Petrology of Late Jurassic allochthonous ultramafic lamprophyres within the Batain Nappes, Northeastern Oman

S. Nasir*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

7 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Late Jurassic ultramafic lamprophyre (UML) sills and dikes occur as 3 km-long intrusions within the allochthonous Whara Formation of the Batain nappes, eastern Oman. The sills and dikes comprise macrocrystic phlogopite and spinel-bearing aillikite and damtjernite. Aillikite is a light grey, massive fine-grained tuffaceous rock with euhedral laths of mica, while damtjernite is a dark grey, medium- to coarse-grained rock with abundant pelletal lapilli and globular segregationary textures. Both lithologies are composed of calcite, phlogopite, apatite, magnetite, spinel, diopside, and richterite. Orthoclase occurs only within damtjernite. The rocks are strongly silica undersaturated (17.6-33.7 wt.% SiO2), with low MgO (4.7-10.2 wt. %) and high Al2O3 (3.5-8.6 wt.%). The aillikites are distinguished from the damtjernites by their lower SiO2, Al2O3, and Na2O abundances, and their higher MgO, CaO, and P2O 5 contents. The rare earth element (REE) patterns of both rock types are similar and show strong light REE (LREE) enrichment. Both are enriched in Ba, Th, U, Nb, and Ta, with normalized concentrations of up to 1000 times those of primitive mantle. Relative depletions are apparent for high REE (HREE), K, Rb, Pb, Sr, P, Zr, and Hf. The rocks have initial 87 Sr/86 Sr ratios of 0.70435-0.70646, whereas initial 143 Nd/144 Nd ratios vary between 0 · 512603 and 0 · 512716 (ϵNd i 2.6-3.2). Pb isotopic ratios are more varied among the aillikites and damtjernites: 208 Pb/204 Pb i = 38.97-39.39 and 207 Pb/204 Pb i = 15.35-15.58, 206 Pb/204 Pb i = 18.08-18.96. The abundance of phlogopite, apatite, and rutile and enrichment in LREEs, Ba, Th, U, Nb, and Ta in the Sal UMLs suggest metasomatic enrichment of these rocks following a low degree of partial melting of a depleted source region. Ar-Ar age dating of phlogopite macrocrysts from the aillikites and damtjernites (154 and162 Ma, respectively) correlates with large-scale tectonic events recorded in the proto-Indian Ocean at 140-160 Ma.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)913-928
Number of pages16
JournalInternational Geology Review
Volume58
Issue number8
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jun 10 2016

Keywords

  • Aillikite
  • Batain Nappes
  • damtjernite
  • eastern Oman
  • ultramafic lamprophyres

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Geology

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