Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Geological Society of America
Résumé : If the net flux to the island arc crust is primitive arc basalt, the evolved composition of most arc magmas entails the formation of complementary thick ultramafic keels at the root of the island arc crust. Dunite, wehrlite, and Cr-rich pyroxenite from the Jijal complex, constituting the Moho transition zone of the Kohistan paleo–island arc (northern Pakistan), are often mentioned as an example of high-pressure cumulates formed by intracrustal fractionation of mantle-derived melts, which were later extracted to form the overlying mafic crust. Here we show that calculated liquids for Jijal pyroxenites-wehrlites are strongly rare earth element (REE) depleted and display flat or convex-upward REE patterns. These patterns are typical of boninites and are therefore unlike those of the overlying mafic crust that have higher REE concentrations and are derived from light rare earth element (LREE)–enriched melts similar to island arc basalt. This observation, along with the lower 208Pb/204Pb and 206Pb/204Pb ratios of Jijal pyroxenites-wehrlites relative to gabbros, rejects the hypothesis that gabbros and ultramafic rocks derive from a common melt via crystal fractionation. In the 208Pb/204Pb versus 206Pb/204Pb diagram, ultramafic rocks and gabbros lie on the same positive correlation, suggesting that their sources share a common enriched mantle 2 (EM2) signature but with a major depleted component contribution for the ultramafic rocks. These data are consistent with a scenario whereby the Jijal ultramafic section represents a Moho transition zone formed via melt-rock reaction between subarc mantle and incoming melt isotopically akin to Jijal gabbroic rocks. The lack in the Kohistan arc of cogenetic ultramafic cumulates complementary to the evolved mafic plutonic rocks implies either (1) that a substantial volume of such ultramafic cumulates was delaminated or torn out by subcrustal mantle flow from the base of the arc crust in extraordinarily short time scales (0.10–0.35 cm/yr), or (2) that the net flux to the Kohistan arc crust was more evolved than primitive arc basalt.
ISSN: 0091-7613

hal-00406688
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00406688
DOI : 10.1130/G23675A.1

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : Primary arc melts may form through fluxed or adiabatic decompression melting in the mantle wedge, or via a combination of both processes. Major limitations to our understanding of the formation of primary arc melts stem from the fact that most arc lavas are aggregated blends of individual magma batches, further modified by differentiation processes in the sub-arc mantle lithosphere and overlying crust. Primary melt generation is thus masked by these types of second-stage processes. Magma-hosted peridotites sampled as xenoliths in subduction zone magmas are possible remnants of sub-arc mantle and magma generation processes, but are rarely sampled in active arcs. Published studies have emphasised the predominantly harzburgitic lithologies with particularly high modal orthopyroxene in these xenoliths; the former characteristic reflects the refractory nature of these materials consequent to extensive melt depletion of a lherzolitic protolith whereas the latter feature requires additional explanation.Here we present major and minor element data for pristine, mantle-derived, lava-hosted spinel-bearing harzburgite and dunite xenoliths and associated primitive melts from the active Kamchatka and Bismarck arcs. We show that these peridotite suites, and other mantle xenoliths sampled in circum-Pacific arcs, are a distinctive peridotite type not found in other tectonic settings, and are melting residues from hydrous melting of silica-enriched mantle sources. We explore the ability of experimental studies allied with mantle melting parameterisations (pMELTS, Petrolog3) to reproduce the compositions of these arc peridotites, and present a protolith (‘hybrid mantle wedge’) composition that satisfies the available constraints. The composition of peridotite xenoliths recovered from erupted arc magmas plausibly requires their formation initially via interaction of slab-derived components with refractory mantle prior to or during the formation of primary arc melts. The liquid compositions extracted from these hybrid sources are higher in normative quartz and hypersthene (i.e., they have a more silica-saturated character) in comparison with basalts derived from prior melt-depleted asthenospheric mantle beneath ridges. These primary arc melts range from silica-rich picrite to boninite and high-Mg basaltic andesite along a residual spinel harzburgite cotectic. Silica enrichment in the mantle sources of arc-related, subalkaline picrite-boninite-andesite suites coupled with the amount of water and depth of melting, are important for the formation of medium-Fe (‘calc-alkaline’) andesite-dacite-rhyolite suites, key lithologies forming the continental crust.
ISSN: 0016-7037

hal-01553520
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01553520
DOI : 10.1016/j.gca.2016.09.030

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Oxford University Press (OUP)
Résumé : We present whole-rock major- and trace-element and Nd–Sr–Pb radiogenic isotope data for Cretaceous igneous suites from eastern Cuba. These rocks are related to the Greater Antilles paleo-island arc magmatism and have three different igneous styles. Group 1 consists of tholeiitic basalts and rare basaltic andesites that have normal mid-ocean ridge basalt (N-MORB)-like compositions similar to those found in back-arc basin basalts (TiO2 = 1·2–2·9 wt%; La/Yb(N) = 0·7–0·9, Th/Nb = 0·06–0·08, and initial 208Pb/ 204Pb = 37·65–37·74). Group 2 comprises basaltic and rare basaltic andesitic subvolcanic dykes with major- and trace-element and isotopic compositions similar to those of island arc tholeiites (TiO2 = 0·7–1·4 wt%; La/Yb(N) = 0·6–0·9, Th/Nb = 0·06–0·68, and initial 208Pb/ 204Pb = 37·74–38·25). Group 3 is composed of low-Ti (TiO2 = 0·3–0·9 wt%) calcalkaline igneous rocks that have an unambiguous subduction-related character (La/Yb(N) = 1·1–5·0, Th/Nb = 0·35–1·55, and initial 208Pb/ 204Pb = 37·94–38·39). The parental magmas of the three groups formed by variable melting degrees (< 5–25%) of spinel lherzolite, with more depleted mantle sources for Groups 2 and 3 than Group 1. The trace-element and radiogenic isotope compositions of primitive Group 3 samples are strongly bimodal. One subgroup of samples is characterized by low Ta/Yb (0·02–0·03) and Th/La (0·10–0·13), slightly subchondritic Nb/Ta (13·3–17·3), and relatively high initial 206Pb/204Pb (18·57–18·62) and {varepsilon}Nd (7·6–9·4). The remaining primitive Group 3 samples have higher Ta/Yb (0·06–0·11) and Th/La (0·24–0·32), and highly subchondritic Nb/Ta (7·6–9·1), coupled with lower initial 206Pb/204Pb (18·24–18·29) and {varepsilon}Nd (3·4–5·5). These signatures were induced by two distinct slab components that mainly reflect the contributions of Cretaceous Atlantic marine and North American continental sediments, respectively. Nb/Ta in the first subgroup was influenced by melting of rutile-bearing subducted crust, whereas in the second it was inherited from recycled continental sediments. The involvement of Atlantic and North American sediments in Cuban Cretaceous magmatism indicates that the Proto-Caribbean (North American-Proto Atlantic) lithosphere subducted beneath the Greater Antilles arc during the Late Cretaceous (pre-Campanian), consistent with geotectonic models involving onset of SW-dipping subduction beneath the Greater Antilles paleo-arc during the Aptian. The variable mantle source depletion and magnitude of the subduction component probably reflect different settings across the arc, from the arc front to a back-arc spreading ridge.
ISSN: 0022-3530

hal-00406373
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00406373
DOI : 10.1093/petrology/egm040

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : The ultramafic–mafic complexes located at the base of obducted paleo-island arcs are commonly interpreted as evidence for intra-crustal fractionation of primitive (high-Mg#) mantle melts. The present study, realized on the Jijal mafic–ultramafic basal section of the Cretaceous Kohistan oceanic arc (N Pakistan), discards a crystal fractionation model from a single parental magma to take into account the geochemical and isotope variations observed between the plutonic crust and the underlying ultramafic section. The basal ultramafic rocks, i.e. dunites, wehrlites and clinopyroxenites, show high Mg#, extremely depleted REE patterns, no marked HFSE anomalies and high LILE enrichment. Cpx and leached whole rocks from this unit yield restricted εNd values (+ 5.5 to + 6.8), a large εSr range (− 5.9 to + 8.8) and mainly radiogenic 207Pb/204Pb ratios. The overlying mafic section, i.e. gabbroic rocks, displays low Mg# (46 < Mg# < 54), enriched REE patterns and marked HFSE anomalies. These plutonic rocks have also very homogeneous Sr and Pb isotopic compositions defining a restricted domain, which does not overlap that of the ultramafic samples. Moreover, Cpx from the basal ultramafics yield an Sm–Nd isochron at 117 ± 7 Ma interpreted as dating crystallization of the ultramafic section. Together, these results indicate that the mafic rocks on one hand and the ultramafic rocks on the other hand, originate from separate sources with specific emplacement underneath the subduction zone. A lherzolite lens, collected from the top of the mafic section, plots on the early Cretaceous Sm–Nd isochron and therefore yields the same 143Nd/144Nd initial ratio. This suggests that the ultramafic part of the lower Kohistan arc complex sampled the initiation stages of the subduction with production of magmas with boninite-like features. At this stage, the mantle wedge has been already modified by percolation of the first slab-derived fluids. On such a scenario the lherzolite lens would correspond to the lithospheric mantle underneath the arc before its initiation. A multi-stage history is proposed for the evolution for the Kohistan arc through not, vert, similar 30 Ma. Stage #1 reflects the spontaneous initiation of subduction associated with extensive boninitic affinity magmatism, stages #2 and #3 are related to arc building by tholeiitic melts and, a fourth step (stage #4) corresponds to the intra-crustal differentiation.
ISSN: 0012-821X

hal-00407206
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00407206
DOI : 10.1016/j.epsl.2007.06.026

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
The Sapat peridotite in Kohistan (NW Pakistan) is a 12x1 km sized body of meta-harzburgites, dunites, pyroxenites and meta-gabbros in the hanging wall of the Indus Suture Zone. Field relations, micro-textures, bulk and mineral chemistry document melt-rock reactions producing dunites at the expense of meta-harzburgites, and a consecutive olivine-clinopyroxenite formation from the same melt type. The association of mesa-gabbros, dunites, and pyroxenites is interpreted as a crust-mantle transition zone produced by the percolation of highly depleted primitive arc melt. The meta-harzburgites represent large portions of refractoty mantle that have suffered melt extraction and metasomatism prior to their interaction with the dunite-forming primitive arc melt and the establishment of the crust-mantle transition zone. Uncommon vein assemblages in the dunites that include Cr-clinochlore, calcite and olivine document a late percolation of slab-related, volatile-rich fluids. Taking into account the highly refractory composition of the Sapat mantle, its structural position, the evidence for interaction with highly depleted arc melts and the sub-solidus interaction with volatile-rich arc fluids, the Sapat ultramafic rocks are interpreted as being derived from the frontal Kohistan arc, representing a crust-mantle transition formed by arc magmatism.
ISSN: 0024-4937

hal-00424515
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00424515
DOI : 10.1016/j.lithos.2008.07.004

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
Volumetrically minor microsyenites, alkali microgranite and related trachytic dykes intrude early Pliocene OIB-like alkali basaltic and basanitic flows of the Meseta del Lago Buenos Aires in Central Patagonia (47 degrees S-71 degrees 30'W), and occur together with scarce trachytic lava flows. Whole-rock K-Ar ages between 3.98 and 3.08 Ma indicate that the emplacement of these felsic rocks occurred more or less synchronously with that of the post-plateau basaltic sequence that they intrude, during a bimodal mafic-felsic magmatic episode devoid of intermediate compositions. Chemically, these rocks have A(1)-type granitoid affinities and are characterized by high silica and alkali contents (60-68 wt.% SiO2; 8.7-10.8 wt.% Na2O+K2O), major and trace elements patterns evidencing evolution by low-pressure fractional crystallization, and Sr and Nd isotopic signatures similar to those of coeval basalts ((Sr-87/Sr-86)o=0.70488-0.70571; (Nd-143/Nd-144)(o)=0.512603-0.512645). Nevertheless, some of them have the most radiogenic Sr values ever reported for a magmatic rock in the Meseta and even in the whole Neogene Patagonian Plateau Lavas province ((Sr-17/Sr-86)(o)= 0.70556-0.70571; (Nd-143/Nd-144)(o)=0.512603-0.512608). In addition, very high contents of strongly incompatible elements in the most evolved rocks, together with Sr isotopic ratios higher than those of coeval basalts, suggest the occurrence of open-system magmatic processes. Continuous fractional crystallization from a primitive basaltic source, similar to post-plateau coeval basalts, towards alkali granites combined with small rates of assimilation of host Jurassic tuffs (AFC) in a shallow magmatic reservoir, best explains the geochemical and petrographic features of the felsic rocks. Therefore, A(1)-type magmatic rocks can be generated by open-system crystallization of deep asthenospheric melts in back-are tectonic settings. In Central Patagonia, these similar to 3-4 Ma old alkaline intrusions occur aligned along a similar to N160-170 trending lineament, the Zeballos Fault Zone, stacking the morphotectonic front of one segment of the Patagonian Cordillera. Intrusion along this fault zone
ISSN: 0024-4937

hal-00412030
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00412030
DOI : 10.1016/j.lithos.2007.07.002

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : The Borborema Province, in the NE of Brazil, is a rather complex piece in the Brazil-Africa puzzle as it represents the junction of the Dahomeyide/Pharusian, Central African, Aracuai and Brasilia fold belts located between the West-African/Sao Luis, Congo/Sao Francisco and Amazonas craton. The correlation between the Dahomeyides from W-Africa (Ghana, Benin, Togo, and Mali) and the Borborema Province involves the Medio Coreau and Central Ceara domains. The inferred continuation of the main oceanic suture zone exposed in the Dahomeyides of W Africa is buried beneath the Phanerozoic Parnaiba Basin in Brazil (northwest of the Medio Coreau domain) where some high density gravity anomalies may represent hidden remnants of an oceanic suture. In addition to this major suture a narrow, nearly continuous strip composed of mainly mafic pods containing relics of eclogite-facies assemblages associated with partially migmatized granulite-facies metapelitic gneisses has been found further east in the NW Borborema Province. These high pressure mafic rocks, interpreted as retrograded eclogites, are located between the Transbrasiliano Lineament and the Santa Quiteria continental arc and comprise primitive to evolved arc-related rocks with either arc- or MORB-type imprints that can indicate either deep subduction of oceanic lithosphere or roots of continental and oceanic magmatic arcs. Average peak P-T conditions under eclogite-facies metamorphism (T=770 degrees C and P = 17.3 kbar) were estimated using garnet-clinopyroxene thermometry and Jd content in clinopyroxene. Transition to granulite-facies conditions, as well as later widespread re-equilibration under amphibolite facies, were registered both in the basic and the metapelitic rocks and suggest a clockwise P-T path characterized by an increase in temperature followed by strong decompression. A phenomenon possibly related to the exhumation of a highly thickened crust associated with the suturing of the Medio Coreau and Central Ceara domains, two distinct crustal blocks separated by the Transbrasiliano Lineament.
ISSN: 1342-937X

hal-00413584
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00413584
DOI : 10.1016/j.gr.2009.01.003

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : The uppermost mantle in back arc regions is the site of complex interactions between partial melting, melt percolation, and fluid migration. To constrain these interactions and evaluate their consequences on geochemical cycles, we carried out an in situ trace element and water study of a suite of spinel peridotite xenoliths from two regions of the Japan back arc system, Ichinomegata (NE Japan) and Oki-Dogo (SW Japan), using LA-ICPMS and FTIR spectrometry, respectively. This study provides the first full dataset of trace element and hydrogen compositions in peridotites including analyses of all their main constitutive silicate minerals: olivine, orthopyroxene and clinopyroxene. The Ichinomegata peridotites sample a LREE-depleted refractory mantle (Mg# olivine = 0.90; Cr# spinel = 0.07–0.23; Yb clinopyroxene = 7.8–13.3 × C1-chondrite, and La/Yb clinopyroxene = 0.003–0.086 × C1-chondrite), characterized by Th-U positive anomalies and constant values of Nb/Ta. The composition of the studied Ichinomegata samples is consistent with that of an oceanic mantle lithosphere affected by cryptic metasomatic interactions with hydrous/aqueous fluids (crypto-hydrous metasomatism). In contrast, the Oki-Dogo peridotites have low Mg# olivine (0.86–0.93) and a broad range of compositions with clinopyroxene showing “spoon-shaped” to flat, and LREE-enriched patterns. They are also characterized by their homogeneous compositions in the most incompatible LILE (e.g., Rb clinopyroxene = 0.01–0.05 × primitive mantle) and HFSE (e.g., Nb clinopyroxene = 0.01–2.16 × primitive mantle). This characteristic is interpreted as resulting from various degrees of melting and extensive melt-rock interactions. FTIR spectroscopy shows that olivine in both Ichinomegata and Oki-Dogo samples has low water contents ranging from 2 to 7 ppm wt. H2O. In contrast, the water contents of pyroxenes from Ichinomegata peridotites (113–271 ppm wt. H2O for orthopyroxene, and 292–347 ppm wt. H2O for clinopyroxene) are significantly higher than in Oki-Dogo peridotites (9–35 ppm wt. H2O for orthopyroxene, and 15–98 ppm wt. H2O for clinopyroxene). This indicates a relationship between melt-rock interaction and water concentrations in pyroxenes. Our study suggests that the water content of the Japan mantle wedge is controlled by the late melt/fluid/rock interactions evidenced by trace element geochemistry: a mechanism triggered by magma-rock interactions may have acted as an efficient dehydrating process in the Oki-Dogo region while the Ichinomegata mantle water content is controlled by slab-derived crypto-hydrous metasomatism.
ISSN: 0016-7037

hal-01553105
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01553105
DOI : 10.1016/j.gca.2017.03.042

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Oxford University Press (OUP)
Résumé : International audience
Island arc picrites and boninites are magnesian magmatic rocks believed to be generated by high degrees of melting of depleted mantle sources fluxed by subduction-derived, volatile-rich components. These magmas can be probes of both the mantle wedge protoliths and subduction components, but are rare among other, usually more evolved, types of arc lavas. Furthermore, many arc picrites and boninites show evidence for late-stage differentiation prior to or during eruption, masking their primary, mantle-derived geochemical signatures. We report textural and chemical data on spinel-hosted melt inclusions of mantle origin in amphibole-bearing websterite veins cross-cutting spinel harzburgite xenoliths from the active andesitic Avacha volcano (south Kamchatka, Russia). The data are used to constrain the composition and origin of melts that formed the websterite veins in the sub-arc lithospheric mantle. The melt inclusions typically contain euhedral orthopyroxene and clinopyroxene and occasionally minor amphibole in silicate glass. The melt inclusions were homogenized using heating stages and gas-mixing furnaces. The homogenized glasses range from subalkaline primitive silica-rich picrite and high-Ca boninite (>15 wt % MgO, 48–54 wt % SiO2) to rhyolite. High-Ca boninite glasses have moderate volatile and low heavy rare earth element contents and elevated Cs, Rb, Ba, U, Sr, and Li abundances, with extremely high U/Th. In turn, the glasses display no negative spikes in the high field strength elements Nb, Ta, Zr, Hf, and Ti. We show that the silica-rich picrite and high-Ca boninite liquids in this study formed by high degrees of melting (>25%), at volatile under-saturation, of hybrid melt-depleted but silica-rich mantle sources at ≥1·5 GPa. The hybrid sources formed in two stages: first, by extraction of ∼15% melt from the convecting mantle to form a refractory protolith, which was subsequently enriched in silica via interaction with subduction-derived components prior to or during remelting in the mantle wedge. The subduction-derived components were enriched in fluid-mobile elements and probably oxidized. Overall, our results suggest that silica-rich picrites and high-Ca boninites can be primary melts in mature subduction zones and differentiate within the mantle wedge and the deep arc crust to form more evolved andesite magmas.
ISSN: 0022-3530

hal-01553676
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01553676
DOI : 10.1093/petrology/egw066

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
The Massif du Sud is a large ophiolitic complex that crops out in the southern region of New Caledonia (SW Pacific). It is dominated by harzburgite tectonite that locally shows a transitional gradation to massive dunite up section. Clinopyroxene, orthopyroxene and plagioclase progressively appear in dunite up to the transition to layered wehrlite and orthopyroxene-gabbro. The dunite-wehrlite and wehrlite-gabbro contacts are parallel and the latter defines the paleo-Moho.;Highly depleted modal, mineral and bulk rock compositions indicate that harzburgites are residues after high degrees (20-30%) of partial melting mainly in the spinet-stability field. Their relative enrichment in HFSE, LREE and MREE is due to re-equilibration of melting residues with percolating melts. Dunite formed in the Moho transition zone by reaction between residual mantle harzburgite and olivine-saturated melts that led to pyroxene dissolution and olivine precipitation. Rare clinopyroxene and plagioclase crystallized in interstitial melt pores of dunite from primitive, low-TiO2, ultra-depleted liquids with a geochemical signature transitional between those of island arc tholeiites and boninites.;Ascending batches of relatively high-SiO2, ultra-depleted melts migrated through the Moho transition zone and generated wehrlite by olivine dissolution and crystallization of clinopyroxene, orthopyroxene and plagioclase in variable amounts. These liquids were more evolved and were produced by higher degrees of melting or from a more depleted source compared with melts that locally crystallized clinopyroxene in dunite. Ultra-depleted magmas, non-cogenetic with those that formed the Moho transition zone, ascended to the lower crust and generated gabbroic cumulates with subduction-related affinity. Thus, the ultramafic and mafic rocks in the Moho transition zone and lower crust of the Massif du Sud ophiolite are not products of fractional crystallization from a single magma-type but are the result of migration and accumulation of different melts in a multi-stage evolution. The record of high partial melting in the mantle section, and migration and accumulation of ultra-depleted subduction-related melts in the Moho transition zone and lower crust support that the Massif du Sud ophiolite is a portion of forearc lithosphere generated in an extensional regime during the early phases of the subduction zone evolution. Our results show the existence of different types of ultra-depleted melt compositions arriving at the Moho transition zone and lower crust of an infant intraoceanic paleo-arc. Ultra-depleted melts may thus be a significant component of the melt budget generated in oceanic spreading forearcs prior to aggregation and mixing of a large range of melt compositions in the crust.
ISSN: 0009-2541

hal-00429333
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00429333
DOI : 10.1016/j.chemgeo.2009.06.004

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD University of Chicago Press
Résumé : International audience
Contrasting tectonic reconstructions of the westernmost Mediterranean have been proposed to explain the origin of the Alboran marine basin contemporaneously with Cenozoic convergence between the African and European plates. Cr-rich pyroxenites in the Ronda massif record the geochemical processes occurring in the subcontinental mantle of the Alboran domain in the Late Oligocene, thus constraining the geodynamic scenario of Cenozoic extension in the western Mediterranean lithosphere. Clinopyroxene in intrusive Cr-rich websterite dikes crosscutting the Ronda peridotite is strongly depleted in Nb-Ta and enriched in light rare earth elements, as typically observed in arc magmas, and is in trace element equilibrium with Neogene subduction-related lavas from the western and central Mediterranean. Sr-Nd-Pb radiogenic isotopes indicate that the mantle source of the Ronda pyroxenite dikes was contaminated by a subduction component released by detrital sediments likely deposited in passive continental margins. Rather than convective removal or delamination of the lithospheric root, our data strongly support Alboran geodynamic models that envisage slab rollback as the tectonic mechanism responsible for the Miocene lithospheric thinning. The Ronda Cr-rich pyroxenite dikes represent the earliest unambiguous manifestation of subduction-related magmatism in the western Mediterranean and testify to the involvement of terrigenous sediments in the primitive stages of subduction.
ISSN: 0022-1376

hal-00745853
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00745853
DOI : 10.1086/663875

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
The crust of the Paleoproterozoic West African Craton in northern Ghana is dominantly made of Tonalite-Trondhjemite-Granodiorite (TTG) suites, low-K to high-K calc-alkaline granites, with minor LILE-enriched diorites, and chemically related lavas. Results of zircon U-Pb dating indicate that all these different rock types were formed together over a prolonged period of ca. 100 Ma, between 2.21 and 2.11 Ga. Zircon Hf isotope compositions of five samples are supra-chondritic (εHft from +1 to +6) indicating that the granitoids derive from the reworking of juvenile crustal components as old as 2.60 Ga. Geochemical data show that the TTGs were derived from the reworking of a low-K mafic crust, while biotite granites formed by the reworking of older felsic crustal rocks, and diorites derived from the melting of LILE-enriched mantle sources.The combined datasets support a three-step model for the formation of the crust of the West African craton in northern Ghana: (1) a juvenile, mafic proto-crust was extracted from the depleted mantle between 2.60 and 2.30 Ga, in an oceanic environment remote from any pre-existing continental nucleus; (2) the mafic proto-crust was reworked in several primitive magmatic arcs or in accreted oceanic plateaux. Crustal reworking initially produced minor felsic magmatism between 2.35 and 2.21 Ga, followed by the 2.21–2.15 Ga emplacement of low- to medium-P TTG and K-rich calc-alkaline granitoid suites, and was coeval with the formation of an enriched mantle source. (3) Various proto-continental terranes collided during the Eburnean orogeny between 2.14 and 2.11 Ga, triggering intense reworking of the composite crust and mantle reservoirs formed in the previous two steps, i.e. remnants of the juvenile mafic crust, older TTGs and biotite granites, and previously enriched mantle sources. The emplacement of high-P TTGs, granites and LILE-enriched diorites resulted from lower crustal heating in response to the delamination of the lower crust and lithospheric mantle. The Eburnean collision therefore marks the final stages of a 200–500 Ma long period of juvenile continental crust formation and stabilisation. The datasets further reveal that the Paleoproterozoic West African Craton comprises a minimum of two distinct crustal blocks, with north-western Ghana lying at their interface.
ISSN: 0301-9268

hal-01467999
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01467999
DOI : 10.1016/j.precamres.2016.10.011