Carbonatitic metasomatism in orogenic dunites from Lijiatun in the Sulu UHP terrane, eastern China

Abstract

Among orogenic peridotites, dunites suffer the weakest crustal metasomatism at the slab–mantle interface and are the best lithology to trace the origins of orogenic peridotites and their initial geodynamic processes. Petrological and geochemical investigations of the Lijiatun dunites from the Sulu ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) terrane indicate a complex petrogenetic history involving melt extraction and multistage metasomatism (carbonatitic melt and slab-derived fluid). The Lijiatun dunites consist mainly of olivine (Fo=92.0–92.6, Ca=42–115ppm), porphyroblastic orthopyroxene (En=91.8–92.8), Cr-spinel (Cr#=50.4–73.0, TiO2<0.2wt.%) and serpentine. They are characterized by refractory bulk-rock compositions with high MgO (45.31–47.07wt.%) and Mg# (91.5–91.9), and low Al2O3 (0.48–0.70wt.%), CaO (0.25–0.44wt.%) and TiO2 (<0.03wt.%) contents. Whole-rock platinum group elements (PGE) are similar to those of cratonic mantle peridotites and Re–Os isotopic data suggest that dunites formed in the early Proterozoic (~2.2Ga). These data indicate that the Lijiatun dunites were the residues of ~30% partial melting and were derived from the subcontinental lithospheric mantle (SCLM) beneath the North China craton (NCC). Subsequent carbonatitic metasomatism is characterized by the formation of olivine-rich (Fo=91.6–92.6, Ca=233–311ppm), clinopyroxene-bearing (Mg#=95.9–96.7, Ti/Eu=104–838) veins cutting orthopyroxene porphyroblasts. Based on the occurrence of dolomite, mass-balance calculation and thermodynamic modeling, carbonatitic metasomatism had occurred within the shallow SCLM (low-P and high-T conditions) before dunites were incorporated into the continental subduction channel. These dunites then suffered weak metasomatism by slab-derived fluids, forming pargasitic amphibole after pyroxene. This work indicates that modification of the SCLM beneath the eastern margin of the NCC had already taken place before the Triassic continental subduction. Orogenic peridotites derived from such a lithospheric mantle wedge may be heterogeneously modified prior to their incorporation into the subduction channel, which would set up a barrier for investigation of the mass transfer from the subducted crust to the mantle wedge through orogenic peridotites.