Trace element tectonic discrimination of granitoids:inspiration from big data analytics

The tectonic environment of granitoids has always been a concern of the academic community.The Nb vs.Y and Rb vs.Nb+Y diagrams have had a substantial impact.The present work uses more than 110,000 granitoid samples(SiO_(2)≥56%)from the globally shared database to discuss the validity and also explain why these diagrams used for discrimination between the different tectonic settings of granitoid rocks.The amount of data from the spreading center is sparse and the data are highly scattered and so,the present study focuses mainly on granites from the ocean islands and convergent margins tectonic environments.On the TAS diagram most of the ocean island data are alkaline series and trachybasalt series,and some are bimodal.In contrast,the granitoids on the convergent margin are mainly sub-alkaline.This work shows that the tectonic discrimination diagrams of granitoids remain valid,and only the boundaries need to be slightly adjusted.

Tectonic Implications of the Combined Use of Tectonomagmatic Geochemical Discrimination Diagrams and Indicators of Magma Flow Sense in Mafic Dykes

Geochemistry is a powerful tool to help characterize the tectonic setting of igneous rocks associations.However,when continental mafic dykes and flood basalts are the target most of the proposed geochemical discrimination diagrams fail to correctly classify them,i.e.many mafic

A new method of discriminating different types of post-Archean ophiolitic basalts and their tectonic significance using Th-Nb and Ce-Dy-Yb systematics

In this paper, a new discrimination diagram using absolute measures of Th and Nb is applied to postArchean ophiolites to best discriminate a large number of different ophiolitic basalts. This diagram was obtained using 〉2000 known ophiolitic basalts and was tested using -560 modern rocks from known tectonic settings. Ten different basaltic varieties from worldwide ophiolitic complexes have been examined. They include two basaltic types that have never been considered before, which are： （1） medium-Ti basalts （MTB） generated at nascent forearc settings; （2） a type of mid-ocean ridge basalts showing garnet signature （G-MORB） that characterizes Alpine-type （i,e., non volcanic） rifted margins and ocean-continent transition zones （OCTZ）. In the Th-Nb diagram, basalts generated in oceanic subductionunrelated settings, rifted margins, and OCTZ can be distinguished from subduction-related basalts with a misclassification rate 〈 1%. This diagram highlights the chemical variation of oceanic, rifted margin, and OCTZ basalts from depleted compositions to progressively more enriched compositions reflecting, in turn, the variance of source composition and degree of melting within the MORB-OIB array. It also highlights the chemical contributions of enriched （OIB-type） components to mantle sources. Enrichment of Th relative to Nb is particularly effective for highlighting crustal input via subduction or crustal contamination. Basalts formed at continental margin arcs and island arc with a complex polygenetic crust can be distinguished from those generated in intra-oceanic arcs in supra-subducrion zones （SSZ） with a misclassification rate 〈1%. Within the SSZ group, two sub-settings can be recognized with a misclassification rate 〈0.5%. They are： （1） SSZ influenced by chemical contribution from subduction- derived components （forearc and intra-arc sub-settings） characterized by island arc tholeiitic （IAT） and boninitic basalts; （2） SSZ with no contribution from subduction-derived components （nascent forearc sub-settings） characterized by MTBs and depleted-MORBs. Two additional discrimination diagrams are proposed： （1） a Dy-Yb diagram is used for discriminating boninite and IAT basalts; （2） a Ce/Yb-Dy/Yb diagram is used for discriminating G-MORBs and normal MORBs. The proposed method may effectively assist in recovering the tectonic affinity of ancient ophiolites, which is fundamental for establishing the geodvnamic evolution of ancient oceanic and continental domains, as well as orogenic belts.

Identification of the Original Tectonic Setting for Oceanic Andesite Using Discrimination Diagrams:An Approach Based on Global Geochemical Data Synthesis

Systematical analyses of data from GEOROC and PetDB database show that large amount of Cenozoic andesites occurred in the various oceanic environments such as mid-oceanic ridge,plumerelated island and oceanic arc.In this study,we employed the geochemical data of 351 mid-ocean ridge andesites(MORA),2539 plume-related andesites(PRA)and 3488 oceanic arc andesites(OAA)from the database to discuss the relationship between andesite tectonic settings and their geochemical features,thereby making an attempt to construct tectonic discrimination diagrams.Based on the data-driven pattern,all available elements were employed to derive logratios for the possible coordinates,and the overlap-rate calculation was adopted to evaluate the discrimination effect of more than 330000 prospective diagrams.Finally,four tectonic discrimination diagrams have been successfully established to identify MORA,PRA and OAA,which can be utilized to identify the original settings of andesite with an age range from Cenozoic to Archean a certain extent.Of these diagrams,PRA is mainly distinguished by high LREE/HREE ratio due to enriched mantle source.Whereas,OAA is mainly characterized by high LILE/HFSE ratio,which reveals that fluids derived from subducted slab play an important role in forming oceanic arc andesites.Consequently,the petrogenesis of andesites is closely related to their tectonic settings.However,it should be noted that those andesites formed in both continental and oceanic environments cannot be effectively distinguished using these diagrams.We strongly recommend integrating the discrimination diagrams result with other geological information to reach a comprehensive interpretation of evolution history with those ancient andesites.This paper presents a case study which suggests that data-driven method is a powerful tool for solving geological problems in this’big data’era.