Formation of late Miocene silicic volcanic rocks in the central Tibetan Plateau by crustal anatexis of granulites

Partial melting of granulites generates melts, which causes the modification of continental crust. However, the detailed mechanisms of this partial melting and related magmatic processes are debated. In this study, we investigated how crustal melting of granulites generated late Miocene (ca. 6.0 Ma) silicic volcanic rocks in the Chibuzhangcuo area of the Qiangtang Block, Tibet. Various peritectic textures (e.g., quartz inclusions in clino-pyroxene and fluorhydroxyl phlogopite) suggest that the pyroxenes were derived from a residual granulite phase and peritectic reactions, and were then entrained into the partial melts. The F-rich mica, granulite mineral as-semblages, and high titanomagnetite-ilmenite (811-975 degrees C) and zircon saturation (836-867 degrees C) temperatures indicate the silicic magmas were high-temperature and water-poor. The geochemical and isotopic compositions of the silicic volcanic rocks are similar to those of middle-lower crustal intermediate-mafic granulite xenoliths in Cenozoic volcanic rocks in the Qiangtang Block. We suggest that these volcanic rocks were generated by partial melting of hydrous mineral-bearing granulites, triggered by an underlying thermal anomaly associated with the high crustal heat-flow of the central Tibetan Plateau. This work indicates that the occurrence of restitic hydrous mineral and perturbation of thermal anomaly are the primary conditions to cause the partial melting of granulite. As the melting went on, the residual granulite phase and peritectic minerals were likely to be preferentially entrained into the melt due to the erosion effect caused by the continued melt flow at the sites of melting.

Automated summary

This study investigates the mechanism of partial melting of granulites through the investigation of late Miocene (ca. 6.0 Ma) silicic volcanic rocks in the Chibuzhangcuo area of Tibet. The results suggest that the residual granulite phase and peritectic minerals are likely to be preferentially entrained into the melt due to the erosion effect caused by the continued melt flow at the sites of melting.