Building of arc crust during Silurian subduction in the southern Paleo Asian Ocean: Constraint from mineralogy of the pyroxenitic-gabbroic suite in the Chinese East Tianshan

Arc lower crustal cumulates are significant in investigation of arc differentiation in the lower level of an island arc. The Silurian pyroxenitic-gabbroic suite in the Chinese East Tianshan represents a lithological assemblage of the basal to lower arc crust. This suite comprises, in the order of evolution, olivine websterite (ol-websterite), olivine and plagioclase clinopyroxenite (ol- and pl-clinopyroxenite), and amphibole gabbro (amph-gabbro). Pyroxenite are dominated by cumulus clinopyroxene with interstitial olivine. Amphibole is present in all these rocks, occurring either as coronas of pyroxene and olivine or as oikocrysts, implying a H2O-rich parental melt. Plagioclase occurs as veinlets cutting cumulus clinopyroxene in the pl-clinopyroxenite, revealing that it crystallizes totally later than clinopyroxene. Spinel ranges from chromite in the ol-websterite and ol-clinopyroxenite to pleonaste in other evolved rocks, revealing an aluminous differentiation trend. Olivine in the pyroxenite ranges in Fo from 64 to 86 mol%, averagely 7–15 Mg# units lower than coexisting clinopyroxene (79–93). Clinopyroxene shows a chemical trend from low Al2O3 (<2 wt%) in the ol-websterite to high Al2O3 (up to 6.5 wt%) in the pl-clinopyroxenite. All clinopyroxene has incompatible trace elements similar to those of clinopyroxene from typical arc lower crustal cumulates. All plagioclase is extremely calcic (An >83 mol%, up to 99 mol%), generally coupled with iron-rich olivine (Fo <76 mol%) in the studied rocks. Such distinct mineral compositions are typical of arc lower crustal cumulates and ascribed to the crystallization sequence of hydrous arc magmas at high pressure. The pressure for the formation of the pyroxenitic rocks is estimated to be 6–8 kbar using the two-pyroxene geobarometer, a preferred pressure for clinopyroxene crystallization coupled with high H2O content. In the stability field of clinopyroxene crystallization, olivine crystallizes from the interstitial melt but later than clinopyroxene, having unexpectedly lower Fo than Mg# of clinopyroxene. Meanwhile, plagioclase crystallization is totally suppressed with the residual magmas evolving towards highly aluminous, crystallizing spinel with a pure pleonaste composition. Upon saturation in plagioclase with decreasing pressures, plagioclase will acquire extremely calcic compositions due to the aluminous and hydrous nature of the residual arc magmas. The incompatible trace element compositions of the Silurian primitive magmas, estimated from the most primitive clinopyroxene (Mg# = 92–93), show selective enrichment in large ion lithophile elements relative to high field strength elements with an exception of depletion in Ba and low Nb/Ta ratios, implying a magmatic deviation from metasomatized mantle modified by aqueous fluids dehydrated from rutile-bearing slab. The Silurian arc lower crust was built by crystal fractionation and accumulation from hydrous arc basaltic magmas at 6–8 kbar of the lower crustal pressure.