Subduction-related Magmas

A microanalytical trace element and geochronological study wascarried out on mafic amphibole-rich cumulates (quartz diorites)cropping out in northern Victoria Land (Antarctica). Associatedtonalites and basement rocks were also investigated. Rock texturesand major and trace element mineral compositions reveal thepresence in quartz diorites of two mineral assemblages: (1)clinopyroxene-I + brown amphibole ± dark mica; (2) clinopyroxene-II+ green amphibole + plagioclase + quartz. Both mineral assemblagescontain mafic phases with elevated Mg-number, but their traceelement signatures differ significantly. In situ U–Pbzircon geochronology was carried out to support petrogeneticand geological interpretations. Quartz diorites were emplacedin the mid-crust probably at 516 ± 3 Ma. Parental meltsof quartz diorites were computed by applying solid/liquid partitioncoefficients. The melt in equilibrium with the first mineralassemblage (melt-I) is extremely depleted in heavy rare earthelements (HREE), Y, Ti, Zr and Hf (at about 0·2 timesnormal mid-ocean ridge basalt) and enriched in B, Th, U, thelarge ion lithophile elements and light REE (LREE). It sharesmany similarities with sanukitic melts (e.g. Setouchi andesites),which originated by equilibration of subduction-derived sedimentmelts with a refractory mantle. The melt in equilibrium withthe second mineral assemblage (melt-II) is characterized bya steep LREE enrichment (La_N/Yb_N up to 39), a U-shaped HREEpattern and low Ti, which is depleted relative to HREE. Thetrace element signature of melt-II can be acquired through amphibolecrystallization starting from a sanukitic melt similar to melt-I,probably in a deeper magma chamber. Our results allow us toconstrain that melts from the subducted slab were produced ona regional scale, in accordance with literature data, belowa large sector of the east Gondwana margin during the mid-Cambrian.Implications for the role of amphibole in petrogenesis of subduction-relatedmagmas are also discussed. KEY WORDS: amphibole; sanukite; high-Mg andesites; Ross Orogeny; Antarctica     

Geochronology of Pliocene volcanism in the Dzhavakheti Highland (the Lesser Caucasus). Part 1: Western part of the Dzhavakheti Highland

Isotopic-geochronological study of the Pliocene magmatic activity in western part of the Dzhavakheti Highland (northwestern region of the Lesser Caucasus) is carried out. The results obtained imply that the Pliocene magmatic activity lasted in this part of the highland approximately 2 million years from 3.75 to 1.75–1.55 Ma. As is established, the studied volcanic rocks correspond in composition mostly to K-Na subalkaline and more abundant normal basalts. Time constraints of main phases in development of basic volcanism within the study region are figured out. We assume that individual pulses of silicic to moderately silicic volcanism presumably took place in the Dzhavakheti Highland about 3.2 and 2.5 Ma ago.     

The Humphrey Head Borehole: Evidence for Carboniferous vulcanicity and Permian dolomitization in the southern Lake District

In south Cumbria, Permo-Triassic breccias and conglomerates (‘brockram’) are exposed only at Rougholme Point on the Cartmel peninsula. In 1973 the Institute of Geological Sciences Humphrey Head borehole penetrated 257 m of brockram before entering probable Upper Carboniferous sediments. The brockram consists of pebbles of carbonate, chert and basalt in a matrix of haematite-stained quartz sand. Carbonate and chert fragments were derived from the upper part of the Carboniferous Limestone sequence exposed today nearby. Basalt clasts were derived from lavas, which appear to have cooled in a subaqueous environment, at least in part. They were locally derived and are the only certain evidence for Carboniferous volcanic activity in south Cumbria. As volcanic fragments increase in abundance towards the base of the borehole they must have been derived from the top of the succession being eroded and are probably of Brigantian age. Carbonate fragments were dolomitized soon after incorporation in the brockram, probably by saline fluids derived from the evaporative Zechstein Sea. The dolomitization was incomplete, leaving remnant limestone cores to clasts which were subsequently dissolved. The resultant vugs were infilled by dolomite, calcite and gypsum cements, which have been partially weathered from outcropping brockram, leaving hollow pebbles.     

桐庐Ⅰ型和相山S型两类碎斑熔岩对比

以浙西桐庐I型和赣东北相山S型碎斑熔岩为代表,对两类不同成因的火山-侵入杂岩进行了系统对比。桐庐I型具有相对贫SiO_2(<68％)、相对富Na_2O、贫K_2O(Na_2O/K_2O>0.78)、低的Rb/Sr(<0.9)和I_(Sr)(t)值(0.7060)以及高的ε_(Nd)(t)(>-6.0)等特征,表明源区为基性变质火成岩;相山S型含岩浆结晶的富铝矿物石榴石和红柱石,具有相对富SiO_2(2>68％)、低的Na_2O/K_2O(<0.78)、高的Rb/Sr(>0.9)和I_(Sr)(t)值(>0.7100)以及低的ε_(Nd)(t)值(<-6.0)等特怔,其源区为变质沉积岩。     

塞浦路斯的超镁铁质熔岩——太古代科马提质玄武岩的类似物

塞浦路斯特罗多斯蛇绿岩套上部枕状熔岩中见有超镁铁质枕状熔岩的小型孤立体。一般可分为细粒、无斑隐晶质到含少量橄榄石斑晶的和细粒,含大量橄榄石斑晶的两种。橄榄石斑晶为自形—半自形,或空心骸晶,粒径0.1—3毫米,最大可达5毫米左右,成分为Fo_(37-91)。分布于玻璃基质中的普通辉石呈针状、束状(扇形集合体)和骸状,晶体长0.3—1.5毫米,宽仅0.04—0.06毫米,具典型的鬣刺结构。超镁铁质熔岩的MgO含量为10—30%,Mg/Mg+Fe~(2+)均在0.8左右,CaO/A1_2O_3为0.8—1.5,多在0.8左右,TiO_2平均含量为0.32%。稀土元素配分模式属轻稀土亏损,重稀土平坦型。以上特征表明把它们称为科马提质玄武岩是合适的。     

Stratigraphy and geochemistry of pillow basalts within the ophiolitic mélange of the Izmir–Ankara–Erzincan suture zone: implications for the geotectonic character of the northern branch of Neotethys

The Izmir-Ankara-Erzincan suture zone of Turkey is a broad zone of ophiolitic mélange containing numerous fragmented blocks ranging in age from Triassic to Cretaceous. Stratigraphic sequences for various mélange units are compared, together with the geochemistry of associated basaltic pillow lavas of Cretaceous age. A review of geochemical data for the pillow lavas demonstrate: (a) a dominant group of alkalic basalts with enriched incompatible elements, variable Zr/Y and Zr/Nb ratios, and (b) a range of tholeiitic basalts with slightly depleted to mildly enriched (normalized) rare earth patterns, (La/Yb)_N 0.4-3.0, and generally low Zr/Y ratios. The alkalic basalts can be chemically matched to Pacific Ocean seamounts, although the close association of red radiolarites and cherts suggests that many basalts represent the margins of such structures, rather than the main seamount edifice. Nd-Sr isotope data are typical for ocean island basalts and represent an admixture of a dominant EM-1 source and a depleted MORB-like source. Enhanced δ¹⁸O compositions are a consequence of submarine alteration and not crustal contamination. Tholeiitic compositions have affinities with both N- and E-type MORB, although most are probably representative of tholeiitic ocean islands. Overall the basalts are mainly representative of structures built on the ocean floor, rather than the oceanic crust itself, being scraped off the subducting crust and preserved in the mélange of the accretionary wedge.     

High-Mg potassic rocks from Taiwan: implications for the genesis of orogenic potassic lavas

Taiwan is an active mountain belt formed by oblique collision between the Luzon arc and the Asian continent. Regardless of the ongoing collision in central and southern Taiwan, a post-collisional extension regime has developed since the Plio–Pleistocene in the northern part of this orogen, and led to generation of the Northern Taiwan Volcanic Zone. Emplaced at 0.2 Ma in the southwest of the Volcanic Zone, lavas from the Tsaolingshan volcano are highly magnesian (MgO≈15 wt.%) and potassic (K₂O≈5 wt.%; K₂O/Na₂O≈1.6–3.0). Whereas these basic rocks (SiO₂≈48 wt.%) have relatively low Al₂O₃≈12 wt.%, total Fe₂O₃≈7.5 wt.% and CaO≈7.2 wt.%, they are extremely enriched in large ion lithophile elements (LILE, e.g. Cs, Rb, Ba, Th and U). The Rb and Cs abundances, >1000 and 120 ppm, respectively, are among the highest known from terrestrial rocks. In addition, these rocks are enriched in light rare earth elements (LREE), depleted in high field strength elements (HFSE), and display a positive Pb spike in the primitive mantle-normalized variation diagram. Their REE distribution patterns mark with slight Eu negative anomalies (Eu/Eu*≈0.90–0.84), and Sr and Nd isotope ratios are uniform (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr≈0.70540–0.70551; ¹⁴³Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd≈0.51268–0.51259). Olivine, the major phenocryst phase, shows high Fo contents (90.4±1.8; 1σ deviation), which are in agreement with the whole rock Mg-values (83–80). Spinel inclusions in olivine are characterized by high Cr/Cr+Al ratios (0.94–0.82) and have compositions similar to those from boninites that originate from highly refractory peridotites. Such petrochemical characteristics are comparable to the Group I ultrapotassic rocks defined by Foley et al. [Earth-Sci. Rev. 24 (1987) 81], such as orogenic lamproites from central Italy, Span and Tibet. We therefore suggest that the Tsaolingshan lavas resulted from a phlogopite-bearing harzburgitic source in the lithospheric mantle that underwent a recent metasomatism by the nearby Ryukyu subduction zone processes. The lavas exhibit unique incompatible trace element ratios, with Rb/Cs≈8, Ba/Rb≈1, Ce/Pb≈2, Th/U≈1 and Nb/U≈0.8, which are significantly lower than the continental crust values and those of most mantle-derived magmas. Nonmagmatic enrichment in the mantle source is therefore required. Based on published experimental data, two subduction-related metasomatic components, i.e., slab-released hydrous fluid and subducted sediment, are proposed, and the former is considered to be more pervasive for causing the extraordinary trace element ratios observed. Our observations lend support to the notion that dehydration from subducting slabs at convergent margins, as a continuing process through geologic time, can account for the fractionation of these elemental pairs between the Earth's crust and mantle.