Post-collisional silica-undersaturated Bamaoqiongzong volcanic rocks from northern Qiangtang: Indicators of the mantle heterogeneity and geodynamic evolution of central Tibet


 The formation of post-collisional mantle-derived rocks in the Tibetan Plateau has been linked to the deep geodynamic processes that cause surface uplift. Co-existing silica-oversaturated to silica-undersaturated mantle-derived rocks have been identified in the northern Qiangtang Terrane. However, the origins of silica-undersaturated magmas are controversial, and the mechanisms responsible for variable silica activity in the mantle-derived rocks are unclear. Here we present 40Ar/39Ar chronology, mineral chemistry, and whole-rock geochemical data for the Bamaoqiongzong volcanic rocks of the northern Qiangtang Terrane. The Bamaoqiongzong volcanic rocks consist of olivine leucitites, trachybasalts, and phonolites, and were erupted at ca. 29 Ma. All samples are unsaturated in silica and characterised by enrichment in light rare earth elements and large-ion lithophile elements, depletion in high-field-strength elements, and the presence of negative Nb–Ta–Ti anomalies and positive Pb anomalies. All samples show limited variation in (87Sr/86Sr)i (0.7079-0.7085) and εNd(t) values (−6.9 to −5.3). The geochemical compositions of the Bamaoqiongzong volcanic rocks indicate that they were produced by partial melting of carbonated phlogopite–lherzolite within the lithospheric mantle. The formation of the olivine leucitites-trachybasalts-phonolites suite was controlled by fractional crystallization and magma mixing in a magmatic plumbing system. This plumbing system included several independent reservoirs and conduits within the crust. The enriched mantle sources of the Bamaoqiongzong volcanic rocks were formed by the addition of carbonate-rich melts released from the southward-subducted Songpan–Ganzi Terrane after the Late Cretaceous. Our new results, together with published data, reveal systematic variations in geochemical compositions between silica-undersaturated and silica-oversaturated rocks in the northern Qiangtang Terrane, which are ascribed to variations in the nature of the subducted continental materials added during intracontinental subduction. Carbonate-rich melts that formed by the breakdown of carbonate minerals helped to generate the mantle sources of silica-undersaturated rocks, whereas silicate melts produced by the partial melting of sediment diapirs contributed to the generation of the silica-oversaturated rocks. On the basis of published numerical modelling of continental subduction and crustal deformation records in the northern Qiangtang Terrane, we suggest that intracontinental subduction and lithospheric thinning together contributed to the generation of post-collisional mantle-derived rocks in the Tibetan Plateau.