Solidification timescale for the Dufek Intrusion, Antarctica determined by U-Pb zircon ages

<p>The 8-9 km thick Dufek layered mafic intrusion of Antarctica was emplaced at approximately 182 Ma associated with the Ferrar dolerites and the breakup of the supercontinent Gondwana.  It is rivaled in thickness only by the Bushveld Complex of South Africa and shows a similar progression in mineral compositions all the way to the uppermost contact with an overlying granophyre layer.  This progression in mineral composition suggests that it crystallized from the bottom to the top and did not form an upper solidification front (a.k.a., Upper Border Series) typical of smaller intrusions such as the Skaergaard Intrusion.  Unlike the Bushveld Complex, however, the Dufek Intrusion is exposed in only two ~1.8 km thick sections: the lowermost Dufek Massif, and the uppermost Forrestal Range, which are separated from one another by a ~50km wide snowfield.  The remainder of the stratigraphy is inferred from geophysics, evolution of mineral compositions, and projection of the dip of the layering through the snowfield. </p><p> </p><p>            We obtained precise CA-ID-TIMS U-Pb zircon ages from samples from the Dufek Massif and Forrestal Range in order to determine the timescale of solidification of a large layered mafic intrusion.  What we found is surprising - zircons from the bottom of the intrusion record younger ages than those from the top of the intrusion.  Two samples from the Dufek Massif have zircon U-Pb ages of 182.441±0.048 Ma and 182.496±0.057 Ma; whereas three samples from the Forrestal Range have zircon U-Pb ages of 182.601±0.064 Ma, 182.660±0.10 Ma, 182.78±0.21 Ma.  Thus, the lower section of the Dufek Intrusion solidified approximately 160,000 years after the upper.  We explore two possibilities for this reverse-age stratigraphy, (1) that the ages reflect the solidification of interstitial melt in a single magma chamber cooling from the top down, or (2) that the Dufek Massif and Forrestal Range are two separate magma chambers that are not connected at depth.  Our results have implications for the stratigraphic thickness estimates of the Dufek Intrusion as well as the duration of magmatism associated with continental breakup.</p><p> </p><p> </p>

The Early Cretaceous Shangzhuang layered mafic intrusion and its bearing on decratonization of the North China Craton

The North China Craton (NCC) is one of the classic examples of decratonization through extensive lithospheric destruction during Mesozoic time. Among the various pulses of magmatism associated with cratonic erosion are the rare mafic intrusions in the Yanshan Belt. Here we investigate the Shangzhuang layered intrusion belonging to this suite, which is characterized by compositional layering with troctolite, noritic gabbro and gabbro/gabbroic anorthosite/gabbrodiorite from the bottom to top. The different lithologies of this intrusion exhibit close field relationships, similar chemical patterns and overall identical Lu–Hf isotopes indicating a co-magmatic nature. The fine-grained gabbros occurring near the margin of the intrusion display U–Pb ages similar to those of the other rocks and are considered to represent the composition of the parent magma, characterized by Fe, Mg and Ti enrichment. The magma was sourced from low-degree partial melting of spinel lherzolite sub-continental lithospheric mantle, which had been enriched by crust–mantle interaction and metasomatic fluids derived from the Mongolian oceanic slab subduction beneath the NCC during Late Palaeozoic time. In addition, limited asthenospheric or deeper-mantle materials were also locally mixed with the enriched mantle as the final source component. Our zircon U–Pb data constrain the emplacement age of this intrusion as c. 128–123 Ma in Early Cretaceous time, and correlates with the regional extensional tectonics between c. 135 and 115 Ma in the eastern and central NCC. Mantle upwelling associated with this event resulted in the thermal and chemical erosion of the lithospheric mantle, and emplacement of the parent magma of this layered intrusion.