TERTIARY MAGMATISM in NORTHERN SARDINIA by Michael
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TERTIARY MAGMATISM IN NORTHERN SARDINIA by Michael John Rutter A Thesis submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy, University of London Department of Geology, Imperial College of Science & Technology, Prince Consort Road, LONDON SW7. ABSTRACT Tertiary magmatism in northern Sardinia is dominated by a temporal transition from subduction-related (29.9-13 Ma) to extensional (5-0.12 Ma) volcanism. Geochemical parameters of lavas, independent of any differentiation processes, have been used to constrain the changing chemical characteristics of magma-producing source mantle beneath Sardinia, during and after active subduction. Late Oligocene and Miocene (29.9-13 Ma) basalt-andesite- dacite-rhyolite lavas were associated with active subduction, to the east of the Sardinia continental block. They are associated with contemporaneous extension, possibly in a back-arc environment, which facilitated passage of magmas to the surface, and high-T low-P fractionation of an anhydrous gabbroic mineral assemblage. Low K/Cs and high Ba/La ratios in Sardinian subduction-related magmas, may reflect the influx of fluids or melts, derived from the subducted slab, into their mantle source. Low Nb and Ta abundances can be explained by the retention of these elements in some residual phase, stable under the hydrous conditions which may exist in the mantle wedge, although this phase is probably not titaniferous. High LILE-HFSE ratios may represent the addition of LILE-enriched fluids or melts from the subducted oceanic lithosphere to MORB-source mantle, or to magma generation in OIB-source mantle. Following a gap in magmatic activitiy, volcanism resumed in the Pliocene with the eruption of high-Al basalt, dacite and rhyolite lavas, which require the persistence of subduction-related source mantle beneath Sardinia at least 8 Ma after the cessation of active subduction. Hawaiites and basaltic andesites were erupted contemporaneously during the Plio-Pleistocene, although probably from separate vents or fissures. Basaltic andesites predominate in the lower part of the sequence. The hawaiites are LILE-enriched relative to most OIB, which can be explained by the mixing of OIB magmas with mantle which had been previously metasomatised by LILE-enriched fluids or melts, derived from the subducted slab. The genesis of siliceous basaltic andesites and high-Mg andesites can be explained by relative shallow melting of hydrous mantle peridotite, possibly within the sub continental mantle lithosphere. The heat input required for melting may have been supplied by the injection of mafic alkaline magmas derived -fr0™ the asthenospheric mantle, and later to form hawaiite lava flows and pyroclastic eruptives. However, magma genesis by assimilation of time-integrated low Rb/Sr sialic crust during ascent of oceanic magmas to the surface cannot be excluded. Mafic alkaline lavas contain abundant inclusions of mantle peridotite. These inclusions are predominantly porphyroclastic-textured spinel lherzolite and harzburgite, which have been depleted, relative to a model pyrolite composition, by about 20% partial fusion and loss of a basaltic melt. Equilibration temperatures, calculated using the two-pyroxene geothermometer, imply that the xenoliths were incorporated into rising mafic alkaline magmas, somewhere near the top of the lithospheric mantle. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank Dr. Bob Thompson for his supervision of this research project. Field work in Sardinia was partly financed by the N.E.R.C. Special thanks are due to Dr. Jack Nolan and Peter Watkins, for their constant help and advice, regarding the analytical work undertaken during the course of this project. Analytical work also benefitked from the efforts of many other people. In particular, Paul Suddaby and Nick Royale, for help with the electron microprobe; Sue Parry and Ian Sinclair for their assistance with neutron activation analysis at Silwood Park, and Dr. C.T. Williams for making available, and helping with, neutron activation counting facilities at the British Museum. Strontium isotopic work was carried out at the University of Oxford, thanks to the co-operation and advice of Dr. S. Moorbath and Dr. P. Taylor. Day to day running of the mass spectrometer depended much on the labours of Roy Goodwin. Thanks are also due to all the technical staff at Imperial College. Many friends and colleagues have helped (or hindered) the completion of this thesis, and I would like to thank all of them, for their advice and friendship. Lastly, special thanks to my Mum and Dad for constant encouragement, and to Sue Salter for her enthusiastic typing of an unintelligible thesis. LIST OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Geographical location of Sardinia 1.2 Geological structure of Sardinia 1.3 Nature of the Sardinian crystalline basement 1.4 Late Oligocene and Miocene subduction- related volcanism 1.5 Plio-Pleistocene extensional volcanism 1.6 Magmatism and tectonics in northern Sardinia CHAPTER 2 PETROGRAPHY AND MINERAL CHEMISTRY OF SARDINIAN TERTIARY VOLCANIC ROCKS 2.1 High-Al basalts 2.2 Basaltic andesites and high-Mg andesites 2.3 Hawaiites and alkali basalts 2.4 Analcite basanites 2.5 Oligo-Miocene subduction-related silicic lavas CHAPTER 3 MAJOR AND TRACE ELEMENT VARIATION WITHIN THE SUBDUCTION-RELATED ROCK SUITE 3.1 K^O vs. SiO^ trend 3.2 Major element variation 3.3 Geochemical modelling of the major element variation 3.4 Trace element variation 3.5 REE 3.6 Synthesis 7 Page CHAPTER 4 COMPARATIVE MAJOR AND TRACE ELEMENT 71 VARIATION WITHIN THE PLIO-PLEISTOCENE MAGMA SUITE 4.1 High-Al basalt 7^ 4.2 Alkali basalts, hawaiites, basaltic 71 andesites and high-Mg andesites 4.3 Basanites 72 4.4 Primary or differentiated magmas in 74 northern Sardinia? 4.5 CIPW normative compositions 75 4.6 Major element chemical variation 77 4.7 Trace element chemical variation 8 i 4.8 Sr-isotope variation 35 4.9 REE abundances in Plio-Pleistocene 22 lavas CHAPTER 5 ELEMENTAL AND ISOTOPIC EVIDENCE 92 RELATING TO THE SOURCE OF SARDINIAN SUBDUCTION-RELATED MAGMAS 5.1 Magma generation in subduction- g3 related tectonic settings 5.2 Mantle peridotite source for 93 subduction-related magmas 5.3 Elemental characteristics of 94 Sardinian subduction-related basalts 5.4 Isotopic evidence for the recyclirtg_ 99 of pelagic sediment via subduction zones 5.5 Geochemistry of pelagic sediments 5.6 REE geochemistry of Sardinian mafic 104 rocks 5.7 , MORB plus subducted sediment source 106 for Sardinian basalts 5.8 OIB plus subducted sediment source m for Sardinian basalts? 5.9 Summary 8 Page CHAPTER 6 LILE-ENRICHED MAFIC ALKALINE MAGMAS 116 IN NORTHERN SARDINIA 117 6.1 Continental crustal source 6.2 Sub-continental mantle lithospheric 118 source 6.3 Asthenospheric upper mantle source 119 6.4 Elemental composition of hawaiites 120 from northern Sardinia 6.5 LILE-enriched basanites in northwestern 126 Sardinia 6.6 Sr-isotope composition of hawaiite lavas 129 in northern Sardinia 6.7 Evidence for partial melting within the 130 Sardinian upper continental crust 6.8 Geochemical nature of the Sardinian 137 crystalline basement rocks 6.9 High LILE abundances in Sardinian 139 mafic alkalic magmas - a crustal signature CHAPTER 7 THE TRANSITION FROM SUBDUCTION- 149 RELATED TO EXTENSIONAL MAGMATISM - GEOCHEMISTRY OF PLIO-PLEISTOCENE HIGH-MG ANDESITES AND BASALTIC ANDESITES 7.1 Geochemistry of basaltic andesites 149 and high-Mg andesites 7.2 Role of varying degrees of melting 156 of mantle peridotite in the genesis of Sardinian Plio-Pleistocene magmas 156 7.3 Role of crustal contamination in the genesis of basaltic andesites and high-Mg andesites 7.4 The role of water in magma genesis 159 7.5 Mantle dynamics during the transition 165 from subduction-related to extensional volcanism 9 Page CHAPTER 8 THE NATURE OF THE DEEP CRUST AND UPPER 167 MANTLE BENEATH SARDINIA - EVIDENCE FROM INCLUSIONS IN ALKALINE MAGMAS 8.1 Field occurrence 167 8.2 Petrography- 168 8.3 Mineral chemistry 176 8.4 Geothermometry of magnesian peridotites 186 and anhydrous pyroxenites 8.5 Major element whole-rock chemistry of 191 spinel peridotites 8.6 REE geochemistry of spinel peridotites 194 8.7 Sr-isotopic composition of Cr-diopsides 196 from Sardinian spinel peridotites 8.8 Origin of Sardinian spinel peridotites 199 8.9 The nature of the lower crust beneath 204 Sardinia 210 BIBLIOGRAPHY 225 APPENDIX A ANALYTICAL TECHNIQUES APPENDIX B MAJOR AND TRACE ELEMENT DATA 247 SAMPLE LOCALITIES 290 APPENDIX C MINERAL CHEMISTRY OF LAVAS 294 APPENDIX D MINERAL CHEMISTRY OF SPINEL PERIDOTITES 305 APPENDIX E PROBLEMS AND ASSUMPTIONS INHERENT IN 318 GEOTHERMOMETRY APPENDIX F NORMALISATION FACTORS 322 10 LIST OF FIGURES Page Figure Title 1.1 Location of Sardinia in the Western 18 Mediterranean 1.2 Simplied geological map of Sardinia 20 1.3 Surface exposure of Tertiary volcanic 21 rocks in N. Sardinia 1.4 K-Ar dates for Plio-Pleistocene 25 volcanic rocks 1.5 Evolution of western Mediterranean 30 basin 2.1 Pyroxene compositions for some 33 Tertiary volcanic rocks 2.2 Feldspar compositions for some 34 Tertiary volcanic rocks 3.1 K^O vs. SiO„ in Sardinian subduction- 42 related rocks 3.2 FeOT/MgO in Sardinian subduct; on - 44 related rocks 3.3 Major element chemical variation among 46 Sardinian subduction-related lavas 3.4 Trace element chemical variation among 55 Sardinian subduction-related lavas 3.5 REE data for selected Sardinian high-Al 60 basalts 3.6 REE data for two Sardinian andesites 61 3.7 REE data for several Sardinian dacites 62 and rhyolites 3.8 Rb, Ni and V vs. 8 ?Sr/86Sr 66 3.9 Multi-element diagram showing effects 69 of fractional crystallisation in andesite-dacite-rhyolite sequence 4.1 K^O vs. Si02 in all analysed Tertiary 72 volcanic rocks 11 Page Figure Title 76 4.2 CIPW normative composition of selected Plio-Pleistocene rocks 4.3 Major element variation among 79 Plio-Pleistocene volcanics 4.4 Trace element variation among 82 Plio-Pleistocene volcanics 4.5 Sr-isotope ratios in all analysed gg Plio-Pleistocene rocks 87 86 4.6 Sr/ Sr vs.