What is it about?
The major and trace (rare-earth and high-filed strength) elements and Nd-Sr-Os composition were analyzed in the peridotites (predominant rocks) of lithospheric mantle at junction of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt and Siberian Craton. The degree of rock depletion in CaO and Al2O3 and enrichment in MgO relative to the primitive mantle in the peridotites of the Dzhugdzhur–Stanovoy superterrane is close to that of the Siberian craton. The peridotites of the Barguzin–Vitim superterrane are characterized by much lower degree of depletion and have mainly a primitive composition. Mantle melting degree reaches up to 45–50% in the Siberian Craton and Dzhugdzhur-Stanovoy superterrane, and is less than 25% in the Barguzin–Vitim terrane.
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Why is it important?
Mantle xenoliths were found in alkaline basalts of Tokinsky Stanovik in the Dzhugdzhur-Stanovoy superterrane and Vitim plateau in the Barguzin–Vitim superterrane at junction of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt and the Siberian craton. Xenoliths from basalts are represented by spinel lherzolites, harzburgites, wehrlites; while VP basalts frequently contain spinel–garnet and garnet peridotites lherzolites, and pyroxenites. Xenoliths in kimberlites of the Siberian craton are mainly represented by garnet-bearing lherzolites with abundant eclogite xenoliths (age of 2.7–3.1 Ga), which were not found in mantle of superterranes. The Re-Os determinations point to the Early Archean age of peridotites and eclogites from mantle beneath the Siberian craton.
Perspectives
The mantle peridotites of the craton as compared to those of adjacent superterranes are enriched in Ba, Rb, Th, Nb, and Ta and depleted in Y and REE from Sm to Lu. However, all studied peridotites are characterized by mainly superchondritic values of Nb/Ta (>17.4), Zr/Hf (>36.1), Nb/Y (>0.158), and Zr/Y (>2.474). The Nb/Y ratio is predominantly >1.0 in SC peridotites and < 1.0 in the superterrane peridotites. The Nd and Sr isotopic compositions in the latter correspond to those of oceanic basalts. The 187Os/188Os ratio is low (0.108–0.115) in the peridotites of the Siberian Craton and > 0.115 but usually lower than 0.1296 (primitive upper mantle value) in the peridotites of the Dzhugdzhur–Stanovoy and Barguzin–Vitim superterranes. Thus, the geochemical and isotopic composition of peridotites indicates different compositions and types of mantle beneath the Siberian craton and adjacent superterranes of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt in the Early Archean, prior to the formation of 2.7–3.1 Ga eclogites in the cratonic mantle.
Boris V Belyatsky
Karpinsky Geological Institute (VSEGEI)
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This page is a summary of: HFSE and REE Geochemistry and Nd-Sr-Os Systematics of Peridotites in the Subcontinental Lithospheric Mantle of the Siberian Craton and Central Asian Fold Belt Junction Area: Data on Mantle Xenoliths, Petrology, March 2020, Pleiades Publishing Ltd,
DOI: 10.1134/s0869591120020058.
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