Shoshonitic enclaves in the high Sr/Y Nyemo pluton, southern Tibet: Implications for Oligocene magma mixing and the onset of extension of the southern Lhasa terrane

Abstract

Post-collisional potassic and high Sr/Y magmatism in the Lhasa terrane provides critical constraints on the timing and mechanism of subduction of Indian lithosphere and its role in the uplift of the Tibetan Plateau. Here, we report whole-rock geochemistry, mineral geochemistry, zircon U Pb ages, and in situ zircon Hf isotope ratios for the Nyemo pluton, a representative example of such magmatism. The Nyemo pluton is composed of high Sr/Y host rocks and coeval shoshonitic mafic microgranular enclaves (MMEs). Whole-rock compositions of the host rocks and MMEs form linear trends in Harker diagrams, consistent with modification of both end-members by magma mixing. Although the main high Sr/Y phase of the pluton formed by partial melting of the lower crust of the thickened Lhasa terrane, the MMEs display abnormally enriched light rare earth elements, low whole-rock ε_(Nd)(t) and low zircon ε_(Hf)(t) that suggest derivation from low degree melting of hydrous and enriched mantle. Based on the occurrence of shoshonitic magma and high La/Yb and high Sr/Y with adakitic affinity host rocks around 30 Ma, the Nyemo pluton is best explained as a record of onset of extension that resulted from convective removal of the mantle lithosphere beneath Tibet in the Oligocene.

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