In the Late Neoarchaean, the lithosphere of the North China Craton (NCC) experienced a strong extensional event, which is of great significance for understanding the evolution of the continental crust in the Precambrian. In this study, a suite of mafic dykes from Shandong province in the northeastern NCC were investigated to determine the nature, timing and source of rift-related magma activities using zircon U–Pb data, whole-rock geochemistry and Nd–Hf isotopes. Zircon U–Pb dating of four dolerites by laser ablation – inductively coupled plasma – mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) yielded weighted mean 207Pb/206Pb ages in the range 2509 ± 6.1 to 2537 ± 6.2 Ma (2σ, 95 % confidence interval). The mafic dykes are classified as alkaline rocks based on their K2O + Na2O contents (6.78–7.21 wt %) and belong to the shoshonitic series according to their K2O contents (3.23–3.36 wt %). The dolerites show low concentrations of light rare earth elements ((La/Yb)N between 7.17 and 8.55), positive Eu anomalies (Eu/Eu* between 1.12 and 1.27), positive Ba, K, Pb, Sr, Eu, Dy and Lu anomalies, and depleted U, Nb, Pr, Ta, P, Nd and Ti anomalies. The dykes are characterized by low initial (87Sr/86Sr)i (∼0.6969), positive εNd(t) values (0.2–0.8) and εHf(t) values (0.5–8.6) and relatively old mean Nd and Hf model age (2.73 Ga). Collectively, the data suggest that the mafic dykes were derived from the partial melting (10–20 %) of an isotope-depleted garnet–lherzolite mantle source that was hybridized through interaction with subducted lower crustal material. The parental magmas of these dykes underwent a certain number of crustal contaminations during magma ascent. The mafic magmatism represented in the form of the dyke swarms is considered to be a response to widespread lithospheric extension which affected the NCC at c. 2.5 Ga during the Neoarchaean.

Detailed centimetre-scale sampling across two small dolerite dykes (7 and 21 cm wide) of Kestiö Island, SW Finland, has revealed a well-developed internal zonation, with surprisingly systematic compositional variations. From the margins inwards, the dykes exhibit a steady decrease in whole-rock MgO, Mg number (100Mg/(Mg+Fetotal)) and normative Opx (indicating a normal fractionation trend) with simultaneous increase in normative An (100An/(An+Ab)) and decrease in incompatible Zr, Y, TiO2 and P2O5 (indicating a reverse fractionation trend). In addition, marginal rocks of dykes contain normative corundum that is apparently associated with their significant depletion in whole-rock CaO. The extent of margin-to-centre differentiation of dykes in terms of most components is slight to modest, although in some petrochemical parameters it is quite high (e.g. 15 mol. % of normative An). The dykes are almost glassy and uncontaminated by host rocks, suggesting that their compositional profiles are primary and most likely reflect temporal changes in composition of magma filling the dykes. A mechanism responsible for the systematic changes in composition of inflowing magma remains elusive, however, since no known processes are able to force magma to evolve simultaneously along both normal and reverse fractionation trends. The study thus appears to indicate some not yet specified process of magma differentiation.

After the formation of the ~ 260 Ma Emeishan large igneous province, there were two volumetrically minor magmatic pulses at ~ 252 Ma and ~ 242 Ma, respectively. Alkaline mafic dykes intruding both 260 Ma and 252 Ma felsic plutons in the Panxi region, southwestern China, have compositions similar to the Emeishan flood basalts. One dyke is dated using the SHRIMP zircon U–Pb technique at 242 ± 2 Ma, ~ 18 Ma younger than the start of Emeishan magmatism. The dykes have enriched light rare earth element patterns (La/YbN = 4.4–18.8) and trace element patterns similar to the Emeishan flood basalts and average ocean-island basalts. Some trace element ratios of the dykes (Zr/Nb = 3.8–8.2, La/Nb = 0.4–1.7, Ba/La = 7.5–25.6) are somewhat similar to EM1 source material, however, there are differences. Their εNd values (εNd = +2.6 and +2.7) and ISr (ISr = 0.704542 and 0.704554) ratios are indicative of a mantle source. Thus Emeishan magmatism may have lasted for almost 20 Ma after the initial eruption. However, geological evidence precludes the possibility that the post-260 Ma magmatic events were directly related to Emeishan magmatism, which began at and ended shortly after 260 Ma. The 252 Ma plutons and 242 Ma dykes represent volumetrically minor melting of the fossil Emeishan plume-head beneath the Yangtze crust. The 252 Ma magmatic event was likely caused by post-flood basalt extension of the Yangtze crust, whereas the 242 Ma event was caused by decompressional melting associated with the collision between the South China and North China blocks during the Middle Triassic.

Cretaceous mafic dykes in Fujian province, SE China provide an opportunity to examine the nature of their mantle source and the secular evolution of the Mesozoic lithospheric mantle beneath SE China. The mafic rocks have SiO2 ranging from 47.42 to 55.40 wt %, Al2O3 from 14.0 wt % to 20.4 wt %, CaO from 4.09 to 11.7 wt % and total alkaline (K2O+Na2O) from 2.15 wt % to 6.59 wt %. Two types are recognized based on their REE and primitive mantle-normalized trace element patterns. Type-A is the dominant Mesozoic mafic rock type in SE China and is characterized by enrichment of light rare earth elements (LREE) ((La/Yb)n = 2.85–19.0) and arc-like trace element geochemistry. Type-P has relatively flat REE patterns ((La/Yb)n = 1.68–3.43) and primitive mantle-like trace element patterns except for enrichment of Rb, Ba and Pb. Type-A samples show EMII signatures on the Sr-Nd isotopic diagram, whereas type-P rocks have high initial 143Nd/144Nd ratios (0.5126–0.5128) relative to the type-A rocks (143Nd/144Nd = 0.5124–0.5127). The type-A rocks have 207Pb/204Pb ranging from 15.47 to 15.67 and 206Pb/204Pb from 18.26 to 18.52. All the type-A rocks show a negative correlation between 143Nd/144Nd and 206Pb/204Pb ratios and a positive relationship between 87Sr/86Sr and 206Pb/204Pb ratios, indicating mixing of a depleted mantle source and an EMII component. Geochemical modelling shows that the parental magmas were formed by 5–15 % partial melting of a spinel lherzolite, and contaminated by less than 1 % melt derived from subducted sediment. The type-P magmas were derived from a mantle source unmodified by subduction components. The wide distribution of type-A dykes in SE China suggests that subduction-modified lithospheric mantle was extensive beneath the Cathaysia Block. Geochemical differences between Mesozoic and Cenozoic mafic rocks indicate that lithospheric thinning beneath SE China occurred in two episodes: firstly by heterogeneous modification by subducted components in early Mesozoic times, and later by chemical–mechanical erosion related to convective upwelling of the asthenosphere during Cenozoic times.

A late Mesozoic belt of volcanic-intrusive complexes occurs in Southeast China. The Qianlishan granites are distributed in the northwest of the belt. The pluton is composed of porphyritic biotite granite (153 Ma) and equigranular biotite granite (151 Ma) and was intruded by granite-porphyry dykes (144 Ma) and mafic dykes such as lamprophyre and diabase (142 Ma). The granitic rocks, consisting mainly of K-feldspar, plagioclase, quartz and Fe-rich biotite, have SiO2 contents of 72.9–76.9%, and are enriched in alkalis, rare earth elements (REE), high field strength elements (HFSE) and Ga with high Ga/Al ratios, but depleted in Ba, Sr and transition metals. Trace-element geochemistry and Sr–Nd isotope systematics further imply that the Qianlishan granitic magmas were most probably derived by partial melting of Palaeo- to Mesoproterozoic metamorphic lower-crustal rocks that had been granulitized during an earlier thermal event. These features suggest an A-type affinity. The Qianlishan lamprophyre and neighbouring coeval mafic dykes (SiO2 = 47.9–53.8 wt%) have high MgO and compatible element contents. These rocks also have high K2O contents and are enriched in alkalis, light REE, large ion lithophile elements, and depleted in HFSE. They have low initial εNd values and relatively high initial 87Sr/86Sr ratios. We suggest a subduction-modified refractory lithospheric mantle (phlogopite-bearing harzburgite or lherzolite) for these high-Mg potassic magmas. The Qianlishan diabases (SiO2 = 48.4–48.7 wt%) are alkaline and have high TiO2 and total Fe2O3 contents, together with the positive initial εNd value, suggesting derivation from fertile asthenopheric mantle (phlogopite-bearing lherzolite). A back-arc extensional setting, related to subduction of the Palaeo-Pacific plate, is favoured to explain the petrogenesis of the Qianlishan granites and associated mafic dykes. Between 180 and 160 Ma, Southeast China was a continental arc, forming the 180–160 Ma plutons of the late Mesozoic volcanic-intrusive complex belt, and the lower-crust was granulitized. Since 160 Ma the northwestern belt has been in a back-arc extensional setting as a consequence of slab roll-back, resulting in the lithosphere thinning and an influx of asthenophere. The upwelling asthenosphere, on the one hand, induced the local lithospheric mantle to melt partially, forming high-Mg potassic magmas, and on the other hand it underwent decompression melting itself to form alkaline diabase magma. Pulsatory injection of such high-temperature magmas into the granulitized crustal source region induced them to partially melt and generate the A-type magmas of the Qianlishan granitic rocks.

A compositionally varied swarm of mafic dykes in the Jetty Peninsula area was emplaced about 320 Ma ago (K-Ar age). There are three major groups: Group 1 dykes range from transitional-alkaline dolerites to camptonites, Group 2 are trachydolerites, and Group 3 are diorite to quartz diorite porphyries. Group 1 dykes have very similar ratios of most incompatible elements and were derived from the same (or a very similar) enriched lithospheric mantle source region (∈Nd −0.18 to −3.05) with high Nb and Ta (i.e., OIB, ocean island basalt, characteristics). However, the presence of several distinct subgroups with different incompatible element abundances implies significantly different degrees of melting. Group 2 trachy dolerites are much more fractionated (mg 22–36), but were apparently derived from a similar, although somewhat more enriched (∈Nd −2.26 to −4.63) source. Group 3 diorites are compositionally quite distinct and may have been derived by intracrustal melting. Enrichment of the mantle source(s) of Groups 1 and 2 dykes apparently occurred about the same time as high-grade metamorphism in the area, and may have been coeval with crust formation in nearby parts of Gondwana.

The Bunger Hills area of the East Antarctic Shield consists of granulite-facies felsic orthogneiss, with subordinate paragneiss and mafic granulite. The igneous precursors of granodioritic orthogneiss were emplaced 1500-1700 Ma ago, and late Archaean (2640 Ma) tonalitic orthogneiss occurs in the nearby Obruchev Hills. Peak metamorphism (M1) (at about 750-800°C and 5-6kb) occurred 1190 ±15 Ma ago (U-Pb zircon age), and was accompanied by the first of three ductile deformations (D1). Emplacement of voluminous, mainly mantle-derived plutonic rocks, ranging from gabbro, through quartz monzogabbro and quartz monzodiorite, to granite, followed between 1170 (during D3) and 1150 Ma. Intrusion of abundant dolerite dykes of four chemically distinct suites at about 1140 Ma was associated with shear zone formation, indicating at least limited uplift; all subsequent deformation was of brittle-ductile type. Alkaline mafic dykes were emplaced 500 Ma ago. Marked geochronological similarities with the Albany Mobile Belt of Western Australia suggest that high-grade metamorphism occurred during collision between the Archaean Yilgarn Craton of Australia and the East Antarctic Shield about 1200 Ma ago.

Archaean gneisses in the Rauer Group of islands, East Antarctica, record a prolonged history of high-grade deformational episodes, many of which predate that identified in mid-Proterozoic gneisses. Eleven generations of mafic dykes, belonging to discrete chemical suites, have been used as relative time markers to constrain this deformational history. Based on the timing of intrusion with respect to structures, dykes in the Rauer Group have been correlated with largely undeformed and dated dyke suites in the adjacent Vestfold Hills. This has allowed absolute ages to be inferred for the early- to mid-Proterozoic mafic dyke suites in the Rauer Group, and a correlation of the interspersed structural events. Most structures in the Rauer Group, however, developed in response to high-grade progressive deformation at approximately 1000 Ma. During this deformational episode, strains were repeatedly partitioned into sub-vertical, noncoaxial, high-strain zones recording NW-directed sinistral transpression, that separated zones of lower strain dominated by coaxial folding with axes parallel to the shear direction. Three additional mafic dyke suites intruded during this deformation which was followed by three stages of brittle-ductile deformation and a final suite of lamprophyre dykes. Due to the numerous intrusive time markers, the Rauer Group serves as an excellent illustration of how complicated gneiss terrains may be.

The Late Yanshanian Orogeny (130-90 Ma) encompasses an important Mesozoic magmatic event in the crustal evolution of SE China. Products of post-orogenic magmatism, widely distributed in the eastern part of Zhejiang and Fujian provinces known as the Southeast Coast Magmatic Belt (SCMB), are dominated by large amounts of slightly Nb and Ta depleted, high-K calc-alkaline granites (I-type) and small amounts of strongly Ba, Sr, Eu, Ti and P depleted, metaluminous granites (A-type). 40Ar/39Ar dating from amphiboles suggests that emplacement of A-type granites mostly postdates (94-90 Ma) the intrusion of voluminous I-type granitoids (110-99 Ma). Using the Al-in-amphibole geobarometer, I-type suites were estimated to have been emplaced at shallow depths (5-7 km). Along with the fact that A-type granites are phyric or miarolitic in texture, it can be concluded that all these post-orogenic suites in the SCMB belong to shallow intrusives. They have also undergone a rapid cooling (higher than 100°C/Ma at T > 300 °C) as indicated by the thermochronology of hornblende, biotite and K-feldspar; therefore, generation of A-type granites from I-type magmas through fractional crystallisation would be a difficult process. Alternatively, their geochemical characteristics are attributed to partial melting in the residual lower crust under an elevated geothermal environment. On the other hand, I-type magmas are considered to be middle-crust-derived melts largely modified with mantle-derived melts that had been depleted with Nb and Ta by earlier tectonic processes. Such a tectonic environment is explained by the underplating of basaltic magmas, most probably due to lithospheric delamination taking place at c. 110 Ma, which marks the beginning of the postorogenic episode in this area. Numerical modelling for a heat source provided by the underplating of basaltic magma supports such a proposition.