Textures, trace element compositions, and U–Pb ages of titanite from the Mangling granitoid pluton, East Qinling Orogen: Implications for magma mixing and destruction of the North China Craton

Abstract

The Mangling granitoid pluton, located along the southern margin of the North China Craton, consists mainly of monzogranite with minor amounts of diorite. The monzogranite contains abundant mafic microgranular enclaves (MMEs) and is intruded by numerous mafic dikes, providing an opportunity to study magma mixing and its role in the formation of the granitioid pluton. In this paper, we present in situ analysis of U–Pb isotopes and trace element compositions of titanite from the MMEs and the host monzogranite using Laser Ablation–Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry to document the role of magma mixing in the formation of the Mangling granitoid pluton. Titanite grains from the MMEs (type 1) are euhedral with patchy zoning, whereas the varieties from the closely associated host monzogranite are euhedral and consist of two types (type 2 and type 3). Type 2 titanite is more abundant and has oscillatory zoning without Fe–Ti oxide inclusions, whereas type 3 grains commonly have Fe–Ti oxide inclusions in the core that is rimmed by inclusion-free overgrowths with weak oscillatory zoning. Titanite from monzogranite without MMEs (type 4) is euhedal and has weak oscillatory zoning, with rare ilmenite inclusions in the core. Titanite from a mafic dike intruding the monzogranite (type 5) is anhedral and has sector zoning. Titanite grains from MMEs and the monzogranite (type 1, 2 and 3) have U–Pb ages that are indistinguishable (149±1Ma, 148±1Ma and 148±2Ma, respectively). These ages agree well with zircon U–Pb ages of 150±1Ma, 150±1Ma and 149±1Ma for the MMEs, host monzogranite, and mafic dike, respectively. The age consistency thus confirms coeval formation of the MMEs, the host monzogranite, and the mafic dikes, demonstrating a mafic magmatic, rather than extraneous or restitic origin for the MMEs.Titanite grains from the MMEs (type 1) and mafic dike (type 5) have much lower Al2O3, REE, Nb/Zr, Y/Zr, and Lu/Hf, but higher (Ce+Nd)/Y and La/Ce ratios compared to those from the monzogranite (type 2 and type 4). These compositional differences suggest that titanite grains from the MMEs and the host monzogranite crystallized from different magmas. Type 3 titanite contains abundant Fe–Ti oxide inclusions and is characterized by dissolution and reprecipitation textures; the composition of its core and rims are comparable to those of type 1 and type 4 titanites, respectively. The compositional variation between the core and rims of the type 3 titanite grains implies that they were re-equilibrated with high temperature mafic magma and then continued to crystallize within the granitic magmas with low fO2. The textural, geochronological, and geochemical data of titanite grains can be best explained in term of mixing of mafic and felsic magmas. We conclude that both the fine-grained MMEs and the host monzogranite are hybrid products of mafic and felsic end-member magmas. When combined with other geological and geochronological data in the North China Craton, our results suggest that the widespread late Jurassic to early Cretaceous granitoid intrusions were generated in an extensional setting related to craton destruction.