Neogene basanites in western Kamchatka: Mineralogy,geochemistry, and geodynamic setting

Neogene (N ₁ ² -N ₂ ¹ ?) K-Na alkaline rocks were found in western Kamchatka as a subvolcanic basanite body at Mount Khukhch. The basanites have a microphyric texture with olivine phenocrysts in a fine-grained doleritic groundmass. The olivine contains inclusions of Al-Cr spinel. The microlites consist of clinopyroxene, plagioclase, magnetite, and apatite, and the interstitial phases are leucite, nepheline, and analcime. The Mount Khukhch basanites are characterized by elevated concentrations of MgO, TiO₂, Na₂O, and K₂O, high concentrations of Co, Ni, Cr, Nb, Ta, Th, U, LREE (La_N/Yb_N = 10.8?12.6, Dy_N/Yb_N = 1.4?1.6) at moderate concentrations of Zr, Hf, Rb, Ba, Sr, Pb, and Cu. The values of indicator trace-element ratios suggest that basanites in western Kamchatka affiliate with the group of basaltoids of the within-plate geochemical type: Ba/Nb = 10?12, Sr/Nb = 17?18, Ta/Yb = 1.3?1.6. The basanites of western Kamchatka show many compositional similarities with the Miocene basanites of eastern Kamchatka, basanites of some continental rifts, and basalts of oceanic islands (OIB). The geochemistry of these rocks suggests that the basanite magma was derived via the ～6% partial melting of garnet-bearing peridotite source material. The crystallization temperatures of the first liquidus phases (olivine and spinel) in the parental basanite melt (1372–1369°C) and pressures determined for the conditions of the “mantle” equilibrium of the melt (25–26 kbar) are consistent with the model for the derivation of basanite magma at the garnet depth facies in the mantle. The geodynamic environment in which Neogene alkaline basaltic magmas occur in western Kamchatka was controlled by the termination of the Oligocene—Early Miocene subduction of the Kula oceanic plate beneath the continental margin of Kamchatka and the development of rifting processes in its rear zone. The deep faulting of the lithosphere and decompression-induced magma generation simultaneous with mantle heating at that time could be favorable for the derivation of mantle basite magmas.