Scott E. Bryan

EARLY CRETACEOUS VOLCANO-SEDIMENTARY SUCCESSIONS ALONG THE EASTERN AUSTRALIAN CONTINENTAL MARGIN: IMPLICATIONS FOR THE BREAK-UP OF EASTERN GONDWANA

We report on three large volume Early Cretaceous volcanic and sedimentary provinces: the Whitsunday Volcanic Province and Great Artesian Basin system, both of northeastern Australia, and the Otway/Gippsland basin system along the southeastern margin of Australia. The Whitsunday Volcanic Province is part of a mafic to silicic, high-K calc-alkaline pyroclastic volcanic belt that extends for more than 900 km along the central and southern Queensland coast. Estimated extrusive volumes are >105 km3. Volcanic and intrusive activity shows a broad range of ages from 132 to 95 Ma, but ages are dominated by an event between ∼120 and 105 Ma. Contemporaneous with volcanism in the Whitsunday Volcanic Province, sedimentary basins in interior and eastern Queensland were receiving large volumes (>106 km3) of volcanogenic sediment. The Otway and Gippsland basins 1500 km to the south, were initiated by the break-up of Antarctica and Australia. These basins contain >4×105 km3 of Aptian–Albian extrabasinal volcanogenic sediment supplied from the east. This volcanogenic sedimentation post-dates rift-related volcanism within the basin system. These three provinces are each significant for: (1) the accumulation of large volumes of volcanic and/or coeval volcanic-derived material; (2) the compositional similarity between phenocryst and detrital plagioclase, augite and hornblende; and (3) age data recording a major volcanic episode between 125 and 105 Ma. A causal relationship between volcanism in the Whitsunday Volcanic Province and volcaniclastic sedimentation in the Otway/Gippsland and Great Artesian basin systems is therefore suggested. We propose these provinces record volcanism related to the break-up of eastern continental Gondwana and the formation of the modern eastern Australian passive margin. The scale and volume of volcanic products, coupled temporally with emplacements of oceanic plateaux in the Southwest Pacific, demonstrate that this volcanic event along the present eastern Australian plate margin should be considered as another Early Cretaceous large igneous province.

Silicic volcanism: An undervalued component of large igneous provinces and volcanic rifted margins

Silicic volcanic rocks are associated with most, if not all, continental ×ood basalt provinces and volcanic rifted margins, where they can form substantial parts of the eruptive stratigraphy and have eruptive volumes >10 4 km 3 . Poor preservation of silicic volcanic rocks following kilometer-scale uplift and denudation of the volcanic rifted margins, however, can result in only deeper level structural features being exposed (i.e., dike swarms, major intrusions, and deeply subsided intracaldera µlls; e.g., North Atlantic igneous province). The role of silicic magmatism in the evolution of a large igneous province and rifted margin may therefore be largely overlooked. There are silicic-dominated igneous provinces with eruptive volumes comparable to those of maµc large igneous provinces ( >10 6 km 3 ), but that have low proportions of basalt expressed at the surface. Some silicic large igneous provinces are associated with intraplate magmatism and continental breakup (e.g., Jurassic Chon Aike province of South America, Early Cretaceous eastern Australian margin), whereas others are tectonically and geochemically associated with backarc environments (e.g., Sierra Madre Occidental). Silicic volcanic rocks formed in these two environments are similar in terms of total eruptive volumes, dominant l ithologies, and rhyolite geochemistry, but show fundamental differences in tectonic setting and basalt geochemistry. Large-volume ignimbrites are the dominant silicic volcanic rock type of continental flood basalt and silicic large igneous provinces. Individual silicic eruptive units can have thicknesses, areal extents, and volumes that are comparable to, or exceed, in

Large igneous provinces and silicic large igneous provinces: Progress in our understanding over the last 25 years

Large igneous provinces are exceptional intraplate igneous events throughout Earth’s history. Their significance and potential global impact are related to the total volume of magma intruded and released during these geologically brief events (peak eruptions are often within 1–5 m.y. in duration) where millions to tens of millions of cubic kilometers of magma are produced. In some cases, at least 1% of Earth’s surface has been directly covered in volcanic rock, being equivalent to the size of small continents with comparable crustal thicknesses. Large igneous provinces thus represent important, albeit episodic, periods of new crust addition. However, most magmatism is basaltic, so that contributions to crustal growth will not always be picked up in zircon geochronology studies, which better trace major episodes of extension-related silicic magmatism and the silicic large igneous provinces. Much headway has been made in our understanding of these anomalous igneous events over the past 25 yr, driving many new ideas and models. (1) The global spatial and temporal distribution of large igneous provinces has a long-term average of one event approximately every 20 m.y., but there is a clear clustering of events at times of supercontinent breakup, and they are thus an integral part of the Wilson cycle and are becoming an increasingly important tool in reconnecting dispersed continental fragments. (2) Their compositional diversity in part reflects their crustal setting, such as ocean basins and continental interiors and margins, where, in the latter setting, large igneous province magmatism can be dominated by silicic products. (3) Mineral and energy resources, with major platinum group elements (PGEs) and precious metal resources, are hosted in these provinces, as well as magmatism impacting on the hydrocarbon potential of volcanic basins and rifted margins through enhancing source-rock maturation, providing fluid migration pathways, and initiating trap formation. (4) Biospheric, hydrospheric, and atmospheric impacts of large igneous provinces are now widely regarded as key trigger mechanisms for mass extinctions, although the exact kill mechanism(s) are still being resolved. (5) Their role in mantle geodynamics and thermal evolution of Earth as large igneous provinces potentially record the transport of material from the lower mantle or core-mantle boundary to the Earth’s surface and are a fundamental component in whole mantle convection models. (6) Recognition of large igneous provinces on the inner planets, with their planetary antiquity and lack of plate tectonics and erosional processes, means that the very earliest record of large igneous province events during planetary evolution may be better preserved there than on Earth.

The Whitsunday Volcanic Province, Central Queensland, Australia: lithological and stratigraphic investigations of a silicic-dominated large igneous province

Contrary to general belief, not all large igneous provinces (LIPs) are characterised by rocks of basaltic composition. Silicic-dominated LIPs, such as the Whitsunday Volcanic Province of NE Australia, are being increasingly recognised in the rock record. These silicic LIPs are consistent in being: (1) volumetrically dominated by ignimbrite; (2) active over prolonged periods (40-50 m.y.), based on available age data; and (3) spatially and temporally associated with plate break-up. This silicic dominated LIP, related to the break-up of eastern continental Gondwana, is also significant for being the source of > 1.4 x 10(6) km(3) of coeval volcanogenic sediment preserved in adjacent sedimentary basins of eastern Australia. The Whitsunday Volcanic Province is volumetrically dominated by medium- to high-grade, dacitic to rhyolitic lithic ignimbrites. Individual ignimbrite units are commonly between 10 and 100 m thick, and the ignimbrite-dominated sequences exceed 1 km in thickness. Coarse lithic lag breccias containing clasts up to 6 m diameter are associated with the ignimbrites in proximal sections. Pyroclastic surge and fallout deposits, subordinate basaltic to rhyolitic lavas, phreatomagmatic deposits, and locally significant thicknesses of coarse-grained volcanogenic conglomerate and sandstone are interbedded with the ignimbrites. The volcanic sequences are intruded by gabbro/dolerite to rhyolite dykes (up to 50 m in width), sills and comagmatic granite. Dyke orientations are primarily from NW to NNE. The volcanic sequences are characterised by the interstratification of proximal/near-vent lithofacies such as rhyolite domes and lavas, and basaltic agglomerate, with medial to distal facies of ignimbrite. The burial of these near-vent lithofacies by ignimbrites, coupled with the paucity of mass wastage products such as debris-flow deposits indicates a low-relief depositional environment. Furthermore, the volcanic succession records a temporal change in: (1) eruptive styles; (2) the nature of source vents; and (3) erupted compositions. An early explosive dacitic pyroclastic phase was succeeded by a later mixed pyroclastic-effusive phase producing an essentially bimodal suite of lavas and rhyolitic ignimbrite. From the nature and distribution of volcanic lithofacies. the volcanic sequences are interpreted to record the evolution of a multiple vent, low-relief volcanic region, dominated by several large caldera centres

U–Pb zircon geochronology of Late Devonian to Early Carboniferous extension‐related silicic volcanism in the northern New England Fold Belt*

Laser ablation‐inductively coupled plasma‐mass spectrometry (LA‐ICP‐MS) analysis of zircons confirm a Late Devonian to Early Carboniferous age (ca 360–350 Ma) for silicic volcanic rocks of the Campwyn Volcanics and Yarrol terrane of the northern New England Fold Belt (Queensland). These rocks are coeval with silicic volcanism recorded elsewhere in the fold belt at this time (Connors Arch, Drummond Basin). The new U–Pb zircon ages, in combination with those from previous studies, show that silicic magmatism was both widespread across the northern New England Fold Belt (>250 000 km2 and ≥500 km inboard of plate margin) and protracted, occurring over a period of ∼15 million years. Zircon inheritance is commonplace in the Late Devonian — Early Carboniferous volcanics, reflecting anatectic melting and considerable reworking of continental crust. Inherited zircon components range from ca 370 to ca 2050 Ma, with Middle Devonian (385–370 Ma) zircons being common to almost all dated units. Precambrian zircon components record either Precambrian crystalline crust or sedimentary accumulations that were present above or within the zone of magma formation. This contrasts with a lack of significant zircon inheritance in younger Permo‐Carboniferous igneous rocks intruded through, and emplaced on top of, the Devonian‐Carboniferous successions. The inheritance data and location of these volcanic rocks at the eastern margins of the northern New England Fold Belt, coupled with Sr–Nd, Pb isotopic data and depleted mantle model ages for Late Palaeozoic and Mesozoic magmatism, imply that Precambrian mafic and felsic crustal materials (potentially as old as 2050 Ma), or at the very least Lower Palaeozoic rocks derived from the reworking of Precambrian rocks, comprise basement to the eastern parts of the fold belt. This crustal basement architecture may be a relict from the Late Proterozoic breakup of the Rodinian supercontinent.

Late Oligocene to Middle Miocene rifting and synextensional magmatism in the southwestern Sierra Madre Occidental, Mexico: The beginning of the Gulf of California rift

Although Basin and Range–style extension affected large areas of western Mexico after the Late Eocene, most consider that extension in the Gulf of California region began as subduction waned and ended ca. 14–12.5 Ma. A general consensus also exists in considering Early and Middle Miocene volcanism of the Sierra Madre Occidental and Comondu Group as subduction related, whereas volcanism after ca. 12.5 Ma is extension related. Here we present a new regional geologic study of the eastern Gulf of California margin in the states of Nayarit and Sinaloa, Mexico, backed by 43 new Ar-Ar and U-Pb mineral ages, and geochemical data that document an earlier widespread phase of extension. This extension across the southern and central Gulf Extensional Province began between Late Oligocene and Early Miocene time, but was focused in the region of the future Gulf of California in the Middle Miocene. Late Oligocene to Early Miocene rocks across northern Nayarit and southern Sinaloa were affected by major approximately north-south– to north-northwest–striking normal faults prior to ca. 21 Ma. Between ca. 21 and 11 Ma, a system of north-northwest–south-southeast high-angle extensional faults continued extending the southwestern side of the Sierra Madre Occidental. Rhyolitic domes, shallow intrusive bodies, and lesser basalts were emplaced along this extensional belt at 20–17 Ma. Rhyolitic rocks, in particular the domes and lavas, often show strong antecrystic inheritance but only a few Mesozoic or older xenocrysts, suggesting silicic magma generation in the mid-upper crust triggered by an extension-induced basaltic influx. In northern Sinaloa, large grabens were occupied by huge volcanic dome complexes ca. 21–17 Ma and filled by continental sediments with interlayered basalts dated as 15–14 Ma, a stratigraphy and timing very similar to those found in central Sonora (northeastern Gulf of California margin). Early to Middle Miocene volcanism occurred thus in rift basins, and was likely associated with decompression melting of upper mantle (inducing crustal partial melting) rather than with fluxing by fluids from the young and slow subducting microplates. Along the eastern side of the Gulf of California coast, from Farallon de San Ignacio island offshore Los Mochis, Sinaloa, to San Blas, Nayarit, a strike distance of >700 km, flat-lying basaltic lavas dated as ca. 11.5–10 Ma are exposed just above the present sea level. Here crustal thickness is almost half that in the unextended core of the adjacent Sierra Madre Occidental, implying significant lithosphere stretching before ca. 11 Ma. This mafic pulse, with subdued Nb-Ta negative spikes, may be related to the detachment of the lower part of the subducted slab, allowing an upward asthenospheric flow into an upper mantle previously modified by fluid fluxes related to past subduction. Widespread eruption of very uniform oceanic island basalt–like lavas occurred by the late Pliocene and Pleistocene, only 20 m.y. after the onset of rifting and ∼9 m.y. after the end of subduction, implying that preexisting subduction-modified mantle had now become isolated from melt source regions. Our study shows that rifting across the southern-central Gulf Extensional Province began much earlier than the Late Miocene and provided a fundamental control on the style and composition of volcanism from at least 30 Ma. We envision a sustained period of lithospheric stretching and magmatism during which the pace and breadth of extension changed ca. 20–18 Ma to be narrower, and again after ca. 12.5 Ma, when the kinematics of rifting became more oblique.

Yarrol terrane of the northern New England Fold Belt: Forearc or backarc?

The Upper Devonian to Lower Carboniferous volcanosedimentary rocks of the Yarrol terrane of the northern New England Fold Belt have previously been ascribed to a forearc basin setting. New data presented here, however, suggest that the Yarrol terrane developed as a backarc basin during the Middle to early Late Devonian. Based on field studies, we recognise four regionally applicable stratigraphic units: (i) a basal, ?Middle to Upper Devonian submarine mafic volcanic suite (Monal volcanic facies association); (ii) the lower Frasnian Lochenbar beds that locally unconformably overlie the Monal volcanic facies association; (iii) the Three Moon Conglomerate (Upper Devonian ‐ Lower Carboniferous); and (iv) the Lower Carboniferous Rockhampton Group characterised by the presence of oolitic limestone. Stratigraphic and compositional differences suggest the Monal volcanic facies association post‐dates Middle Devonian silicic‐dominated magmatism that was coeval with gold‐copper mineralisation at Mt Morgan. The Lochenbar beds, Three Moon Conglomerate and Rockhampton Group represent a near‐continuous sedimentary record of volcanism that changed in composition and style from mafic effusive (Late Devonian) to silicic explosive volcanism (Early Carboniferous). Palaeocurrent data from the Three Moon Conglomerate and Rockhampton Group indicate dispersal of sediment to the west and northwest, and are inconsistent with derivation from a volcanic‐arc source situated to the west (Connors‐Auburn Arch). Geochemical data show that the Monal volcanic facies association ranges from tholeiitic subalkaline basalts to calc‐alkaline basaltic andesite. Trace and rare‐earth element abundances are distinctly MORB‐like (e.g. light rare earth element depletion), with only moderate enrichment of the large‐ion lithophile elements in some units, and negative Nb anomalies, suggesting a subduction‐related signature. Basalts of the Monal volcanic facies association are best described as transitional between calc‐alkali basalts and N‐MORB. The elevated high field strength element contents (e.g. Zr, Y, Ti) are higher than modern island‐arc basalts, but comparable to basalts that floor modern backarc basins. This geochemical study, coupled with stratigraphic relationships, suggest that the eruption of backarc basin basalts followed widespread Middle Devonian, extension‐related silicic magmatism (e.g. Retreat Batholith, Mt Morgan), and floored the Yarrol terrane. The Monal volcanic facies association thus shows similarities in its tectonic environment to the Lower Permian successions (e.g. Rookwood Volcanics) of the northern New England Fold Belt. These mafic volcanic sequences are interpreted to record two backarc basin‐forming periods (Middle ‐ Late Devonian and Late Carboniferous ‐ Early Permian) during the Late Palaeozoic history of the New England Orogen. Silicic‐dominated explosive volcanism, occurring extensively across the northern New England Fold Belt in the Early Carboniferous (Yarrol terrane, Campwyn Volcanics, Drummond and Burdekin Basins), reflects another period of crustal melting and extension, most likely related to the opening of the Drummond Basin.

Pulling apart the Mid to Late Cenozoic magmatic record of the Gulf of California: is there a Comondú Arc?

Abstract The composition of the lithosphere can be fundamentally altered by long-lived subduction processes such that subduction-modified lithosphere can survive for hundreds of millions of years. Incorrect petrotectonic interpretations result when spatial–temporal–compositional trends of, and source contributions to, magmatism are not properly considered. Western Mexico has had protracted Cenozoic magmatism developed mostly in-board of active oceanic plate subduction beneath western North America. A broad range of igneous compositions from basalt to high-silica rhyolite were erupted with intermediate to silicic compositions in particular, showing calc-alkaline and other typical subduction-related geochemical signatures. A major Oligocene rhyolitic ignimbrite ‘flare-up’ (>300 000 km3) switched to a bimodal volcanic phase in the Early Miocene (c. 100 000 km3), associated with distributed extension and opening of numerous graben. Extension became more focused c. 18 Ma resulting in localized volcanic activity along the future site of the Gulf of California. This localized volcanism (known as the Comondú ‘arc’) was dominantly effusive and andesite–dacite in composition. Past tectonic interpretations of Comondú-age volcanism may have been incorrect as these regional temporal–compositional changes are alternatively interpreted as a result of increased mixing of mantle-derived basaltic and crust-derived rhyolitic magmas in an active rift environment rather than fluid flux melting of the mantle wedge above the subducting Guadalupe Plate. Supplementary material: References from which whole-rock geochemical and radiometric age data have been compiled in this paper are available at http://www.geolsoc.org.uk/SUP18645

Timing of rifting in the southern Gulf of California and its conjugate margins: Insights from the plutonic record

The Gulf of California is a young example of crustal stretching and transtensional shearing leading to the birth of a new oceanic basin at a formerly convergent margin. Previous studies focused along the southwestern rifted margin in Baja California indicated rifting was initiated after subduction and related magmatism ceased at ca. 14–12.5 Ma. However, the geologic record on the Mexico mainland (Sinaloa and Nayarit States) indicates crustal stretching in the region began as early as late Oligocene. The timing of cooling and exhumation of pre- and synrift plutonic rocks can provide constraints on the timing and rate of rifting. Here, we present results of a regional study on intrusive rocks in the southern Gulf of California sampled along the conjugate Baja California and Nayarit-Sinaloa rift margins, as well as plutonic rocks now exposed on submerged rifted blocks inside the gulf. Forty-one samples were dated via U/Pb zircon and 40Ar/39Ar mineral ages, providing emplacement age and thermochronological constraints on timing and rate of cooling. We found an extensive suite of early and middle Miocene plutons emplaced at shallow depths within the basement Cretaceous–Paleocene Peninsular Range and Sinaloa-Jalisco Batholiths. Early Miocene granitoids occur in an elongated WNW-ESE belt crossing the entire southern gulf from southern Baja California to Nayarit and Sinaloa. Most have an intermediate composition ( 75 SiO2 wt%) was emplaced 20.1–18.3 Ma, near the end of the early Miocene. Age span and chemical composition of the early Miocene silicic plutons essentially overlap ignimbrites and domes exposed in the southern Sierra Madre Occidental and in southern Baja California, suggesting that eruptive sources for the early Miocene ignimbrite flare-up may also have been located within the southern Gulf of California. Early Miocene plutons cooled below the 40Ar-39Ar biotite closure temperature (350–400 °C) in less than 2.5 m.y., which we interpret as evidence of a regional extensional event leading to the opening of the Gulf of California. A less widely distributed suite of intermediate-composition, middle Miocene granitoids (15–13 Ma) was sampled from the central-western part of the gulf, west of the Pescadero Basin, and these correspond to an episode of scarce volcanism recorded by the middle and upper members of the onshore Comondu Group in Baja California. Our widely spaced sampling of the generally sediment-covered igneous crust suggests that middle Miocene primary volcanic rocks are much less abundant than implied by previous models in which the gulf was the site of a robust Comondu arc. Thermobarometry data also indicate a very shallow depth (<5 km) of emplacement for the middle Miocene plutonic rocks. Some of these rocks also show a distinctive inequigranular texture indicative of at least two crystallization stages at different pressure. Early and middle Miocene granitoids away from the gulf axis yielded 40Ar-39Ar cooling ages very close to U-Pb zircon ages, demonstrating rapid cooling to <350 °C, which we attribute to their shallow emplacement and, possibly, to exhumation soon after intrusion. Since Comondu-age and middle Miocene magmatism in the gulf region coincided with rapid cooling of young plutons that predate the end of subduction, we suggest that intense crustal stretching controlled the pattern and timing of Comondu-age magmatism, rather than the middle Miocene magmatism controlling the locus of <12 Ma extension.

Welding and rheomorphism of phonolitic fallout deposits from the Las Cañadas caldera, Tenerife, Canary Islands

The Las Canadas caldera is a nested collapse caldera formed by the successive migration and collapse of shallow magmatic chambers. Among the pyroclastic products of this caldera are phonolitic fallout deposits that crop out in the caldera wall and on the extracaldera slopes. These deposits exhibit an uninterrupted facies gradation from nonwelded to lava-like and record continuous volcanic deposition. Densely welded and lava-like facies result from the extreme attenuation and complete homogenization of juvenile clasts that destroy original clast outlines and any evidence of fallout deposition. Agglutination contributes significantly to the final degree of flattening observed in the welded facies. After deposition, rheomorphic flowage occurs. Emplacement temperatures for one of the welding sequences are calculated from magmatic temperatures and a model of tephra cooling during fallout. Results are 486 °C for the nonwelded facies and 740 °C for the moderately welded facies. For the same welding sequence, a cooling time between 25 and 54 days is estimated from published experimental and computational data as the possible duration of welding and rheomorphism. Following deposition and agglutination, the lava-like pyroclastic facies had the rheological properties of viscous lavas and flowed down the outer slopes away from the caldera. Some lava-like masses detached from proximal areas to more distal regions. During deposition, the eruptive style evolved from Plinian fallout to fountain-fed spatter deposition. This evolution was accompanied by a decrease in explosive power and a lower height of the eruptive column, which produce higher emplacement temperatures and more effective heat retention of pyroclasts.