The discovery of Nb-rich volcanic rock of the Qushenla Formation in Yema area of the western segment of Bangong Co-Nujiang suture in Tibet and its implications

The volcanic rocks from Qushenla Formation in Yema area is located in the west segment of Bangong Co-Nujiang suture zone, in reverse fault contact with the diabase slice of Bangong Co-Nujiang opiolite melange belt in the north. In this paper, detailed LA-ICP-MS zircon U-Pb dating geochronological and element geochemical studies were carried out for the basalt and andesite in the Qushenla Formation. The U-Pb dating of zircon from andesite yielded a weighted average age of 108.5±1.5Ma, indicating that the andesites were formed at the middle-late stages of Early Cretaceous. Lithogeochemical characteristics show that the Nb-rich basalts in Yema area are characterized by obvious enrichment of Nb and Al₂O₃, with the values of Nb being 10.5×10^-6~11.1×10^-6 and Al₂O₃ being 17.63%~17.96%, averaging 17.74%, suggesting Nb-rich, high-alumina basalt of calc alkaline series. The andesites belong to high-K calc alkaline series. All the volcanic rocks in Yama area are characterized by enriched LREE and relatively depleted HREE. The total REE of basalts are 119.20×10^-6~120.49×10^-6, with (La/Yb)_N from 5.17 to 5.53, and the ∑REE of andesites are 179.97×10^-6~184.75×10^-6 and their (La/Yb)_N range from 13.83 to 15.12. On primitive mantle-normalized trace element diagrams, the basalts and andesite display different degrees of enrichment of LIFEs (e.g., Rb, U, K), relative depletion of HFSE (Nb, Ta, Ti) with high content of Sr, Nb, Zr but low content of Cr, Ni, similar to features of island arc rocks. The magma source region was mainly influenced by the subduction fluid and underwent different degrees of fractionation crystallization of femic minerals with uplifting. A comprehensive study shows that the basalt and andesite of Qushenla Formation in Yema area were probably formed in the backarc tectonic rocks, which might have been the direct magma response to slab break-off caused by asthenosphere upwelling back-arcextension during the southward subduction of Bangong Co-Nujiang Tethyan Ocean at the late stage of Early Cretaceous.