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Rare earth element, 87Sr/86Sr, and 143Nd/144Nd compositions of Cenozoic orogenic dacites from Baja California, northwestern Mexico, and adjacent west Texas: evidence for the predominance of a subcrustal component

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Abstract

Dacitic lavas and ignimbrites were examined from seven localities that span the entire 700 km width of the mid- to late Cenozoic magmatic arc of northwestern Mexico and adjacent west Texas. These rocks have remarkably similar REE patterns that are parallel in the heavy REE and have modest negative Eu anomalies. Samples from three localities including Baja California, the Sierra Madre Occidental, and the Chihuahuan Basin and Range have initial 87Sr/86Sr between 0.7044 and 0.7050 and ɛ Nd near 0.0±1.0. These dacites are isotopically similar to associated basalts, and they show no systematic isotopic variation that is correlated with age or composition of the basement. There is no evidence that magmas parental to these dacites interacted significantly with continental crust. Samples form three other localites in the Basin and Range vary in initial 87Sr/86Sr from 0.7051 to 0.7070 and ɛ Nd from about -1 to −2. The composition of these rocks reflects contamination of the parental magmas by relatively small amounts of Precambrian crust. Collectively, the dacites of this study show much less isotopic variation than do Mesozoic granitoids (Farmer and DePaolo 1983) and late Cenozoic olivine tholeiites (Hart 1985) from similar transects of the western United States. The distinctive source region for the magmas parental to the Mexican dacites was relatively uniform isotopically, but it was enriched in LIL and HFS elements beneath the eastern Basin and Range.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Board of Earth Sciences, University of California, 95064, Santa Cruz, CA, USA

    Kenneth L. Cameron

  2. School of Geology and Geophysics, University of Oklahoma, 73019, Norman, OK, USA

    Maryellen Cameron

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  1. Kenneth L. Cameron
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Cameron, K.L., Cameron, M. Rare earth element, 87Sr/86Sr, and 143Nd/144Nd compositions of Cenozoic orogenic dacites from Baja California, northwestern Mexico, and adjacent west Texas: evidence for the predominance of a subcrustal component. Contrib Mineral Petrol 91, 1–11 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00429422

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