Specifics of magmatism in marginal continental and marginal-sea pull-apart basins: Western periphery of the Pacific Ocean

Abstract

The paper presents data on pull-apart (synchronous with strike-slip faulting) extensional structures formed in relation to Indo-Eurasian collision and including continental marginal rifts in East Asia and adjacent marginal sea basins. The evolution of Cenozoic pull-apart basins (developing synchronously with strike-slip faulting) in the western surroundings of the Pacific ocean corresponds to a basaltoid sequence in which the onset of rifting and the stage of maximum extension are marked by the first and last members of this sequence that have, respectively, calc-alkaline and tholeiitic depleted composition. The predominance of intermediate members with mixed isotopic-geochemical signatures testifies to the interaction of diverse magmatic melts. The opening of pull-apart basins (including those of marginal sea) was associated with magmatism whose sources were localized, judging from geochemical indicators, in the modified continental lithospheric mantle and depleted asthenosphere. The sources in the lithospheric mantle that was affected by long-lasting metasomatic recycling in the geological past dominated during the initial stages of continental extension and gave way to depleted asthenospheric sources. This model is consistent with the deep structure of the territories: extensional basins correspond to asthenospheric upwelling, with the ascent of asthenospheric diapirs positively correlated with the intensity of extension of the continental lithosphere and the degree of depletion of the accumulated basaltoids. The discovery of widespread calc-alkaline rocks (which are genetically related to the ancient metasomatized lithospheric mantle) in zones of continental rifting and marginal basins of the strike-slip fault nature significantly broadens the compositional range of volcanics typical of extensional geodynamic environments. At the same time, this testifies to the polygeodynamic nature of calc-alkaline volcanics, which can accumulate without any relations with coeval subduction zones.