Sr, Nd and Pb isotopic compositions of calc-alkaline and peralkaline silicic volcanics from the D'Entrecasteaux Islands, Papua New Guinea, and their tectonic significance

Abstract

Sr, Nd and Pb isotope data are presented for a transitional basalt-peralkaline rhyolite suite, and spatially associated calc-alkaline rhyolites from the D'Entrecasteaux Islands, eastern Papua New Guinea. Both suites have a typical convergent margin geochemical signature (i.e. high Zr/Nb, La/Nb, and low Ta/Yb compared with OIB). The transitional basalt-peralkaline rhyolite suite and calc-alkaline rhyolites have a restricted range of206Pb/204Pb (18.522–18.661),207Pb/204Pb (15.543–15.631), and208Pb/204Pb (38.31–38.63) values which overlap the fields of volcanics from Tonga, Fiji, and Pacific MORB and sediments. The transitional basalt-peralkaline rhyolite suite also displays a restricted range of143Nd/144Nd values (0.513053–0.512984), but a much broader range of87Sr/86Sr (0.703989–0.70585) values. The latter reflects uncertainties in the ages of samples with very high87Rb/86Sr values and the effects of Sr exchange with seawater. The calc-alkaline rhyolites have consistently lower143Nd/144Nd values (0.512923—0.512867), and a more restricted range of87Sr/86Sr values (0.703864–0.704028) compared with the transitional basalt-peralkaline rhyolite suite. The isotopic and trace element data are consistent with the interpretation that the calc-alkaline rhyolites were produced by partial melting of a young arc protocrust, whereas associated calc-alkaline basic and intermediate magmas were derived from a depleted mantle source which previously had been modified by subduction along the Trobriand Trough. The transitional basalt-peralkaline rhyolite suite was produced by extensive magmatic differentiation of a parental transitional basalt magma in a relatively shallow magma chamber. The parent magma was produced by partial melting of either a depleted MORB-source mantle or a less-depleted OIB-type source which previously had been modified by subduction processes. The hy- and ol-normative transitional basalt magmas were probably generated in response to lithospheric thinning at somewhat higher pressures than qz-normative calc-alkaline magmas. The close spatial and temporal relationship between the transitional basalt-peralkaline rhyolite suite and the tale-alkaline volcanics reflects the complex and dynamic tectonic setting of eastern Papua and the D'Entrecasteaux Islands. In particular, the change from calc-alkaline to alkaline magmatism appears to have occurred following a change from compressional to extensional tectonics resulting from the westward propogation of the Woodlark spreading ridge into eastern Papua.