Geochemistry, geochronology and petrogenesis of Maya Block granitoids and dykes from the Chicxulub Impact Crater, Gulf of Mexico: Implications for the assembly of Pangea

The Late Paleozoic tectono-magmatic history and basement of the Maya block are poorly understood due to the lack of exposures of coeval magmatic rocks in the region. Recently. IODP-ICDP Expedition 364 recovered drill core samples at borehole M0077A from the peak ring of the Chicxulub impact crater, offshore of the Yucatan peninsula in the Gulf of Mexico, have been studied comprehensively. In the lowermost similar to 600 m of the drill core, impact-deformed granitoids, and minor felsite and dolerite dykes are intercalated with impact melts and breccias. Zircon U-Pb dating of granitoids yielded ages of around 326 +/- 5 Ma, representing the first recovery of Late Paleozoic magmatic rocks from the Maya block, which could be genetically related to the convergence of Laurentia and Gondwana. The granitoids show the features of high K2O/Na2O, La-N/Yb-N and Sr/Y ratios, but very low Yb and Y contents, indicating an adakitic affinity. They are also characterized by slightly positive epsilon Nd-(326Ma) of 0.17-0.68, intermediate initial Sr-87/Sr-86((326Ma)) of 0.7036-0.7047 and two-stage Nd model age (T-DM2) of 1027-1069 Ma, which may indicate a less evolved crustal source. Thus, the adakitic granitoids were probably generated by partial melting of thickened crust, with source components similar to Neoproterozoic metagabbro in the Carolina block (Pan-African Orogeny materials) along Peri-Gondwana. Felsite dykes are shoshonitic with typical continental arc features that are sourced from a metasomatic mantle wedge by slab-fluids. Dolerite dykes display OIB-type features such as positive Nb and Ta anomalies and low Th-Npm/Nb-Npm. In our interpretation, the Chicxulub adakitic granitoids of this study are formed by crustal anatexis due to asthenospheric upwelbng resulting from slab breakoff. Through comparing sources and processes of Late Paleozoic magmatism along the Peri-Gondwanan realm, a tearing slab breakoff model may explain the discontinuous magmatism that appears to have occurred during the convergence of Laurentia and Gondwana. (C) 2020 International Association for Gondwana Research. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.