Rodingites in the Darbut Ophiolitic Mélange, West Junggar: New Insights into Rodingitization and Tectonic Evolution

Abstract

The Darbut ophiolitic mélange is located in the central West Junggar area, southwestern Central Asian Orogenic Belt (CAOB), and rodingites are widespread within serpentinized peridotites in the mélange. Here, we conducted field, structural, mineralogical, and geochemical investigations of the Darbut rodingites for the first time to constrain their metasomatic processes. Rodingites usually occur as strongly sheared blocks surrounded by chloritic blackwall, and their preferred axial surface orientations are subparallel to the serpentinite foliations. Based on the petrology and geochemistry of these metasomatic rocks, two stages of metasomatic processes, namely rodingitization and derodingitization, were recognized: (1) rodingitization of gabbroic protolith was characterized by the input of Ca and the release of Si, K, Na, and LILE; this stage was related to the diapiric emplacement of the Darbut ophiolitic mélange in the Late Carboniferous; and (2) derodingitization of rodingites led to the replacement of Ca-rich minerals by chlorite, accompanied by Mg increase, and depletions of Ca and REE; the derodingitization stage occurred under enhanced CO2/H2O ratio conditions and was likely associated with regional postcollision volcanism in the Early Permian. Hence, the rodingite in the Darbut ophiolitic mélange provides important fingerprints recording the tectonic evolution.