Origin of the adakite-high-Nb basalt association and its implications for postsubduction magmatism in Baja California, Mexico

Abstract

Constraining the origin of the adakite–high-Nb basalt (HNB) association in Baja California, Mexico, is critical to a better understanding of global arc magmatism. Currently the preferred explanation for the close spatial and temporal association of the two rock suites is through melting of the basaltic portion of the subducted Farallon-Cocos plate, thus providing support for the slab-melting origin of adakites elsewhere. Moreover, a tectono-magmatic model involving the production of both adakite and HNB from slab melts offers a comprehensive explanation for the origin of the atypical, arc-related, postsubduction magmatism in Baja California. This paper proposes alternative models for the origin of HNB and postsubduction magmatism in Baja California, wherein the unusual geologic setting of western Mexico and westward movement of North America permitted the influx of Pacific asthenosphere beneath the adjacent Gulf of California after the cessation of subduction. Unlike the previous tectono-magmatic model, the new models propose that the asthenosphere provided a direct source for postsubduction tholeiitic and rare alkali magmas that were erupted in Baja California as tholeiites and HNB, respectively. Fractional crystallization of some of the HNB magmas plus assimilation of tholeiitic materials produced Nb-enriched basalts (NEB). The influx of Pacific asthenosphere after the cessation of subduction also provided thermal energy to melt the mafic lower Baja California crust, producing adakite rocks, and the preexist-ing metasomatized mantle wedge, producing bajaites and calc-alkaline magmas.