Granodiorites of the South Mountain Batholith (Nova Scotia, Canada) derived by partial melting of Avalonia granulite rocks beneath the Meguma terrane: Implications for the heat source of the Late Devonian granites of the Northern Appalachians

The Late Devonian South Mountain Batholith (SMB) of Nova Scotia is the largest batholith-of the northern Appalachians. The peraluminous granitic rocks range from biotite granodiorite to leucogranite. Samples collected from a drill core of the Scrag Lake granodioritic pluton of the western SMB are chemically homogeneous from the surface to a depth of similar to 1425 m. The homogeneous composition implies that the granodiorite was derived from a relatively homogeneous source and that country rock assimilation was not an important source for the parental magma. Equilibrium partial melt modeling of underlying sub-Meguma granulite rocks indicates that they are the primary source rocks of the granodiorites. We suggest that mantle-derived magmas intruded the lower crust and induce large-scale melting of the granulite basement rocks to produce the granodiorites. Fractional crystallization of the granodiorites plus assimilation of Meguma Supergroup metasediments likely produces the silica-rich rocks of the SMB. The cause of mantle melting is uncertain however it may be related to the transitioning of the northern Appalachians from a position above the deep mantle Pacific large low shear velocity province (LLSVP) to a higher shear velocity region of the mantle. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.