Petrology, geochemistry, and tectonic significance of Mesozoic shoshonitic volcanic rocks, Luzong volcanic basin, eastern China

Abstract

We studied the geochemical characteristics of three types of Mesozoic igneous rocks from the Luzong volcanic basin: basaltic trachyandesite at Shuangmiao, pyroxene monzonite at Bajiatan, and quartz-syenite (A-type granite) at Huangmeijian. Based on analyses of whole-rock major elements, all investigated rocks are enriched in K, Na, Ti, Al, but depleted in Ca, representing a shoshonitic series. Trace element analyses show that these rocks are characterized by enrichments of large-ion lithophile elements and high field strength elements. Positive Nb and Ta anomalies in the chondrite-normalized spider diagram indicate that the shoshonitic volcanic rocks share similar features with Nb-enriched basalts, which are different from normal island-arc volcanical rocks (they are typically strongly depleted in Nb and Ta). Bulk-rock chemical compositions and Sr–Nd isotopes indicate that the three types of igneous rocks are geochemically comagmatic, suggesting that the melts were derived from an enriched mantle reservoir. We postulate an extensional tectonic setting for the formation of Luzong volcanic basin, possibly related to subduction of a palaeo-Pacific plate beneath the east Chinese continent during the Yanshanian period (Cretaceous). Therefore, the petrogenetic features of those volcanic rocks as well as A-type granites in the Luzong basin indicate that the regional large-scale Fe–Cu–Au mineralization was associated with oceanic slab melting, but not delamination or recycling of the ancient lower continental crust, as previously proposed.