Reactive harzburgites from Huinan, NE China: Products of the lithosphere-asthenosphere interaction during lithospheric thinning?

Petrologic, trace element and Sr-Nd isotopic studies of mantle xenoliths in Quaternary basalts from Huinan, NE China provide constraints on the origin of coarse-grained harzburgites and the nature of lithosphere-asthenosphere interaction during lithospheric thinning. The Huinan harzburgites have a secondary recrystallized texture and their composition deviates from the partial melting trend of residual peridotites. The convex-upward REE pattern and a positive Cr-Yb correlation in clinopyroxene imply an interaction with basaltic melts at a high melt/rock ratio. The Huinan harzburgites are therefore not simple residues of partial melting, but likely resulted from melt-rock interaction during which the percolating melts preferentially dissolved pyroxenes by precipitation of olivine, transforming lherzolite to harzburgite. The melt percolation-reaction enhanced grain boundary diffusion kinetics, and gave rise to the characteristic texture of these mantle rocks. These reactive harzburgites were eventually metasomatized by compositionally distinct small volume volatile-rich melts, which may be derived from the main harzburgite-forming event as a result of melt-consuming reaction. Most likely the formation of the Huinan harzburgites was coeval with thermo-tectonic erosion of the continental lithosphere by upwelling asthenospheric melts. Thermometric considerations suggest a relatively long time interval between lithospheric thinning and eruption of the host basalts, consistent with the contention that lithospheric thinning in eastern China may have peaked in the late Cretaceous. Copyright (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd.