New data on the composition of products of quaternary volcanism at the northwestern margin of the South China Sea shelf zone and the problem of asthenospheric diapirism

Abstract

New petrological and isotope–geochemical data are obtained for rocks from the South China Sea shelf zone (Thu, Cu-Lao Re, Hong Jo islands and Katuik–Ile des Cendres island group). These data are correlated with the available published data on the volcanic rocks of the terrestrial part of Vietnam and with data on the basaltoids of the South China Sea, Thailand, and the northern part of Hainan island. Despite the fact that the studied volcanic rocks belong to different structural zones—continental margin, shelf zone, marginal sea—their formation is related to the same type of rift volcanism. Owing to this, the different compositions of the primary magmatic melts indicate, first of all, the heterogeneity of the mantle sources. The uniformity of manifestations of volcanism over the entire studied territory within the age boundaries excludes any zoning at the transition from one structure to another. The leading role of mantle diapirism in the evolution of volcanism throughout the entire Indochina region is shown. It is proposed that the formation of alkaline series and “alkaline” trends of changes in their compositions are consequences of fractionation of melts which originated from an asthenosphere plume chamber. Meanwhile, the tholeiitic magma series are of reactionary origin and “tholeiitic” trends record the processes of mixing of melts generated during melting of the lithospheric mantle with those of a plume chamber. Individual samples show insignificant contamination of melts by crustal material.