Geochemistry of rocks in the Anuy metamorphic dome, Sikhote-Alin: Composition of the protoliths and the possible nature of metamorphism

Abstract

The paper presents geological, geochemical, and isotopic data on metamorphic rocks in the Anuy block (dome) in the Northern Sikhote-Alin and the surrounding sedimentary rocks of the Samarka accretionary prism. The geochemistry and isotopic composition of the amphibolite-facies metamorphic rocks (variably migmatized gneisses and crystalline schists) in the Anuy block and unmetamorphosed Jurassic-Cretaceous sediments surrounding the block are proved to be similar. All of them corresponded to the erosion products of the transitional-type crust (mature island arcs and active continental margins), have similar major- and trace-element compositions, and Nd model ages of 1.25–1.4 Ga. The geochemistry and isotopic parameters of metapelites in the Anuy block are principally different from those of analogous rocks in the Khanka Massif (the latter rocks are erosion products of the mature crust and have a Nd model age of 1.7–1.9 Ga). The metabasites, which are found as beds and lenses in gneisses and crystalline schists in the Anuy block and among sedimentary rocks surrounding the block, have a composition corresponding to oceanic basalts of the N- and E-MORB types. Based on the synthesis of geological, geochemical and isotopic data it was suggested that the Anuy block could be not a fragment of the basement of an ancient continent (as was believed previously) but rather a complex of the Early Cretaceous granite-metamorphic core of the Cordilleran type.