Abstract
To study the mechanism of melt-peridotite reaction pertinent to the destruction of the North China Craton (NCC) lithosphere, a series of experiments were performed at a pressure of 2.0 GPa and temperatures from 1250 to 1400°C using Bixiling eclogite and Damaping peridotite as starting materials. The experimental results show that the reaction between eclogite melt and peridotite causes dissolution of olivine and orthopyroxene and precipitation of clinopyroxene in the melt. The experimental run products, characterized by a lherzolite/pyroxenite/garnet-pyroxenite sequence, are consistent with the mantle xenoliths in the Neogene Hannuoba basalt of the NCC found by Liu et al. (2005). It suggests that the mafic lower continental crust was probably recycled into the mantle during the Mesozoic Era. In the experiments conducted at 1300 and 1350°C, the resulting melts have a high Mg# andesite signature, indicating that the melt-peridotite reaction may have played a major role in the generation of high Mg# andesite. Our experimental results support the hypothesis that melts derived from foundered eclogite in the asthenosphere will consume the lithospheric peridotites. Therefore, melt-peridotite reaction is an important mechanism for the destruction/thinning of the lithosphere.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Fan W M, Zhang H F, Baker J, et al. On and off the North China Craton: Where is the Archean keel? J Petrol, 2000, 41: 933–950
Menzies M A, Xu Y G, Zhang H F, et al. Integration of geology, geophysics and geochemistry: A key to understanding the North China Craton. Lithos, 2000, 96: 1–21
Niu Y L. Generation and evolution of basaltic magmas: Some basic concepts and a new view on the origin of Mesozoic-Cenozoic basaltic volcanism in Eastern China. Geol J China Univ, 2005, 11: 9–46
Zhou X H. Major transformation of subcontinental lithosphere beneath eastern China in the Cenozoic-Mesozoic: Review and prospect (in Chinese). Earth Sci Front, 2006, 13: 50–54
Deng J F, Zhao H L, Mo H X, et al. Continental Roots-plume Tectonics of China: Key to the Continental Dynamics (in Chinese). Beijing: Geological Publishing House, 1996
Wu F Y, Sun D Y, Zhang G L, et al. Deep geodynamics of Yanshain Movement (in Chinese). Geol J China Univ, 2000, 6: 379–388
Gao S, Rudnick R L, Yuan H L, et al. Recycling lower continental rust in the North China Craton. Nature, 2004, 432: 892–897
Xu Y G. Roles of thermo mechanic and chemical erosion in continental lithospheric thinning (in Chinese). Bull Miner Petrol Geochem, 1999, 18: 1–5
Xu Y G. Thermo-tectonic destruction of the Archean lithospheric keel beneath eastern China: Evidence, timing and mechanism. Phy Chem Earth, 2001 26: 747–757
Lu F X, Zheng J P, Li W P, et al. The main evolution pattern of phanerozoic mantle in the Eastern China: The “Mushroom Cloud” model (in Chinese). Earth Sci Front, 2000, 7: 97–107
Zhang H F, Zhou X H, Fan W M, et al. Nature, composition, enrichment processes and its mechanism of the Mesozoic lithospheric mantle beneath the southeastern North China Craton (in Chinese). Acta Petrol Sin, 2005, 21: 1271–1280
Kay R W, Kay S M. Creation and destruction of lower continental crust. Geol Rund, 1991, 80: 259–278
Kay R W, Kay S M. Delamination and delamination magmatism. Tectonophysics, 1993, 219: 177–189
Gao S, Jin Z M. Delamination and its geodynamical significance for the crust mantle evolution (in Chinese). Geol Sci Technol Info, 1997, 16: 1–9
Yan J, Chen J F, Xie Z, et al. Mantle xenoliths from Late Cretaceous basalt in eastern Shandong Province: New constraint on the timing of lithospheric thinning in eastern China. Chin Sci Bull, 2003, 48: 2139–2144
Zhang H F, Nakamura E, Sun M, et al. Transformation of subcontinental lithospheric mantle through peridotite-melt reaction: Evidence from a highly fertile mantle xenolith from the North China Craton. Inter Geol Rev, 2007, 49: 658–679
Zhang H F. Transformation of lithospheric mantle through peridotite-melt reaction: A case of Sino-Korean Craton. Earth Planet Sci Lett, 2005, 237: 768–780
Zhang H F, Sun M, Zhou M F, et al. Highly heterogeneous Late Mesozoic lithospheric mantle beneath the North China Craton: Evidence from Sr-Nd-Pb isotopic systematics of mafic igneous rocks. Geol Mag, 2004, 141: 55–62
Pei F P, Xu W L, Wang Q H, et al. Mesozoic basalt and mineral chemistry of the mantle-derived xenocrysts in Feixian, Western Shandong, China: Constraints on nature of Mesozoic lithospheric mantle (in Chinese). Geol J China Univ, 2004, 10: 88–97
Tang Y J, Zhang H F, Ying J F. High-Mg olivine xenocrysts entrained in Cenozoic basalts in central Taihang Mountains: Relicts of old lithospheric mantle (in Chinese). Acta Petrol Sin, 2004, 20: 1243–1252
Shao J A, Lu F X, Zhang L Q, et al. Discovery of xenocrysts in basalts of Yixian Formation in west Liaoning Province and its significance (in Chinese). Acta Petrol Sin, 2005, 21: 1547–1558
Ying J F, Zhang H F, Kita N, et al. Nature and evolution of Late Cretaceous lithospheric mantle beneath the eastern North China Craton: Constraints from petrology and geochemistry of peridotitic xenoliths from Junan, Shandong Province, China. Earth Planet Sci Lett, 2006, 244: 622–638
Zhang H F. Peridotite-melt interaction: An important mechanism for the compositional transformation of lithospheric mantle (in Chinese). Earth Sci Fron, 2006, 13: 65–75
Zhang H F, Shao J A. Volcanic lavas of the Yixian Formation in western Liaoning province, China: Products of lower crust delamination or magma mixing (in Chinese)? Acta Petrol Sin, 2008, 24: 37–48
Xiong X L, Xia B, Xu J F, et al. Na depletion in modern adakites via melt/rock reaction within the sub-arc mantle. Chem Geol, 2006, 229: 273–292, and reference therein
Fisk M R. Basalt-magma interactions with harzburgite and the formation of high magnesium andesites. Geophys Res Lett, 1986, 13: 467–470
Kelemen P B, Joyce D M, Webster J D, et al. Reaction between ultramafic rock and fractionating basaltic magma II. Experimental investigation of reaction between olivine tholeiites and harzburgite at 1150–1050°C and 5 kbar. J Petrol, 1990, 31: 99–134
Carroll M, Wyllie P J. Experimental phase relations in the system tonalite-peridotite-H2O at 15 kbar: Implications for assimilation and differentiation processes near the crust-mantle boundary. J Petrol, 1989, 30: 1351–1382
Kelemen P B, Hart S R, Bernstein S. Silica enrichment in the continental upper mantle via melt/rock reaction. Earth Planet Sci Lett, 1998, 164: 387–406
Rapp R P, Shimizu N, Norman M D, et al. Reaction between slab-derived melts and peridotite in the mantle wedge: Experimental constraints at 3.8 GPa. Chem Geol, 1999, 160: 335–356
Anderson D A. Large igneous provinces, delamination, and fertile mantle. Elements, 2006, 1: 271–275
Ravna E K. The garnet-clinopyroxene Fe2+-Mg geothermometer: An updated calibration. J Metamorph Geol, 2000, 18: 211–219
Ellis D J, Green D H. An experimental study of the effect of Ca upon the garnet-clinopyroxene Fe-Mg exchange equilibria. Contrib Mineral Petro, 1979, 71: 13–22
Pertermann M, Hirschmann M M. Anhydrous partial melting experiments on MORB-like eclogite: Phase relations, phase compositions and mineral-melt partitioning of major elements at 2–3 GPa. J Petrol, 2003, 44: 2173–2201
Spandler C, Yaxley G, Green D H, et al. Phase relations and melting of anhydrous K-bearing eclogite from 1200 to 1600°C and 3 to 5 GPa. J Petrol, 2008, 49: 771–795
Liu Y S, Gao S, Lee C A, et al. Melt-peridotite interactions: Links between garnet pyroxenite andhigh-Mg# signature of continental crust. Earth Planet Sci Lett, 2005, 234: 39–57
Yaxley G M, Green D H. Reaction between eclogite and peridotite: Mantle refertilisation by subduction of oceanic crust. Schweiz Mineral Petrogr Mitt, 1998, 78: 243–255
Morgan Z, Liang Y. An experimental study of the kinetics of lherzolite reactive dissolution with applications to melt channel formation. Contrib Mineral Petrol, 2005, 150: 369–385
Kelemen P B. Reaction between ultramafic rock and fractionating basaltic magma I. Phase relations, the origin of calc-alkaline magma series, and the formation of discordant dunite. J Petro, 1990, 31: 51–98
Wang X R, Gao S, Liu X M, et al. Geochemistry of high-Mg andesites from the early Cretaceous Yixian Formation, western Liaoning: Implications for lower crustal delamination and Sr/Y variations. Sci China Ser D-Earth Sci, 2006, 49: 904–914
Huang H, Gao S, Hu Z C, et al. Geochemistry of the high-Mg andesites at Zhangwu, western Liaoning: Implication for delamination of newly formed lower crust. Sci China Ser D-Earth Sci, 2007, 50: 1773–1786
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Wang, C., Jin, Z., Gao, S. et al. Eclogite-melt/peridotite reaction: Experimental constrains on the destruction mechanism of the North China Craton. Sci. China Earth Sci. 53, 797–809 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11430-010-3084-2
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11430-010-3084-2