Heterogeneous mantle sources for basaltic rocks of the Nagaland–Manipur Hill Ophiolite (NMHO) complex of North-Eastern India: inferences from source melting models

The Nagaland–Manipur Hill Ophiolite (NMHO) is an NNE-SSW trending linear ophiolite zone exposed in the northeastern states of Nagaland and Manipur in India. Basaltic rocks of NMHO are geochemically divisible into two broad groups in the Zr/Ti versus Nb/Y classification diagram. Samples with TiO₂ < 2 wt% and Zr = 38–118 ppm plot within the basalt field, whereas samples with TiO₂ > 2 wt% plot within the alkali basalt field. The latter can be subdivided into the alkali basalt group-1 (AB-1) with Zr = ~ 200 ppm and the alkali basalt group-2 (AB-2) with Zr = ~ 400 ppm. In a normal mid-ocean ridge basalt (N-MORB) normalized trace element pattern, basalt displays a near-horizontal trend from Lu to Pr at rock/N-MORB = ~ 1 and then increases slightly from Pr to Rb, whereas alkali basalt is relatively more enriched than basalt. In the chondrite-normalized rare earth element (REE) pattern, basalt displays near-horizontal trends with (La/Yb)_CN ranging between 0.78 and 1.89. On the other hand, alkali basalt displays parallel and steadily increasing enrichment trends from Lu to La [(La/Yb)_CN = 11.07–17.61], with a slight drop at Eu and Sm. Mantle melting models suggest: (1) partial melting of N-MORB-like sources at degrees of melting (F) = 4–8% for basalts; and (2) partial melting of ocean island basalt (OIB)-like sources at F = 7.5–17.8% for alkali basalt. Occurrences of basalts with N-MORB-like and and alkali basalt with OIB-like signatures within the NMHO complex suggest their origin from distinct magma batches with direct or indirect involvement of the Kerguelen plume.

Graphical abstract

Chondrite normalised pattern for elements Nb, Zr and REE showing estimated compositions of source S1 and residue R1 for alkali basalt (estimated using DMI modeling) and source S2 for basalt (estimated using NBM modeling) in this study. DMM and OIB (Workman and Hart 2005) values are also shown for comparison. Average abyssal peridotite value is from Niu (2004) database.