Abstract
The crust–mantle transition of the Khantaishir ophiolite in western Mongolia is well exposed. The mantle section shows an up to 4 km thick refractory harzburgitic mantle with local dunite channels and lenses. Towards its top, the mantle is increasingly replaced by discrete zones of pyroxenite, which form a kilometre-wide and hundreds of metres-thick horizon at the contact with the overlying crustal section. The plutonic crustal section is composed of gabbros, gabbronorites, tonalites and minor plagiogranites. The lower part of the crustal section is intercalated with pyroxenite lenses, forming a layered sequence, whereas the upper part is cut by volcanic dykes associated with the overlying basalt–andesitic volcanic section. Most of the ultramafic rocks and gabbronorites show a depletion in high field strength elements and positive anomalies for Sr and Pb, whereas gabbros, tonalites and plagiogranites are enriched in large ion lithophile elements and have slightly enriched rare earth element patterns. Non-modal fractional melting models indicate that the most depleted harzburgites of the ophiolite originated after 20–25% of melt extraction from the mantle. Leached minerals and whole-rocks from the crust–mantle transition of the Khantaishir ophiolite define a Sm–Nd isochron at 540 ± 12 Ma, which is interpreted as the formation age of the crust–mantle transition. Additionally, minerals and whole-rocks display a restricted εNd(t=540 Ma) composition (+3·5 to +7·0) and a large scatter in εSr(t=540 Ma) (–19·8 to +14·2). Clinopyroxenes in the crust–mantle transition rocks indicate that they were in equilibrium with a boninitic-like melt, consistent with the lavas observed in the volcanic section of the ophiolite. It is therefore inferred that the Khantaishir ophiolite represents a slice of an incipient oceanic island-arc formed in a suprasubduction environment.