Early Miocene lamproite from the Colorado Plateau tectonic province, Southeastern Utah, USA

Newly discovered olivine phlogopite lamproite dikes intrude Jurassic siliciclastic strata in the Green River Desert subregion of the western Colorado Plateau tectonic province in southeastern Utah. The dikes yield an age of 22 Ma both from ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar step-heating of phlogopite and from isochron modeling of laser-fused sanidine. This age is similar to those of mica-rich minettes and melanephelinites of the Wasatch Plateau about 125 km northwest and within the age range of the Navajo potassic volcanic field about 150 km to the southeast. The dikes intruded a pre-existing, northwest-oriented fracture system containing previously introduced bitumen, indicating that some regional lineaments of this trend are Early Miocene or older. The dikes are highly LREE-enriched, and display lamproite-specific REE ratios and phlogopite and sanidine compositions. Incompatible element and radiogenic isotope (Nd–Sr–Pb) ratios suggest that lithospheric source material modified by ancient subduction processes, together with younger asthenospheric source components, produced the melt. Timing of the intrusion coincides with the transition from Early–Middle Cenozoic, calc-alkaline plutonism to the dominantly mafic, Basin and Range type volcanism of the Late Cenozoic. While the lamproite occurrence indicates thermal input from the mantle, model non-uniqueness for both magma source depths and geophysical structure prevents quantitative comparison of Early Miocene with present-day lithospheric thickness.