Yaoling Niu

Laoshan Laboratory · Marine Geology

The iron isotope contrast between mid-ocean ridge basalts and abyssal peridotites is far greater than can be explained by mantle melting alone. Here we investigate a suite of mid-ocean ridge magma chamber rocks sampled by the Ocean Drilling Project Hole 735B in the Atlantis Bank of the Indian Ocean. We report major and trace element geochemistry fr...

Basalts and basaltic rocks are the most abundant igneous rocks on the earth and their petrologic and geochemical studies have formed our knowledge base on the thermal structure and composition of the mantle with which we have developed workable models on the chemical differentiation of the earth. All this would not have been possible without innova...

The geology and magmatism of the northern Mariana Trough (NMT) represent a type example for the development of a back-arc basin (BAB). It is a mature spreading center in the south and propagating northward via rifting of arc and rear arc lithosphere in response to trench retreat and overriding plate extension in space and time. It is thus essential...

I recently published "Lithosphere thickness controls the extent of mantle melting, depth of melt extraction and basalt compositions in all tectonic settings on Earth - A review and new perspectives" in this journal to demonstratively summarize a major component of my 30-year dedicated research on the basalt problem with the emphasis that the paradi...

It is accepted that if there were no seismic low velocity zone (LVZ) beneath ocean basins, there would be no seafloor spreading and plate tectonics, but the origin of the LVZ has been under debate for over 50 years as if it is forever unsolvable with certainty. In this condensed paper, I briefly discuss the debate and conclude with elaborations tha...

Studies of mid-ocean ridge basalts (MORB) show a variable Fe isotope composition of the oceanic upper mantle. To test a recent hypothesis that heavy Fe isotope enrichment in the MORB mantle results from the same process of incompatible element enrichment, we conduct an Fe isotope study of well-characterized MORB samples from a magmatically robust s...

World Scientist and University Rankings 2023 (AD Scientific Index)

Plate subduction links the Earth’s surface and interior and reshapes the redox state of the Earth’s mantle. Mantle wedges above subduction zones have high oxygen fugacity compared with other mantle reservoirs, but the cause is debated. Here we analyse high-pressure metamorphic rocks derived from ferromanganese pelagic sediments in the Qilian subduc...

Several studies have suggested that the Earth's upper mantle is slightly enriched in light molybdenum isotopes relative to bulk Earth, defined by chondrites, but there is no consensus on the presence of this subtle but potentially notable signature. To establish better whether or not the ⁹⁸Mo/⁹⁵Mo of Earth's upper mantle is indeed sub-chondritic, w...

Chinese Loess Plateau (CLP) is the largest loess deposit on the Earth with expansive surface-exposed source rocks of varying origin, age, and history. We present elemental abundances on representative loess and paleosol samples from seven classic sections of the CLP. Most elements, including soluble elements (e.g., Rb and Cs), show significant corr...

In recent years, considerable progress has been made on the study of Mo isotopes in high-temperature geological processes. However, it is still controversial whether Mo isotope fractionation occurs during magmatic differentiation. Here we reassess the effect of magma differentiation on Mo isotope fractionation using published data in conjunction wi...

Calculating the temperatures of magmas from which granitoid rocks cumulate is a key task of studying their petrogenesis, but few geothermometers are satisfactory. Zircon saturation thermometry has been the most widely used because it is conceptually simple and practically convenient, and because it is based on experimental calibrations with signifi...

A paradigm change: Lithospheric lid thickness, not mantle potential temperature, controls the extent of mantle melting, depth of melt extraction & basalt compositions in all tectonic settings on Earth http://www.mantleplumes.org/LithosphericLid.html

This study explores the effects of high-pressure crystallization and immiscible sulphide melt segregation under mantle conditions on the compositional variation of basaltic magmas, using clinopyroxene megacrysts in the Cenozoic basalts of eastern China. These clinopyroxene megacrysts are large (up to > 10 cm in size) and homogeneous at the grain sc...

Granitoids are the main constituents of the continental crust, and an understanding of their petrogenesis is key to the origin and evolution of continents. Whether crystal fractionation is the dominant way to generate evolved magmas has long been debated, mostly because such processes would produce large volumes of complementary cumulates, which re...

Mid-ocean-ridge basalts (MORB) reveal large mantle compositional heterogeneity, whose origin remains debated. Here we present a systematic study of molybdenum isotopes on well-characterized MORB glass samples from the East Pacific Rise (EPR) and near-EPR seamounts. Our analyses show significant Mo isotope variations with δ98/95Mo (relative to NIST...

Mesozoic magmatic rocks are widespread in the Lhasa terrane, but most of them are of cretaceous age. Because Jurassic rocks are relatively rare and our knowledge on such earlier magmatism in the context of the tectonic setting and evolution is limited. In this study, we focus on the mid-late Jurassic granitoids that occur in the west central Lhasa...

The high-pressure (HP) eclogites in the central Himalaya provide insights into the metamorphism and exhumation history of crustal material beneath the Tibetan plateau. Due to the paucity of exposure, the nature and timing of the protolith and metamorphism of the eclogites remain poorly known. Here we report zircon and titanite U–Pb ages, bulk-rock...

Basalts are the most abundant igneous rocks on Earth and their petrology and geochemistry have been used to infer the thermal structure and composition of the mantle and to research chemical differentiation in Earth. However, it was unclear until the 1960s that the mantle consists of peridotites whose partial melting produces basaltic magmas. This...

The diorite and hornblendite associated with TTG gneisses constitute the important components of Precambrian metamorphic terranes in the Taishan area and their petrogenesis can provide significant insights into understanding the crustal growth and reworking events involving in the evolution of the North China Craton. The lithological, geochronologi...

Potassic alkaline rocks are instrumental in unveiling the composition and geodynamic evolution of mantle lithosphere. The Zhuopan alkaline complex, located in the western Simao block, SW China, exhibits features of high potassium, enrichment in LILEs, and depletion in HFSEs. These same elemental features and Sr-Nd isotopic compositions are also evi...

Cenozoic mantle-derived magmas are widespread on the Tibetan Plateau, and provide evidence for the evolution of deep mantle and its influence on the Plateau development. Miocene basalts in the Maguan area on the southeastern Plateau have high MgO (9.13–13.10 wt%) and Mg# (0.60–0.70) with high Ce/Pb (10.6–32.5) and Nb/U (43.7–52.9) ratios, similar t...

We present new Sr-Nd-Hf isotopic data on mid-ocean ridge basalts from two ridge segments (OH-1, OH-3) between the Oceanographer and Hayes fracture zones at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge 33-35°N to constrain the nature and origin of upper mantle heterogeneity beneath the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Together with the major and trace element data (Niu et al., 2001),...

Understanding the processes that lead to the lithosphere thinning is a key aspect of continental geology research. In this paper, we present essential observations and summarize our understandings on the lithosphere thinning and accompanying magmatism in eastern continental China since the Mesozoic as a straightforward consequence of plate tectonic...

The East Kunlun Orogenic Belt (EKOB), which is in the northern part of the Greater Tibetan Plateau, contains voluminous Late Triassic intermediate-felsic volcanic rocks. In the east end of the EKOB, we identified highly differentiated peralkaline-like Xiangride rhyolites (∼209 Ma) that differ from the widespread andesitic-rhyolitic Elashan volcanic...

Many studies have shown that the average iron (Fe) isotope compositions of mantle-derived rocks, mantle peridotite and model mantle are close to those of chondrites. Therefore, it is considered that chondrite values represent the bulk Earth Fe isotope composition. However, this is a brave assumption because nearly 90% Fe of the earth is in the core...

Fe isotopes have been applied to the petrogenesis of ore deposits. However, the behavior of iron isotopes in the mineralization of porphyry-skarn deposits is still poorly understood. In this study, we report the Fe isotopes of ore mineral separations (magnetite, pyrite, chalcopyrite and pyr-rhotite) from two different skarn deposits, i.e., the Tong...

板内洋岛-海山残片是造山带“洋壳残片”的重要组成部分，对恢复造山带所代表的古洋盆的构造演化具有重要意义。然而，如何在造山带中识别并通过板内洋岛-海山残片的研究恢复古洋盆的构造演化等地质问题并不清楚。本文在综述现今板内洋岛-海山的岩石层序、岩浆岩类型、地球化学和同位素特征等的基础上，结合我们对青藏高原班公湖-怒江缝合带数个板内洋岛-海山残片研究的成果，初步总结了造山带板内洋岛-海山残片的识别标志、时代确定方法和地质意义等基础地质问题。板内洋岛-海山记录了丰富的洋盆演化信息，且是大洋俯冲消亡时最易保存的地质体。因此，在古洋盆构造演化的恢复中，对造山带板内洋岛-海山残片的研究至关重要。

Timing of the opening of the Meso-Tethys Ocean, represented by the Bangong–Nujiang Suture Zone on the Tibetan Plateau, remains controversial. Further research is required to understand the breakup of the northern Gondwana margin and the tectonic evolution of the Tethyan realm. In this study, we present petrography, U–Pb dating and Hf isotopic data...

Knowledge of the timing of the closure of the Meso-Tethys Ocean as represented by the Bangong−Nujiang Suture Zone, i.e., the timing of the Lhasa-Qiangtang collision, is critical for understanding the Mesozoic tectonics of the Tibetan Plateau. But this timing is hotly debated; existing suggestions vary from the Middle Jurassic (ca. 166 Ma) to Late C...

Knowledge of the timing of the closure of the Meso-Tethys Ocean as represented by the Bangong–Nujiang Suture Zone, i.e., the timing of the Lhasa-Qiangtang collision, is critical for understanding the Mesozoic tectonics of the Tibetan Plateau. But this timing is hotly debated; existing suggestions vary from the Middle Jurassic (ca. 166 Ma) to Late C...

We present new bulk-rock 40 Ar/ 39 Ar age, major and trace elements and Sr-Nd-Hf isotopic data on the early Cretaceous intra-plate alkali basalts from the Western North China Craton (WNCC) to study the origin of the metasomatized cratonic lithosphere mantle. The age of these basalts is ~116 Ma. These basalts have elevated incompatible element abund...

Olivine (Ol) and orthopyroxene (Opx) are the primary liquidus phases of boninite in modern subduction settings and in many ophiolite complexes. It is thus straightforward to expect the formation of harzburgite cumulate resulting from boninite magma evolution. However, such magmatic harzburgite has been rarely studied. Here, we report the results of...

Studies of mid-ocean ridge basalts (MORB) have revealed a heterogeneous asthenospheric mantle in chemical elements and radiogenic isotopes. Here we report that MORB mantle is also heterogeneous in Fe isotopes through studying the glass samples from seamounts flanking the northern East Pacific Rise between 5° and 15°N. These samples show large Fe is...

Phanerozoic growth of continental crust on our planet is one of the important research themes in Earth Science. Here, we present the results of a systematic study of newly found and previously reported Mesozoic igneous rocks, including diorite cumulate, granodiorite cumulate, mafic magmatic enclaves (MME) and host granitoids in the central Lhasa te...

Earth’s continents can come together to form supercontinents and the supercontinents can break apart into fragments of varying size scattering around the globe through a hypothetical process called continental drift. The continental drift hypothesis had survived after ∼ 60 years debate and evolved into the powerful theory of plate tectonics with un...

The Triassic granitoids are widespread in the eastern section of the East Kunlun Orogenic Belt (EKOB) on the northern Tibetan Plateau. These granitoids well record the evolution of the Paleo-Tethys oceans (named as A’nyemaqen Ocean in the EKOB). Our new zircon U-Pb data together with ages in literature show that these granitoids represent long-last...

The Troodos ophiolite is a classic and is one of the most complete and best-studied ophiolites on Earth. However, there are few studies on the geochronology of the plagiogranite in the Troodos ophiolite. With the advancement of zircon U-Pb in situ dating method developed in recent decades, it is necessary to revisit the age of the plagiogranite. In...

Continental collision zones have been proposed as primary sites of net continental crustal growth. Therefore, studies on syn-collisional granitoids with mafic magmatic enclaves (MMEs) are essential for testing this hypothesis. The Baojishan (BJS) and Qumushan (QMS) syn-collisional plutons in the North Qilian Orogen (NQO) on the northern margin of t...

Plain Language Summary Magmas erupted on the surface of Earth have different compositions. These compositional variations may result from mantle source compositional variations, varying extent and pressure of melting as well as magma evolution during ascent. Studies have observed significant control of oceanic lithospheric thickness on the composit...

Earth’s continents can come together to form supercontinents and the supercontinents can break apart into fragments of varying size scattering around the globe through a hypothetical process called continental drift. The continental drift hypothesis had survived after ∼ 60 years debate and evolved into the powerful theory of plate tectonics with un...

In the original publication, the vertical coordinate in Fig. 7 is incorrectly published as δ56Fe instead of δ57Fe.

Element doping has been proved to be a useful method to correct for the mass bias fractionation when analyzing iron isotope compositions. We present a systematic re-assessment on how the doped nickel may affect the iron isotope analysis in this study by carrying out several experiments. We find three important factors that can affect the analytical...

Geochemical and iron isotopic compositions of magnetite, ilmenite and pyrite separates from the FeTi oxide ores hosted in the Damiao anorthosite-type FeTi ore deposit were analyzed to investigate sub-solidus cooling history of the titanomagnetite. The FeTi oxides form two series of solid solutions, namely, ulvöspinel-magnetite (Usp-Mtss) and hemati...

Recent studies demonstrate that lithosphere thickness variation exerts the primary control on global seafloor basalt compositions. If the mechanism of such control, i.e., the lid effect, is indeed at work, lithosphere thickness variation must also influence basaltic compositions in continental settings. To test this hypothesis, we chose to study Ce...

My logical, objective and simple analysis leads to the conclusion that continental breakup is a straightforward consequence of plate tectonics without requiring mantle plumes. Mantle plumes, if needed, may be of help at the early rifting stage, but cannot lead to complete breakup, let alone to drive long distance dispersal of broken continents. The...

Fluids liberated from subducting slabs are critical in global geochemical cycles. We investigate the behaviour of Mo during slab dehydration using two suites of exhumed fragments of subducted, oceanic lithosphere. Our samples display a positive correlation of δ98/95MoNIST 3134 with Mo/Ce, from compositions close to typical mantle (−0.2‰ and 0.03, r...

In order to reconstruct tectonic evolution history of the southern margin of Asia (i.e., Lhasa terrane) before the India-Asia collision, here we present a comprehensive study on the clastic rocks in the southern Lhasa terrane with new perspectives from sedimentary geochemistry, detrital zircon geochronology and Hf isotope. Clasts from the Jurassic-...

Whether the Earth’s mantle has a chondritic δ⁵⁶Fe (deviation in ⁵⁶Fe/⁵⁴Fe from the IRMM-014 standard in parts per thousand) value or not remains under debate. The current view is that the observed average δ⁵⁶Fe of mid-ocean ridge basalts (MORB) cannot be explained by partial melting of mantle source with chondritic value alone. Here, we report Fe i...

The thermal and chemical state of the early Archaean deep mantle is poorly resolved due to the rare occurrences of early Archaean magnesium-rich volcanic rocks. In particular, it is not clear whether compositional heterogeneity existed in the early Archaean deep mantle and, if it did, how deep mantle heterogeneity formed. Here we present a geochron...

The Tibetan Plateau is the highest (> 4500 m in elevation) and largest (> 2,500,000 km) plateau on Earth, which is unique today and likely also rare in Earth's history. The scientific speculation on the origin of the Himalaya-Tibetan plateau can be traced back to mid-19 century when British mathematician John Pratt (1855) recognized a mass deficit...

Zircon is an important accessory mineral for studying the crust-mantle interaction and crustal growth through time because zircon crystals not only allow precise dating but also record initial Hf isotope ratios of the host magmas. Our study on a suite of gabbronorite, mafic diorite cumulates, diorite and granite from the Kekeli Batholith in the Nor...

In western Yunnan, potassic felsic suites with important Cu mineralization have been interpreted as being genetically associated with the Ailao Shan-Red River (ASRR) shear zone. In this paper, we show that the magmatism is unrelated to the shear zone, but shares many characteristics in common with potassic suites along the Jinsha suture to the nort...

Eclogites in the high-pressure (HP) and ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) belts record subduction-zone processes; exhumed eclogites of seafloor protoliths record low-temperature (mostly <600°C), high-pressure and ‘wet’ environments: that is, relatively ‘cold’ subduction with highly hydrous minerals such as lawsonite. In contrast, eclogites formed by the con...

We present updated U–Pb ages and Hf isotopic compositions of detrital zircons and whole-rock geochemical data to investigate the provenance and tectonic setting of late Neoproterozoic and early Cambrian sandstones from the Cathaysia Block, in order to offer new constraints on its tectonic evolution and its palaeo-position within the supercontinent....

The Laoshan granite is an example of the widespread intraplate granitoids of early Cretaceous age in eastern continental China. The petrogenesis of these granitoids remains in dispute and we choose the Laoshan granite as the representative case to study these granitoids. Zircons from the Laoshan granite give a crystallization age of ~120 Ma, which...

We sampled 22 Mesozoic dykes in eastern continental China and carried out a detailed study on these samples, including K–Ar and zircon U–Pb geochronology, and elemental and Sr-Nd-Pb-Hf isotope geochemistry. Their K–Ar and zircon ages of 130-110 Ma are broadly consistent with the timing of the lithosphere thinning and the emplacement ages of widespr...

Primitive arc magmas in oceanic island arcs are probes of sub-arc magmatic processes and are crucial for understanding oceanic subduction. We report data for an Early Paleozoic oceanic arc volcanic complex in the Lajishan-Yongjing terrane, South Qilian Accretionary Belt (SQAB), Qilian Orogen, including zircon U-Pb dating and Hf-O isotopes, mineral...

The East Kunlun Orogen, the northwestern part of the Central China Orogenic Belt, is a long-lived accretionary orogenic belt that records the evolution and eventual destruction of branches of the Tethys Ocean, from the Cambrian to the Triassic. Here we report an Early Paleozoic eclogite belt that extends for $500 km within the East Kunlun Orogen. T...