ORIGIN OF THE LATE DEVONIAN WEEKEND LAMPROPHYRE DYKES, MEGUMA ZONE, NOVA-SCOTIA

The Weekend dykes consist of 10 Late Devonian spessartite lamprophyres cropping out within the allochthonous Meguma lithotectonic terrane of the northern Appalachians. The dykes have characteristic panidiomorph ic textures, with seriate phenocrysts of amphibole, clinopyroxene, and rare biotite set in a groundmass of intergrown plagioclase, K-feldspa r, and quartz, with deuteric calcite and epidote. All dykes intruded d uring one magmatic episode (ca. 370 Ma) following terrane accretion of the Acadian Orogeny. The unaltered Weekend dykes show restricted majo r element variation (SiO2 54-58 wt.%, Al2O3 14 - 16 wt.%, MgO 7 - 11 w t.%, and total alkalies 2.4 - 5.5 wt.%) and have high Mg# (71-80) and moderate to high concentrations of Ni (69 - 278 ppm) and Cr (390 - 992 ppm). Large ion lithophile element (e.g., Sr, Ba 294 - 1194 ppm) and light rare earth element (13-67CN) abundances are high relative to hig h field strength element (e.g., Nb, Ta, Y 0.45 - 26 ppm) and heavy rar e earth element (6-30CN) abundances. Geochemical variation largely cor responds to minor phenocryst fractionation, but high Mg# indicate the primitive nature of most dykes and preclude significant evolution of l amprophyric magmas in the crust. Incompatible element enrichments coup led with depleted mantle high field strength element abundances probab ly require a melt derived from reenriched lithospheric mantle sources, whereas Nb depletion and the volatile-rich mineralogy suggest metasto matic contributions from subducted ocean lithosphere. Geochemical comp arisons with continental margin arc basalts and immobile element tecto no-magmatic discrimination reinforce a subduction model for the Weeken d dykes and strongly suggest active subduction prior to the emplacemen t of the Meguma terrane.