Journal of Tropical Oceanography ›› 2024, Vol. 43 ›› Issue (4): 42-56.doi: 10.11978/2023137CSTR: 32234.14.2023137

• Marine Geology • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Geochemistry and mantle source characteristics of volcanic rocks in the Urdaneta Plateau of the West Philippine Sea

CHEN Xin1,2(), ZHANG Guoliang1,2,3()   

  1. 1. Center of Deep Sea Research, Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao 266071, China
    2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
    3. Center for Ocean Mega-Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao 266071, China
  • Received:2023-09-23 Revised:2023-10-18 Online:2024-07-10 Published:2024-07-22
  • Supported by:
    National Key Research and Development Plan Project(2022YFF0801000); National Natural Science Foundation of China(91858206); National Natural Science Foundation of China(41876040)

Abstract:

Since the Eocene, the West Philippine Sea Plate has undergone complex geological evolution, accompanied by a large amount of magmatism during the basin formation process, forming a large number of intraplate volcanic rocks. The intraplate volcanic rocks mainly occur in the ocean floor plateau, and the interrelationships between these intraplate volcanic rocks have always been a focus of research attention. Among them, the Benham Rise and the Urdaneta Plateau are good entry points for studying the interrelationships between volcanic rocks within the ocean floor plateaus in the West Philippine Basin due to their unique tectonic positions. This study conducted electron probe mineral analysis on 10 volcanic rock samples obtained from the Urdaneta Plateau, including major, trace, and isotopic analyses of the whole rock. The analysis results indicate that all the volcanic rocks in the Urdaneta Plateau we obtained are alkaline basalts, and their mantle normalized trace element patterns exhibit typical oceanic island basalt characteristics; They have high (Sm/Yb)N values (1.89~3.92), indicating the possible presence of garnet in the source area. Based on the volcanic rock data obtained from previous studies on the seafloor of the West Philippine Basin, we found that the Sr-Nd-Hf isotope composition range of alkaline island basalts and tholeiitic island basalts in the West Philippine Basin is almost the same, but there is a significant difference in lead isotope composition, with a larger range of lead isotope ratios for alkaline island basalts. These alkaline basalts from the Urdaneta Plateau have Sr-Nd-Hf isotopic compositions similar to those of the Benham Rise tholeiitic basalts, but have significantly lower 206Pb/204Pb isotopic compositions. The formation environment of the West Philippine Basin is complex, and the formation of intraplate volcanic rocks may be influenced by basin expansion and mantle plumes. We simulated the impact of the interaction between mantle plumes and expansion centers on intraplate alkaline basalts based on isotope values. The simulation results show that 206Pb/204Pb values cannot be achieved by mixing enriched components related to mantle plumes with depleted components related to basin expansion, this indicates that the alkaline volcanic rocks in the Urdaneta Plateau have a relatively independent mantle source area, which was formed far from the spreading center and not affected by the spreading process. The formation of alkaline basalts in the Urdaneta Plateau occurred 1~2 Ma later than tholeiitic basalts, and the degree of partial melting was lower. The tholeiitic and alkaline basalts in the Urdaneta Plateau may correspond to the main and late stages of magmatic activity, respectively. Therefore, we believe that the main stages of magmatic activity in the Urdaneta Plateau and the Benham Rise may have the same mantle source region, and the two plateaus are influenced by the same mantle plume; in the late stage of magmatic activity on the Urdaneta Plateau, there is a relatively independent source area.

Key words: West Philippine Basin, Urdaneta Plateau, alkaline basalt, isotopes, mantle source