The Tethyan plume: geochemical diversity of Middle Permian basalts from the Oman rifted margin

According to palinspastic reconstructions, the Neo-Tethys opening took place during the Permian between the Cimmerian fragments in the north and the Indo-Arabian margin in the south. Igneous remnants of this opening are exposed in Oman within either the Hawasina nappes or the para-autochtonous Arabian platform exposed in the Saih Hatat tectonic window. They consist predominantly of pillowed basaltic flows among which three groups have been distinguished. Group 1 is tholeiitic and characterized by low TiO2 and incompatible trace element contents, and a large range of εNdi values. Group 1 basalts are associated with distal sediments and plot near the boundary of or within the MORB field in the Pb–Pb correlation diagrams and between the MORB and Bulk Silica Earth (BSE) fields in εNdi–(206Pb/204Pb)i diagram. Group 2 basalts are alkaline and differ from Group 1 ones by their higher TiO2, La and Nb contents, and lower and more homogeneous εNdi values (+3 to +5). Group 2 volcanics are similar to alkali basalts from oceanic islands and share with Group 1 similar initial Pb ratios. Group 3 consists of tholeiitic and alkali basalts which are interbedded either with carbonate-platform sediments from the Saih Hatat window or with distal sediments from the Hawasina Nappes. This group differs from Groups 1 and 2 by its low to negative εNdi (+1.6 to −2). Group 1 likely derived from the mixing of depleted and enriched sources while Group 2 derived exclusively from an enriched source. There is no indication that continental crust was involved in the genesis of both Groups 1 and 2. In contrast, the low to negative εNdi values of Group 3 suggest that the magmas of this group were contaminated by the Arabian continental crust during their ascent. The geochemical features of the Middle Permian plume-related basalts suggest thus that the basement of the Hawasina basin was not genuine oceanic crust but either the thinned Arabian rifted continental margin or the continent–ocean transition zone of the Neo-Tethys.