Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-24hb2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-19T09:54:46.278Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Zoned olivine xenocrysts in a late Mesozoic gabbro from the southern Taihang Mountains: implications for old lithospheric mantle beneath the central North China Craton

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 August 2009

JI-FENG YING*
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Lithospheric Evolution, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 9825, Beijing 100029, China
HONG-FU ZHANG
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Lithospheric Evolution, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 9825, Beijing 100029, China
YAN-JIE TANG
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Lithospheric Evolution, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 9825, Beijing 100029, China
*
*Author for correspondence: jfying@mail.iggcas.ac.cn

Abstract

Zoned olivine grains are abundant in the late Mesozoic Shatuo gabbro (southern Taihang Mountains, central North China Craton). Olivine cores are rich in MgO and NiO, rims are rich in FeO and MnO, and both cores and rims have very low CaO contents. The cores invariably have a high Mg no. (92–94), similar to olivine xenocrysts from Palaeozoic kimberlites in eastern China. The compositional features of these olivines imply that they are xenocrysts rather than phenocrysts, namely, disaggregates of mantle peridotites at the time of intrusion. The compositional similarity of olivine cores to xenocrysts from Palaeozoic kimberlites suggests that the lithospheric mantle beneath the central North China Craton is ancient and refractory in nature, and quite different from eastern China, where the mantle is mainly composed of newly accreted materials resulting from large-scale lithospheric removal and replacement. The contrasting features of the lithospheric mantle beneath the eastern and central North China Craton imply that the large-scale lithospheric removal in Phanerozoic times was mainly confined to the eastern North China Craton.

Type
Original Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Brearley, M. & Scarfe, C. M. 1986. Dissolution rates of upper mantle minerals in an alkali basalt melt at high-pressure – an experimental-study and implications for ultramafic xenolith survival. Journal of Petrology 27, 1157–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chakraborty, S. 1997. Rates and mechanisms of Fe–Mg interdiffusion in olivine at 980–1300°C. Journal of Geophysical Research, Solid Earth 102, 12317–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chen, B. & Zhai, M. G. 2003. Geochemistry of late Mesozoic lamprophyre dykes from the Taihang Mountains, north China, and implications for the sub-continental lithospheric mantle. Geological Magazine 140, 8793.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chen, L., Tao, W., Zhao, L. & Zheng, T. 2008. Distinct lateral variation of lithospheric thickness in the Northeastern North China Craton. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 267, 5668.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coogan, L. A., Hain, A., Stahl, S. & Chakraborty, S. 2005. Experimental determination of the diffusion coefficient for calcium in olivine between 900°C and 1500°C. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 69, 3683–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
E, M. L. & Zhao, D. S. 1987. Cenozoic basalts and deep-seated xenoliths in eastern China. Beijing: Science Press, 490 pp. (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Elburg, M. & Kamenetsky, V. S. 2008. Limited influence of subducted continental material on mineralogy and elemental geochemistry of primitive magmas from Indonesia-Australia collision zone. Lithos 105, 7384.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fan, W. M., Zhang, H. F., Baker, J., Jarvis, K. E., Mason, P. R. D. & Menzies, M. A. 2000. On and off the North China craton: where is the Archaean keel? Journal of Petrology 41, 933–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gao, S., Rudnick, R. L., Carlson, R. W., Mcdonough, W. F. & Liu, Y. S. 2002. Re–Os evidence for replacement of ancient mantle lithosphere beneath the North China Craton. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 198, 307–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Griffin, W. L., Fisher, N. I., Friedman, J., Ryan, C. G. & O'Reilly, S. Y. 1999. Cr-pyrope garnets in the lithospheric mantle. I. Compositional systematics and relations to tectonic setting. Journal of Petrology 40, 679704.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Griffin, W. L., O'Reilly, S. Y. & Ryan, C. G. 1999. The composition and origin of subcontinental lithospheric mantle. In Mantle Petrology: Field observations and high-pressure experimentation: A tribute to Francis R. (Joe) Boyd (eds Fei, Y., Bertka, C. M. & Mysen, B. O.), pp. 1345. Houston: The Geochemical Society.Google Scholar
Griffin, W. L., Zhang, A. D., O'Reilly, S. Y. & Ryan, C. G. 1998. Phanerozoic evolution of the lithosphere beneath the Sino-Korean craton In Mantle dynamics and plate interactions in east Asia (eds Flower, M., Chung, S. L., Lo, C. H. & Lee, T. Y.), pp. 107–26. Washington, D.C.: American Geophysical Union.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gurenko, A. A., Hansteen, T. H. & Schmincke, H. U. 1996. Evolution of parental magmas of Miocene shield basalts of Gran Canaria (Canary Islands): constraints from crystal, melt and fluid inclusions in minerals. Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology 124, 422–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hirano, N., Yamamoto, J., Kagi, H. & Ishii, T. 2004. Young, olivine xenocryst-bearing alkali-basalt from the oceanward slope of the Japan Trench. Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology 148, 4754.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hu, S. B., He, L. J. & Wang, J. Y. 2000. Heat flow in the continental area of China: a new data set. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 179, 407–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jahn, B. M., Auvray, B., Cornichet, J., Bai, Y. L., Shen, Q. H. & Liu, D. Y. 1987. 3.5 Ga old amphibolites from eastern Hebei Province, China – field occurrence, petrography, Sm–Nd isochron age and REE geochemistry. Precambrian Research 34, 311–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kamenetsky, V. S., Elburg, M., Arculus, R. & Thomas, R. 2006. Magmatic origin of low-Ca olivine in subduction-related magmas: Co-existence of contrasting magmas. Chemical Geology 233, 346–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Klugel, A. 2001. Prolonged reactions between harzburgite xenoliths and silica-undersaturated melt: implications for dissolution and Fe–Mg interdiffusion rates of orthopyroxene. Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology 141, 114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Larsen, L. M. & Pedersen, A. K. 2000. Processes in high-mg, high-T magmas: Evidence from olivine, chromite and glass in palaeogene picrites from West Greenland. Journal of Petrology 41, 1071–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Li, J. H., Qian, X. L., Huang, X. N. & Liu, S. W. 2000. Tectonic framework of the North China craton and its cratonization in the early Precambrian. Acta Petrologica Sinica 16, 110 (in Chinese with English abstract).Google Scholar
Liu, D. Y., Nutman, A. P., Compston, W., Wu, J. S. & Shen, Q. H. 1992. Remnants of ≥ 3800 Ma crust in the Chinese part of the Sino-Korean craton. Geology 20, 339–42.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ma, X. Y. 1989. Atlas of active faults of China. Beijing: Seismologic Press, 120 pp. (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Maaløe, S. & Hansen, B. 1982. Olivine phenocrysts of Hawaiian olivine tholeiite and oceanite. Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology 81, 203211.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Menzies, M. A. 1990. Continental mantle. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 184 pp.Google Scholar
Menzies, M. A., Fan, W. M. & Zhang, M. 1993. Paleozoic and Cenozoic lithoprobes and the loss of >120 km of Archean lithosphere, Sino-Korean craton, China. In Magmatic processes and plate tectonics (eds Prichard, H. M., Alabaster, T., Harris, N. B. W. & Neary, C. R.), pp. 7181. Geological Society of London, Special Publication no. 76.Google Scholar
Menzies, M. A. & Xu, Y. G. 1998. Geodynamics of the North China craton. In Mantle Dynamics and Plate Interactions in East Asia (eds Flower, M. F. J., Chung, S. L., Lo, C. H. & Lee, T. Y.), pp. 155–65. American Geophysical Union.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nakamura, M. 1995. Residence time and crystallization history of nickeliferous olivine phenocrysts from the northern Yatsugatake volcanoes, Central Japan: Application of a growth and diffusion model in the system Mg–Fe–Ni. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 66, 81100.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nixon, P. H. 1987. Mantle xenoliths. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons, 844 pp.Google Scholar
Pearson, D. G., Canil, D. & Shirey, S. B. 2003. Mantle samples included in volcanic rocks: xenoliths and diamonds. In Treatise on Geochemistry (ed. Carlson, R. W.), pp. 171275. Oxford: Pergamon.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pei, F. P., Xu, W. L., Wang, Q. H., Wang, D. Y. & Lin, J. Q. 2004. Mesozoic basalt and mineral chemistry of the mantle-derived xenocrysts in Feixian, Western Shandong, China: Constraints on nature of Mesozoic lithospheric mantle. Geological Journal of China Universities 10, 8897 (in Chinese with English abstract).Google Scholar
Redfern, S. A. T., Henderson, C. M. B., Wood, B. J., Harrison, R. J. & Knight, K. S. 1996. Determination of olivine cooling rates from metal-cation ordering. Nature 381, 407–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scully, K. R., Canil, D. & Schulze, D. J. 2004. The lithospheric mantle of the Archean Superior Province as imaged by garnet xenocryst geochemistry. Chemical Geology 207, 189221.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shanxi Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources. 1982. Regional geology of Shanxi Province. Beijing: Geological Publishing House, 780 pp. (in Chinese with English abstract).Google Scholar
Shao, J. A., Lu, F. X., Zhang, L. Q. & Yang, J. H. 2005. Discovery of xenocrysts in basalts of Yixian Formation in west Liaoning Province and its significance. Acta Petrologica Sinica 21, 1547–58 (in Chinese with English abstract).Google Scholar
Suhr, G., Hellebrand, E., Snow, J. E., Seck, H. A. & Hofmann, A. W. 2003. Significance of large, refractory dunite bodies in the upper mantle of the Bay of Islands Ophiolite. Geochemistry Geophysics Geosystems 4 (3), 8605, doi:10.1029/2001GC000277.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tang, Y. J., Zhang, H. F. & Ying, J. F. 2004. High-Mg olivine xenocrysts entrained in Cenozoic basalts in central Taihang Mountains: relics of old lithospheric mantle. Acta Petrologica Sinica 20, 1243–52 (in Chinese with English abstract).Google Scholar
Thompson, R. N. & Gibson, S. A. 2000. Transient high temperatures in mantle plume heads inferred from magnesian olivines in Phanerozoic picrites. Nature 407, 502–6.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ulmer, P. 1989. The dependence of the Fe2+–Mg cation-partitioning between olivine and basaltic liquid on pressure, temperature and composition – an experimental-study to 30 Kbars. Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology 101, 261–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wang, Y. J., Fan, W. M., Zhang, H. F. & Peng, T. P. 2006. Early Cretaceous gabbroic rocks from the Taihang Mountains: Implications for a paleosubduction-related lithospheric mantle beneath the central North China craton. Lithos 86, 281302.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wu, F. Y., Walker, R. J., Ren, X. W., Sun, D. Y. & Zhou, X. H. 2003. Osmium isotopic constraints on the age of lithospheric mantle beneath northeastern China. Chemical Geology 196, 107–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wu, F. Y., Walker, R. J., Yang, Y. H., Yuan, H. L. & Yang, J. H. 2006. The chemical-temporal evolution of lithospheric mantle underlying the North China Craton. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 70, 5013–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Xu, Y. G. 2001. Thermo-tectonic destruction of the Archaean lithospheric keel beneath the Sino-Korean craton in China: evidence, timing and mechanism. Physics and Chemistry of Earth 26, 747–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Xu, Y. G., Blusztajn, J., Ma, J. L., Suzuki, K., Liu, J. F. & Hart, S. R. 2008. Late Archean to Early Proterozoic lithospheric mantle beneath the western North China craton: Sr–Nd–Os isotopes of peridotite xenoliths from Yangyuan and Fansi. Lithos 102, 2542.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yan, J., Chen, J. F. & Xie, Z. 2003. Mantle derived xenoliths in the late Cretaceous basalts in eastern Shandong: new constraints on the timing of lithospheric thinning in east China. Chinese Science Bulletin 48, 1570–4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ying, J. F., Zhang, H. F., Kita, N., Morishita, Y. & Shimoda, G. 2006. Nature and evolution of Late Cretaceous lithospheric mantle beneath the eastern North China craton: Constraints from petrology and geochemistry of peridotitic xenoliths from Jünan, Shandong Province, China. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 244, 622–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhang, H. F., Sun, M., Zhou, X. H., Fan, W. M., Zhai, M. G. & Yin, J. F. 2002. Mesozoic lithosphere destruction beneath the North China craton: evidence from major-, trace-element and Sr–Nd–Pb isotope studies of Fangcheng basalts. Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology 144, 241–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhang, H. F. 2005. Transformation of lithospheric mantle through peridotite-melt reaction: A case of Sino-Korean craton. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 237, 768–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhang, H. F., Goldstein, S., Zhou, X. H., Sun, M., Zheng, J. P. & Cai, Y. 2008. Evolution of subcontinental lithospheric mantle beneath eastern China: Re–Os isotopic evidence from mantle xenoliths in Paleozoic kimberlites and Mesozoic basalts. Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology 155, 271–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhang, H. F., Sun, M., Zhou, M. F. & Fan, W. M. 2004 a. Highly heterogeneous late Mesozoic lithospheric mantle beneath the North China craton: evidence from Sr–Nd–Pb isotopic systematic of mafic igneous rocks. Geological Magazine 141, 5562.Google Scholar
Zhang, H. F., Ying, J. F., Shimoda, G., Kita, N. T., Morishita, Y., Shao, J. A. & Tang, Y. J. 2007. Importance of melt circulation and crust–mantle interaction in the lithospheric evolution beneath the North China Craton: Evidence from Mesozoic basalt-borne clinopyroxene xenocrysts and pyroxenite xenoliths. Lithos 96, 6789.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhang, H. F., Ying, J. F., Xu, P. & Ma, Y. G. 2004 b. Mantle olivine xenocrysts entrained in Mesozoic basalts from the North China Craton: implication for replacement process of lithospheric mantle. Chinese Science Bulletin 49, 961–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhao, G. C., Cawood, P. A., Wilde, S. A., Sun, M. & Lu, L. Z. 2000. Metamorphism of basement rocks in the Central Zone of the North China Craton: implications for Paleoproterozoic tectonic evolution. Precambrian Research 103, 5588.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhao, G. C., Wilde, S. A., Cawood, P. A. & Sun, M. 2001. Archean blocks and their boundaries in the North China Craton: lithological, geochemical, structural and P–T path constraints and tectonic evolution. Precambrian Research 107, 4573.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zheng, J. P. 1999. Mesozoic–Cenozoic mantle replacement and lithospheric thinning, East China. Wuhan: China University of Geosciences Press, 126 pp. (in Chinese with English abstract).Google Scholar
Zheng, J. P., Lu, F. X., Griffin, W. L., Yu, C. M., Zhang, R. Y., Yuan, X. P. & Wu, X. L. 2006. Lithospheric thinning accompanying mantle lateral spreading, erosion and replacement beneath the eastern part of North China: evidence from peridotites. Earth Science Frontier 13, 7685 (in Chinese with English abstract).Google Scholar
Zheng, J. P., O'Reilly, S. Y., Griffin, W. L., Lu, F. X., Zhang, M. & Pearson, N. J. 2001. Relic refractory mantle beneath the eastern North China block: significance for lithosphere evolution. Lithos 57, 4366.CrossRefGoogle Scholar