Search

The Late Cretaceous Pandan Formation in Cebu Island is one of the oldest sedimentary units in the Central Philippines. The inconsistencies in geological descriptions and interpretation of the depositional environment of the Pandan Formation complicated efforts to determine the origin and tectonic history of the basement of Cebu Island. This study therefore looks into the petrological and geochemical characteristics of the Pandan Formation and their implications for the tectonic development of the Philippine Arc during the late Mesozoic. Petrographic analyses indicate significant contribution from mafic sources with additional inputs from felsic rocks, siliciclastics and metamorphic sources. Enrichment of detrital quartz from felsic volcanic and plutonic rocks, as well as from siliciclastic and metamorphic sources, has shifted the SiO2 composition of the Pandan clastics from a mafic to a more intermediate source. Whole‐rock geochemical analyses revealed low SiO2/Al2O3 = 4.21, low K2O/Na2O = 1.16, low Th/Sc = 0.13, low Th/U = 2.78, high La/Th = 4.51, significantly low REEs = ca 76.45 ppm and low LaN/YbN = 4.28. A slight negative chondrite‐normalized Eu/Eu* (0.91) anomaly and significantly high PAAS‐normalized positive Eu/Eu* (1.39) values are consistent with derivation from a young undissected magmatic arc terrane. Tectonic discrimination diagrams suggest formation in an oceanic island arc to active margin/collision zone modelled to be located at the oceanic leading edge of Australia. Rapid uplift and erosion of the magmatic arc and older allochthonous blocks gave way to the rapid deposition of the Pandan Formation in the Late Cretaceous at the subequatorial region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alternating chert–clastic sequences juxtaposed with limestone blocks, which are units typical of accretionary complexes, constitute the Buruanga peninsula. New lithostratigraphic units are proposed in this study: the Unidos Formation (Jurassic chert sequence), the Saboncogon Formation (Jurassic siliceous mudstone–terrigenous mudstone and quartz-rich sandstone), the Gibon Formation (Jurassic(?) bedded pelagic limestone), the Libertad Metamorphics (Jurassic–Cretaceous slate, phyllite, and schist) and the Buruanga Formation (Pliocene–Pleistocene reefal limestone). The first three sedimentary sequences in the Buruanga peninsula show close affinity with the ocean plate stratigraphy of the North Palawan terrane in Busuanga Island: Lower–Middle Jurassic chert sequences overlain by Middle–Upper Jurassic clastics, juxtaposed with pelagic limestone. Moreover, the JR5–JR6 (Callovian to Oxfordian) siliceous mudstone of the Saboncogon Formation in the Buruanga peninsula correlates with the JR5–JR6 siliceous mudstone of the Guinlo Formation in the Middle Busuanga Belt. These findings suggest that the Buruanga peninsula may be part of the North Palawan terrane. The rocks of the Buruanga peninsula completely differ from the Middle Miocene basaltic to andesitic pyroclastic and lava flow deposits with reefal limestone and arkosic sandstone of the Antique Range. Thus, the previously suggested boundary between the Palawan microcontinental block and the Philippine Mobile Belt in the central Philippines, which is the suture zone between the Buruanga peninsula and the Antique Range, is confirmed. This boundary is similarly considered as the collision zone between them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Transition from barren to fertile geochemical signatures of arc magmas in the Baguio-Mankayan Mineral District is intimately linked with arc development and subduction dynamics. • Late Eocene barren magmas were generated in a thin nascent Luzon arc. • Middle Pliocene fertile magmas were formed from mixing of mafic and silicic melts associated with ridge subduction. • More hydrous conditions of Early Pleistocene fertile magmas are attributed to progressive crustal thickening and compression induced by ride subduction. The Baguio-Mankayan Mineral District (BMMD) in Northern Luzon, Philippines, is renowned for its world-class auriferous porphyry-Cu and epithermal deposits, which are associated with arc magmatism during the Pliocene-Pleistocene. One of the less studied areas in this region is in southern Mankayan, where the Suyoc epithermal prospect is located. New U-Pb zircon ages, combined with whole-rock and in-situ geochemical analyses of igneous rocks in the Suyoc area, revealed a shift from barren to fertile magmatic episodes in the BMMD. 1) Late Eocene (36.93–37.20 Ma) barren magmas generated in a thin, nascent Luzon arc, 2) Fertile Middle Pliocene (2.87–3.4 Ma) magmatism attributed to the mixing of primitive mafic and silicic crustal melts due to ridge subduction, and 3) Early Pleistocene (1.73 Ma) fertile magmatism associated with more hydrous melts due to progressive crustal thickening. The Late Eocene barren magmatism enhanced both source and intra-crustal conditions for the onset of younger fertile magmatic events via sub-arc modification and crustal addition/thickening. Furthermore, we consider the fertile Pliocene and Pleistocene magmatism in the BMMD as two separate events with different petrogenesis. Mafic-silicic interaction in the Pliocene was documented through core-rim analysis of amphiboles from the Pliocene Suyoc Diorite. On the other hand, the Pleistocene fertile magmatism, represented by the Bato Dacite Porphyry, showed geochemical signatures consistent with a thickened crust and also reflected higher magmatic H 2 O contents ranging from 6.3 to 7.8 wt%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Offshore and ground gravity data were utilized to estimate crustal thickness across the Central Philippines where a transition from continental to island arc terrane occurs. Significant differences in gravity anomalies were observed between the Palawan Microcontinental Block (PCB) and the Philippine Mobile Belt (PMB), two major terranes that came together through arc-continent collision. Islands of the PCB (Mindoro, Tablas, Romblon, Sibuyan and western Panay), made up of an assortment of continent-derived sedimentary and igneous rocks and slivers of ophiolitic bodies, register lower Bouguer anomalies compared to that displayed by Masbate Island in the PMB. The calculated crustal thickness of this region exhibits a complex Moho topography of non-uniform depth across the collision zone with the thickest parts (∼32 km) corresponding with ophiolitic units emplaced consequent to arc-continent collision. On the other hand, relatively thinner crust (∼21 km) within the collision zone coincides with areas surmised to have undergone attenuation following intra-arc rifting. The same characteristics are observed offshore of western Mindoro and within the Marinduque Basin, areas known to have experienced crustal thinning following regional tectonic rearrangements that triggered riftings and intra-basin openings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]