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Magmatic sources and geodynamics of the early Mesozoic Northern Mongolia-Western Transbaikalia rift zone

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Abstract

The Northern Mongolia-Western Transbaikalia rift zone is the largest Mesozoic riftogenic structure in eastern Asia and extends for a distance of more than 1200 km. The zone consists of depressions and grabens, which were formed between 233 and 188 Ma and are filled with basaltic and basalt-comendite (bimodal) volcanic associations accompanied by numerous peralkaline granite massifs. Geochemical and isotope (Sr, Nd, and Pb) studies showed that mantle and crustal sources contributed to the formation of the magmatic rocks of the rift zone. The basalts were formed from incompatible element-enriched mantle sources. Geochemical and isotope-geochemical data suggest that the peralkaline salic rocks (comendites and peralkaline grantoids) and basalts are genetically related and were formed by the fractionation of a common parental magma. In addition, the magmatic associations contain peralkaline granites and comendites whose isotope signatures indicate their formation through the crustal contamination of derivatives of basaltic melts. The rift zone has arisen during the formation of the Mongolia-Transbaikalia zoned magmatic area in a complex geodynamic setting, combining collision in the Mongolia-Okhotsk suture with a mantle plume impact. The rift zone occupies the northern periphery of the area, being controlled by the Northern Mongolia-Transbaikalia fault system, which marks the boundaries (sutures) of large terranes in the lithosphere. Asthenospheric traps beneath suture boundaries served as pathways for the penetration of a mantle plume into the upper lithosphere, thus playing an important role in the localization of the riftogenic processes.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Vinogradov Institute of Geochemistry and Analytical Chemistry, Siberian Division, Russian Academy of Sciences, ul. Favorskogo 1a, Irkutsk, 664033, Russia

    A. A. Vorontsov, S. I. Dril, S. A. Tatarnikov & G. P. Sandimirova

  2. Institute of Geology of Ore Deposits, Petrography, Mineralogy, and Geochemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, Staromonetnyi per. 35, Moscow, 119017, Russia

    V. V. Yarmolyuk & D. A. Lykhin

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  1. A. A. Vorontsov
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Original Russian Text © A.A. Vorontsov, V.V. Yarmolyuk, D.A. Lykhin, S.I. Dril, S.A. Tatarnikov, G.P. Sandimirova, 2007, published in Petrologiya, 2007, Vol. 15, No. 1, pp. 37–60.

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Vorontsov, A.A., Yarmolyuk, V.V., Lykhin, D.A. et al. Magmatic sources and geodynamics of the early Mesozoic Northern Mongolia-Western Transbaikalia rift zone. Petrology 15, 35–57 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0869591107010031

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