The Middle Paleozoic Magmatism of the Central Tuvinian Trough (Eastern Altai–Sayan Fold Area): Petrogenesis, Tectonics, and Geodynamics

Abstract

Abstract —The Tuvinian trough is one of the large grabens of the rift system formed in the Devonian–Carboniferous in the eastern part of the Altai–Sayan fold area. Based on the results of comprehensive studies, the age was refined, and the geochemical features of igneous rocks formed during two stages of tectonic and magmatic activity within the Tuvinian trough were studied. In the Early Devonian (397 Ma, Emsian), at the stage of the initiation of the Tuvinian trough in the stretching setting, the volcanic and subvolcanic rocks of the Kendei Formation formed, which make a bimodal series. The Early Devonian igneous rocks of mafic composition have geochemical features of both intraplate (low values of Mg#, high contents of K2O (up to 2.9 wt.%) and TiO2 (up to 2.2 wt.%), and enrichment in LREE relative to HREE) and suprasubductional (enrichment in Pb and Sr and depletion in Ta and Nb) formations and are characterized by high values of εNd(T) (+5.9 to +8.0). They are assumed to have formed from a mixed source including the depleted mantle and components modified by subduction. The Early Devonian felsic volcanic rocks, which are the extreme member of the bimodal sequence, also combine the geochemical features of rocks of intraplate (high Fe, low Sr, P, and Ti contents, Zr and Hf enrichment) and island arc (Ta and Nb depletion) origin. These rocks with εNd(T) values from +4.0 to +7.0 resulted from the melting of a heterogeneous source corresponding in composition to the lower continental crust. In the Middle Devonian–early Carboniferous (390–350 Ma), the Tuvinian rift trough evolved into a mature stage, at which the mafic rocks of the Torgalyk complex were intruded. The Middle Devonian–early Carboniferous mafic rocks are similar in isotope and geochemical characteristics, including the Nd isotopic composition (εNd(T) = +6.7), to the Early Devonian formations. In contrast to the Early Devonian rockes, the magmas for the Middle Devonian–early Carboniferous mafic rocks were generated a relatively homogeneous mantle source without significant metasomatic transformations, the features of which are better manifested in the Kendei rocks.