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Petrology and geochemistry of the Cyclops ophiolites (Irian Jaya, East Indonesia): Consequences for the Cenozoic evolution of the north Australian margin

Le massif des Cyclops (Irian Jaya- Ouest Indonésie montre tous les termes d'une séquence ophiolitique comprenant des péridotites résiduelles (harzburgites et dunites), des cumulats gabbroïques, des dolérites, des basaltes de type N-MORB et de rares boninites. Cette série, ophiolitique repose tectoniquement sur des roches mafiques métamorphisées à haute température au Miocene.

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Summary

The Cyclops massif (Irian Jaya - Western Indonesia) displays all components of an ophiolitic sequence including residual mantle peridotites (harzburgites and dunites), cumulate gabbros, dolerites, normal mid-oceanic ridge basalts (N-MORB) and minor amounts of boninitic lavas. This ophiolitic series tectonically overlies high temperature (HT)-high pressure (HP) mafic rocks metamorphosed during the Miocene.

Mineral chemistry and bulk rock rare-earth element (REE) abundances of the peridotites are characteristic of highly residual mantle rocks. The high Cr# [Cr#=100*Cr/(Cr+Al)] of spinel (up to 60) and very low heavy rare-earth element (HREE) concentrations of peridotites (< 0.1 time the chondritic values) are in agreement with residues of 25 to 35% melting as expected for peridotites from supra-subduction zone environments. Ti-enrichments in spinels and secondary clinopyroxenes (up to 1%, and 0.5%, respectively) are likely a consequence of reaction between mantle-derived melts and the host peridotites. High light rare-earth element (LREE) concentrations reaching up to chondritic values and high field strength element (HFSE) anomalies suggest that the initial composition of the residual peridotites has been previously modified by the passage of boninitic melt(s). The associated basalts and related cumulate rocks display major and trace element contents with Nb-negative anomalies typical of back-arc magmas.

New40K/40Ar isotopic ages obtained from the back-arc basin basalts (BABB - 29 Ma) and boninites (43 Ma) combined with the geochemical signatures of the rocks studied here, indicate that the Cyclops Mountains may have formed in a single suprasubduction environment. This implies southward plunging subduction of the Australian oceanic lithosphere beneath the northern part of the Australian margin. The ultramafic rocks and related lavas (boninites) likely formed during the Eocene in a forearc environment, before their southward obduction onto the island arc crustal welt during the early Miocene. The Pliocene back-thrusting event has led to the slicing of the backarc basin series onto the arc and fore-arc sequences.

Résumé

Les données pétrologiques et géochimiques montrent clairement que les péridotites ont un caractère fortement résiduel. Les fortes teneurs en Cr# [Cr#= 100*Cr/(Cr+Al)] du spinelle (> 60) associées aux très faibles concentrations en terres rares lourdes sur roche totale (<0.1 aux valeurs chondritiques) témoignent de fort taux de fusion (25 à 35%) que l'on rencontre habituellement dans les contextes de subduction. Les enrichissements importants en TiO2 des spinelles et clinopyroxènes secondaires des peridotites (> 1 % et 0.5%, respectivement) sent interprétés comme résultant de phénomènes d'imprégnations importants entre les péridotites et des liquides magmatiques. Les fortes concentrations en terres rares légères des péridotites (proches des valeurs chondritiques) associées aux fortes anomalies en Nb, Sr, Zr, et Hf suggerent que ces liquides étaient de nature boninitique. Les basaltes et les cumulats gabbroïques dérivent de la cristallisation de liquides tholéiitiques de type MORB. Leurs fortes anomalies en Nb, suggerènt cependant une origine dans un bassin arrière-arc

De nouvelles datations isotopiques40K40Ar obtenues sur les basaltes arrière-arch (29 Ma) et les boninites (43 Ma) montrent que le massif des Cyclops s' est probablement formé dans un contexte de zone de subduction impliquant une subduction vers le Sud de la lithosphere océanique australienne sous la marge nord australienne. Les péridotites et laves associées (boninites) se seraient formées à l'Eocène dans un bassin avant-arc, avant d'être obductées au Miocène sur l'are situé plus au sud. Les rétrochevauchements Pliocène ont conduit aux charriages tardifs du bassin arrière-arc sur l'arc et le bassin avant-arc.

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  1. Laboratoire de Planétologie et Géodynamique, UPRES-2156, Université de Nantes, BP 92208, 44322, Nantes, Cedex 3, France

    C. Monnier, J. Girardeau & H. Permana

  2. Laboratoire de Géologie de ENS, URA 1316, 75321, Paris Cedex 05, France

    M. Pubellier

  3. Laboratoire de Géochimie, UMR 5563, Université Paul Sabatier, 31400, Toulouse, Cedex, France

    M. Polvé

  4. Laboratoire de Géochronologie, UMR 6538, Université de Bretagne Occidentale, BP 809, 29285, Brest, France

    H. Bellon

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Monnier, C., Girardeau, J., Pubellier, M. et al. Petrology and geochemistry of the Cyclops ophiolites (Irian Jaya, East Indonesia): Consequences for the Cenozoic evolution of the north Australian margin. Mineralogy and Petrology 65, 1–28 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01161574

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