Isotope–Geochemical Evidence for the Nature of Protolite Eclogite of the Kokchetav Massif (Kazakhstan)

Abstract

In the present paper, the results of our isotope–geochemical studies on eclogites of the ultrahighpressure metamorphic complex of the Kokchetav massif are reported. The fact that the distribution of nonmobile elements in most of the samples was close to that of E-type MORB basalts is shown by using geochemical multielement diagrams normalized to N-MORB. Six samples were found to have a negative anomaly over niobium that may have resulted from contamination with crustal material. For eclogites of the Kokchetav massif, the ¹⁴⁷Sm/¹⁴⁴Nd ratio was found to range widely from 0.143 to 0.367. The ε_Nd-values calculated for the age of the highly barometric stage of metamorphism (530 million years) varied from–10.3 to +8.1. Eclogites show a dispersion of model ages from 1.95 billion years to 670 million years. On the graphs in the ε_Nd(T)–⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr and ε_Nd(T)–T coordinates, eclogites were shown to form trends that can be interpreted as a result of contamination of the eclogite protolith by the host rocks. Based on the data obtained, it is proposed that the basalts of rift zones that may have geochemical characteristics of N-MORB basalts and at the same time may be contaminated by the continental crust may have served as proxies for eclogite protoliths of the Kokchetav massif.