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Inferring a deep-crustal source terrane from a high-level granitic pluton: the Strathbogie Batholith, Australia

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Abstract

The Strathbogie Igneous Complex is comprised of the ignimbritic rocks of the Violet Town Volcanics and the granitic rocks of the Strathbogie batholith. It is Late Devonian in age and postorogenic-extensional in tectonic setting. The batholith was constructed from peraluminous, metasediment-derived magmas emplaced as several internally heterogeneous plutons. Chemical variation in the magmas was largely inherited from the protolith rather than having been produced by differentiation (crystal–liquid separation) or magma mixing. The Strathbogie magmas formed during a granulite-facies metamorphic event that caused partial melting of the rocks of the Proterozoic Selwyn Block, which forms the basement in this region. The chemistry of the Strathbogie batholith, the Violet Town Volcanics and various other felsic complexes of similar age, implies that the Selwyn Block here originally consisted of andesite, dacite, greywacke and pelite, probably deposited in a back-arc extensional setting. The sedimentary components of this protolith may have been deposited in a basin that was extending and deepening with time, so that the sediments contained progressively higher ratios of clay to volcanic materials. Much later, in the Late Devonian, extensional tectonics allowed the emplacement of mantle magmas into the deep and middle crust, causing the low-pressure granulite-facies metamorphic event that was responsible for the production of the crustal components in the granitic magmas of Central Victoria.

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Acknowledgments

We acknowledge the late Bruce Chappell for providing unpublished whole-rock analyses, Jim O’Neil and Bill Compston for providing some O and Sr isotope data, respectively, in 1981. JC is grateful to the South African NRF for providing funding for travel and analytical costs through its incentive scheme for rated researchers. We also acknowledge logistical support from Warrambie and Gowanvale farms during field work. We thank Martin Hughes for assembling the various geophysical datasets across central Victoria. These were collected by the Victorian Government as part of the Victorian Initiative for Minerals and Petroleum and provide the basis for many regional geological studies such as this. We also thank Janet Hergt and various student projects shared with NP for contributing valuable data. In his review, Ron Vernon provided many constructive suggestions for improvement of the manuscript. Another anonymous reviewer also provided useful comments and suggestions that helped improve the manuscript.

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  1. Department of Earth Sciences, University of Stellenbosch, Private Bag X1, Matieland, 7602, South Africa

    J. D. Clemens & G. N. Phillips

  2. Phillipsgold Pty Ltd, University of Melbourne, Box 3, Central Park, VIC, 3145, Australia

    G. N. Phillips

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  1. J. D. Clemens
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Correspondence to J. D. Clemens.

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Communicated by T. L. Grove.

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Clemens, J.D., Phillips, G.N. Inferring a deep-crustal source terrane from a high-level granitic pluton: the Strathbogie Batholith, Australia. Contrib Mineral Petrol 168, 1070 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00410-014-1070-y

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