Petrology and geochemistry of the Pan-African high-K calc-alkaline to shoshonitic-adakitic Bape plutonic suites (Adamawa-Yade block, Cameroon): evidence of a hot oceanic crust subduction

The 60 km-long Pan-African Bape massif intruded in the Adamawa-Yade Archaean block is an excellent case for the study of subduction-collision-related magmatism, its origin by interaction among magmas from various sources, and its bearing on the evolution of the Pan-African orogenic belt in Cameroon. An integrated study including mapping, petrography and geochemistry was carried out on these Ba-Sr rich quartz monzonites, quartz monzodiorites, monzonites, granodiorites (adakites), syenites and micromonzogabbros. The rocks are dominated by plagioclase + alkali feldspars + amphibole + biotite + sphene + opaque minerals + apatite + zircon +/- pyroxene +/- quartz assemblage. They are I-type, ferroan, metaluminous and belong to high-K calc-alkaline, shoshonitic series. REE patterns form two sets of tight closed and of highly differentiated patterns. The spider diagrams display Th, U, Nb, Ta, Zr and Hf negative and Ba, K, Pb and Sr positive anomalies. High K2O, Ba-Sr and moderate SiO2 contents and the variation of canonical ratios such as Zr/Sm, Zr/Hf, La/Sm, and Sm/Yb, point to multiple origins for the Bape granitoids such as (i) melting of a dehydrated subducting crust (adakites) and/or the metasomatized heterogeneous mantle wedge (spinel- and phlogopite-amphibole-garnet lherzolite), or (ii) the mixing of these liquids (other granitoids). The U-Pb emplacement age (640-603 Ma), coeval with the subduction-collision between the West-African and the Congo cratons, the occurrence of adakites, combined with geophysical data, support that these granitoids are link to the southeast-northwest subduction of the hot Yaounde oceanic crust under the Adamawa-Yade craton, during the Neoproterozoic time.

Automated summary

The Bape massif in the Adamawa-Yade block is an important case study for the evolution of the Pan-African orogenic belt in Cameroon. The rocks in the area are rich in Ba-Sr and show characteristics of high-K calc-alkaline, shoshonitic series. Multiple origins for the granitoids in the Bape massif are suggested, including melting of a dehydrated subducting crust or mixing of different liquids.