The imprint of subduction fluids on subducted MORB-derived melts (Sierra del Convento Mélange, Cuba)

Abstract

Major and trace element signatures and Sr–Nd–Pb isotope data for muscovite (Ms)-bearing amphibolite blocks and associated muscovite-bearing trondhjemite and quartz-muscovite rocks from the Sierra del Convento mélange (eastern Cuba) indicate that Proto-Caribbean oceanic crust underwent wet partial melting processes during Mesozoic subduction and after accretion to the upper plate. Trace element normalized patterns of Ms-bearing amphibolites are enriched in light rare earth elements (LREE) and large-ion lithophile elements (LILE) and evidence variable trace element transfer from the Proto-Caribbean subducting slab to the mantle wedge. Ms-bearing trondhjemites show LREE enrichment and HREE depletion and have geochemical features similar to adakites, including SiO 2 > 56 wt.%, high Na 2O contents (5.5–9.0 wt.%) and high Sr/Y (16–644). We consider that the trondhjemites represent primary and natural melts formed by deep partial melting of the subducting slab which did not significantly react with the mantle wedge before intrusion in the subduction channel. The Ms-bearing trondhjemites show different geochemical and petrological signatures compared with the Ms-free tonalites–trondhjemites from Sierra del Convento, that are interpreted as primary slab melts. These differences support the idea that partial melting processes in the Sierra del Convento subduction channel were triggered by the infiltration of fluids derived from three distinct subducted sources: sediments, altered mid-ocean ridge basalts (MORB), and serpentinites. In this scenario, the pegmatitic quartz-muscovite rocks, which are highly enriched in LILE, probably represent the crystallization products of fluids derived by differentiation of the trondhjemitic melts.