First Paleomagnetic Result From the Early Permian Volcanic Rocks in Northeastern Mongolia: Evolutional Implication for the Paleo‐Asian Ocean and the Mongol‐Okhotsk Ocean

Author(s):  
Pan Zhao ◽  
Erwin Appel ◽  
Bei Xu ◽  
Turbold Sukhbaatar
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helge Behnsen ◽  
Carl Spandler ◽  
Isaac Corral ◽  
Zhaoshan Chang ◽  
Paul H.G.M. Dirks

Abstract The Early Permian Lizzie Creek Volcanic Group of the northern Bowen Basin, NE Queensland, Australia, has compositions that range from basalt through andesite to rhyolite with geochemical signatures (e.g., enrichment in Cs, Rb, Ba, U, Th, and Pb, depletion in Nb and Ta) that are typical of arc lavas. In the Mount Carlton district the Lizzie Creek Volcanic Group is host to high-sulfidation epithermal Cu-Au-Ag mineralization, whereas farther to the south near Collinsville (~50 km from Mount Carlton) these volcanic sequences are barren of magmatic-related mineralization. Here, we assess whether geochemical indicators of magma fertility (e.g., Sr/Y, La/Yb, V/Sc) can be applied to volcanic rocks through study of coeval volcanic sequences from these two locations. The two volcanic suites share similar petrographic and major element geochemical characteristics, and both have undergone appreciable hydrothermal alteration during, or after, emplacement. Nevertheless, the two suites have distinct differences in alteration-immobile trace element (V, Sc, Zr, Ti, REE, Y) concentrations. The unmineralized suite has relatively low V/Sc and La/Yb, particularly in the high SiO2 rocks, which is related to magma evolution dominated by fractionation of clinopyroxene, plagioclase, and magnetite. By contrast, the mineralized suite has relatively high V/Sc but includes high SiO2 rocks with depleted HREE and Y contents, and hence high La/Yb. These trends are interpreted to reflect magma evolution under high magmatic H2O conditions leading to enhanced amphibole crystallization and suppressed plagioclase and magnetite crystallization. These rocks have somewhat elevated Sr/Y compared to the unmineralized suite, but as Sr is likely affected by hydrothermal mobility, Sr/Y is not considered to be a reliable indicator of magmatic conditions. Our data show that geochemical proxies such as V/Sc and La/Yb that are used to assess Cu-Au fertility of porphyry intrusions can also be applied to cogenetic volcanic sequences, provided elemental trends with fractionation can be assessed for a volcanic suite. These geochemical tools may aid regional-scale exploration for Cu-Au mineralization in convergent margin terranes, especially in areas that have undergone limited exhumation or where epithermal and porphyry mineralization may be buried beneath cogenetic volcanic successions.


2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 275
Author(s):  
Isabel Méndez-Bedia ◽  
Gloria Gallastegui ◽  
Pedro Busquets ◽  
Silvia N. Césari ◽  
Carlos O. Limarino ◽  
...  

In the Argentinian Andes (Frontal Cordillera) the upper part of the late Carboniferous-early Permian San Ignacio Formation is made up of lacustrine-palustrine microbial carbonates and interbedded volcanic deposits. In this lacustrine-palustrine environment a natural monospecific forest was developed. The deposits of this sedimentary-volcanic succession were repeatedly subjected to subaerial exposure and modified by pedogenesis to varying degrees giving rise to paleosoils development. Diagenetic microfabrics were well preserved in the carbonates and volcanic rocks. The carbonate microfabrics comprise a wide spectrum of features consisting of root marks and stumps-related structures (rhizoliths, alveolar texture, tunnel-like structures and coprolites of arthropods), pisoids, coated grains and pseudomicrokarst, cracking, brecciated and nodular fabrics, and grainification also occur corresponding to different stages in the pedogenic evolution. Meteoric dissolution and cementation processes are observed; examples are well identified by scanning electron microscope showing silica-filled voids in partially dissolved carbonates and growths of inorganic carbonate microcrystals or of microbial origin in voids. Other different types of cements can be seen such as discontinuous carbonate crusts, ribbon spar, cavities with silt infillings and pendant cements. The whole set of these microfabrics are indicative of wetting, desiccation and meteoric conditions (vadose and phreatic). The abundance of plant roots and associated micro-organisms mainly of bacterial origin (micro-rods, short rod-shapes, nano-fibres, filaments and nano-spheres) played an important role in the pedogenic and subaerial diagenetic processes affecting these deposits. The immature character of the paleosoils and absence of calcretes point out to short intervals of subaerial exposure due to oscillating fluctuations in water level, intermittent volcanic supply, tectonic subsidence and oscillating climatic conditions. The whole of the macro and microfabrics reveals that the prevailing weather could correspond to an intermediate between semi-arid to sub-humid, however the alternating wetting and drying conditions in which the fossil forest developed and the abundance and diversity of micro-organisms, suggest a transition to sub-humid climate conditions.


2016 ◽  
Vol 43 (4) ◽  
pp. 251 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Gregory Shellnutt

The Early Permian (290 Ma) Panjal Traps are the largest contiguous outcropping of volcanic rocks associated with the Himalayan Magmatic Province (HMP). The eruptions of HMP-related lava were contemporaneous with the initial break-up of Pangea. The Panjal Traps are primarily basalt but volumetrically minor intermediate and felsic volcanic rocks also occur. The basaltic rocks range in composition from continental tholeiite to ocean-floor basalt and nearly all have experienced, to varying extent, crustal contamination. Uncontaminated basaltic rocks have Sr–Nd isotopes similar to a chondritic source (ISr = 0.7043 to 0.7073; eNd(t) = 0 ± 1), whereas the remaining basaltic rocks have a wide range of Nd (eNd(t) = –6.1 to +4.3) and Sr (ISr = 0.7051 to 0.7185) isotopic values. The calculated primary melt compositions of basalt are picritic and their mantle potential temperatures (TP ≤ 1450°C) are similar to ambient mantle rather than anomalously hot mantle. The silicic volcanic rocks were likely derived by partial melting of the crust whereas the andesitic rocks were derived by mixing between crustal and mantle melts. The Traps erupted within a continental rift setting that developed into a shallow sea. Sustained rifting created a nascent ocean basin that led to sea-floor spreading and the rifting of microcontinents from Gondwana to form the ribbon-like continent Cimmeria and the Neotethys Ocean.RÉSUMÉLes Panjal Traps du début Permien (290 Ma) constituent le plus grand affleurement contigu de roches volcaniques associées à la province magmatique de himalayienne (HMP). Les éruptions de lave de type HMP étaient contemporaines de la rupture initiale de la Pangée. Les Panjal Traps sont essentiellement des basaltes, mais on y trouve aussi des roches volcaniques intermédiaires et felsiques en quantités mineures. La composition de ces roches basaltiques varie de tholéiite continentale à basalte de plancher océanique, et presque toutes ont subi, à des degrés divers, une contamination de matériaux crustaux. Les roches basaltiques non contaminées ont des contenus isotopiques Sr–Nd similaires à une source chondritique (Isr = 0,7043 à 0,7073; eNd (t) = 0 ± 1), alors que les roches basaltiques autres montrent une large gamme de valeurs isotopiques en Nd (eNd (t) = –6,1 à +4,3) et Sr (Isr = de 0,7051 à 0,7185). Les compositions de fusion primaire calculées des basaltes sont picritiques et leurs températures potentielles mantelliques (TP de ≤ 1450°C) sont similaires à la température ambiante du manteau plutôt que celle d’un manteau anormalement chaud. Les roches volcaniques siliciques dérivent probablement de la fusion partielle de la croûte alors que les roches andésitiques proviennent du mélange entre des matériaux de fusion crustaux et mantelliques. Les Traps ont fait irruption dans un contexte de rift continental qui s’est développé dans une mer peu profonde. Un rifting soutenu a créé un début de bassin océanique lequel conduit à une expansion du fond océanique et au rifting de microcontinents tirés du Gondwana pour former le continent rubané de Cimméria et l'océan Néotéthys.


2020 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Genwen Chen ◽  
Rui Liu ◽  
Teng Deng ◽  
Lixing Wang

Abstract The Western Tianshan orogenic belt is essential for understanding the evolution of the Central Asian orogenic belt. However, no agreement exists among geologists about its tectonic environment during the Late Palaeozoic. The volcanic rocks of the Yishijilike and Wulang Formation in the Yili Block, Western Tianshan, formed in the Late Carboniferous to Early Permian, mainly consist of a bimodal suite of basalts – basaltic andesites and rhyolites, with only some intermediate rocks. Mafic rocks are slightly enriched in light rare earth elements (LREE) and depleted in Nb, Ta, Zr and Hf, suggesting a subduction-modified depleted mantle source. Some mafic samples in the Early Permian bimodal volcanic rocks have high Ti contents with relatively high concentrations of Nb and high field strength elements (HFSE) and low contents of heavy rare earth elements (HREE). These rocks are similar to the continental flood basalts, which suggests that they formed from an asthenospheric mantle. This paper indicates that mafic members were created by the partial melting of the asthenospheric mantle material and subduction-modified lithospheric mantle mixture. Some rhyolites and dacites in the Wulang formation were enriched in Ga, Nb, Zr, Ce and Y and depleted in Sr and Eu. Additionally, they showed fractionation of rare earth elements (REE) with negative Eu anomalies, which is indicative of an A-type affinity of felsic rocks. The genesis of mafic members and an A-type affinity of felsic members indicate that the Late Carboniferous – Early Permian magmatism in the Western Tianshan area formed as a result of an extensional setting. This study also reveals bimodal magmatism produced by delamination in an extensional tectonic setting.


1991 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 195-208 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. H. B. Leitch ◽  
P. van der Heyden ◽  
C. I. Godwin ◽  
R. L. Armstrong ◽  
J. E. Harakal

Mineralization at the Bralorne mesothermal gold vein deposit is closely related to a suite of early Late Cretaceous to early Tertiary dykes. Premineral albitite dykes (91.4 ± 1.4 Ma by U–Pb on zircons) and postmineral lamprophyre dykes (43.5 ± 1.5 Ma by K–Ar on biotite) set definite age limits on the mineralizing event. A late intra- to post-mineral green hornblende dyke set (85.7 ± 3.0 Ma by K–Ar on hornblende) that forms a transitional series to the albitites may further restrict the age. Thus, mineralization occurred long after emplacement of the host Bralorne intrusions, dated as Early Permian (minimum age of approximately 270 ± 5 Ma by U–Pb on zircons, 284 ± 20 Ma by K–Ar on hornblende, and 40Ar/39Ar plateau at 276 ± 31 Ma). Lithologically similar intrusions 20 km to the north near Gold Bridge are also Early Permian (287 ± 20 Ma by K–Ar on hornblende and 320 ± 80 Ma by a Rb–Sr whole-rock isochron). Geochronology, radiogenic and stable isotopes, and fluid-inclusion studies suggest that there were several pulses of mineralizing activity adjacent to and east of the Coast Plutonic Complex (CPC). Decreasing temperatures and younger age of mineralization with increasing distance from the CPC imply that plutons of the CPC were the main heat source responsible for mineralization. The main pulses were about 90 Ma for mesothermal Au–Ag–As ± W,Mo mineralization at Bralorne near the CPC, ranging outwards to 65 Ma for Ag–Au–Sb–As ± Hg mineralization at the Minto and Congress deposits, to 45 Ma for Ag–Au epithermal mineralization at Blackdome, 100 km east of the CPC.The Bralorne intrusions may have been emplaced below the sea floor in a spreading-ridge oceanic environment, as suggested by the petrology of the intrusive suite, which includes serpentinized ultramafite, hornblende diorite, and soda granite (trondhjemite), typical of an ophiolite association. The chemistry of volcanic rocks mapped as Cadwallader Group, which host these intrusive bodies, is transitional from mid-ocean-ridge basalts to island-arc tholeiite, suggesting a back-arc-basin setting. Gradational contact relations between the hornblende diorite and the volcanic rocks suggest that the diorite intruded its own volcanic products. Intrusive contacts of the diorite with adjacent elongate ultramafic bodies imply that the ultramafic rocks are of Permian or older age and had been structurally emplaced into crustal levels by the time of diorite intrusion. In the Bralorne fault block the Bralorne intrusions appear to cut the adjacent Cadwallader and Bridge River groups, implying an Early Permian or older age for at least parts of these groups. Thus, rocks mapped as Cadwallader Group in the Bralorne area could be distinct from and older than lithologic equivalents exposed elsewhere, although they are similar in terms of their petrology and major- and trace-element chemistry.


2014 ◽  
Vol 152 (3) ◽  
pp. 429-443 ◽  
Author(s):  
FABRIZIO BERRA ◽  
MASSIMO TIEPOLO ◽  
VALERIA CAIRONI ◽  
GIAN BARTOLOMEO SILETTO

AbstractU–Pb zircon ages from volcanic rocks of Early Permian age (Southern Alps, Lombardy), associated with fault-controlled transtensional continental basins, were determined with the laser ablation (LA)-ICP-MS technique. Four samples were collected at the base and at the top of the up to 1000 m thick volcaniclastic unit of the Cabianca Volcanite. This unit pre-dates the development of a sedimentary succession that still contains, at different stratigraphic levels, volcanic intercalations. Age results from a tuff in the basal part of the unit constrain the onset of the volcanic activity to 280 ± 2.5 Ma. Ignimbritic samples from the upper part of the unit show a large scatter in the age distribution. This is interpreted as the occurrence of antecrystic and autocrystic zircons. The youngest autocrystic zircons (c. 270 Ma) are thus interpreted as better constraining the eruption age, constraining the duration of the volcanic activity in the Orobic Basin to about 10 Ma. The new geochronological results compared with those of other Early Permian basins of the Southern Alps reveal important differences that may reflect (1) a real time-transgressive beginning and end of the volcanic activity or (2) the complex mixing of antecrystic and autocrystic zircon populations in the analysed samples.


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