Possible partial melting and production of felsic melt in a Jurassic oceanic plateau of the Izanagi Plate: Insights from 159 Ma plagiogranites from northern Japan

Abstract

ABSTRACT A small tonalite – dacite body has been discovered in the Nakanogawa Group, Hidaka Belt, northern Japan, which is a Palaeogene subduction complex formed in the palaeo-Japan trench along the northeastern margin of Eurasia. The tonalites are characterized by extremely low K2O (0.2–0.3 wt.%) and relatively flat chondrite-normalized rare earth element patterns (La/Yb[N] ~2.3), similar to plagiogranites in ophiolites. The major-and trace-element characteristics are consistent with low-pressure partial melting of oceanic crust outside the garnet stability field. Zircon U – Pb dating of the tonalite yielded a weighted-mean 206Pb/238U age of 159.1 ± 1.6 Ma. Late Jurassic oceanic plateau-type basaltic rocks with a small amount of plagiogranitic rocks are distributed sporadically in subduction complexes along the palaeo-Japan arc – trench system. A similar zircon U – Pb age (151.6 ± 1.8 Ma) has been reported for greenstone in the Cretaceous subduction complex along the palaeo-Kuril arc – trench system. The tonalite – dacite block was probably derived from the subduction complex at the junction of the palaeo-Japan and -Kuril arc – trench systems. Thus, the greenstones and the tonalite body were likely part of a large oceanic plateau, which formed at the Izanagi – Pacific–Farallon ridge triple junction during the Late Jurassic – Early Cretaceous.