Browsing by Author "Rudnick, R. L."

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    Composition and origin of Archean lower crust, Northern Tanzania
    (2008-12) Mansur, A. T.; Manya, Shukrani; Rudnick, R. L.
    Granulite-facies xenoliths from tuff cones erupted on the margin of the Tanzanian craton and within the adjacent Mozambique belt in northern Tanzania offer an opportunity to assess the role of lower crustal processes in the tectonic evolution of these two terranes. Both terranes are Archean, but record very different histories, starting in the Proterozoic and continuing today. Whereas the craton experienced little metamorphism or igneous activity following its stabilization around 2.8 Ga, Archean rocks of the Mozambique belt in the study area experienced at least one episode of high-grade metamorphism during the East African orogeny (ca. 640 Ma). Today, the East African rift exists at the contact between the Mozambique belt and the craton, implying a fundamental lithospheric weakness at this boundary. Granulite xenoliths come from Labait, on the craton margin, and Lashaine and Naibor Soito in the metamorphic belt. Most xenoliths are mafic and all are igneous in origin. Cratonic xenoliths (pl- opx±cpx±gt±hbl) are primarily anhydrous two-pyroxene granulites that likely originated as crystallized high-Ni, Archean basaltic melts. Xenoliths from the Mozambique belt are dominated by mafic granulites (pl-cpx-gt±opx) at Lashaine and banded, mafic to intermediate granulites at Naibor Soito. Positive Sr and Eu anomalies imply that the Lashaine granulites originated as plagioclase cumulates. The wide range in SiO2 (47-65 wt%) and correlation of Ni-MgO in the Naibor Soito xenoliths suggests they may have originated as igneous rocks that subsequently underwent partial melting to form the mafic (pl- opx±cpx±gt±hbl±bt) and felsic bands (pl-qtz-opx±kfs). U-Pb zircon ages for xenoliths from both terranes are Archean, as are most TDM ages, though younger TDM ages are seen in some Lashaine samples that were contaminated by rift magma. High pressures (up to 2.7GPa) are recorded by the Mozambique belt xenoliths, suggesting equilibration in thickened crust during the East African orogeny, but no igneous activity related to metamorphism has been detected and our samples suggest that the Tanzanian lower crust has persisted without significant chemical modification since the Archean. Proterozoic magmatism is also absent from the upper crust in this section of the Mozambique belt, raising the question of the heat source during metamorphism.
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    Composition and thermal history of the lower crust beneath the Tanzania Craton and the adjacent Mozambique Belt
    (2006-05) Mansur, A. T.; Manya, Shukrani; Rudnick, R. L.
    The Tanzanian craton has undergone little deformation since its formation 2.6 Ga ago, but Archaean crust of the adjacent Mozambique Belt (MB) has been reworked by at least two high-grade metamorphic events. An old, thick (~~200-km) lithospheric keel appears to have stabilized the craton during these deformational events. Although a thick keel appears to be absent beneath the MB today, ancient mantle lithosphere is preserved beneath much of the MB and the original thickness of this lithosphere is uncertain. Studies of the present-day lower crust can help to constrain the compositional and thermal evolution of this region. Granulite xenoliths from the Labait volcano (craton margin) are exclusively mafic and are mostly two pyroxene granulites, but also include gt-opx granulites and a gt-cpx-spinel-corundum anorthosite. Most samples also have orthoclase as a major phase. Two-pyroxene thermometry yields temperatures of 710 to 810°C for an estimated lower crustal pressure of 1 GPa; whereas the anorthosite appears to have equilibrated at a somewhat hotter temperature (gt-cpx T = 970°C). All Labait xenoliths exhibit high K2O (0.8 to 2.6 wt., excluding the anorthosite), Ba (530 to 6730 ppm), Sr (440 to 1040 ppm) and Ni contents (100 to 400 ppm) and relatively high Mg# (47 to 63). The combined high Ni, Mg# and alkali and alkaline-earth elements may reflect an unusual igneous protolith (e.g., adakitic magma) or mafic cumulates that have been metasomatically enriched in the lower crust. Granulite xenoliths from Lashaine (MB) are also exclusively mafic and form two groups: 1) anorthositic, high Al2O3 (17 to 23 wt. %) and Mg#, plag-ky-cpx-gt granulites, which are enriched in Sr and have positive Eu anomalies and 2) lower Al2O3 (13 wt. %), two pyroxene ± gt granulites, which are enriched in Ti, K, P and Ni. The latter may be meta-cumulates from alkaline magmas. Temperatures for Lashaine granulites range from 770 to 980°C. Unlike Labait and Lashaine, the Naibor Soito (MB) xenolith suite includes both mafic and intermediate granulites. Mafic granulites from Naibor Soito are similar mineralogically to the Labait xenoliths except that they contain gt. Intermediate xenoliths are two pyroxene garnet granulites. All Naibor Soito samples are LREE-enriched, and two of three intermediate xenoliths exhibit positive Eu anomalies. Like Labait, xenoliths from this locality exhibit high K2O (0.5 to 2.7 wt. %), Ba (207 to 1120 ppm), and Sr (241 to 1146 ppm) contents. Equilibration temperatures of all the xenoliths are significantly hotter than projected present-day lower crustal temperatures, and are probably relicts of the last major orogeny (pan-African). Like elsewhere in the world, lower crustal xenoliths from both the craton and MB are dominated by mafic compositions.
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    Gold distribution in Archean continental crust: Evaluating the effects of intracrustal differentiation in the Tanzanian Craton
    (2013-12) Long, K.; Rudnick, R. L.; McDonough, W. F.; Manya, Shukrani
    We have evaluated the vertical distribution of gold in variably metamorphosed igneous rocks in the Tanzanian Craton: 2.6 Ga upper-crustal greenschist-facies greenstone belt basalts and andesites from the Lake Victoria Gold Field of northern Tanzania, and compositionally similar 2.6 Ga lower-crustal mafic granulite-facies xenoliths that were carried in rift-related basalts that erupted nearby. We implemented the preconcentration method of Pitcairn et al. (2006), which utilizes chromatographic separation of gold from acid-digested rocks using diisobutyl ketone (DIBK), followed by standard addition ICP-MS to determine the distribution of gold in the crust. Repeat analyses of the certified reference material TDB-1, a whole-rock powder diabase dike from Tremblay Lake, Saskatchewan, Canada (certified gold concentration = 6.3 × 1.0 ng/g), yielded an average gold concentration of 6.5 × 1.1 ng/g. Results were reproducible to within 17% for rock powder aliquots between 200-600 mg (n=38), where 400 mg sample aliquots were reproducible to within 6% (n=9), and 600 mg aliquots were reproducible to within 4.5% (n=4). Better reproducibility for the greater sample aliquots likely reflects the 'nugget' effect. Rock samples in the 0.1-0.8 ng/g gold concentration range reproduced to within 27% for 400-600 mg sample aliquots. Although the lavas come from an area containing gold deposits, all were more than 5 km from any gold mine. The Tanzanian greenstone belt basalts have the highest gold concentrations (9 ng/g to 62 μg/g, ave. = 40 (+68/-25) ng/g, 1σ (n=10)), followed by the greenstone belt andesites (0.4 to 120 ng/g, ave. = 1.1 (+0.9/-0.5) ng/g, 1σ (n=14)). The lowest concentrations were observed in the granulite-facies lower-crustal xenoliths (0.1 to 3.3 ng/g, ave. = 0.3 (+0.3/-0.1) ng/g, 1σ (n=21)). Gold is incompatible in silicates and can partition into hydrothermal and/or magmatic fluid or vapour during high-grade metamorphic dehydration reactions or partial melting, particularly if sulfides break down during these processes. Rise of these buoyant mobile phases may explain the observed depletion of gold in the lower crust. Oxidative breakdown of sulfides was observed in some of the lower-crustal xenoliths, whereas some xenoliths did not contain any visible sulfides. Gold concentration in the samples did not, however, correlate with the presence of sulfides, which may indicate that the existing sulfides crystallized after the gold depletion had occurred. References: Pitcairn, I.K., Warwick, P.E., Milton, J.A., and Teagle, D.A.H. Anal. Chem. 2006, 78, p.1290-1295
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    A Xenolith Perspective on the Composition and Age of the Northern Tanzanian Lithosphere
    (2009-12) Manya, Shukrani; Rudnick, R. L.; Aulbach, S.; Bellucci, J. J.; Blondes, M. S.; Chesley, J.; Lee, C.; Mansur, A. T.; McDonough, W. F.
    Study of deep crustal and upper mantle xenoliths from rift volcanoes throughout northern Tanzania provides insights into the architecture of the Tanzanian lithosphere, as well as the interaction of this lithosphere with rift magmas. Like the upper crust, the lower crust and mantle lithosphere of the Tanzanian Craton (TC) and Mozambique Belt (MB) are Archean, but the lower crust of the MB has been thermally reactivated during the pan-African Orogeny, whereas that of the craton has not. In addition, both mantle sections have experienced interaction and heating associated with rift magmas. Cratonic lithospheric mantle is compositionally stratified, with highly refractory but strongly LREE-enriched peridotite comprising the bulk of the section (40-130 km depth), underlain by more fertile and deformed peridotites (130-150 km depth), which are also LREE-enriched. Lithospheric mantle of the MB is highly variable in thickness, ranging from a maximum of ˜150 km at Lashaine to <50 km within the Rift axis near the Kenyan border. Like the cratonic lithosphere, this mantle is also refractory and yields Archean Os model ages throughout. Mantle lithospheres of both the TC and MB have interacted with rift magmas, including carbonatites (at Olmani) and alkali basalts (s.l.), which, in some cases, precipitated veins containing phlogopite or amphibole. Late Pleistocene zircons in one of these veins testify to the youth of this interaction. Rift basalt precipitates that formed in the mantle (pyroxenites and glimmerites) and have, thus, never interacted with continental crust, have radiogenic Os isotopic compositions (γOs = +9), providing strong evidence for a plume source of the rift magmas. Sr and Nd isotopes in cpx from peridotites are highly variable: in some they are completely overprinted by rift magmas, whereas others contain Archean components. Granulite-facies xenoliths throughout northern Tanzania are generally mafic (including anorthositic compositions), with a few intermediate compositions; no granulite-facies metapelites have been found. Marbles, schists, quartzites and amphibolites from the MB likely derive from middle-crustal depths. All zircon U-Pb ages are Archean (≥ 2.6 Ga) and many of the samples fall along a 2.6 Ga Sm-Nd reference line. U-Pb thermochronology largely records slow cooling in the MB following the Pan-African Orogeny and is consistent with a present-day conductive geotherm of 47 mW/m2 in a crust with very low heat production (see Blondes et al., this meeting). Despite the fact that ɛNd varies from -4 to -32 in the lower crustal xenoliths, 87Sr/86Sr is much less variable and the data fall along a near-vertical trend in a Sr vs. Nd isotope plot, reflecting ancient Rb depletion relative to Sr. Similarly, the unradiogenic Pb in granulite feldspars from both TC and MB is consistent with ancient U depletion. Collectively, such distinctive radiogenic isotope characteristics can serve as a diagnostic signature of crustal assimilation in rift magmas from northern Tanzania.