Cenozoic magmatism in Indochina: lithosphere extension and mantle potential temperature

702001-101011-808-B
Author : Martin F.J. Flower, Nguyen Hoang, Nguyen Trong Yem, Nguyen Xuan Bao, Robert J. Mccabe & Steven H. Harder
Publication : Bulletin of the Geological Society of Malaysia
Page : 211-222
Volume Number : 33
Year : 1993
DOI : https://doi.org/10.7186/bgsm33199316

Bulletin of the Geological Society of Malaysia, Volume 33, Nov. 1993, pp. 211-222

Cenozoic magmatism in Indochina: lithosphere extension and mantle potential temperature

MARTIN F.J. FLOWER1, NGUYEN HOANG1, NGUYEN TRONG YEM2, NGUYEN XUAN BAO3ROBERT J. MCCABE4 AND STEVEN H. HARDER4

 1Department of Geological Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago, P.O. Box 4348, Chicago, Illinois 60680, U.S.A

2Institute of Geology, National Center for Scientific Research, Hanoi, S.A. Vietnam

3Geological Survey Department No.6, Ho Chi Minh City, S.A. Vietnam

4Department of Geophysics, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX77843

 

Abstract: Cenozoic magmatism in southeast Asia, initiated at ca. 15 Ma and peaking between ca. 5 and 0.5 Ma, post-dates opening of the South China Sea Basin and is associated with lithospheric extension in Indochina, Thailand, and southern China. Geochemical data allow modelling of the relationship between melting and lithosphere extension in the region and documenting enrichment history of the continental lithosphere mantle. In Vietnam, geological relationships suggest that larger (tholeiite) melt fractions were generated within pull-apart basins along extensional N50°E- and N160°E-trending faults, while lower (alkali basalt and basanite) melt fractions were associated with conjugate strike-slip faults. Petrogenetic conditions interpolated from experimental data suggest quartz tholeiites were generated at ca. 1250°C and <10 kbar pressure (plagloclase/spinel lherzolite), olivine tholeiites at ca. 1300°C. 10-15 kbar (spinel lherzolite), and alkali basalts and basanite at ca. 1350°C, <3O kbar (spinel/gamet lherzolite), close to, or below, the thermal boundary layer of lithospheric mantle. Assuming uniform (pure shear) lithosphere extension, stretching factors needed to produce such melts at normal asthenospheric potential temperatures appear to exceed those believed to characterise recent extension in Indochina. This may suggest an elevated potential temperature resulting from (incipient) mantle plum activity.

https://doi.org/10.7186/bgsm33199316