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Growing magma chambers control the distribution of small-scale flood basalts

Small-scale continental flood basalts are a global phenomenon characterized by regular spatio-temporal distributions. However, no genetic mechanism has been proposed to explain the visible but overlooked distribution patterns of these continental basaltic volcanism. Here we present a case study from...

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Autores principales: Yu, Xun, Chen, Li-Hui, Zeng, Gang
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Nature Publishing Group 2015
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4652174/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26581905
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep16824
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author Yu, Xun
Chen, Li-Hui
Zeng, Gang
author_facet Yu, Xun
Chen, Li-Hui
Zeng, Gang
author_sort Yu, Xun
collection PubMed
description Small-scale continental flood basalts are a global phenomenon characterized by regular spatio-temporal distributions. However, no genetic mechanism has been proposed to explain the visible but overlooked distribution patterns of these continental basaltic volcanism. Here we present a case study from eastern China, combining major and trace element analyses with Ar–Ar and K–Ar dating to show that the spatio-temporal distribution of small-scale flood basalts is controlled by the growth of long-lived magma chambers. Evolved basalts (SiO(2) > 47.5 wt.%) from Xinchang–Shengzhou, a small-scale Cenozoic flood basalt field in Zhejiang province, eastern China, show a northward younging trend over the period 9.4–3.0 Ma. With northward migration, the magmas evolved only slightly ((Na(2)O + K(2)O)/MgO = 0.40–0.66; TiO(2)/MgO = 0.23–0.35) during about 6 Myr (9.4–3.3 Ma). When the flood basalts reached the northern end of the province, the magmas evolved rapidly (3.3–3.0 Ma) through a broad range of compositions ((Na(2)O + K(2)O)/MgO = 0.60–1.28; TiO(2)/MgO = 0.30–0.57). The distribution and two-stage compositional evolution of the migrating flood basalts record continuous magma replenishment that buffered against magmatic evolution and induced magma chamber growth. Our results demonstrate that the magma replenishment–magma chamber growth model explains the spatio-temporal distribution of small-scale flood basalts.
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spelling pubmed-46521742015-11-24 Growing magma chambers control the distribution of small-scale flood basalts Yu, Xun Chen, Li-Hui Zeng, Gang Sci Rep Article Small-scale continental flood basalts are a global phenomenon characterized by regular spatio-temporal distributions. However, no genetic mechanism has been proposed to explain the visible but overlooked distribution patterns of these continental basaltic volcanism. Here we present a case study from eastern China, combining major and trace element analyses with Ar–Ar and K–Ar dating to show that the spatio-temporal distribution of small-scale flood basalts is controlled by the growth of long-lived magma chambers. Evolved basalts (SiO(2) > 47.5 wt.%) from Xinchang–Shengzhou, a small-scale Cenozoic flood basalt field in Zhejiang province, eastern China, show a northward younging trend over the period 9.4–3.0 Ma. With northward migration, the magmas evolved only slightly ((Na(2)O + K(2)O)/MgO = 0.40–0.66; TiO(2)/MgO = 0.23–0.35) during about 6 Myr (9.4–3.3 Ma). When the flood basalts reached the northern end of the province, the magmas evolved rapidly (3.3–3.0 Ma) through a broad range of compositions ((Na(2)O + K(2)O)/MgO = 0.60–1.28; TiO(2)/MgO = 0.30–0.57). The distribution and two-stage compositional evolution of the migrating flood basalts record continuous magma replenishment that buffered against magmatic evolution and induced magma chamber growth. Our results demonstrate that the magma replenishment–magma chamber growth model explains the spatio-temporal distribution of small-scale flood basalts. Nature Publishing Group 2015-11-19 /pmc/articles/PMC4652174/ /pubmed/26581905 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep16824 Text en Copyright © 2015, Macmillan Publishers Limited http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
spellingShingle Article
Yu, Xun
Chen, Li-Hui
Zeng, Gang
Growing magma chambers control the distribution of small-scale flood basalts
title Growing magma chambers control the distribution of small-scale flood basalts
title_full Growing magma chambers control the distribution of small-scale flood basalts
title_fullStr Growing magma chambers control the distribution of small-scale flood basalts
title_full_unstemmed Growing magma chambers control the distribution of small-scale flood basalts
title_short Growing magma chambers control the distribution of small-scale flood basalts
title_sort growing magma chambers control the distribution of small-scale flood basalts
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4652174/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26581905
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep16824
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