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Origin and U–Pb dating of zircon-bearing nepheline syenite xenoliths preserved in basaltic tephra (Massif Central, France)

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Abstract

Zircon-bearing xenoliths in continental basalts are often interpreted as witnesses of the continental basement uplifted during volcanic eruptions. Nevertheless, their origin is still debated. The Devès basaltic plateau belongs to the alkaline volcanic province of the French Massif Central. In few outcrops, zircon-bearing nepheline syenite xenoliths were preserved. U–Pb dating of the zircon crystals define an age of 956 ± 11 kyr constraining the crystallisation time of the zircons and consequently of the host xenoliths. This age, together with mineral chemistry arguments lead us to conclude that these minerals do not derive from a continental protolith. Rather, they likely result from the crystallisation of a liquid characterised by a nepheline–felspar composition and produced by the differentiation of a basaltic magma or, alternatively, by the low degree partial melting of a metasomatised lithospheric mantle. Such alkaline sialic rock and xenoliths may occur in large volumes at depth and generate the large amounts of zircon megacrysts discovered worldwide in secondary deposits within continental basaltic provinces.

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Acknowledgments

We thank D. Prelevic (Johannes Gutenberg–Universität Mainz, Germany), A.K. Schmitt (Department of Earth and Space Sciences, UCLA, USA) and F. Poitrasson (LMTG, CNRS, Toulouse, France) for their helpful and constructive comments. We are grateful to J.L. Piro and J.L. Devidal (LMV, Clermont-Ferrand) for their efficiency in the acquisition of complementary data by LA-ICPMS.

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  1. Laboratoire Magmas et Volcans, OPGC, Université Blaise Pascal and CNRS UMR6524, 5 rue Kessler, 63038, Clermont Ferrand, France

    Jean-Louis Paquette & Juliette Mergoil-Daniel

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  1. Jean-Louis Paquette
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Correspondence to Jean-Louis Paquette.

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Communicated by F. Poitrasson.

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Paquette, JL., Mergoil-Daniel, J. Origin and U–Pb dating of zircon-bearing nepheline syenite xenoliths preserved in basaltic tephra (Massif Central, France). Contrib Mineral Petrol 158, 245–262 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00410-009-0380-y

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