The Middle Devonian Bimodal Association of Volcanic Rocks in the Northern Area of East Junggar, Xinjiang

The Middle Devonian volcanic rocks in the northern area of East Junggar, located between the Ertix andUlungur rivers of northern Xinjiang, may be divided into basic and acid ones. It is evident that a compositionalgap exists between the two groups so that the volcanic rocks are not in line with a calc-alkaline series becausethe intermediate rocks are absent in the area. The fact shows that the volcanic rocks are a typical bimodal asso-ciation. The formation of the bimodal association of volcanic rocks in the area was closely related to continen-tal rifting or continental extension in the Middle Devonian. In such a tectonic setting, magmas were first pro-duced by partial melting of the mantle. Where crustal thinning was greater, the magmas ascended and eruptedon the surface directly so that the basic volcanic rocks formed, but olivine and/or partial pyroxenefractionation occurred in the magmas during their ascent through the thinning crust. On the other hand, wherecrustal thinning was less, ascending mantle-derived magmas reached the lower crust and accumulated there, re-sulting in partial melting of the lower crust and thus giving rise to the contaminated magma which was consoli-dated as acid volcanic rocks on the surface.

Geochemistry and Petrogenesis of Volcanic Rocks in the Yeba Formation on the Gangdise Magmatic Arc, Tibet

The Early Jurassic bimodal volcanic rocks in the Yeba Formation, situated between Lhasa, Dagze and Maizhokunggar, composed of metabasalt, basaltic ignimbrite, dacite, silicic tuff and volcanic breccia, are an important volcanic suite for the study of the tectonic evolution of the Gangdise magmatic arc and the Mesozoic Tethys. Based on systematic field investigations, we carried out geochemical studies on representative rock samples. Major and trace element compositions were analyzed for these rock samples by XRF and ICP-MS respectively, and an isotope analysis of Rb-Sr and Sm-Nd was carried out by a MAT 262 mass spectrograph. The results show that the SiO2 contents in lava rocks are 41 %-50.4% and 64 % -69 %, belonging to calc-alkaline basalt and dacite. One notable feature of the basalt is its low TiO2 content, 0.66%-1.01%, much lower than those of continental tholeiite. The ∑REE contents of basalt and dacite are 60.3-135 μg/g and 126, 4--167.9μg/ g respectively. Both rocks have similar REE and other trace element characteristics, with enriched LREE and LILE relative to HREE and HFS, similar REE patterns without Eu anomaly. The basalts have depleted Ti, Ta and Nb and slightly negative Nb and Ta anomalies, with Nb = 0.54--1.17 averaging 0. 84. The dacites have depleted P and Ti and also slightly negative Nb and Ta anomalies, with Nb= 0. 74 -1. 06 averaging 0. 86. Major and trace elemental and isotopic studies suggest that both basalt and dacite originated from the partial melting of the mantle wedge at different degrees above the subduction zone. The spinal Iherzolite in the upper mantle is likely to be their source rocks, which might have been affected by the selective metasomatism of fluids with crustal geochemistry. The LILE contents of both rocks were affected by metamorphism at later stages. The Yeba bimodal volcanic rocks formed in a temporal extensional situation in a mature island arc resulting from the Indosinian Gangdise magmatic arc.

Carboniferous tectono-magmatic evolution of the northern Luliang arc: evidence from geochemistry and petrography of Carboniferous volcanic rocks in the northern Luliang Uplift,NW China

The Northern Junggar Basin experienced extensive subduction and a complex tectono-magmatic evolution during the Late Paleozoic,resulting in a heterogeneous distribution of volcanic rocks in the Junggar Basin.In this study,the Carboniferous tectono-magmatic evolution of the northern Luliang arc was described by exploring the petrography and geochemistry of Carboniferous volcanic rocks collected from well Y-2 and outcrop WW' in the northern Luliang Uplift.The distribution,types,and formation ages of these volcanic rocks were characterized and the volcanic sequence in well Y-1 was divided into upper and lower parts according to vertical variations in selected geochemical data.Then the petrogenesis and tectonic settings of different volcanic rocks were evaluated and this was used to infer the tectonomagmatic evolution of the northern Luliang arc during the Carboniferous.The results indicate that:(1) Carboniferous high-K calc-alkali andesite-dacite associations are distributed in the west of the northern Luliang Uplift,and Lower Carboniferous calc-alkali basalt-dacite-rhyolite assemblages are preserved in its east.(2) The intermediateacid volcanic rocks in wells Y-1 and Y-2 were derived from calc-alkali basaltic magma through melting of the juvenile lower crust,and geochemical variations indicate increasing addition of slab melting in a subduction-related arc environment.The bimodal volcanic rocks from outcrop WW' were derived from lithospheric underplating of basaltic magma in an intra-arc extensional setting.(3) The closure of the eastern Keramaili Oceanic basin occurred before the Early Carboniferous,and the tectono-magmatic difference between the east and the west of the northern Luliang Uplift appeared before the Carboniferous period.