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Most of Earth’s volcanism occurs at tectonic plate boundaries associated with subduction or rifting processes. The mantle plume hypothesis is an important supplement to plate tectonics for explaining some high-volume intraplate volcanic fields. However, many intraplate magmatic provinces occur as low-volume, monogenetic basaltic-suite fields that are neither associated with plate-boundary processes nor attributable to mantle plumes, and the origin of such magmatism has long been debated. Identification of their source characteristics and possible mechanisms that trigger mantle melting will provide essential insights into Earth’s mantle heterogeneity and also develop our knowledge of tectonic plate movement through time. Here, we report new geochronology, mineral chemistry (especially olivine), and whole-rock chemical and Sr-Nd-Pb-Hf isotopic compositions on Cenozoic intracontinental alkaline basalts from the northwestern Tarim craton (central Asia), aiming to better assess the origin of Earth’s low-volume effusive intraplate volcanic fields. The basalts (ca. 42 Ma) have olivine (e.g., mean Ni abundances of ∼2250 ppm, mean Mn/Zn ratios of 13.7) and whole-rock chemistry consistent with their derivation from a mixed peridotite-pyroxenite source. Moderately depleted Sr-Nd-Pb-Hf isotopes (87Sr/86Sr = 0.7039−0.7053; εNd = +4.0 to +5.5; 206Pb/204Pb = 18.247−18.535; εHf = +8.1 to +8.7) require a young (ca. 500 Ma) oceanic crust recycled into the source, possibly related to subduction events during the assembly of Pangea. Estimated thermal-chemical conditions indicate that the original melting occurred in a relatively dry (H2O = 1.4 ± 0.9 wt%) and reduced (logfO2 ΔFMQ = −0.97 ± 0.21, where FMQ is fayalite-magnetite-quartz) asthenosphere under a mantle potential temperature of ∼1420 °C and a pressure of ∼3.7 GPa (corresponding to a depth of ∼120 km). Combining these data with regional tectonic history and geophysical data (high-resolution P-wave tomography), we propose that the long-lasting India-Eurasia collision triggered asthenospheric upwelling, focusing melts along translithospheric zones of weakness; this model provides a robust explanation for the observed Cenozoic intracontinental volcanism in central Asia. The integrated geochemical and geophysical evidence reveals that plate subduction−induced mantle upwelling represents a likely mechanism for the generation of many regions of plume-absent intraplate magmatism within continents.

Knowledge of the subduction to postcollision tectonic transition in response to oceanic closure is crucial for tracking the final stage of orogenic evolution. Here, we report new geochronology, geochemistry, and isotopic data for Carboniferous magmatism in East Junggar (NW China), southwestern Central Asian orogenic belt, which may record such processes following the closure of the Kalamaili Ocean (a branch of the Paleo-Asian Ocean). The early Carboniferous calc-alkaline volcanic rocks (dominated by basalt and basaltic andesite) yielded zircon U-Pb ages of ca. 340–330 Ma and are characterized by arc-like trace-element patterns showing enrichment of light rare earth elements (LREEs) and large ion lithophile elements (LILEs; e.g., Pb) but depletion of high field strength elements (HFSEs; e.g., Nb, Ta, and Ti). Combined with their variable Ba/Nb (9.80–454) and low Nb/La (0.21–0.54) and Sm/Yb (1.77–3.08) ratios as well as depleted mantle–like Sr-Nd-Pb-Hf (whole-rock 87Sr/86Sri = 0.7037–0.7040; εNd[t] = +3.5 to +5.9; 206Pb/204Pbi = 17.728–17.996; zircon εHf[t] = +11.8 to +18.8) isotopic values, we suggest that they were produced by melting of a lithospheric mantle wedge fluxed by slab-derived fluids under spinel-facies conditions. With whole-rock 40Ar/39Ar dating of ca. 320 Ma, the late Carboniferous mafic dikes have geochemical features and Sr-Nd-Pb (87Sr/86Sri = 0.7039–0.7041; εNd[t] = +6.6 to +6.8; 206Pb/204Pbi = 17.905–17.933) isotopic compositions similar to those of the early Carboniferous volcanics, but they show less pronounced Pb anomalies and negative Nb and Ta anomalies. They are interpreted to have formed by partial melting of a spinel-bearing lithospheric mantle metasomatized by limited influx of subduction-related fluids. The late Carboniferous felsic volcanic rocks (dacite and rhyolite) yielded zircon U-Pb ages of ca. 305 Ma and are geochemically equivalent to those of A2-type granites in East Junggar. They have juvenile isotopic compositions (εNd[t] = +4.5 to +6.8; εHf[t] = +13.3 to +18.7) and relatively young Nd and Hf model ages that roughly coincide with the ages of the ophiolites in the area, suggesting that they could have originated from melting of a juvenile basaltic lower crust. Whole-rock geochemistry, assimilation–fractional crystallization (AFC), and isotopic mixing modeling argue for insignificant crustal contamination for the Carboniferous magmatism. We suggest that the early Carboniferous lavas erupted in an island-arc setting related to the northward subduction of the Kalamaili oceanic crust, whereas the late Carboniferous magmatism formed in a postcollisional extensional regime in response to slab breakoff or lithospheric delamination. Combined with regional geological information, we propose that a rapid tectonic transition from oceanic subduction to postcollisional extension may have occurred in East Junggar during the Carboniferous, marking the final closure of the Kalamaili Ocean, which most likely took place ca. 330–320 Ma. This study provides overall geochronological and petrogeochemical evidence to better constrain the amalgamation of the southwestern Central Asian orogenic belt and may be of great importance for understanding the final stage of orogenic evolution elsewhere.