A Mush-Facilitated Magma Mixing Process Revealed by Complex Zoning of Plagioclase in Mafic Magmatic Enclaves of the Early Cretaceous Sanguliu Granitic Pluton, East China

Abstract

Abstract Mafic magmatic enclaves (MMEs) hosted in granitic plutons are ideal to investigate the role of mushes on magma mixing processes in crustal magma chambers. However, the petrographic evidence for mixing of magmas through infiltration and percolation in coexisting mushes and magmas is desired. Here, we describe complex zoning patterns of plagioclase in the MMEs hosted in the monzogranite of the Early Cretaceous Sanguliu pluton in East China to reveal a mush-facilitated magma mixing process. The MMEs appear as round to oval nodules about 10 to 20 cm in size and show diverse disequilibrium textures. Plagioclase in the MMEs can be identified as three populations (Plag1, Plag2, and Plag3) with distinct zoning patterns, anorthite contents (XAn) and initial Sr isotopic ratios (87Sr/86Sri). Plag1 is antecryst displaying normal zoning with An42–67 in the core and An20–36 in the mantle. The core of Plag1 shows coarse sieve texture with high-frequency oscillation in the margin, and the mantle displays resorption surface and patchy zoning. Plag2 is also antecryst with An23–66 in the core and An21–35 in the mantle. However, its core can be further recognized as Core I inside and Core II outside with distinctly different An23–43 and An44–66, respectively, showing reverse zoning. In addition, Core I contains aligned biotite inclusions and Core II shows sieve texture, resorption surface and patchy zoning. Amphibole inclusions are sporadically enclosed within Core I of Plag2 (Amp1) and mantles of Plag1 and Plag2 (Amp2), but rarely observed in Core II of Plag2. Plag3 is anhedral grain in the matrix and shows core-rim texture with An20–37 in the core. The three plagioclase populations all exhibit angular rims with resembling An9–22. Plag1 core and Plag2 Core II have (87Sr/86Sr)i (0.70920 to 0.71092) similar to the bulk (87Sr/86Sr)i of the mafic dykes intruding the Sanguliu pluton, and likely crystallized from basaltic andesitic magmas. In contrast, the rims of Plag1, Plag2, and Plag3 overall have (87Sr/86Sr)i (0.71391 to 0.71583) nearly identical to the (87Sr/86Sr)i of host monzogranite and the plagioclase in the monzogranite, likely crystallized from granitic magmas. The mantles of Plag1 and Plag2 and the core of Plag3 have (87Sr/86Sr)i (0.71141 to 0.71390) overlapping the (87Sr/86Sr)i of the MMEs, and may have crystallized from mixed melts. Calculation results based on amphibole thermobarometers show that Amp1 crystallized at ~775 °C and ~ 16 km depth, whereas Amp2 and the amphibole in the matrix of the MMEs and monzogranite crystallized at 730 to 744 °C and 8 to 9 km depth. We thus propose that the chemical and textural complexity of the three plagioclase populations in the MMEs can be attributed to that the MMEs may have come from a mushy hybrid layer that was developed through a molten granitic body being recharged by upwelling basaltic andesitic magma. Core I of Plag2 may have nucleated and grown from andesitic magma that was evolved from the basaltic andesitic magma from which the core of Plag1 and Core II of Plag2 crystallized. The two types of antecrystic plagioclase then may have experienced resorption and disequilibrium growth in the hybrid layer, and finally rimmed with ambient, evolved interstitial melt within mushy MMEs. This study shows that complex zoning patterns and compositions of plagioclase populations in the MMEs hosted in granitic plutons have important bearings on mush-facilitated magma mixing processes.