Heat- and melt-fluxed melting of lower continental crust: Insights from two types of subduction-related granitoids in northeastern China and the implications for crustal reworking and growth

Abstract

Convergent plate boundaries are the primary location for the formation of continental crust by the intrusion of arc batholiths that contain essentially mantle-derived magmas. This paper presents two types of arc granitoids (enclave-free monzogranites and enclave-bearing granodiorites) in northeastern (NE) China to understand crustal evolution and growth in the eastern Asian continental margin. The monzogranites (189 Ma) show characteristics typical of upper continental crust, with high SiO2 contents and enrichment of K, Rb, and Pb. These monzogranites have low ISr (87Sr/86Sr) ratios (0.70378–0.70413) and positive eNd (t) (+2.2 to +2.3) and eHf (t) (+7.3 to +10.2) values. These features, combined with high zircon saturation temperatures (TZr > 800 °C), suggest that the monzogranites were generated by the heat-fluxed melting of juvenile lower crust. In contrast, the granodiorites (171 Ma) contain abundant coeval mafic enclaves and show relatively low silica contents, low TZr (748–799 °C), and particularly wide variation in eHf (t) (-3.5 to +5.6), implying a hybrid origin involving both mantle- and crust-derived components. Isotopic modeling indicates that mantle material accounts for around 60%–70% of the hybrid magmas by volume. The granodiorites have adakite-like signatures (e.g., Sr/Y > 21 and [La/Yb]N > 15), which may have been primarily caused by a process of magma mixing and hornblende-dominated fractional fractionation, rather than through melting of a subducting slab or thickened lower crust. The two distinct granitoids (monzogranites and granodiorites) represent continental crustal reworking and growth, respectively, related to the subduction of the Paleo-Pacific Plate beneath the eastern Asian continental margin during the Jurassic.