Evidence for a high Mg andesitic parental magma to the East and West satellite dykes of the Great Dyke,Zimbabwe: a comparison with the continental tholeiitic Mashonaland sills

One of the most significant mafic intrusive events in the Zimbabwe Craton was the emplacement of the Great Dyke layered ultramafic-mafic complex and its two parallel ‘satellite’ dykes at the end of the Archæan (～2.6 Ga). The two satellite dykes, the East Dyke and the West (Umvimeela) Dyke, were far less affected by crystal accumulation and layering processes than the Great Dyke, and therefore may provide a clearer picture of parental magma compositions of the Great Dyke event. The geochemical character of this major episode of mafic magmatism is markedly different to that of more typical continental tholeiites, such as the ～1.9 Ga Mashonaland sills, and reflects significant contrasts in petrogenetic influences. Despite its mid-continental setting, the parental magma of the satellite dykes had geochemical characteristics more often associated with magmas generated at destructive plate margins, suggesting that the nature of this magma was perhaps more similar to high Mg andesitic, rather than continental tholeiitic magmatism. Fine-grained samples with ～14% MgO perhaps most closely approximate to the parental magma composition. Certain major and trace element concentrations (high MgO, SiO₂, LREE and LILE, and low Nb, Ta and Ti) and the lack of an Fe enrichment trend, suggest that the mafic magma had either suffered severe crustal contamination or had been derived from a metasomatised harzburgitic mantle source.