Ultrapotassic dykes in the Moldanubian Zone and their significance for understanding of the post-collisional mantle dynamics during Variscan orogeny in the Bohemian Massif
Abstract
We report mineral textures, geochemistry and age relations of two ultrapotassic dykes from a dyke swarm in the Western part of the Moldanubian Zone at contact to the Tepla-Barrandian Block. The dykes have orientation almost perpendicular to the NNE-SSW trending Central Bohemian plutonic complex and cross cut metamorphic foliation in basement gneisses and migmatites.
Based on mineral compositions and geochemistry, the dykes show close relations to Mg-K syenite plutons in the Moldanubian Zone. The two dykes are vaugnerite and syenite in compositions and contain talc pseudomorphs after olivine within a fine-grained matrix that consists of K-feldspar, phlogopite with small amounts of clinopyroxene and accessory quartz, apatite, titanite and sulphides of Fe, Cu, Ni.
The syenite porphyry dyke cross cuts the vaugnerite. It contains quartz phenocrysts and comparing to vaugnerite has lower modal content of talc pseudomorphs.
The vaugnerite and syenite porphyry have high 1(20 (6 to 7 wt.%) and mg-number (0.66-0.74), but low CaO and Na2O contents. The vaugnerite is markedly rich in P2O5 (>2 wt.%) and comparing to syenite porphyry has higher amount of mantle-incompatible elements (e.g.
Rb, Cs, Ba, Pb, Th, U), V and Cr. ID-TIMS analyses on titanite in vaugnerite and on zircon in syenite porphyry yielded 338.59 +/- 0.68 and 337.87 +/- 0.21 Ma, respectively.
Mineral and bulk rock chemistry of the dykes indicates that the source magma was formed by a low degree of partial melting of a highly anomalous domain in the upper mantle which subsequently fractionated and was contaminated with crustal material during its ascent. Formation of ultrapotassic magma is explained by transcurrent shear zones in the mantle lithosphere that occurred due to block rotation and post-collisional mantle dynamics initiated by slab break-off and asthenosphere upwelling into the Moldanubian accretionary complex during the Variscan Orogeny.