High Field Strength Element Enrichment of Pliocene--Pleistocene Island Arc Basalts, Zamboanga Peninsula, Western Mindanao (Philippines)

The Pliocene—Pleistocene magmatic activity of the Zamboangaare is linked to the southward subduction of the Oligocene—Mio-ceneSulu Sea back-are basin along the Sulu Trench. The magmaticproducts include small amounts of adakites dated from 3.8 to0.7 Ma, abundant Nb-enriched basalts and basaltic andesites(NEB) dated from 2 to 1 Ma and a lone calc-alkaline potassicbasaltic andesite dated at 0.4 Ma. Three kinds of NEB are distinguished:nearly primitive Mg-rich (MG) basalts displaying positive orno Nb anomalies with respect to adjacent incompatible elementsand more evolved low-K (LK) and calc-alkaline (CA) lavas which,despite their Nb enrichment, display negative Nb anomalies.Although the role of OIB-type mantle components has been advocatedto explain the HFSE enrichment of NEB, the spatial and temporalassociation of these rocks with adakites suggests a petrogeneticlink between them. Trace element characteristics of the NEBimply that amphibole and ilmenite might be present in theirsource. We suggest that these minerals could be added metasomaticallyto the mantle through hybridization by percolating slab melts,during which Nb and Ti are preferentially extracted from theadakitic melts. In an early stage (4–3 Ma) of the subductionof the young and hot Sulu Sea basin crust beneath the Zamboangapeninsula, adakitic liquids formed at depths of 75–85km. A few of them were emplaced at the surface but most wereconsumed through slab melt-mantle metasomatic reactions. Adakiteproduction and emplacement continued later (<2 Ma), whilethe Nb-enriched mantle was brought by convection to depths thatallowed its melting and the subsequent emplacement of NEB behindthe adakitic front of the Zamboanga are. KEY WORDS: adakite; metasomatism; Mindanao; Nb-enriched basalts; subduction ^*Corresponding author. Present address: Mines and Geosciences Bureau, North Avenue, Diliman, 1100 Quezon City, Philippines