Devonian rodingite from the northern margin of the North China Craton: mantle wedge metasomatism during ocean-continent convergence

Abstract

The northern margin of the North China Craton (NCC) was an active convergent margin during Palaeozoic and preserves important imprints of magmatic and metasomatic processes associated with oceanic plate subduction. Here, we investigate the mafic-ultramafic rocks in the Xiahabaqin-Sandaogou complexes from the northern NCC including pyroxenite, hornblendites, hornblende gabbro, and their rodingitized counterparts within a serpentinite domain. We present petrological, zircon U–Pb geochronological, and geochemical data to constrain the nature and timing of the magmatic and metasomatic processes in the subduction zone mantle wedge. The rock suites investigated in this study are characterized by low contents of SiO₂, Na₂O, and K₂O, with high CaO, FeO, Fe₂O₃, and MgO. The rodingitized rocks show markedly high CaO and lower MgO compared to their ultramafic protolith, suggesting extensive post-magmatic infiltration of Ca-rich, Si-poor fluids derived by serpentinization of mantle peridotite. The enrichment of large ion lithophile and light rare earth elements such as Ba, Sr, K, La, and Ce with relative depletion of high field strength elements like Nb, Ta, Zr, and Hf in the ultramafic rocks collectively suggest metasomatism of a fore-arc mantle wedge by fluids released through dehydration of subducted oceanic slab and subduction-derived sediments. Dehydration and decarbonation leading to metasomatic fluid influx and serpentinization of mantle wedge peridotite account for the enriched geochemical signatures for the rodingitized rocks. The zircon grains in these rocks show textures indicating magmatic crystallization followed by fluid-controlled dissolution-precipitation. Magmatic zircons from altered pyroxenite, hornblendite, and rodingitized pyroxenite in Xiahabaqin yield protolith crystallization ages peaks at 396 Ma and 392 Ma and metasomatic grains show ages of 386 Ma, 378 Ma, and 348 Ma. The zircons from hornblendite and basaltic trachyandesite indicate protolith emplacement during 402–388 Ma. Metasomatic zircon grains from rodingitized hornblende gabbro in Sandaogou complex show a wide range of ages as 412 Ma, 398 Ma, 383 Ma, and 380 Ma. The common magmatic zircon ages peaks at 398-388Ma in most of the rocks suggest a similar time for magma crystallization in the Xiahabaqin and Baiqi during Middle Devonian. Subsequently, repeated pulses fluids and melts resulted in metasomatic reactions in mantle wedge until early Permian. The Lu-Hf analysis of the zircon grains from these rocks display markedly negative εHf(t) values ranging from -22.4 to -7.7, suggesting magma derivation from an enriched, hydrated lithospheric mantle through fluid–rock interaction and mantle wedge metasomatism. Rodingitization processes are associated with exhumation of ultramafic mantle wedge rocks within a serpentinized subduction channel close to the subducted slab in response to slab roll back in a long-lasting subduction regime. This study offers insights into magmatic and metasomatic processes of ultramafic rocks in the fore-arc mantle wedge which were exhumed and accreted to an active continental margin during the southward subduction of the Palaeo-Asian oceanic lithosphere beneath the NCC.