Zircon U‐Pb Age, Geochemical, and Sr‐Nd‐Pb‐Hf Isotopic Constraints on the Time Frame and Origin of Early Cretaceous Mafic Dykes in the Wuling Mountain Gravity Lineament, South China

Abstract

AbstractIn view of the importance of mafic dyke swarms and their contribution to current scientific problems relating to South China, herein, we present the findings of studies on twenty–five representative mafic dykes cropping out in Hunan Province and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, within the southern Wuling Mountain gravity lineament, China. These results include new zircon LA‐ICP‐MS U‐Pb age, whole rock geochemical, Sr‐Nd‐Pb isotopic, and zircon Hf isotopic data for these dykes. The dykes formed between 131.5 ± 1.2 and 121.6 ± 1.1 Ma, and have typical doleritic textures. They fall into the alkaline and shoshonitic series, are enriched in light rare earth elements (LREE), some large ion lithophile elements (LILE; e.g., Rb, Ba, and Sr), Th, U, and Pb, and are depleted in Nb, Ta, Hf, and Ti. Moreover, the dolerites have high initial 87Sr/86Sr ratios (0.7055–0.7057), negative ∊Nd(t) and zircon ∊Hf(t) values (–14.8 to –11.9, –30.4 to –14.9), and relatively constant initial Pb isotopic ratios (that are EM1‐like, 16.77–16.94, 15.43–15.47, and 36.84–36.92 for 206Pb/204Pb, 207Pb/204Pb, and 208Pb/204Pb, respectively). These results indicate that the dykes were likely derived from magma generated through low‐degree partial melting (1.0%–10%) of an EM1‐like garnet–lherzolite mantle source. The parental magmas fractionated olivine, clinopyroxene, plagioclase, and Ti‐bearing phases with negligible crustal contamination, during ascent and dyke emplacement. Several possible models have been proposed to explain the origin of Mesozoic magmatism along the Wuling Mountain gravity lineament. Herein we propose a reasonable model for the origin of these mafic dykes, involving the collision between the paleo‐Pacific Plate and South China, which led to subsequent lithospheric extension and asthenosphere upwelling, resulting in partial melting the underlying mantle lithosphere in the Early Cretaceous, to form the parental magmas to the WMGL mafic dykes, as studied.