Crustal Section Research Articles

Forearc magmatic evolution during subduction initiation: Insights from an Early Cretaceous Tibetan ophiolite and comparison with the Izu-Bonin-Mariana forearc

Abstract Subduction initiation is a key process in the operation of plate tectonics. Our understanding of melting processes and magmatic evolution during subduction initiation has largely been developed from studies of the Izu-Bonin-Mariana forearc. Many suprasubduction zone ophiolites are analogous to the Izu-Bonin-Mariana forearc sequence. However, whether there are differences between Izu-Bonin-Mariana subduction initiation sequences and suprasubduction zone ophiolites remains unclear. Here, we report field geological, geochemical, and geochronological data from mafic and felsic rocks in the Xigaze ophiolite (southern Tibet) mantle and crustal section; the same types of published data from both this ophiolite and the Izu-Bonin-Mariana forearc are compiled for comparison. The ophiolite section is intruded by various late-stage dikes, including gabbroic pegmatite, diabase, basalt, and plagiogranite. The compositions of clinopyroxene and amphibole suggest that gabbroic pegmatite formed from hydrous high-SiO2 depleted melts, while whole-rock compositions of basaltic and diabase dikes show negative Nb and Ta anomalies, suggesting flux melting of depleted mantle. Along with the mafic rocks, plagiogranite has a roughly constant content of La and Yb with increasing SiO2 contents, implying hydrous melting of mafic amphibolite. Early-stage pillow basalts exhibit geochemical affinities with Izu-Bonin-Mariana forearc basalts, but they are slightly enriched. Synthesized with the regional geological setting and compared with Izu-Bonin-Mariana forearc magmatism, we propose that the transition from mid-ocean ridge basalt–like lavas to subduction-related mafic and felsic dikes records an Early Cretaceous subduction initiation event on the southern flank of the Lhasa terrane. However, the mantle sources and the magmatic evolution in the Xigaze ophiolite are more variable than those for the Izu-Bonin-Mariana forearc.

Zircon stability grids in crustal partial melts: implications for zircon inheritance

Zircon inheritance is a common phenomenon in igneous rocks, although more frequent in granitoids. Zircons inherited from granite magmas mostly come from the source, not from wall rocks or xenoliths. Consequently, they can provide invaluable information about the source materials, melting temperature, and melt segregation conditions. Miller et al. (Geology 31:529–532, 2003) divided granite rocks according to their zircon saturation temperature (TZr) into “hot” (TZr > 800 °C, with little or no inherited zircon) and “cold” (TZr < 800 °C; with abundant inherited zircon). Nevertheless, we have found that coeval and neighboring two-mica granites with TZr < 750 °C, presumably derived from similar sources, may have a radically different inheritance, from about 95 to near 0%. This paper aims to understand the reasons for these differences, in particular, and the survival of source zircons in granitoids, in general. To this end, we modeled the relationships between source composition, temperature, pressure, water content, zircon solubility, and melt fraction, on one hand; and melt production and zircon solution rates, on the other hand. Our results foresee that zircon survival during crustal melting is more probable if the source is a fertile peraluminous metasedimentary rock than if it is a metaluminous source with similar SiO2. Elevated zircon inheritance is characteristic of mid-crustal S-type, water-rich granite magmas generated within 4.5 and 6 kbar. Moderate or no inheritance is characteristic of water-poor granite magmas, because their sources require higher temperatures to produce the same melt fraction. Fast melt extraction does not cause perceptible effects on our models, because melt generation is slower than zircon dissolution, except in the case of crustal underplating by hot mafic magmas. We propose to refine the “hot” and “cold” classification by splitting the “cold” granites (TZr < 800 °C) into two categories, “dry” with little inheritance and “wet” with a very high zircon inheritance. Wet granites require a source water-fluxed from outside. They are characteristic of mid-crustal anatectic complexes with highly fertile gneisses alternating with unfertile mica-rich metapelites. We suggest that the extra water should come in most cases from dehydration reactions in the unfertile metasedimentary rocks beneath the crustal section undergoing anatexis.

Petrology and tectonic evolution of late Paleozoic mafic-ultramafic sequences and the Leones Pluton of the Eastern Andean Metamorphic Complex (46-47°S), southern Chile

The metamorphosed mafic-ultramafic sequences of the Eastern Andean Metamorphic Complex outcropping in the Patagonian Andes are critical to disclose the late Paleozoic tectonic evolution of the southwestern margin of Gondwana. In the study area, mafic-ultramafic bodies are thrusted onto polydeformed metasedimentary rocks and intruded by the mid-Carboniferous composite Leones Pluton. The metabasalts (mostly tremolite-chlorite schists and amphibolites) show N-MORB and BABB chemical affinities pointing that formed part of an oceanic crustal section with components of the marginal basin, emplaced after the main pulse of Devonian arc magmatism, possibly in a retreating convergent margin. Interleaved serpentinites consist of serpentine polymorphs (antigorite, lizardite, and late chrysotile) and magnetite, with variably distributed minor amounts of chlorite, tremolite, and traces of ilmenite. Serpentinites have high Cr, Ni, Ti, and Yb contents, and show slightly enriched LREE and flat HREE patterns with a noticeable Eu positive anomaly. Mineralogical and geochemical features indicate that olivine-rich clinopyroxene-spinel-bearing peridotites were metamorphosed in a newly formed east-dipping subduction zone. The closure of the marginal basin continued with the tectonic underthrusting and tectonic juxtaposition of mafic-ultramafic rocks within an accretionary wedge. The tectonic cycle of the oceanic basin finished with the intrusion of mid-Carboniferous subduction-related plutons and pluton-driven thermal metamorphism.

Rock probes and seismic methods to constrain the structure, composition and evolution of the deep crust beneath North China Block

<p indent="0mm">Deep continental crust archives critical information on the bulk crustal composition as well as its formation. It is commonly the inherent zone for complex crust-mantle interaction. Unlike the shallow crust, the deep crust is generally inaccessible for direct geological sampling. Instead, knowledge of the deep crust can be obtained from a combination study of geophysical techniques and “lithoprobe” (deep crustal fragments entrained in magmatic outcrops). Wide-angle reflection/refraction seismic profiles have the highest resolution on crustal velocity structure and provide information on the averaged present-day nature of large deep crust domains; “lithoprobe”, instead, give detailed information of locality-specific deep crustal sections through determining the physical and chemical properties, dating the formation and alteration ages and constraining the melting and equilibration depths of the xenoliths. Here, the two methodologies are integrated to constrain the crustal structure on the North China Block. The seismic crustal structure model of the block is compiled from all available seismic wide-angle reflection/refraction profiles and receiver function results. The model parameters include Moho depth, <italic>V</italic>p velocity and thicknesses for four crustal layers (sedimentary cover, and the upper, middle and lower crust). The crust as a whole is thin (&lt; <sc>36 km)</sc> in the eastern part relative to the western part <sc>(38−44 km).</sc> In addition, the crust is shown to have a thick upper and middle crust and a relatively thin (typically <sc>&lt;5 km)</sc> lower mafic crust; no spatial variations in average crustal <italic>V</italic>p velocity and densities are observed. The average crustal <italic>V</italic>p and density for the whole North China Block are <sc>6.33−6.37 km/s</sc> and <sc>2.72−2.78 g/cm³,</sc> respectively. The overall absence of high P-wave velocity layer and the relatively low average <italic>V</italic>p and density indicate that the block has an intermediate to felsic bulk crustal composition. In contrast, regional crustal xenoliths include mafic to felsic granulites and amphibolites and rare eclogite xenoliths (e.g., Xinyang and Xuhuai), indicating the presence of thick lower crust (e.g., <sc>&gt;45 km)</sc> at that time. Meanwhile, mafic xenoliths in Hannuoba and Nüshan show strong mafic underplating at the lower crust in the Meso-Cenozoic while no high-velocity layer is shown in the seismic crustal model. These inconsistences can be explained by the fact that the two methodologies tap the crustal information at different timeslices and dimensions and be complementary to understand the chemical and physical structure of the deep crust. Therefore, the combination study of petrological and geochemical of the crustal xenoliths and geophysical observations can provide essential information on making and destroying the deep continental crust through time.

Cooling history of the Biella pluton and implication for Oligocene to Miocene tectonics of the Sesia-Lanzo Zone, Austroalpine, Western Alps

ABSTRACT We present new emplacement constrains for the Biella pluton within the eclogitic Sesia-Lanzo Zone, western Austroalpine domain. This zone, with the autochthon andesitic cover, is separated from the Southalpine Ivrea Zone by the western Periadriatic Line. Thermobarometry indicates 710 and 750°C, and 0.9 and 2.3 kbar for the final pluton emplacement that accomplished at depths between 3 and 8.5 km. Soon after the emplacement, the pluton was affected by hydrothermal circulations at a progressively lower temperature. By 3D modelling, surface and volume distribution of emplacement pressure and temperature are retrieved, and isobaric surfaces are interpolated. The orientation of isobaric surfaces indicates a post-intrusive southeastward rotation of 69 ± 5° about an N 35° trending axis. These results match palaeomagnetic studies on andesites and are consistent with the pluton feeding part of the andesite lava flows. According to the updated pluton emplacement conditions and recent fission track data, we suggest that: (i) the crustal section above the pluton consisted mostly of the andesites; (ii) before 26 Ma the andesites experienced first a depositional and then a tectonic burial during rotation; (iii) between 24 and 19 Ma uplift by back-thrusting with on-going rotation started; (iv) the rotation lasted at least until 16–12 Ma.

U–Pb ages of zircons from metamorphic rocks in the upper sequence of the Hidaka Metamorphic Belt, Hokkaido, Japan: Identification of two metamorphic events and implications for regional tectonics

AbstractThe Hidaka Metamorphic Belt is a well‐known example of island‐arc crustal section, in which metamorphic grade increases westwards from unmetamorphosed sediment up to granulite facies. It is divided into lower (granulite to amphibolite facies) and upper (amphibolite to greenschist facies) metamorphic sequences. The metamorphic age of the belt was considered to be ~55 Ma, based on Rb–Sr whole‐rock isochron ages for granulites and related S‐type tonalities. However, zircons from the granulites in the lower sequence yield U–Pb ages of ~21–19 Ma, and a preliminary report on zircons from pelitic gneiss in the upper sequence gives a U–Pb age of ~40 Ma. In this paper we provide new zircon U–Pb ages from two pelitic gneisses in the upper sequence to assess the metamorphic age and also the maximum depositional age of the sedimentary protolith. The weighted mean 206Pb/238U ages from a biotite gneiss in the central area of the belt yield 39.6 ± 0.9 Ma for newly grown metamorphic rims and 53.1 ± 0.9 Ma for the youngest detrital cores. The ages of zircons from a cordierite–biotite gneiss in the southern area are 35.9 ± 0.7 Ma for metamorphic rims and 46.5 ± 2.8 Ma for the youngest detrital cores. These results indicate that metamorphism of the upper sequence took place at ~40–36 Ma, and that the sedimentary protolith was deposited after ~53–47 Ma. These metamorphic ages are consistent with the reported ages of ~37–36 Ma plutonic rocks in the upper sequence, but contrast with the ~21–19 Ma ages of metamorphic and plutonic rocks in the lower sequence. Therefore, we conclude that the upper and lower metamorphic sequences developed independently but coupled with each other before ~19 Ma as a result of dextral reverse tectonic movement.

Crustal anorthosite formation by deep‐seated hydrothermal circulation beneath fast‐spreading axis: Constraints from chronological approach, Sr isotope, and fluid–chromite inclusion investigation

AbstractHydrothermal circulation beneath the spreading axis plays a significant role in the exchange of energy and mass between the solid Earth and the oceans. Deep‐seated hydrothermal circulation down to the crust/mantle boundary in the fast‐spreading axis has been introduced by a number of studies regarding geological investigations and numerical models. In order to assess a reaction between hydrothermal fluid and host rock around the crust/mantle boundary, we conducted bulk trace element and Sr isotope analyses with a series of in situ investigations for crustal anorthosite, a reaction product between hydrothermal fluid and gabbro in the lowermost crustal section along Wadi Fizh, northern Oman ophiolite. In addition, we conducted titanite U–Pb isotope analyses to evaluate timing of the crustal anorthosite formation in the framework of the evolutional process of the Oman ophiolite. We estimated the formation age of the crustal anorthosite at 97.5 Ma ± 5.0 Ma, overlapping with the timing of the crust formation in the paleo spreading axis. The crustal anorthosite shows high‐Th/U ratio (~2.5) and high‐initial 87Sr/86Sr ratio (0.7050) due to seawater‐derived hydrothermal fluid ingress into the precursor gabbro. With using analytical technique of micro‐excavation at cryo‐temperature, we detected Cl from a few micrometer‐sized inclusion of aqueous fluid and chromite grains. The solubility of Cr was enhanced by complexation reactions with Cl in the hydrothermal fluid. Regarding reconstructed three‐dimensional mass distribution of the inclusion and chromite composition, maximum Cr content of parental fluid was estimated at ~69 000 μg/g. The exceptionally high‐Cr content was achieved locally by leaking of fluid and synchronous chromite crystallization during fluid entrapment. Presence of the deep‐seated hydrothermal circulation could be assigned to the segment end, where cold seawater penetrates into the lowermost crust and extract heat along widely spaced network‐like fluid channel.

Archean trondhjemitic crust at depth in Yangtze Craton: Evidence from TTG xenolith in mafic dyke and apatite inclusion pressure in zircon

Granitic rocks are the most abundant plutonic rocks in the continental crust, and their Archean counterparts include tonalite, trondhjemite and granodiorite (TTG), which dominate the early Earth’s rock archive. Understanding Archean crustal structure have been impeded not only by the rarely exposed deep Archean crustal sections but also by the lack of universally applicable barometers for granitic rocks. Here, we focus on ~2.9 Ga trondhjemite xenoliths brought from depth by mafic dykes that intrude shallower country rocks with the same age and chemistry as the xenolith, in the Kongling Complex, South China. The mafic dykes were emplaced at or after 2.0 Ga and were hybridized by the xenoliths showing signs of partial melting. Exploring the apatite-in-zircon system, for the first time, we establish maximum range of remnant pressure for the inclusions inside zircon hosts. The results yield systematically higher inclusion pressures for the apatites fully encapsulated in xenolith zircons than in the country rock. Based on this data, we envisage a widespread and at least locally thick trondhjemitic crust in the Yangtze Craton by the Mesoarchean.

Archaean Plate Tectonics in the North Atlantic Craton of West Greenland Revealed by Well-Exposed Horizontal Crustal Tectonics, Island Arcs and Tonalite-Trondhjemite-Granodiorite Complexes

The 700 km-long North Atlantic Craton (NAC) in West Greenland is arguably the best exposed and most continuous section of Eo-to Neoarchaean crust on Earth. This allows a close and essential correlation between geochemical and isotopic data and primary, well-defined and well-studied geological relationships. The NAC is therefore an excellent and unsurpassed stage for the ongoing controversial discussion about uniformitarian versus non-uniformitarian crustal evolution in the Archaean. The latest research on the geochemistry, structural style, and Hf isotope geochemistry of tonalite-trondhjemite-granodiorite (TTG) complexes and their intercalated mafic to intermediate volcanic belts strongly supports previous conclusions that the NAC formed by modern-style plate tectonic processes with slab melting of wet basaltic oceanic crust in island arcs and active continental margins. New studies of the lateral tectonic convergence and collision between juvenile belts in the NAC corroborate this interpretation. Nevertheless, it has repeatedly been hypothesised that the Earth’s crust did not develop by modern-style, subhorizontal plate tectonics before 3.0 Ga, but by vertical processes such as crustal sinking and sagduction, and granitic diapirism with associated dome-and-keel structures. Many of these models are based on supposed inverted crustal density relations, with upper Archaean crust dominated by heavy mafic ridge-lavas and island arcs, and lower Archaean crust mostly consisting of felsic, supposedly buoyant TTGs. Some of them stem from older investigations of upper-crustal Archaean greenstone belts particularly in the Dharwar craton, the Slave and Superior provinces and the Barberton belt. These interpreted interactions between these upper and lower crustal rocks are based on the apparent down-dragged greenstone belts that wrap around diapiric granites. However, in the lower crustal section of the NAC, there is no evidence of any low-density granitic diapirs or heavy, downsagged or sagducted greenstone belts. Instead, the NAC contains well-exposed belts of upper crustal, arc-dominant greenstone belts imbricated and intercalated by well-defined thrusts with the protoliths of the now high-grade TTG gneisses, followed by crustal shortening mainly by folding. This shows us that the upper and lower Archaean crustal components did not interact by vertical diapirism, but by subhorizontal inter-thrusting and folding in an ambient, mainly convergent plate tectonic regime.

Joint Geophysical‐Petrological Modeling on the Ivrea Geophysical Body Beneath Valsesia, Italy: Constraints on the Continental Lower Crust

AbstractOne of the few near‐complete continental crustal sections exposed on Earth's surface is the Ivrea‐Verbano Zone (Western Alps, Italy), which is considered as a petro‐geophysical reference of the continental lithosphere. Exposed peridotite slivers embedded in lower crustal rocks at the surface and large density, seismic velocity anomalies of the Ivrea Geophysical Body in the subsurface suggest that mantle‐like rocks are located as shallow as a few kilometers depth, but the actual composition of the rocks producing these anomalies is unknown. Here we investigate how the published seismological and new gravimetric data in the location of Valsesia could be reconciled with petrologic data and models of the Ivrea‐Verbano Zone. We use the Perple_X software to calculate densities and compressional wave velocities for a range of possible deep crustal rock types. We argue that amphibole gabbros (&lt;18 km depth) and pyroxene hornblendites (&gt;18 km depth) provide the best fit to the joint geophysical and petrologic constraints, whereas residual ultramafic rocks and anhydrous gabbros are inconsistent with the existing data. This indicates that the Ivrea Geophysical Body beneath the Valsesia area in the Ivrea‐Verbano Zone preserves the structure of an igneous complex formed during magmatic underplating from the crystallization of hydrous mafic magmas. This would imply melting of a damp mantle source that produced a continental crust of an original thickness of up to ∼48 km in the Permian, of which ∼30 km are exposed at Earth's surface today.

Late Palaeozoic tectonics in Central Mediterranean: a reappraisal

A revision of late Palaeozoic tectonics recorded in Tuscany, Calabria and Corsica is here presented. We propose that, in Tuscany, upper Carboniferous-Permian shallow-marine to continental sedimentary basins, characterized by unconformities and abrupt changes in sedimentary facies, coal-measures, red fanglomerate deposits and felsic magmatism, may be related with a transtensional setting where upper-crustal splay faults are linked with a mid-crustal shear zone. The remnants of the latter can be found in the deep-well logs of Pontremoli and Larderello-Travale in northern and southern Tuscany respectively. In Calabria (Sila, Serre and Aspromonte), a continuous pre-Mesozoic crustal section is exposed, where the lower-crustal portion mainly includes granulites and migmatitic paragneisses, together with subordinate marbles and metabasites. The mid-crustal section, up to 13 km-thick, includes granitoids, tonalitic to granitic in composition, emplaced between 306 and 295 Ma. They were progressively deformed during retrograde extensional shearing, with a final magmatic activity, between 295 ± 1 and 277 ± 1 Ma, when shallower dykes were emplaced in a transtensional regime. The section is completed by an upper crustal portion, mainly formed by a Palaeozoic sedimentary succession deformed as a low-grade fold and thrust belt, and locally overlaying medium-grade paragneiss units. As a whole, these features are reminiscent of the nappe zone domains of the Sardinia Variscan Orogen. In Corsica, besides the well-known effusive and intrusive Permian magmatism of the “Autochthonous” domain, the Alpine Santa Lucia Nappe exposes a kilometer-scale portion of the Permian lower to mid-crust, exhibiting many similarities to the Ivrea Zone. The distinct Mafic and Granitic complexes characterizing this crustal domain are juxtaposed through an oblique-slip shear zone named Santa Lucia Shear Zone. Structural and petrological data witness the interaction between magmatism, metamorphism and retrograde shearing during Permian, in a temperature range of c. 800–400 °C. We frame the outlined paleotectonic domains within a regional-scale, strain–partitioned, tectonic setting controlled by a first-order transcurrent/transtensional fault network that includes a westernmost fault (Santa Lucia Fault) and an easternmost one (East Tuscan Fault), with intervening crustal domains affected by extensional to transtensional deformation. As a whole, our revision allows new suggestions for a better understanding of the tectonic framework and evolution of the Central Mediterranean during the late Palaeozoic.

Geology and geochronology of the Jurassic magmatic arc in the Magdalena quadrangle, north-central Sonora, Mexico

This work reports on the geology and U–Pb LA-ICPMS zircon geochronology of a crustal section that is part of the Jurassic magmatic arc in the Magdalena quadrangle of north-central Sonora, Mexico. This rock succession is variably metamorphosed and strained as it was affected by Late Cretaceous shortening, intruded by early Tertiary granitoids, and further exhumed in the lower plate of the early Miocene Magdalena metamorphic core complex. The older and more extensively exposed Jurassic unit is the >3.5 km thick Sierra Guacomea rhyolite that is composed of massive to poorly bedded rhyolite, bedded quartz-phyric rhyolitic ignimbrite and interbedded ash-fall tuffs and quartz-rich sandstone beds. Three rhyolite samples collected at different localities of its outcrops yielded concordia ages of 175.2 ± 0.9, 171.7 ± 0.6, and 171.4 ± 0.7 Ma. The quartz-phyric Rancho La Víbora, Los Vallecitos, and the Agua Caliente rhyolitic domes that are associated with the Sierra Guacomea rhyolite yield concordia ages of 176 ± 0.8, 174.4 ± 0.9 and 173.1 ± 0.8 Ma, respectively. The Rancho Los Pozos unit composed of interbedded rhyolitic ash-fall tuff and flows, sandstone, siltstone and subordinate limestone beds has an estimated thickness of 600 m and yielded a crystallization concordia age of 170.7 ± 0.6 Ma from a rhyolite bed. The porphyritic El Rincón granite that intrudes into the Sierra Guacomea rhyolite yields crystallization ages of 167.43 ± 0.42 and 164.4 ± 0.7 in samples from different localities. The La Jojoba metasandstone that consists of foliated, quartz-rich to arkosic strata of fluvial origin is at least 900 m thick; detrital zircon grains dated from three sandstone samples yielded dominantly Jurassic ages with peaks at 172, 170, and 163.7 Ma, and a combined maximum depositional age of ca. 163 Ma.The younger plutons are the porphyritic El Nopalito granite that has an interpreted crystallization age of 160.8 ± 0.6 Ma, and the leucocratic, two-mica, garnet-bearing La Cebolla granite that yielded a concordia age of 158.1 ± 1 Ma. These granitic intrusions record the waning magmatic pulses of the arc, in the study quadrangle, but their volcanic equivalents were not identified. Inherited zircon grains in the reported volcanic and plutonic units are only of Jurassic age, except by two Proterozoic zircon grains yielded by the El Nopalito granite. The El Salto granite augen gneiss is a xenolith dated at 1071.9 ± 5 Ma that indicates the presence of Grenvillian basement in the study area.Major- and trace-element geochemical data indicate that the volcanic and plutonic units are silica-rich, mostly high K calc-alkaline to shoshonitic rocks associated with a continental margin arc setting. The plutons are mostly peraluminous, and in conjunction with trace element geochemistry data, they suggest crustal assimilation of magmas emplaced in a probably thickened continental crust. Chondrite-normalized REE patterns and primitive mantle-normalized trace element diagrams also suggest partial melting and fractional crystallization processes.The ages obtained indicate that the arc in the study area developed from ca. 176 to 158 Ma, encompassing a 17 m.y. interval of magmatism and associated sedimentation. Regional correlation and geochronologic published data indicate that the arc crustal section of the Magdalena quadrangle is part of the Jurassic magmatic arc that regionally lasted from ca. 190 to 158 Ma.

Formation of ~2.5 Ga Sittampundi anorthosite complex in southern India: Implications to lower crustal stabilization of the Dharwar Craton

Mantle-derived magmas at the base of the lower crust exerted a key control on late Archean cratonization in many continents. Since well-preserved, complete lower crustal section is rarely exposed, direct studies on the genetic link between mantle-derived magmas and cratonic lower crustal stabilization are inadequate. Cratonic lower crustal section is well-preserved in the southern margin of the Dharwar Craton (southern India), with a number of late Archean anorthositic-gabbroic complexes. Among these complexes, the Sittampundi anorthosite complex (SAC) consists of white- and dark-anorthosite (>60 vol%), gabbros, and ultramafic rocks. In this study, SIMS zircon U-Pb dating of the anorthosite revealed a minimum emplacement age of 2522 ± 12 Ma, similar to the chromite Os model ages (2528–2563 Ma) of the anorthosite-hosted chromitite. In-situ plagioclase (87Sr/86Sr)i ratios (0.70079–0.70100) of the dark anorthosite and the chromite γOs (T) values (−0.2 to −0.4) of the chromitite suggest that the SAC was derived from a depleted mantle source. From the dark to white anorthosite, the (87Sr/86Sr)i ratios increase while the An contents decrease, suggesting crustal assimilation occurred during fractionation. Similarly, the mantle-like zircon δ18O values and relatively-wide εHf(T) (−2.1 to +8.4) range of the SAC anorthosite suggest that the parental magma had assimilated the ancient mafic lower crust. Emplacement ages of the SAC and published ages of the mafic/felsic granulites and charnockites altogether indicate that the anorthosites were formed during the Dharwar cratonization, and that the mantle-derived magma underplating may have led to extensive lower crustal melting. We argued that during underplating, high-density olivine-pyroxene cumulates (from fractionation of the mantle-derived magma) and partial-melting residues (in the overlying lower crust) mostly sank back to the underlying mantle. In contrast, the lower-density plagioclase and minor amphibole remained in the lower crust to form anorthositic-gabbroic sills. The magmas underplating and subsequent lower-crustal melting have likely made the cratonic lower crust more refractory and buoyant, which facilitated cratonization.

Tectono-magmatic evolution of Tethyan oceanic lithosphere in supra subduction zone fore arc regime: Geochemical fingerprints from crust-mantle sections of Naga Hills Ophiolite

The Naga Hills Ophiolite (NHO) belt in the Indo-Myanmar range (IMR) represents a segment of Tethyan oceanic crust and upper mantle that was involved in an eastward convergence and collision of the Indian Plate with the Burmese Plate during the Late Cretaceous-Eocene. Here, we present a detailed petrological and geochemical account for the mantle and crustal sections of NHO, northeastern India to address (i) the mantle processes and tectonic regimes involved in their genesis and (ii) their coherence in terms of the thermo-tectonic evolution of Tethyan oceanic crust and upper mantle. The NHO suite comprises well preserved crustal and mantle sections discretely exposed at Moki, Ziphu, Molen, Washelo and Lacham areas. The ultramafic-mafic lithologies of NHO are mineralogically composed of variable proportions of olivine, orthopyroxene, clinopyroxene and plagioclase. The primary igneous textures for the mantle peridotites have been overprinted by extensive serpentinisation whereas the crustal section rocks reflect crystal cumulation in a magma chamber. Chondrite normalised REE profiles for the cumulate peridotite-olivine gabbro-gabbro assemblage constituting the crustal section of NHO show flat to depleted LREE patterns consistent with their generation from depleted MORB-type precursor melt in an extensional tectonic setting, while the mantle peridotites depict U-shaped REE patterns marked by relative enrichment of LREE and HREE over MREE. These features collectively imply a dual role of depleted MORB-type and enriched arc-type mantle components for their genesis with imprints of melt-rock and fluid-rock interactions. Tectonically, studied lithologies from NHO correspond to a boninitic to slab-proximal Island Arc Tholeiite affinity thereby conforming to an intraoceanic supra subduction zone (SSZ) fore-arc regime coherent with the subduction initiation process. The geochemical attributes for the crustal and mantle sections of NHO as mirrored by Zr/Hf, Zr/Sm, Nb/Ta, Zr/Nb, Nb/U, Ba/Nb, Ba/Th, Ba/La and Nd/Hf ratios propound a two-stage petrogenetic process: (i) a depleted fore arc basalt (FAB) type tholeiitic melt parental to the crustal lithologies was extracted from the upwelling asthenospheric mantle at SSZ fore-arc extensional regime thereby rendering a refractory residual upper mantle; (ii) the crust and upper mantle of the SSZ fore arc were progressively refertilised by boninitic melts generated in response to subduction initiation and slab-dehydration. The vestiges of Tethyan oceanic lithosphere preserved in NHO represent an accreted intra-oceanic fore arc crust and upper mantle section which records a transitional geodynamic evolution in a SSZ regime marked by subduction initiation, fore arc extension and arc-continent accretion.

Constraints on the ages of the crystalline basement and Palaeozoic cover exposed in the Cordillera real, Ecuador: 40Ar/39Ar analyses and detrital zircon U/Pb geochronology

Gabbros and ultramafic rocks of the Huarguallá Gabbro unit exposed in faulted slivers along the western Cordillera Real of Ecuador crystallised between 623and531 Ma (40Ar/39Ar dates), were derived from asthenospheric sources with minor crustal contamination, and form part of the Central Iapetus Magmatic Province. These rocks formed in an early rift environment during the opening of the Iapetus Ocean, and represent the only igneous record of Iapetus rifting north of the Huancabamba deflection (5°S) in South America. The age and composition of the Huarguallá Gabbro unit is consistent with the reconstruction of Tegner et al. (2019), which juxtaposes Baltica and northwestern Gondwana within Panotia. 206Pb/238U dates of detrital zircons combined with fossil assemblages shows that the Chiguinda unit of the Cordillera Real, and La Victoria Unit of the Amotape Complex were deposited during the Carboniferous. These new data, combined with previous studies of magmatism and sedimentation from southern Peru, Colombia and Venezuela, imply that the rocks of the Cordillera Real were in the Ordovician and Carboniferous back-arcs, while the arcs occur in conjugate margins that separated during the Triassic rifting of Pangaea. Faulted remnants of Ordovician arc rocks in the Cordillera Central of Colombia are probably allochthonous, and have been displaced from an Ordovician margin that did not face the rifted crustal sections.

Contaminating melt flow in magmatic peridotites from the lower continental crust (Rocca d'Argimonia sequence, Ivrea–Verbano Zone)

Abstract. The lower continental crust section of the Ivrea–Verbano Zone (Italian Alps) was intruded by a ∼ 8 km thick gabbroic–dioritic body (Ivrea Mafic Complex) in the Upper Carboniferous–Lower Permian, in conjunction with the post-collisional transtensional regime related to the Variscan orogeny. In the deepest levels of the Ivrea Mafic Complex, several peridotite–pyroxenite sequences considered of magmatic origin are exposed. We present here a petrological–geochemical investigation of the peridotites from the largest magmatic ultramafic sequence of the Ivrea Mafic Complex, locally called Rocca d'Argimonia. In spite of the widespread subsolidus re-equilibration under granulite facies conditions, most likely reflecting a slow cooling evolution in the lower continental crust, the Rocca d'Argimonia peridotites (dunites to harzburgites and minor clinopyroxene-poor lherzolites) typically retain structures and microstructures of magmatic origin. In particular, the harzburgites and the lherzolites typically show poikilitic orthopyroxenes enclosing partially dissolved olivine and minor spinel. Olivine has forsterite proportion diminishing from the dunites to the harzburgites and the lherzolites (90 mol % to 85 mol %) and negatively correlating with δ18O (+5.8 ‰ to +6.6 ‰). Gabbronorite dykes locally crosscut the peridotites and show millimetre-scale thick, orthopyroxenite to websterite reaction zones along the contact with host rocks. We propose that the Rocca d'Argimonia peridotites record a process of reactive melt flow through a melt-poor olivine-rich crystal mush or a pre-existing dunite. This process was most likely responsible for the olivine dissolution shown by the poikilitic orthopyroxenes in the harzburgites–lherzolites. We infer that the reactively migrating melts possessed a substantial crustal component and operated at least at the scale of ∼ 100 m.

Monazite geochronology in melt-percolated UHP meta-granitoids: An example from the Erzgebirge continental subduction wedge, Bohemian Massif

Coupled age and trace element mapping in monazite grains using the Laser-Ablation Split-Stream ICP-MS technique was carried out for a sequence of samples from (U)HP crustal section in the Eger Crystalline Complex interpreted as a Variscan continental subduction wedge. The sampled section comprises banded orthogneiss with monazite protolith ages of 486 ± 3[10] Ma. The orthogneiss was heterogeneously transformed to migmatite, HP felsic granofels and U(HP) fine-grained Ky-Kfs granulite during coupled deformation and percolation of silicate melts in a subduction channel. Age of the (U)HP metamorphism and related melt percolation in the granulite is dated by Th-rich and HREE-poor monazite cores at 353.6 ± 2.7[8] Ma, that are in equilibrium with HREE-rich garnets. Th-rich cores of monazites in the migmatite, granofels and granulite that lack the (U)HP signatures show younger ages of 347.8 ± 3.4[8] Ma, 345.8 ± 2.4[8] Ma and 339.3 ± 1.3[7] Ma, respectively. The monazite rims with lower Th and higher HREE contents than the monazite cores are likely a result of (re)crystallization in equilibrium with melt that partly dissolved the HREE-rich prograde garnet during decompression. This (re)crystallization is constrained by ages of 344.2 ± 1.6[8] Ma in (U)HP granulites and 338–340 ± [8] Ma in migmatites, granofelses and granulites without the (U)HP signature. The groups of ages from 353 Ma to 338 Ma, are significantly different when only their in-run uncertainties (7–10 Ma) are compared and indicate a 15 ± 3 Ma period of monazite (re)crystallization from burial/peak to exhumation.

Crustal thickness in the Black Sea and surrounding region, estimated from the gravity data

In this research, the crustal thickness (Moho depth) variations in the Black Sea and surrounding region were calculated from the regional gravity anomaly data using an empirical equation. The data were obtained from the open source of Bureau Gravimétrique International (BGI) in digitized form. The gravity anomaly values are changing from −80 mGal in the onshore Black Sea region in Turkey to 260 mGal in the deeper parts of the sea. Maximum gravity anomaly indicates a consistent pattern in the offshore Black Sea and anomaly pattern follows the shape of the shoreline. The pattern is consistent with the deeper parts in the marine area and the eastern anomaly extends into the Russian territory between NW of Georgia and SE of the Crimean Peninsula. The crustal thickness map indicates almost the same trends. In this map, the minimum crustal thickness is about 10 km around the mid of the Shatsky Ridge, close to the coastal regions of SE Russia and the second thinnest (12 km) place is located around the Western Black Sea Basin. The maximum thicknesses are represented with the 34–36 km contours in the onshore Eastern Black Sea region and east of Anatolia. On the other hand, the maximum crustal thickness to the north can reach up to 28 km around the Sea of Azov and to the east. The thickness variations are generally related with the main tectonic trends in this region. The Analytic Signal (AS) and maxima points of the horizontal gradients (maxspots) maps constructed from the gravity anomalies are also prepared in this research to see if these anomaly trends follow the tectonic lines. The regions of maximum and minimum crustal thicknesses are well-consistent with the AS anomalies and boundaries of the bifocal thin crustal sections coinciding with the Eastern and Western Black Sea basinal parts are surrounded with the maxspots. The northern thick crustal region around the southern margin of the Indolo-Kuban Basin is also surrounded by the maxspots. It is possible to claim that the maxspots map from the horizontal gradient of Bouguer anomalies reflects the boundaries of the main tectonic units in the Black Sea Region. Particularly, southern boundary of the Scythian Platform, southern boundary of the Shatsky Ridge and Great Caucasus thrust are distinctive and easy to follow in the maxspots map.

ПРИРОДНЫЕ И ТЕХНОГЕННЫЕ ОСОБЕННОСТИ ЗАГРЯЗНЕНИЯ ПРИРОДНЫХ ВОД МЫШЬЯКОМ (NATURAL AND TECHNOGENIC FEATURES OF POLLUTION NATURAL WATER ARSENIC)

The problem of arsenic in drinking water, which causes a violation of human health, is revealed. The main ways of arsenic ingress from the lithosphere into drinking water are shown. In the earth's crust, arsenic is contained in rocky rocks, from where it under the influence of weathering processes passes into sedimentary rocks, alluvium and silts. When underground water passes through a section of the earth's crust containing arsenic in the form of its minerals, the water is saturated with arsenic. Chemical reactions of arsenic transition to easily soluble forms and its main compounds in natural waters are presented. The mechanism of arsenic migration in natural surface and underground waters is explained. In Bangladesh, about 60 million people use arsenic-contaminated groundwater as drinking water and are therefore at risk of poisoning. Detailed map of the world on the risk of arsenic contamination of natural fresh water. It is shown that in Kazakhstan there are numerous geogenic deposits and ore occurrences of arsenic, which naturally infect groundwater. The West Kalba ore belt, which is about 800 km long and 80-100 km wide, has been identified only within Eastern Kazakhstan, and its ore objects are represented by gold-arsenopyrite (with an arsenic content of up to 2-5 %) ores. In addition, Kazakhstan has a significant technogenic component of arsenic water pollution due to the influence of the mining industry: only in the dumps of the Ust-Kamenogorsk metallurgical plant, more than 300 thousand tons of arsenic mineral products have already accumulated, with an annual increase of 11 thousand tons. The method of disposal of such waste, as well as localization of arsenic from underground polluted waters on technogenic geochemical barriers, is described.

Magma Reservoir Formation and Evolution at a Slow-Spreading Center (Atlantis Bank, Southwest Indian Ridge)

Several ODP-IODP expeditions drilled oceanic core complexes (OCCs) interpreted as exhumed portions of lower crust close to the ridge axis, and provide the community with invaluable sampling opportunity for further constraining magmatic processes involved in the formation of the slow-spreading lower oceanic crust. ODP Hole 735B presents the most primitive lithologies sampled at Atlantis Bank OCC (Southwest Indian Ridge) in a ~250 m thick section that was previously interpreted as a single crustal intrusion. We combined detailed structural and petrographic constraints with whole rock and in situ mineral analyses of this section in order to precisely determine the processes of emplacement, crystallization and melt migration within the lower crust. The lower half of the unit is comprised of alternating olivine gabbros and troctolites showing intrusive contacts, magmatic fabrics and crystal-plastic fabrics. Such structures and primitive lithologies are lacking in the upper half, rather uniform, gabbroic sequence. Whole rock compositions highlight the cumulative character of both lower and upper units and a great compositional variability in the lower sequence, whereas the upper sequence is homogeneous and differentiates up-section. In situ analyses of mineral phases document magma emplacement processes and provide evidence for ubiquitous reactive porous flow during differentiation. We show that the whole section, and related geochemical unit, constitutes a single magmatic reservoir, in which the lower unit is formed by stacked primitive sills formed by repeated recharge by primitive melts and melt-present deformation. Recharge led to partial assimilation of the crystallizing primitive cumulates, and hybridization with their interstitial melts. Hybrid melts were progressively collected in the overlying mushy part of the reservoir (upper unit), whereas the sills' residual hybrid melts differentiated by reactive porous flow processes under a predominantly crystallization regime. Similarly, hybrid melts’ evolution in the upper unit was governed by upward reactive porous flow, and progressive differentiation and accumulation of evolved melts at the top of the reservoir. Our results provide the community with the first integrated model for magma reservoir formation in the lower slow-spreading oceanic crust that can potentially be applied to other magmatic lower crust sections.