Discovery of Ultra‐Depleted Melt Inclusion in Late Cretaceous Intracontinental Basaltic Andesites in South China: Implications for Recycling of Lower Oceanic Crust

Abstract

AbstractIncompatible element ultra‐depleted melt (UDM) has occasionally been found as olivine‐hosted inclusion in plume‐related oceanic island basalts and mid‐oceanic ridge basalts and is genetically linked with the involvement of lower oceanic gabbroic crust. However, it has rarely been reported in intracontinental magmatism, and the contribution of such a recycled component to the origin of intracontinental magmas remains unclear. Here, we first report UDM inclusions hosted in olivine from Late Cretaceous intracontinental basaltic andesites in South China. These UDM inclusions are characterized by low SiO2 (46.4–47.9 wt%) and extremely high Al2O3 (18.47–21.79 wt%) contents, positive Sr‐Eu anomalies, and low 207Pb/206Pb and 208Pb/206Pb ratios. Such geochemical features resemble those of high‐pressure melts derived from young lower oceanic gabbro. These results, in combination with geochemical modeling, plate reconstruction, and seismic topography, suggest that tearing or fragmentation of the subducted paleo‐Pacific slab during Late Cretaceous may trigger melting of the refractory lower oceanic cumulates. Our results demonstrate that lower oceanic gabbroic crust could also play an important role in the generation of intracontinental magmatism, which may previously have been underestimated.