Southern Louisiana salt dome xenoliths: First glimpse of Jurassic (ca. 160 Ma) Gulf of Mexico crust

Abstract

No direct information about the age and composition of rift-related igneous activity associated with the Late Jurassic opening of the Gulf of Mexico exists because the igneous rocks are deeply buried beneath sediments. Three salt diapirs from southern Louisiana exhume samples of alkalic igneous rocks; these salt domes rise from the base of the sedimentary pile and overlie an isolated magnetic high, which may mark the position of an ancient volcano. Three samples from two domes were studied; they are altered but preserve relict igneous minerals including strongly zoned clinopyroxene (diopside to Ti-augite) and Cr-rich spinel rimmed with titanite. 40 Ar/ 39 Ar ages of 158.6 ± 0.2 Ma and 160.1 ± 0.7 Ma for Ti-rich biotite and kaersutite from two different salt domes are interpreted to represent the time the igneous rock solidifi ed. Trace element compositions are strongly enriched in incompatible trace elements, indicating that the igneous rocks are low-degree melts of metasomatized upper mantle. Isotopic compositions of Nd and Hf indicate derivation from depleted mantle. This information supports the idea that crust beneath southern Louisiana formed as a magma-starved rifted margin on the northern fl ank of the Gulf of Mexico ca. 160 Ma. These results also confi rm that some magnetic highs mark accumulations of mafi c igneous rocks buried beneath thick sediments around the Gulf of Mexico margins.