CENOZOIC VOLCANIC ROCK SERIES IN SOUTHEASTERN CHINA (II)——TRACE ELEMENT GEOCHEMISTRY

Abstract

On the premise of the sister paper, the trace element geochemistry of Cenozoic volcanic rocks of southeastern China is discussed in detail in this paper. The data presented in this paper indicate that the upper mantle beneath the area studied is enriched in the strongly HYG elements as compared with the chondritic mantle, and that the depth of Cenozoic basaltic magma sources progressively increases from the coast to the inland. The Cenozoic basaltic volcanism has occurred in a geotectonic setting of rifting continental margin; on the contrary, the Mesozoic volcanic rocks are predominated by the felsic volcanics erupting in a geotectonic setting of active continental margin. It can be inferred from the studies of ultramafic inclusion-derived geotherm that the Cenozoic rifting of eastern China continent has been mainly controlled by the thermal mantle diapirism.