Early Cretaceous subduction of Paleo-Pacific Ocean in the coastal region of SE China: Petrological and geochemical constraints from the mafic intrusions

Abstract The Mesozoic tectono-magmatism in SE China has widely been considered to relate to subduction of the Paleo-Pacific Ocean. However, there lacks robust petrologic and geochemical evidence from subduction-related mafic igneous rocks to reconstruct the architecture of the subduction zone. This paper presents a comprehensive geochemical dataset (petrography, mineral chemistry, zircon U-Pb age, in-situ Sr and Pb isotope compositions of plagioclase and whole-rock major, trace element and Sr-Nd-Pb-Hf isotope data) of three early Cretaceous (Pingtan, Daiqianshan and Quanzhou) mafic intrusions from the coastal region in SE China, with aims to understand their petrogenetic link with subduction of the Paleo-Pacific Ocean. The mafic rocks comprise predominantly calcic hornblende and Ca-rich plagioclase and show varying degrees of crystal accumulation. Petrological observations and mass balance calculation indicate their parental magmas are hydrous and calc-alkaline with typical arc-type trace element features. These rocks are also characterized by “crust-like” isotopic signatures, i.e., moderately radiogenic Sr, unradiogenic Nd and highly radiogenic Pb compositions. The narrow variations of in-situ plagioclase Sr and Pb isotope ratios and the nearly identical isotope compositions between the plagioclase and bulk rock in each intrusion indicate a minor role of crustal assimilation during magmatic evolution. Instead, such “crust-like” isotopic signatures were largely resulted from source enrichment through an input of subducted sediment. Further element-isotopic modeling results suggest that the parental magmas were likely produced by melting of a depleted mantle source metasomatized via the subducted sediment-derived melt. Generation of the early Cretaceous mafic intrusions can thus be explained by subduction of a relatively hot oceanic slab, during which melt derived from the subducted sediment acted as a predominant agent to enrich the mantle wedge. Our results provide powerful petrological and geochemical constraints on the early Cretaceous subduction of the Paleo-Pacific Ocean beneath the SE China and suggest that addition of subducted sediment-derived melt may be an important mechanism for mantle enrichment in relatively hot subduction zones.