Diversity of the Palaeoproterozoic granitoids of the Kédougou inlier (eastern Sénégal): Petrographical and geochemical constraints

Abstract

Field, petrographical and geochemical studies of the Palaeoproterozoic granitoids of the Kédougou inlier (Eastern Sénégal) allow to define four compositional types: (i) the Layered Plutonic Complex consisting of sodic calc-alkaline granitoids defining a trend from Opx-, Cpx- and amphibole-bearing layered gabbros to amphibole-bearing tonalite; the latter shows similarities with adakite-like rocks; (ii) amphibole-bearing granitoids with TTG features occurring as composite batholiths and as isolated oval-shaped plutons cross cutting the entire Birimian metavolcanic and metasedimentary formations; (iii) potassic granitoids defining a trend from Opx-, Cpx-bearing gabbros to amphibole-bearing monzodiorite and preferentially emplaced within the calc-alkaline metavolcanites; (iv) peraluminous biotite-bearing granitoids emplaced within the metasediments of the upper part of the Birimian lithostratigraphical pile. The granitoid suites were emplaced within a time interval of about 80 Ma from about 2160 Ma (emplacement of the LPC) to 2080 Ma (emplacement of the youngest plutons such as the amphibole-bearing TTG granitoid or the pyroxene- and K-feldspar-bearing granitoids). The granitoid suites were emplaced in an immature arc environment [Dia, A., Van Schmus, W.R., Kröner, A., 1997. Isotopic constraints on the age and formation of a Palaeoproterozoic volcanic arc complex in the Kedougou inlier, eastern Senegal, West Africa. J. Afr. Earth Sci. 24 (3), 197–213]. Parental magmas were probably derived from the partial melting of a mantle wedge above a subduction zone. Tonalite magmas of distinctive composition were probably produced by partial melting of the subducting slab itself. They could characterize the early stage of the slab-melting, precursor of the TTG magmatism. The close association of calc-alkaline, trondhjemitic and peraluminous granitoids and the successive emplacement of granitoid groups more and more enriched in K 2O recognized in the Kédougou inlier is typical of the Paleoproterozoic granitoid series from West Africa.