New geochemical constraints for the origin of ridge-subduction-related plutonic and volcanic suites from the Chile Triple Junction (Taitao Peninsula and Site 862, LEG ODP141 on the Taitao Ridge)

Abstract

Several features of Neogene and Quaternary magmatism in the region south of the present-day Chile Triple Junction (CTJ) at 46°12′S are directly related to the migration of the triple junction. Due to the obliquity of the ridge orientation with respect to the subduction front, the triple junction migrated from South to North during the last 14 Ma. The Taitao Peninsula — the westernmost promontory of the Chile coast — and the Taitao Ridge — a submarine promontory north of the Taitao Peninsula — provide the most complete collection of ridge subduction-related magmatic products in the region. The emplacement of near-trench volcanics, the intrusion of a variety of plutonic rocks and the related hydrothermal activity at these two sites have been interpreted as resulting from magma interactions between subducted ridge segments of the Chile spreading centre and the continental crust. We present new field observations and geochemical data that help to better constrain the problem of the sources and evolution of the Taitao magmas. The new geochemical data were obtained on samples collected from the Taitao Peninsula during a field expedition in 1995, and from samples of the Taitao Ridge during Leg ODP141, Site 862, which have been re-sampled in 1996 by one of us. Selected major- and trace-element compositions of 20 volcanic rocks from the Taitao Ridge are discussed together with 53 analyses from different rock types from the Taitao Peninsula including 24 unpublished analyses. Nd and Sr isotopic compositions were obtained from 5 whole rocks and separated minerals of the Taitao Peninsula together with the oxygen isotope composition of four separated clinopyroxenes. Six main magmatic types are identified: (1) N-type MORB; (2) E-type MORB; (3) LREE-depleted MORB showing some trace-element features typical of arc basalts; (4) moderately Nb-depleted E-MORB; (5) calc-alkaline andesites, dacites and rhyolites; and (6) andesites and dacites with adakitic signature. Chemical similarities exist between some forearc magmas of the Taitao Ridge and the Taitao Peninsula and magmas emplaced at the Chile active spreading ridge. One important result, based on isotope data, is that the lavas emplaced over the continental crust (Taitao Peninsula) did not originate from melting of continental crust nor from extensive assimilation of such a crust by mantle-derived magmas. The likely source of these basalts could be the hot convective oceanic mantle of the southern Chile spreading ridge buried at moderate depth (10–30 km).