Research Projects

Rodingites are metasomatic rocks occurring as dykes or patches within serpentinite of an ophiolite belt, which are CaO-rich and SiO2-poor rocks, and present mostly Ca-mineral phases (andradite, grossular, vesuvianite, apatite, epidote, prehnite and clinopyroxene; Koutsovitis et al., 2013; Frost, 1975). The other silicate minerals present in the rodingites are chlorite and amphibole (Tang et al., 2018; Zhao et al., 2023). The protolith of the rodingite is believed to be a mafic dyke intruded into the mantle peridotite. The rodingites in an ophiolite belt were suggested to form 1) in ocean floor metasomatism due to low temperature hydrothermal interaction (e.g., Duan et al., 2022; Frost et al., 2008), 2) by the interaction of fluids derived from serpentinization/de-serpentinization of mantle wedge peridotite in a subduction setting (Ou et al., 2025; Abuamarah et al., 2023; Dai et al., 2016; Koutsovitis et al., 2013) 3) during the obduction of mantle peridotite in a continental margin (Duan et al., 2022; Schandl and Mittwede, 2001). Thus, the rodingites could provide a window to investigate the sequence of geological processes such as early magmatic intrusions, fluids-rock interaction between seawater and oceanic lithosphere, interaction and elemental recycle between slab-derived fluids and mantle wedge peridotite in subduction setting, and timing of continental collision as these rocks are part of the ophiolite that is found in suture (Li et al., 2017; Duan et al., 2022). Distinguishing different subducting slab-derived fluids invoked during rodingitization relating to the particular geodynamic setting, especially for the subduction setting, is crucial to understand the slab-mantle geochemical recycle and their subsequent mantle heterogeneity. In spite of these importances, the effects of rodingite subduction on the geochemical and isotopic abundances of the mantle wedge and its fore-arc and arc magmas has not been well studied. For the first time, to our knowledge, I found rodingite intrusion in the mantle wedge serpentinite from the Nidar ophiolite, Ladakh (Fig. 2), which has not been studied so far. The Nidar ophiolites are believed to have originated in the subduction setting (Nayak et al., 2023; Ahmad et al., 2008; Maheo et al., 2004). Therefore, the rodingites occurring in these ophiolites may be utilized to address the above outstanding issues and could provide a novel insight into a better understanding of crust-mantle interaction in a subduction setting. This study in turn will provide a better understanding of long-term geochemical cycles in our Earth.