Petrology and geochemistry of alkaline Circular Complexes from Sal Island, Cape Verde archipelago.

Sal is the oldest island of the Cape Verde archipelago, with magmatic activity starting around 25 Ma (Torres et al., 2010). Located to the northeast of the archipelago, it forms part of a north-south islands alignment and features intrusive bodies potentially representing the subvolcanic roots of exposed volcanic rocks. These intrusions, dated from ≈ 14 to 17 Ma (Torres et al., 2010) are intrusive into the Old Eruptive Complex, located in the central-western part of the island and mostly comprised by gabbro bodies, dyke swarms and several circular gabbro to monzonite complexes.

There are no previous detailed studies concerning mineral chemistry and crystallization conditions of these intrusions, which are a first step, together with precise geochronology, to correlate them with any of the different volcanic series occurring in Sal. In this work we present preliminary mineral chemistry, whole-rock geochemistry and radiogenic (Sr, Nd, Pb) isotope data of the circular complexes aiming to characterize their main features, magmatic evolution and mantle source composition.

The studied rocks range from gabbros to monzonites, sometimes displaying cumulate textures. The main mafic minerals present variable compositions: olivine chemistry ranges from Fo_61-81 in gabbros to Fo_39-49 in monzogabbros; clinopyroxene is classified as augite-diopside in all samples; amphibole is mainly kaersutite-pargasite-Mg-hastingsite and biotite-phlogopite Mg# is in the range 0.4-0.7. Plagioclase is bytownite-andesine (An_30-86) in gabbros, whereas it is more sodic in monzogabbros and monzonites (An_16-66), while nepheline (Ne_70-86) turns more potassic from gabbros to monzonites. Alkali feldspar (Or_20-98) only appears in monzogabros and monzonites. The main accessory phases are ilmenite/Ti-magnetite, chromite, ulvospinel, titanite and apatite.

Major and trace element chemistry points to a progressive evolution from mafic to intermediate types characterized by a linear decrease of MgO, TiO₂, FeO_T, CaO, Ni and Cr, and a gradual increase of SiO₂, Al₂O₃, K₂O, Na₂O, Rb, Ba, Zr and Nb. These patterns suggest initial crystallization of mafic phases (olivine, clinopyroxene, ilmenite-magnetite) and calcic plagioclase. The intra-complexes positive correlation between strongly incompatible element pairs: U-Th, La-Ce and Nb-Ta, suggests the predominance of fractional crystallization within each circular complex.

The studied rocks display ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr and ¹⁴³Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd initial ratios typical of some OIB having more Sr-radiogenic and Nd-unradiogenic compositions than the N-MORB. These signatures and the Pb isotope ratios are close to the FOZO composition, in an intermediate position between the HIMU and N-MORB mantle components. Small εNd and ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁴Pb differences between the several circular complexes define two compositional groups, which implies slight heterogeneities in the mantle sources. These isotopic results support the association of Sal intrusive with the Cape Verde northern islands as no low Nd isotopic ratios have been found that could imply EM-1 enriched components, as those described by Torres et al. (2010) for some lavas.

Torres, P., Silva, L.C., Munhá, J., Caldeira, R., Mata, J., Tassinari, C. (2010): Petrology and geochemistry of lavas from Sal Island: Implications for the variability of the Cape Verde magmatism. Comunicaçoes Geológicas, 97: 35-62.