METASOMATIC AND MAGMATIC PROCESSES IN THE MANTLE LITHOSPHERE OF THE BIREKTE TERRAIN OF THE SIBERIAN CRATON AND THEIR EFFECT ON THE LITHOSPHERE EVOLUTION

The area of studies covers the north-eastern part of the Siberian craton (the Birekte terrain), Russia. The influence of metasomatic and magmatic processes on the mantle lithosphere is studied based on results of analyses of phlogopite- and phlogopite-amphibole-containing deep-seated xenoliths from kimberlites of the Kuoika field. In the kimberlitic pipes, deep-seated xenoliths with mantle phlogopite- and phlogopite-amphibole mineralization are developed in two genetically different rock series: magnesian (Mg) pyroxenite-peridotite series (with magnesian composition of rocks and minerals) and phlogopite-ilmenite (Phl-Ilm) hyperbasite series (with ferrous types of rocks and minerals). This paper is focused on issues of petrography and mineralogy of the xenoliths and describes the evidence of metasomatic / magmatic genesis of phlogopite and amphibole. We report here the first data set of 40Ar/39Ar age determinations for phlogopite from the rocks of the magnesian pyroxenite-peridotite series and the ferrous Phl-Ilm hyperbasite series.

The Mg series is represented by a continuous transition of rocks from Sp, Sp-Grt, Grt clinopyroxenite and ortopyroxenite to websterite and lherzolite. Many researchers consider it as a layered intrusion in the mantle [Ukhanov et al., 1988; Solov’eva et al., 1994]. The mantle metasomatic phlogopite and amphibole are revealed in all petrographic types of the rocks in this series and compose transverse veins and irregular patchs at grain boundaries of primary minerals. At contacts of xenolith and its host kimberlite, grains of phlogopite and amphibole are often cut off, which gives an evidence of the development of metasomatic phlogopite-amphibole mineralization in the rocks before its’ entraiment into the kimberlite. In the xenoliths with exsolution pyroxene megacrystalls, comprising parallel plates of clino- and orthopyroxene ± garnet ± spinel (former high-temperature pigeonite [Solov’eva et al., 1994]), the metasomatic phlogopite-amphibole aggregate mainly replace laminar intergrowths of one of pyroxenes and garnet and also develops in the re-crystallized fine-grained rock matrix. This suggests a considerable period of time between the crystallization of rocks of the pyroxenite-peridotite series and the development of phlogopite-amphibole metasomatism.

The Phl-Ilm hyperbasites comprise a complex association of parageneses represented by garnet- and garnetless pyroxenites, websterites, olivine websterites, orthopyroxenites, lherzolites and olivinites. A specific feature of this series is high contents of K, Ti and Fe in the rocks and minerals. The content of phlogopite is widely variable, from a few percent to 40–80 %. The content of ilmenite ranges from a few percent to 15 %, rarely to 30–40 %. Mica and ilmenite contents sharply decrease in garnetized xenolithes, where these two minerals, as soon as olivine and pyroxenes are replaced by garnet.

Euhedral, subhedral, sideronitic and porphyraceous structures in garnetless xenoliths suggest the primary magmatic genesis of the rocks. In the series of Phl-Ilm hyperbasites, a special type of parageneses is represented by strongly deformed phlogopite-amphibole rocks with newly-formed chromite and relict resorbed ilmenite and clinopyroxene. Phl-Ilm rock series is also characterized by a variety of autometasomatic and metasomatic reaction structures. Garnet and phlogopite develop nearly simultaneously at the sub-solidus stage: garnet develops due to cooling of the primary magmatic rocks, and phlogopite develops under the influence of residual rich in potassium and volatiles fluids – melts. Phlogopite in the rocks of the Phl-Ilm series form porphyraceous plates, late intergranular xenomorphic grains, porphyroblasts of the solidus stage and strongly deformed irregular plates in the phlogopite-amphibole rocks. Amphibole occurs in garnetless parageneses and deformed phlogopite-amphibole rocks in amounts of a few percent and up to 40–50%, respectively. Petrographically, the differentiated series of phlogopite-ilmenite hyperbasites belongs to mantle magmatites, except for younger deformed phlogopite-amphibole rocks from zones of deep faults.

Unlike corresponding minerals in the Mg pyroxenite-peridotite series, minerals from the Phl-Ilm hyperbasites are characterized by lower magnesium index (Mg#), considerably higher contents of TiO2 and FeO, and lower contents of Cr2O3 (Table). In diagrams Mg# – TiO2 and Mg# – Cr2O3, metasomatic phlogopite points from Mg series rocks are significantly distant from points of mica from the phlogopite-ilmenite parageneses (Fig. 24). In the parageneses of the Mg pyroxenite-peridotite series, phlogopite plates have homogenous compositions in contrast to zonal phlogopite in the Phl-Ilm hyperbasites. In Phl-Amph metasomatites of the Mg series, amphibole is represented by typical pargasite, and its chemical composition is sharply different from that of K-richterite from the deformed phlogopite-amphibole rocks of the series of the Phl-Ilm hyperbasites (Table).

The 40Ar/39Ar age in the range from 1640 to 1800 Ma (Fig. 25) is determined for phlogopite from the metasomatic phlogopite-amphibole veinlets and intergranular reaction patches in the garnet olivine websterite of the Mg series. For mica from the garnetless Phl-Ilm websterites, ages are 869 and 851 Ma (Fig. 25). Mica from the garnet-containing Phl-Ilm lherzolites is much younger (608 and 495 Ma). The age of mica from the deformed phlogopite-amphibole rock is 167 Ma, which is close to the age of kimberlites of the Kuoika field.

Metasomatic phlogopite (1640–1800 Ma) originated somewhat later than the Birekte terrain accretion to the Siberian craton (1.8–1.9 Ga) [Rosen, 2003], and its age determination may be explained by a partial loss of 40Ar in the analysed medium. This age is also close to the late episode when the crust was formed in the Birekte block 1.8–2.1 Ga ago [Nasdala et al., 2014], and corresponds to the time when radiogenic osmium was supplied into the mantle lithosphere from the subduction zone (1.7–2.2 Ga, according to [Pernet et al., 2015]). In analyses of minerals in the pyroxenite-peridotite series from the Obnazhennaya pipe, data on the oxygen isotope geochemistry give evidence of an ancient subduction component (Fig. 26). It can be thus assumed that in the mantle lithosphere of the Birekte terrain, phlogopite-amphibole metasomatism took place due to fluids-melts ascending from the subduction zone about 1.8 Ga ago and correlates to the accretion of this block to the Siberian craton. The complex magmatic series of Phl-Ilm rocks formed later than the Mg pyroxenite-peridotite series. The more ancient ages of phlogopite (869–851 Ma) from PhlIlm hyperbasites are somewhat higher than the most ancient dating of alkaline ultrabasic-carbonatite Tomtor massif (800 Ga, according to [Entin et al., 1990]) and the time when the breakup of Rodinia began (825 Ga, according to [Li et al., 2008]). The difference may be explained by an advance occurrence of high-potassium, titanian, ferrous magmatites in the mantle lithosphere of the Birekte block as compared to their appearance on the surface. Phlogopite from xenoliths with subsolidus garnetization is significantly younger in age (500–600 Ma), may be, due to a loss of radiogenic argon caused by mica replacement. H2O, K, Ba, F and Cl were abundantly released during the replacement and supplied into the upper layers of the crust and mantle. The mantle high-potassium and high titanian Phl-Ilm series seems comagmatic with the surficial potassium ultramafites and mafites of the Siberian Platform and associated with the earlier episode of the Rodinia breakup.

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