Two-stage crustal growth in the Arabian-Nubian shield: Initial arc accretion followed by plume-induced crustal reworking

Island-arc accretion during the assembly of Gondwana has been widely regarded as the main mechanism for Neoproterozoic crustal growth in the Arabian-Nubian Shield (ANS). However, processes involved to transform the newly accreted juvenile terranes into a typical continental crust remain unclear. Her...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Gamal El Dien, Hamed, Li, Zheng-Xiang, Abu Anbar, Mohamed, Doucet, Luc S, Murphy, J Brendan, Evans, Noreen, Xia, Xiao-Ping, Li, Jiangyu
Format: Journal Article
Published: 2021
Online Access:http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/LE150100013
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/83408
_version_ 1848764581220974592
author Gamal El Dien, Hamed
Li, Zheng-Xiang
Abu Anbar, Mohamed
Doucet, Luc S
Murphy, J Brendan
Evans, Noreen
Xia, Xiao-Ping
Li, Jiangyu
author_facet Gamal El Dien, Hamed
Li, Zheng-Xiang
Abu Anbar, Mohamed
Doucet, Luc S
Murphy, J Brendan
Evans, Noreen
Xia, Xiao-Ping
Li, Jiangyu
author_sort Gamal El Dien, Hamed
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Island-arc accretion during the assembly of Gondwana has been widely regarded as the main mechanism for Neoproterozoic crustal growth in the Arabian-Nubian Shield (ANS). However, processes involved to transform the newly accreted juvenile terranes into a typical continental crust remain unclear. Here, we present geochemical, isotopic, and U-Pb geochronological data from the El-Shadli volcanic province (80 km × 35 km and > 10 km thick) in the Eastern Desert of Egypt, which lies in the north-western part of the ANS, and overlies strongly deformed, previously accreted arc terranes. The El-Shadli volcanic province consists mainly of a mafic-felsic bimodal suite and subordinate intermediate rocks that intrude the mafic rocks of the suite. The bimodal suite rocks are tholeiitic, whereas the intermediate rocks have a calc-alkaline affinity. The bimodal suite and the intermediate rocks both yield U-Pb zircon ages of ~ 700 Ma implying they are coeval. High zircon εHf(t) values for the bimodal suite (average εHf(t) = +11.46) as well as the intermediate rocks (average εHf(t) = +9.76) indicate they were either magmatic extractions derived directly from a depleted mantle source, or the products of remelting of juvenile crust. Oxygen isotope data for zircon yield similar δ18O values for both the bimodal suite (average δ18O = 4.94‰) and intermediate rocks (average δ18O = 4.79‰). These are lower than typical mantle values indicating the parental magma in both cases interacted with hydrothermal fluids. Based on the petrological, geochemical, and isotopic data, we suggest that the El-Shadli bimodal suite and the intermediate rocks were produced by reworking of MORB-like and arc-like oceanic lithosphere, respectively, most likely driven by a mantle plume during the break-up of Rodinia. The recognition of the El-Shadli volcanic province as a likely mantle plume-induced post-kinematic magmatism provides a mechanism for the transformation of newly accreted juvenile crustal terranes into a chemically stratified normal continental crust. In addition, such plume events may result in new mantle extractions that are converted into new continental crust.
first_indexed 2025-11-14T11:21:38Z
format Journal Article
id curtin-20.500.11937-83408
institution Curtin University Malaysia
institution_category Local University
last_indexed 2025-11-14T11:21:38Z
publishDate 2021
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling curtin-20.500.11937-834082023-05-03T04:36:25Z Two-stage crustal growth in the Arabian-Nubian shield: Initial arc accretion followed by plume-induced crustal reworking Gamal El Dien, Hamed Li, Zheng-Xiang Abu Anbar, Mohamed Doucet, Luc S Murphy, J Brendan Evans, Noreen Xia, Xiao-Ping Li, Jiangyu Island-arc accretion during the assembly of Gondwana has been widely regarded as the main mechanism for Neoproterozoic crustal growth in the Arabian-Nubian Shield (ANS). However, processes involved to transform the newly accreted juvenile terranes into a typical continental crust remain unclear. Here, we present geochemical, isotopic, and U-Pb geochronological data from the El-Shadli volcanic province (80 km × 35 km and > 10 km thick) in the Eastern Desert of Egypt, which lies in the north-western part of the ANS, and overlies strongly deformed, previously accreted arc terranes. The El-Shadli volcanic province consists mainly of a mafic-felsic bimodal suite and subordinate intermediate rocks that intrude the mafic rocks of the suite. The bimodal suite rocks are tholeiitic, whereas the intermediate rocks have a calc-alkaline affinity. The bimodal suite and the intermediate rocks both yield U-Pb zircon ages of ~ 700 Ma implying they are coeval. High zircon εHf(t) values for the bimodal suite (average εHf(t) = +11.46) as well as the intermediate rocks (average εHf(t) = +9.76) indicate they were either magmatic extractions derived directly from a depleted mantle source, or the products of remelting of juvenile crust. Oxygen isotope data for zircon yield similar δ18O values for both the bimodal suite (average δ18O = 4.94‰) and intermediate rocks (average δ18O = 4.79‰). These are lower than typical mantle values indicating the parental magma in both cases interacted with hydrothermal fluids. Based on the petrological, geochemical, and isotopic data, we suggest that the El-Shadli bimodal suite and the intermediate rocks were produced by reworking of MORB-like and arc-like oceanic lithosphere, respectively, most likely driven by a mantle plume during the break-up of Rodinia. The recognition of the El-Shadli volcanic province as a likely mantle plume-induced post-kinematic magmatism provides a mechanism for the transformation of newly accreted juvenile crustal terranes into a chemically stratified normal continental crust. In addition, such plume events may result in new mantle extractions that are converted into new continental crust. 2021 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/83408 10.1016/j.precamres.2021.106211 http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/LE150100013 http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/FL150100133 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ fulltext
spellingShingle Gamal El Dien, Hamed
Li, Zheng-Xiang
Abu Anbar, Mohamed
Doucet, Luc S
Murphy, J Brendan
Evans, Noreen
Xia, Xiao-Ping
Li, Jiangyu
Two-stage crustal growth in the Arabian-Nubian shield: Initial arc accretion followed by plume-induced crustal reworking
title Two-stage crustal growth in the Arabian-Nubian shield: Initial arc accretion followed by plume-induced crustal reworking
title_full Two-stage crustal growth in the Arabian-Nubian shield: Initial arc accretion followed by plume-induced crustal reworking
title_fullStr Two-stage crustal growth in the Arabian-Nubian shield: Initial arc accretion followed by plume-induced crustal reworking
title_full_unstemmed Two-stage crustal growth in the Arabian-Nubian shield: Initial arc accretion followed by plume-induced crustal reworking
title_short Two-stage crustal growth in the Arabian-Nubian shield: Initial arc accretion followed by plume-induced crustal reworking
title_sort two-stage crustal growth in the arabian-nubian shield: initial arc accretion followed by plume-induced crustal reworking
url http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/LE150100013
http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/LE150100013
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/83408