The Role of Siliceous High-Magnesium Basalts during the Formation of a Neoproterozoic Mafic-Ultramafic Intrusion in the Tarim Craton (China)

Abstract

The Xingdi No.2 intrusion in the Kuluktag Block of northeastern Tarim Craton, which intrudes into the Palaeoproterozoic basement with an exposed area of ca. 12 km2, is an orthopyroxene-rich mafic-ultramafic intrusion in a continental rift setting. It consists of gabbros, pyroxenites, and peridotites, and exhibits a crystallization sequence of the principal rock-forming minerals from olivine, orthopyroxene, clinopyroxene, to plagioclase. The gabbros show a concordant SHRIMP U-Pb zircon age of 752 ± 5.4 Ma. In addition, the olivine grains have forsterite content values of 78–85 mole% and mostly contain low NiO, MnO, CaO, and Cr2O3. The rocks are relatively enriched in large ion lithophile elements and LREE, and depleted in HSFE, have non-radiogenic Pb, low εNd (t) values (−2.8 to −23), initial 87Sr/86Sr ratios (0.7059–0.7130). It could be concluded that the rocks represent an analogue of siliceous high magnesium basaltic magma originated by the partial melting of a hydrous and enriched subcontinental lithospheric mantle and contaminated by the continental crust.