Geochronology–geochemistry of the Cida bimodal intrusive complex, central Emeishan large igneous province, southwest China: petrogenesis and plume–lithosphere interaction

Abstract

The Cida complex is situated in the Panxi region and is predominantly composed of mafic-ultramafic and syenitic rock units; minor amounts of intermediate rocks occupy the contact zone between the two major rock types. The intermediate unit is mineralogically heterogeneous and typically exhibits a mottled structure. Laser ablation–inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry (LA–ICP–MS) U–Pb zircon dating shows that the mafic-ultramafic rocks and syenitic rocks formed almost coevally (243 ± 0.77 Ma and 240.5 ± 0.76 Ma, respectively). These ages may represent the end phase of the Emeishan large igneous province (ELIP) magmatism. Most of these three rock types possess alkaline and metaluminous affinities. The mafic-ultramafic, syenitic, and intermediate units have K₂O + Na₂O contents of 1.85–5.16, 6.55–10.46, and 9.55–11.54 wt.%, and SiO₂ contents of 40.06–46.70, 61.74–68.54, and 51.57–54.13 wt.%, respectively. The mafic-ultramafic unit displays ocean-island basalt (OIB)-like primitive-mantle-normalized incompatible element patterns, coupled with low initial ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios (0.7048–0.7064), positive ϵ_Nd(t) (0.32–2.23), and zircon ϵ_Hf(t) (4.53–14.17) values, consistent with a mafic plume-head origin, whereas one exceptional sample with negative ϵ_Nd(t) (–0.22) can be interpreted as due to the involvement of considerable amounts of enriched subcontinental lithospheric mantle. The relatively low (La/Yb) _N ratios (3.40–7.69) reflect a spinel-facies lherzolite source. The syenitic unit is characterized by enrichment in large ion lithophile elements (e.g. Rb, K, Pb) and light rare earth elements (LREEs), relative to high field strength elements (e.g. Nb, Ta, P, Ti) and heavy rare earth elements (HREEs), respectively. These features, together with their metaluminous affinities, low SiO₂ contents, lower initial ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios (0.7043), positive ϵ_Nd(t) (0.18), and zircon ϵ_Hf(t) (2.63–10.09) values as well as modelling of REEs, can be plausibly explained by crustal partial melting of juvenile basic materials beneath the Yangtze Block. In contrast, the field, petrographic observations, and geochemical signatures (e.g. the linear correlations between FeO* and MgO, K/Ba and Rb/Ba ratios) suggest that the intermediate unit may have resulted from magma mixing between the syenitic and basaltic magmas that in turn had evolved from a parental mafic-ultramafic liquid. Thus, the formation of the Cida complex can be attributed to the plume–lithosphere interaction plus partial melting of juvenile basic lower crust in response to heating of underplated plume-derived basaltic magma.

Keywords:

• geochronology
• magma mixing
• Emeishan mantle plume
• Cida complex
• Panxi area

Acknowledgements

This study was supported by 973 Project (Grant No. 2012CB416806), National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 40925006), Special Fund for Scientific Research in the Public Interest (200911007-25), and ‘the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities’. Hao Wang from China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, and Xiaowei Li from Peking University are acknowledged for their kind help.