Maestrichtian-Danian andesite series of the Eastern Sikhote Alin: Mineralogy, geochemistry, and petrogenetic aspects

Abstract

In the stratigraphic sequence of volcanic rocks in the Eastern Sikhote Alin, Maestrichtian-Danian predominantly andesitic volcanics are characterized by a boundary position between the Late Cretaceous subduction, mostly acid volcanic rocks and Cenozoic post-subduction basaltoids. Data on these rocks are important for elucidating the genesis of andesitic magmas, constraining and specifying the geodynamic evolutionary stages in this territory, and revealing the conditions under which the parental melts of these rocks were derived and evolved. Results of detailed mineralogical and geochemical studies, including ICP-MS analysis for trace elements point to a hybrid character of the andesitic volcanic rocks and an important role of fractional crystallization and crustal contamination in their genesis. Although geological evidence (variations in the style of volcanism, the composition of its products, and the character of their distribution) testifies to a change in the geodynamic environment in the Eastern Sikhote Alin in the Maestrichtian-Danian, geochemically the volcanics of this age range are typical subduction-related rocks with anomalously low concentrations of Nb and high contents of K, Ba, Rb, Pb, and U. The volcanic piles contain no adakites, which are indicators of the geodynamic environment in which slab windows are formed. The inconsistency between geological and geochemical indicators of the geodynamic environment suggests certain genetic features of the transitional magmatic series. The parental magmas of the andesitic volcanics were derived from the suprasubduction mantle wedge, which had been metasomatically recycled in the course of the dehydration and melting of the subducted oceanic slab. The increasing extension provided the possibility for the parental basaltic magmas to enter upper crustal levels, where they could interact with the host rocks and form hybrid andesitic melts.