Origin of the Late Cretaceous syenite from Yandangshan, SE China, constrained by zircon U–Pb and Hf isotopes and geochemical data

Abstract

The Yandangshan syenite is a representative Late Cretaceous igneous pluton cropping out in SE China. U–Pb zircon dating using LA‐ICP‐MS yielded a crystallization age of 98±1 Ma for the syenite. Petrographically and geochemically of shoshonitic affinity, it is enriched in LREE and LILE, and has a pronounced Nb–Ta trough in the primitive mantle‐normalized trace element spider diagram. Zircon εHf(t) values vary from −3.04 to −7.71, displaying a unimodal distribution. The syenite also has high Sr [(87Sr/86Sr) i = 0.7086–0.7089], low Nd [εNd(t) = −6.57 to −7.64] isotopic ratios, plotting in the enriched mantle field on an εNd(t) versus (87Sr/86Sr) i diagram. We propose that the Yandangshan syenite was generated by pyroxene‐dominated high‐pressure fractional crystallization from basaltic magma that was derived from an enriched mantle source. Although coexisting Yandangshan rhyolites have Sr–Nd isotopic compositions similar to the Yandangshan syenite, they were not derived from the same source. Instead, the rhyolitic magma was produced by partial melting of crustal materials as a result of the underplating of basaltic magma. The crust‐like Sr–Nd–Hf isotopic signature of the Yandangshan syenite is ascribed to mantle sources that were enriched by subducted sediments. Formation of Yandangshan syenite may represent roll‐back of the subducting palaeo‐Pacific plate and migration of the arc front to the Yandangshan area at ∼98 Ma.