Isotopic and Geochemical Investigation of the Chilwa Island Carbonatite Complex, Malawi: Evidence for a Depleted Mantle Source Region, Liquid Immiscibility, and Open-System Behaviour |
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| Authors: | SIMONETTI A; BELL K |
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| Institution: | Ottawa-Carleton Geoscience Centre, Department of Earth Sciences, Carleton University Ottawa, Ontario K1S 5B6, Canada |
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| Abstract: | Initial Nd, Pb, and Sr isotopic data from carbonatites and associatedintrusive silica-undersaturated rocks from the early Jurassic,Chilwa Island complex, located in southern Malawi, central Africa,suggest melt derivation from a Rb/Sr- and Nd/Sm-depleted butTh/Pb- and U/Pb-enriched mantle source. Initial 143Nd/144Nd(0.51265–0.51270) isotope ratios from the Chilwa Islandcarbonatites are relatively constant, but their initial 87Sr/86Sr(0.70319–0.70361) ratios are variable. The  18Osmow (9.53–14.15%0)and 13CPDB (–3.27 to –1.50%0) isotope ratios ofthe carbonates are enriched relative to the range of mantlevalues, and there is a negative correlation between 18O andSr isotope ratios. The variations in Sr, C, and O isotopic ratiosfrom the carbonatites suggest secondary processes, such as interactionwith meteoric groundwater during late-stage carbonatite activity.The initial 143Nd/144Nd (0.51246 0.51269) and initial 87Sr/86Sr(0.70344–0.70383) isotope ratios from the intrusive silicaterocks are more variable, and the Sr more radiogenic than thosefrom the carbonatites. Most of the Pb isotope data from Chilwa Island plot to the rightof the geochron and close to the oceanic regression line definedby MORBs and OIBs. Initial Pb isotopic ratios from both carbonatites(207Pb/204Pb 15.63–15.71; 206Pb/204Pb 19.13–19.78)and silicate rocks (207Pb/204Pb 15.61–15.72; 206Pb/204Pb18.18–20.12) show pronounced variations, and form twogroups in Pb-Pb plots. The isotopic variations shown by Nd, Pb, and Sr for the ChilwaIsland carbonatites and intrusive silicates suggest that thesemelts underwent different evolutionary histories. The chemicaldata, including isotopic ratios, from the carbonatites and olivinenephelinites are consistent with magmatic differentiation ofa carbonated-nephelinite magma. A model is proposed in whichdifferentiation of the carbonatite magma was accompanied byfenitization (metasomatic alteration) of the country rocks bycarbonatite-derived fluids, and subsequent alteration of thecarbonatite by hydrothermal activity. The chemical and isotopicdata from the non-nephelinitic intrusive silicate rocks reveala more complex evolutionary history, involving either selectivebinary mixing of lower-crustal granulites and a nephelinitemagma, or incremental batch melting of a depleted source andsubsequent crustal contamination. |
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