Isotope, Trace Element, and Major Element Constraints From
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CHEMICAL STRATIFICATION OF THE CRUST: ISOTOPE, TRACE ELEMENT, AND MAJOR ELEMENT CONSTRAINTS FROM CRUSTALLY CONTAMINATED LAVAS AND LOWER CRUSTAL XENOLITHS by MARY RUTH REID B.S. (Honors), A.B., University of California, Santa Cruz (1979) SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF EARTH, ATMOSPHERIC, AND PLANETARY SCIENCES IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY at the MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY February 1987 Massachusetts Institute of Technology Signature of Authoi Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences November 7, 1986 fi' Certified byCerifid b I.0 - Stanley R. Hart Thesis Supervisor Accepted by Chairman, Department Committee on Graduate Students 2 CHEMICAL STRATIFICATION OF THE CRUST: ISOTOPIC, TRACE ELEMENT, AND MAJOR ELEMENT CONSTRAINTS FROM CRUSTALLY CONTAMINATED LAVAS AND LOWER CRUSTAL XENOLITHS by MARY RUTH REID Submitted to the Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences on November 7, 1986 in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy ABSTRACT The dehydration of the lower crust and the assimilation of crustal materials into ascending magmas are two geologic phenomenon which lead to vertical mass transport and potentially, geochemical stratification of continental crust. LOWER CRUSTAL XENOLITHS, KILBOURNE HOLE This integrated Sr-Nd-Pb isotope study of paragneiss xenoliths from Kilbourne Hole maar, New Mexico, is the first of its kind applied to materials derived directly from the lower crust (6-10 kb). The pelitic paragneisses represent shales incorporated into the lower crust, in themselves exemplifying the importance of tectonic and sedimentary processes to the evolution of the lower crust. Because shales are rich in elements conventionally thought to be depleted in the lower crust, the pelitic paragneisses are an important geochemical reservoir to consider in the lower crust; their response to high grade metamorphism is pertinent to the problem of intracrustal stratification. Sr isochrons determined from layers at a xenolith (decimeter) scale yield -1.6 Ga ages, coeval with metamorphic ages in basement rocks exposed at the surface. Locally, minerals are in isotopic equilibrium as a result of recent reheating of the lower crust related to Rio Grande rifting. Pb isochrons yield discordant ages as a result of this heating but are internally consistent with tectonothermal stability of the crust throughout the remainder of the Precambrian and most of the Paleozoic in spite of proximity to anorogenic plutonism at -1.4 Ga and orogenic activity at -1.0 Ga. Nd isochrons also yield discordant ages suggesting the heretofore unexpected possibility that effective diffusion rates for Nd are faster than Sr under dry crustal conditions. The paragneisses exhibit a wide range in internal composition. A representative Sm/Nd ratio for the paragneisses as a whole is obtained by considerations based on their time-integrated Nd isotope evolution. Other geochemical characteristics of the paragneisses are be correlated to Sm/Nd and a representative major and trace element composition for the paragneisses is determined. Although similar in many respects to typical shales, the paragneisses are significantly depleted in U and Cs and may have been depleted by a factor of -2 in Th and the LREE relative to the protolith during metamorphism. High LREE abundances measured in the feldspars are unlikely to be maintained in the presence of a melt. Consequently, the paragneisses were probably depleted by means other than partial melting. Relative to average crust, the pelitic paragneisses are radiogenic in 87Sr/ 8 6 Sr, are unradiogenic in 2 0 6 Pb/ 20 4 Pb and 2 0 7 Pb/ 2 0 4 Pb, and have 14 3Nd/ 1 4 4Nd similar to middle Proterozoic crust. Existing data also show that they retain the relatively high 6180 of their precursors. In contrast, isotopic data for orthogneisses from Kilbourne Hole indicate that they are unradiogenic in 87 Sr/ 8 6 Sr and may be more variable, albeit largely unradiogenic, in 14 3Nd/14 4Nd. Consequently, representative isotope characteristics for the lower crust as a whole depend on the relative proportion of these different lithologies. If pelitic paragneisses are present at geologically reasonable 10-20% abundance levels in the lower crust, they reduce the heat flux required of the subcontinental mantle by up to 50%. They increase 8 7 Sr/ 8 6Sr by up to 0.006 and incompatible elements abundances by 20-100% over previous estimates for the lower crust. On the other hand, the unradiogenic Pb isotopic signature of the lower crust, previously suspected from studies of granulites exposed at the surface, is confirmed. CRUSTAL ASSIMILATION, KODIAK ISLAND, ALASKA, AND PARICUTIN VOLCANO, MEXICO Crustal assimilation in two disparate tectonic settings is examined in order to understand its nature and timing. The Ghost Rocks volcanics (GRV) of Kodiak Island, Alaska are early Tertiary submarine basalts and andesites which erupted in a near-trench setting. Subduction of the Kula-Farallon spreading center beneath the Kodiak accretionary prism is proposed as the ultimate source of the GRV on the bases of tectonic considerations and MORB-like isotopic and trace element signatures in the basalts. Andesites which are conformably overlain by the basalts have less radiogenic Nd isotope signatures and arc-like chemical affinities. Inversion of selected trace element characteristics in light of the Nd isotope data shows them to be the product of mixing between the basalts and sediments of the accretionary prism. The lavas of Paricutin volcano, a cinder cone in Mexico, exhibit linear trends in isotopic and incompatible element ratios consistent with crustal assimilation. However, they exhibit a tripartite trend in elemental abundances over time and more mafic lavas are richer in many of the incompatible elements than those which have undergone greater amounts of crustal assimilation. This is suggested to reflect the diachronous interplay of crystal fractionation with crustal 4 assimilation. Ratios between the U-series nuclides are not appreciably affected by crustal assimilation although 2 2 6 Ra is significantly enriched over 2 30 Th and 2 10 Pb. Since the trend in 2 26 Ra abundance with time is correlated with that inferred to be the result of crustal assimilation, crustal assimilation must have occurred subsequent or consequent to Ra enrichment, or within the last 8000 years. If the 2 1 0Pb- 2 2 6 Ra disequilibria arose from Ra enrichment, crustal assimilation could have occurred within years of eruption. Thesis Supervisor - Dr. Stanley R. Hart Professor of Geology and Geochemistry TABLE OF CONTENTS Title Page 1 Abstract 2 Table of Contents 5 List of Figures 9 List of Tables 13 Acknowledgments 14 Prelude 16 Introduction 17 Chapter 1. Variable Scales of Sr-Nd-Pb Isotopic Equilibrium 18 and tectonothermal evolution of the lower crust, Kilbourne Hole, New Mexico Introduction 19 Thermal considerations in the study of the lower crust 22 Geologic context 27 Sample descriptions 28 Analytical scheme 29 Sample preparation 29 Analytical techniques 29 Results 32 Sr isochrons 34 Nd isochrons 38 Pb isochrons 38 Discussion 48 Nd equilibrium - Sr disequilibrium: isotopic response to 48 equilibration Summary of the geochronology 52 Possible evidence for lack of xenolith-scale equilibration 56 from the Precambrian to the Tertiary Implications for thermal state and evolution of the lower crust 60 State of the lower crust: intensive properties (P,T,pH 20) 60 Tectonothermal evolution of the lower crust since the 62 Precambrian Rio Grande rifting 62 Ancestral Rocky Mountains 63 Llano orogeny 64 Anorogenic magmatism 65 1.6 - 1.9 crust-forming event 66 Conclusions 67 References 70 Chapter 2. Where Do Rare Earth Elements Reside in the Lower Crust? 75 Chapter 3. An Isotopic Profile of Early Proterozoic Crust: 86 Progress Report on Crustal Xenoliths from southern New Mexico Introduction 87 Review of oxygen isotope data for Kilbourne Hole xenoliths 89 Results 90 Rb - Sr 90 Kilbourne Hole 90 Potrillo Maar 96 Sm - Nd 96 U - Pb 102 Th - Pb 105 Discussion and interpretation 106 Review of isotopic data for supracrustal rocks and ores of 106 New Mexico Representative characteristics, crustal prehistories, and 110 the effects of granulite metamorphism Orthogneisses 111 Paragneisses 113 Likely duration of crustal prehistory 113 Representative Sm/Nd and Th/Pb characteristics of the 118 pelitic paragneisses Sm - Nd 119 Th - Pb 120 7K3 121 Comparison to other granulite localities 122 Summary and conclusions 128 Compositional stratification and the effect of granulite 128 metamorphism Duration of crustal prehistory and role of tectonics in 129 evolution of the lower crust References 132 Chapter 4. Geochemical Constraints on the Contribution of 136 Metasedimentary Rocks to the Lower Crust: Paragneiss Xenoliths from Kilbourne Hole, New Mexico Introduction 137 Sample descriptions 140 Analytical techniques 141 Major elements 141 Evidence for a shale protolith 141 Internal compositional variation - possible origins and 147 implications Correlation with Sm-Nd: Major element composition of the 157 representative pelitic paragneiss (RPP) Summary of the major element characterstics 161 Trace element systematics 162 Sm and Nd 164 Paragneisses 164 Protolith 164 U and Th 167 Paragneisses 167 Protolith 168 Sr and Pb 174 Paragneisses 174 Protolith 174 K, Rb, and Cs 177 Summary and discussion of the trace element data 180 The REE revisited: Considerations and complications in 182 characterizing