Recycling of crustal materials and implications for lithospheric thinning: Evidence from Mesozoic volcanic rocks in the Hailar–Tamtsag Basin, NE China

Abstract

Abstract Late Mesozoic Nb-rich basaltic andesites and high-Mg adakitic volcanic rocks from the Hailar–Tamtsag Basin, northeast China, provide important insights into the recycling processes of crustal materials and their role in late Mesozoic lithospheric thinning. The Late Jurassic Nb-rich basaltic andesites (154\xa0±\xa04\xa0Ma) are enriched in large-ion lithophile and light rare earth elements, slightly depleted in high-field-strength elements, and have high TiO2, P2O5, and Nb contents, and (Nb/Th)PM and Nb/U ratios, which together with the relatively depleted Sr–Nd–Hf isotopic compositions indicate a derivation from a mantle wedge metasomatized by hydrous melts from subducted oceanic crust. The Early Cretaceous high-Mg adakitic volcanic rocks (129–117\xa0Ma) are characterized by low Y and heavy rare earth element contents, and high Sr contents and Sr/Y ratios, similar to those of rocks derived from partial melting of an eclogitic source. They also have high Rb/Sr, K2O/Na2O, and Mg# values, and high MgO, Cr, and Ni contents. These geochemical features suggest that the adakitic lavas were derived from partial melting of delaminated lower continental crust, followed by interaction of the resulting melts with mantle material during their ascent. Our data, along with available geological, paleomagnetic, and geophysical evidence, lead us to propose that recycling of Paleo-Pacific oceanic crustal materials into the upper mantle due to flat-slab subduction and rollback of the Paleo-Pacific Plate during the late Mesozoic likely provided the precondition for lithospheric thinning in northeast China, with consequent lithospheric delamination causing recycling of continental crustal materials and further lithospheric thinning.