Evidence for highly refractory, heat producing element-depleted lower continental crust: Some implications for the formation and evolution of the continents

The composition of the lower continental crust is estimated via the analysis of granulite xenoliths, granulite terrains and geophysical properties. All three proxies generally agree on the lower crust's refractory nature, dominated by mafic granulites. Estimates weighted using seismic velocity reference models yield lower Th and U concentrations and higher K/U ratios than granulite xenolith averages, while terrain granulites are often much less refractory than xenoliths. Here we present new data for lower crustal xenoliths from central Queensland, an understudied part of the xenolith-bearing eastern Australian basalt provinces. The granulite chemistry was estimated using the reconstitution approach in which the modal mineralogy and in situ chemical analyses are combined. High-resolution energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy mapping revealed that K is enriched in anastomosing grain boundary networks and fractures in granulite and co-occurring mantle peridotite xenoliths. Laser-ablation inductively-coupled-plasma mass-spectrometry 2-D traverses show that the same networks are also significantly enriched in many highly incompatible elements. There are sharp concentration contrasts with neighbouring phases for elements with very different diffusivities (Li and U), suggesting that the networks formed during entrainment, decompression and heating within the host basalt. We propose that undetected inclusion of such late enrichment skews xenolith chemistry estimates to non-representative, overly fertile compositions. In the case of the studied xenoliths, the carrier basalts are not very strongly enriched in highly incompatible elements, and even when the K-rich networks are included in the reconstitution, the resulting granulite chemistry is very refractory with 0.52 wt% K2O, 0.07 ppm Th and 0.03 ppm U. The locally dominant lithology of lower crustal xenoliths is simple two-pyroxene, plagioclase, ilmenite granulite with few accessory phases. The granulite mineralogy and chemistry were compared with results from thermodynamic models of prograde anatexis of different metabasites, variably hydrated. The comparison shows that the granulites could be restitic calc-alkaline basalts or diorites that experienced episodic melt extraction accumulating up to 50-60% total melt loss at very high temperatures (950-1050 degrees C), implying that the temperatures recorded by two-pyroxene thermometry (750-830 degrees C) do not capture the thermal maximum. The corresponding upper crustal section of the northern New England Orogen exposes a range of Devonian to Cretaceous granitoids, some of which have complementary features to the granulites, including the low modal abundance of plagioclase; low relative abundance of Ti, very high Rb/Ba ratios, and high Th/U ratios. Together, the data suggest extensive and protracted melting of the original lower crust upon lithospheric thinning and concomitant magmatic underplating. The required high temperatures favour picritic over basaltic underplates. In such a setting, the gravity-driven delamination of more mafic garnet-rich restites and olivine-rich mafic-ultramafic underplating material is physically plausible. This delamination could help explain the long-established mass balance issue for the formation of continental crust in general.

Automated summary

The composition of the lower continental crust was estimated through analysis of granulite xenoliths, granulite terrains, and geophysical properties, with new data from central Queensland presented. The enrichment of potassium and highly incompatible elements in granulite networks and fractures was revealed, potentially skewing chemical composition estimates.