Petrogenesis of Sierra Nevada plutons inferred from the Sr, Nd, and O isotopic signatures of mafic igneous complexes in Yosemite Valley, California

Autor: Wendy R. Nelson, Eric H. Christiansen, Garret L. Hart, Michael J. Dorais
Rok vydání: 2012
Předmět:
Zdroj: Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology. 165:397-417
ISSN: 1432-0967
0010-7999
Popis: Mafic complexes in the central Sierra Nevada batholith record valuable geochemical information regarding the role mafic magmas play in arc magmatism and the generation of continental crust. In the intrusive suite of Yosemite Valley, major and trace element compositions of the hornblende-bearing gabbroic rocks from the Rockslides mafic complex and of the mafic dikes in the North America Wall are compositionally similar to high-alumina basalt. Of these rocks, two samples have higher Ni and Cr abundances as well as higher eNd values than previously recognized for the intrusive suite. Plagioclase crystals in rocks from the North America Wall and the Rockslides have prominent calcic cores and sharply defined sodic rims, a texture commonly associated with mixing of mafic and felsic magmas. In situ analyses of 87Sr/86Sr in plagioclase show no significant isotopic difference from the cores to the rims of these grains. We propose that the high 87Sr/86Sr (~0.7067) and low eNd (~−3.4) of bulk rocks, the homogeneity of 87Sr/86Sr in plagioclase, and the high δ18O values of bulk rocks (6.6–7.3 ‰) and zircon (Lackey et al. in J Petrol 49:1397–1426, 2008) demonstrate that continental crust was assimilated into the sublithospheric mantle-derived basaltic precursors of the mafic rocks in Yosemite Valley. Contamination (20–40 %) likely occurred in the lower crust as the magma differentiated to high-alumina basalt prior to plagioclase (and zircon) crystallization. As a consequence, the isotopic signatures recorded by whole rocks, plagioclase, and zircon do not represent the composition of the underlying lithospheric mantle. We conclude that the mafic and associated felsic members of the intrusive suite of Yosemite Valley represent 60–80 % new additions to the crust and include significant quantities of recycled ancient crust.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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