Petrogenesis of the early Cretaceous intra-plate basalts from the Western North China Craton: Implications for the origin of the metasomatized cratonic lithospheric mantle

Abstract We present new bulk-rock 40Ar/39Ar age, major and trace elements and Sr-Nd-Hf isotopic data on the early Cretaceous intra-plate alkali basalts from the Western North China Craton (WNCC) to study the origin of the metasomatized cratonic lithosphere mantle. The age of these basalts is ~116 Ma. These basalts have elevated incompatible element abundance with high [La/Sm]N (2.80–4.56) and enriched Sr-Nd-Hf isotopic compositions (87Sr/86Sri = 0.7062–0.7075, eNd(t) = −6.0 to −13.0 and eHf(t) = −8.3 to −17.4), being similar to the contemporary analogues from the Western North China Craton and Paleozoic kimberlites and mantle xenoliths. The WNCC basalts also show good correlations between ɛNd(t) and ɛHf(t), and high [La/Sm]N. All these geochemical observations are consistent with the interpretation that these basalts originated from partial melting of the lithospheric mantle that experienced melt metasomatism. Two types metasomatism melts are required to explain the geochemical characteristics of these rocks. The obvious negative Nb Ta (compared with K)-Ti and positive Ba Pb anomalies observed in these basalts further constrain that one of the metasomatic melts was derived from the subducted terrigenous sediment. Furthermore, the overall higher P/Nd, Nb/La and Nb/Th and lower Lu/Hf of basalts in the WNCC suggest that there is also contribution of low-F melts from asthenosphere mantle. Collectively, we suggest that the formation of the metasomatized lithosphere mantle beneath the WNCC is the process of metasomatic reaction between mantle peridotite and the melts of different origin to generate metasomatic veins containing amphibole/phlogopite. Partial melting of the metasomatic lithospheric mantle at 106–120 Ma in the WNCC was considered to be induced by thermal perturbation that was ultimately related to the breakoff of the subducted oceanic slab following the closure of the Mongolia-Okhotsk ocean.