Early Devonian (415–400 Ma) A-type granitoids and diabases in the Wuyishan, eastern Cathaysia: A signal of crustal extension coeval with the separation of South China from Gondwana

2020 ◽  
Vol 132 (11-12) ◽  
pp. 2295-2317 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yujia Xin ◽  
Jianhua Li ◽  
Lothar Ratschbacher ◽  
Guochun Zhao ◽  
Yueqiao Zhang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Partial Melting ◽  
South China ◽  
Crustal Extension ◽  
Eastern Asia ◽  
The South ◽  
Early Devonian ◽  
Enriched Mantle ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
Tethys Ocean ◽  
T Values

Abstract The evolution of the South China continental crust and its linkage to the assembly and rifting of eastern Gondwana are key issues in the understanding of the early Paleozoic evolution of eastern Asia. We report U-Pb zircon ages and geochemical and Lu-Hf isotopic data for the South Fufang and Yingshang granitoids and the Mayuan diabases from the Wuyishan of eastern South China. The zircons yielded U-Pb ages of ca. 414–404 and ca. 409–401 Ma for the granitoids and diabases, respectively. Petrographic and geochemical features indicate that the granitoids are peraluminous A-type granites, expressed by high Ga/Al ratios and high Zr, Nb, Ce, Y, and rare earth element contents. They show negative zircon εHf(t) values (–15.4 to –5.8), consistent with the derivation from a crustal source. The granitoids likely originated from partial melting of dry granulite residues in the lower crust. The diabases show depletion in Ti, and negative correlations between FeOt and Mg#, and SiO2 and TiO2/FeOt, reflecting clinopyroxene, olivine, and Fe-Ti oxide fractionation. Their negative zircon εHf(t) values (–4.5 to –0.4) indicate an ancient enriched-mantle origin. The diabases likely originated from partial melting of a sub-continental lithospheric mantle. We interpret these A-type granitoids and diabases as post-orogenic, formed during extensional collapse of thickened crust. Their generation indicates that South China experienced crustal extension during the Early Devonian. The extension occurred coevally with global rifting that led to the separation of the continental blocks of eastern Asia from eastern Gondwana, which was associated with the Early Devonian opening of the paleo–Tethys Ocean.

Petrogenesis of Early Cambrian granitoids in the western Kunlun orogenic belt, Northwest Tibet: Insight into early stage subduction of the Proto-Tethys Ocean

2020 ◽  
Vol 132 (9-10) ◽  
pp. 2221-2240 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiyuan Yin ◽  
Wenjiao Xiao ◽  
Min Sun ◽  
Wen Chen ◽  
Chao Yuan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Partial Melting ◽  
Orogenic Belt ◽  
Early Cambrian ◽  
The South ◽  
The West ◽  
Juvenile Material ◽  
Tethys Ocean ◽  
West Kunlun ◽  
T Values ◽  
Oceanic Slab

Abstract The west Kunlun orogenic belt, located on the northwest margin of the Tibetan Plateau, represents a crucial tectonic junction between the central Asia and Tethys domains. Its evolution was closely related to the Paleozoic subduction and closure of the Proto-Tethys Ocean, which was formed by the breakup of the Rodinia supercontinent following the Neoproterozoic. However, the early evolution of Proto-Tethys oceanic subduction (e.g., subduction initiation timing, polarity, and process) remains controversial. The source of the Early Cambrian granitoids is also unclear. To explore these questions, four Cambrian plutons (i.e., two Tianshuihai monzogranites and south Kunlun diorite and monzogranite) were chosen for geochronological and geochemical studies. Zircon U-Pb dating reveals that these plutons formed at ca. 533–513 Ma and thus represent the oldest arc-related magmatism in the west Kunlun orogenic belt. The Tianshuihai monzogranites have positive εNd(t) values (+0.76 to +1.34) and zircon εHf(t) values of +0.25 to +6.42, with low δ18Ozrn values of +5.11‰ to +7.38‰, suggesting that their source includes juvenile material. These rocks are weakly peraluminous and have relatively old Hf model ages of 1.09–1.48 Ga. Mass balance calculations show that the Tianshuihai monzogranites were derived from partial melting of Mesoproterozoic meta-igneous rocks with the addition of 22% of juvenile material. The south Kunlun monzogranites in this study are weakly peraluminous, and their lowest εNd(t) values are –9.24 to –9.27 and zircon εHf(t) values are –7.80 to –11.2. The oldest Hf model ages are 1.97–2.18 Ga, and the highest zircon δ18Ozrn values are +8.11 to +9.73‰. Their isotopic compositions are different from those of the magmas derived from partial melting of just Paleoproterozoic and Mesoproterozoic basement rocks but can be produced by a mixing source of 32% meta-igneous rock and 68% meta-sedimentary rock. The south Kunlun diorites are characterized by high Sr contents and relatively high Sr/Y (52–63) ratios but low Y, Yb, Cr, and Ni contents, like those of the thickened continental crust-derived adakites. Their Sr-Nd–Hf-O isotopic compositions indicate that their parental magma was derived from a Mesoproterozoic metaigneous basement in the garnet stability field. Based on the newly identified, oldest island arc magmatic records in the west Kunlun orogenic belt, the subduction initiation of the Proto-Tethys oceanic slab must have occurred prior to the Early Cambrian (>533 Ma). Our results, with previously published data, show that the west Kunlun orogenic belt was in an extensional setting during the Early Cambrian and that the magmatism migrated northeastward along the axis of the south Kunlun terrane between 533 Ma and 513 Ma. Therefore, considering the spatial and temporal distribution and petrogenesis of the Early–Middle Cambrian plutons in the west Kunlun orogenic belt, we propose that the Early Cambrian magmatism was most plausibly triggered by asthenospheric upwelling in response to the rollback of southward-subducted Proto-Tethys oceanic slab.

scholarly journals Petrogenesis of Dacites in a Triassic Volcanic Arc in the South China Sea: Constraints From Whole Rock and Mineral Geochemistry

2022 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wu Wei ◽  
Chuan-Zhou Liu ◽  
Ross N. Mitchell ◽  
Wen Yan
Keyword(s):  
Rare Earth ◽  
South China Sea ◽  
Rare Earth Elements ◽  
Partial Melting ◽  
South China ◽  
Volcanic Rocks ◽  
The South China Sea ◽  
South China Block ◽  
The South ◽  
T Values

Triassic volcanic rocks, including basalts and dacites, were drilled from Meiji Atoll in the South China Sea (SCS), which represents a rifted slice from the active continental margin along the Cathaysia Block. In this study, we present apatite and whole rock geochemistry of Meiji dacites to decipher their petrogenesis. Apatite geochronology yielded U-Pb ages of 204–221 Ma, which are identical to zircon U-Pb ages within uncertainty and thus corroborate the formation of the Meiji volcanic rocks during the Late Triassic. Whole rock major elements suggest that Meiji dacites mainly belong to the high-K calc-alkaline series. They display enriched patterns in light rare earth elements (LREE) and flat patterns in heavy rare earth elements (HREE). They show enrichment in large-ion lithophile elements (LILE) and negative anomalies in Eu, Sr, P, Nb, Ta, and Ti. The dacites have initial 87Sr/86Sr ratios of 0.7094–0.7113, εNd(t) values of -5.9–-5.4 and εHf(t) values of -2.9–-1.7, whereas the apatite has relatively higher initial 87Sr/86Sr ratios (0.71289–0.71968) and similar εNd(t) (-8.13–-4.56) values. The dacites have homogeneous Pb isotopes, with initial 206Pb/204Pb of 18.73–18.87, 207Pb/204Pb of 15.75–15.80, and 208Pb/204Pb of 38.97–39.17. Modeling results suggest that Meiji dacites can be generated by <40% partial melting of amphibolites containing ∼10% garnet. Therefore, we propose that the Meiji dacites were produced by partial melting of the lower continental crust beneath the South China block, triggered by the underplating of mafic magmas as a response to Paleo-Pacific (Panthalassa) subduction during the Triassic. Meiji Atoll, together with other microblocks in the SCS, were rifted from the South China block and drifted southward due to continental extension and the opening of the SCS.

Tectonic evolution of the Paleo-Tethys Ocean in Southwest Guangxi: evidence from acidic magmatic rocks in the Pingxiang area, SW China

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wenmin Huang ◽  
Xijun Liu ◽  
Zhenglin Li ◽  
Bing Zhao ◽  
Yiying Han
Keyword(s):  
Partial Melting ◽  
South China ◽  
South China Block ◽  
Guangxi Province ◽  
The South ◽  
Crustal Rocks ◽  
The North ◽  
Early Mesozoic ◽  
Innovation Project ◽  
Tethys Ocean

<p>Early Mesozoic development of Southeast Asia involved oceanic subduction, closure, accretion and collision of discrete terranes rifted from Gondwana. South China, as an important continental terrane, is bound to the north by the Qinling-Dabie collisional orogenic belt, to the south by the Indochina Block, and to the east by the Pacific Plate. The role of continental collision and subduction during the Early Mesozoic development of South China has sparked the interest of geologists worldwide and stimulated considerable research. The Triassic tectonic history of the southwestern South China Block is marked by the Indosinian orogeny that records amalgamation of the Indochina and South China blocks during the late Permian to Triassic as a result of closure of the eastern branch of the Paleo-Tethys Ocean. In South China, there is widespread granitic magmatism, metamorphism and deformation. The closure of eastern Paleo-Tethys Ocean and subsequent collision between the South China block and Indochina Block has caused the collision zone metamorphism and formation of granites during the Permo-Triassic, with the Song Ma fault zone as the collision boundary. The Indosinian magmatism in the Pingxiang region was the magmatic products in this period. We report the new results of bulk-rock major and trace element, Nd, Hf isotopic compositions and zircon U–Pb dating of granites and rhyolites in the Pingxiang region in Guangxi Province, Southwest China, to decipher their petrogenesis and tectonic settings. The granites and rhyolitics in the Pingxiang area have low Mg<sup>#</sup> values (11.1–36.7), low Nb/Ta ratios (9.26–13.74) exhibiting a both affinity from S-type to I-type granaite. The isotopic features of these rocks show negative ε<sub>Hf</sub>(t) with the values ranging from -9.89 to -6.09, negative ε<sub>Nd</sub>(t) values ranging from -12.89 to -12.02 and T<sub>2DM</sub> values of 1.8–3.3 Ga, suggesting that the Pingxiang granites and rhyolites was derived from partial melting of paleoproterozoic crust rocks. The granites yielded <sup>206</sup>Pb/<sup>238</sup>U ages ranging from 243 to 241 Ma, and the rhyolites yielded <sup>206</sup>Pb/<sup>238</sup>U ages ranging from 247 to 245 Ma, which are both within the age range of the subduction to collision. Combine the regional geology, we suggest these granitoids and rhyolites were formed by the partial melting of crustal rocks during a transition from subduction to post-collisional environment with closure of Paleo-Tethys Ocean between the South China block and Indochina Block.</p><p>This study was financially supported by Guangxi Natural Science Foundation for Distinguished Young Scholars (2018GXNSFFA281009) and the Fifth Bagui Scholar Innovation Project of Guangxi Province (to XU Ji-feng).</p>

Crustal extension and magmatism along the northeastern margin of the South China Sea: Further insights from shear waves

2021 ◽  
pp. 229073
Author(s):  
Genggeng Wen ◽  
Kuiyuan Wan ◽  
Shaohong Xia ◽  
Chaoyan Fan ◽  
Jinghe Cao ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
South China Sea ◽  
South China ◽  
Shear Waves ◽  
The South China Sea ◽  
Crustal Extension ◽  
The South ◽  
China Sea

Petrogenesis of Silurian ultramafic–mafic plutons in southern Jiangxi: implications for the Wuyi–Yunkai orogen, South China

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Jie Yang ◽  
Wei Liu ◽  
Zuozhen Han ◽  
Zuoxun Zeng ◽  
Le Wan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
South China ◽  
Lithospheric Mantle ◽  
First Episode ◽  
Jiangxi Province ◽  
South China Block ◽  
The South ◽  
Mafic Rocks ◽  
Formation And Evolution ◽  
Early Palaeozoic ◽  
T Values

Abstract The South China Block is one of the largest continental blocks located on the East Asian continent. The early Palaeozoic Wuyi–Yunkai orogen of the South China Block (known as the Caledonian orogen in Europe) is a major orogenic belt in East Asia and represents the first episode of extensive crustal reworking since Neoproterozoic time. Although this orogen is key to deciphering the formation and evolution of the South China Block, details about the orogen remain poorly defined. The Songshutang and Wushitou ultramafic–mafic units in southern Jiangxi Province, South China, have 206Pb–238U ages of c. 437 Ma, suggesting a Silurian formation age. All the Songshutang and Wushitou ultramafic–mafic rocks show relatively flat chondrite-normalized rare earth element patterns, depletions in Nb, Ta, Zr, Hf and Ti, and low ϵNd(t) values from −9.12 to −5.49 with negative zircon ϵHf(t) values from −10.84 to −2.58, resembling a typical arc magma affinity. Geochemical and isotopic data indicate that the newly identified ultramafic–mafic rocks, along with the reported Silurian mafic rocks in South China, possibly originated from the similar partial melting of an ancient subducted slab, fluid/sediment and metasomatized lithospheric mantle with varying degrees of fractional crystallization. In conjunction with other records of magmatism and metamorphism in South China, a late-orogenic extensional event led to the melting of the sub-continental lithospheric mantle in Silurian time and generated ultramafic–mafic rocks with a limited distribution along the Wuyi–Yunkai orogen and widespread late-orogenic granitic plutons in the South China Block.

Gravity, heat flow, and seismic constraints on the processes of crustal extension: Northern margin of the South China Sea

1995 ◽  
Vol 100 (B11) ◽  
pp. 22447-22483 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Spangler Nissen ◽  
Dennis E. Hayes ◽  
Yao Bochu ◽  
Weijun Zeng ◽  
Yongqin Chen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Heat Flow ◽  
South China Sea ◽  
South China ◽  
The South China Sea ◽  
Crustal Extension ◽  
The South ◽  
Northern Margin ◽  
China Sea

Internal versus external locations of the South China Craton within Rodinia during the Cryogenian: Provenance history of the Nanhua Basin

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guangyou Zhu ◽  
Huichuan Liu ◽  
Tingting Zhang ◽  
Weiyan Chen ◽  
Jianwei Xiao ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mantle Plume ◽  
South China ◽  
Detrital Zircons ◽  
Source Rocks ◽  
Yangtze Block ◽  
The South ◽  
Isotopic Analyses ◽  
South China Craton ◽  
Late Neoproterozoic ◽  
T Values

Contrasting models for internal versus external locations of the South China Craton (SCC) in the supercontinent Rodinia and associated mantle plume or ocean subduction dominated tectonic processes can be resolved by detrital zircon U-Pb dating and Lu-Hf isotopic analyses on the Cryogenian Nanhua Supergroup in the central SCC. Our results show that samples from the lower Liantuo, Tiesi’ao, and Datangpo formations of the Nanhua Supergroup show three age peaks at 2.50 Ga, 2.05 Ga, and 0.85 Ga, and those of the upper Nantuo Formation yield four peaks at 2.50 Ga, 2.05 Ga, 0.85 Ga, and 0.65 Ga. The Archean and Paleoproterozoic (1.80−2.10 Ga) zircons have εHf(t) values of −16.3 to +4.7 and −23.0 to +4.2, and may be sourced from the Kongling and Douling complexes and Paleoproterozoic intrusions in the northern Yangtze Block, respectively. Early Neoproterozoic (0.70−0.96 Ga) zircon grains show variable εHf(t) values of −20.0 to +15.0. In combination with the absence of Mesoproterozoic detrital zircons in the Nanhua Supergroup, huge volumes of Neoproterozoic granitic intrusions in the northern Yangtze Block are the potential sources for the 0.70−0.96 Ga detrital zircons. Only the siltstone of the Nantuo Formation has late Neoproterozoic (0.63−0.69 Ga) detrital zircons with high and positive εHf(t) values (+7.9 to +9.4). Several granitoid intrusions (0.63−0.68 Ga) in the Wudang and Ankang uplift of the South Qinling belt in the northern Yangtze Block provide the late Neoproterozoic detrital zircons of the Nantuo Formation. These provenance analyses of the Nanhua Supergroup indicate an interior source from the SCC, rather than an exterior source from the Laurentia and Australia cratons. The Neoproterozoic rift basins and magmatic rocks in the SCC were produced by secular episodic subductions and back-arc extensions, rather than a Neoproterozoic super-mantle plume. The SCC occupied a peripheral position adjacent to northern India in Rodinia during the Neoproterozoic. These conclusions will promote our understanding of genetic mechanism and distribution prediction of the several Cryogenian−Cambrian black-shale layers and excellent source rocks in the SCC.

scholarly journals Mesozoic Northward Subduction Along the SE Asian Continental Margin Inferred from Magmatic Records in the South China Sea

Minerals ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (10) ◽  
pp. 598 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guanqiang Cai ◽  
Zhifeng Wan ◽  
Yongjian Yao ◽  
Lifeng Zhong ◽  
Hao Zheng ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
South China Sea ◽  
Continental Margin ◽  
South China ◽  
Oceanic Lithosphere ◽  
The South China Sea ◽  
The South ◽  
Late Mesozoic ◽  
China Sea ◽  
Depleted Mantle ◽  
T Values

During the Mesozoic, Southeast (SE) Asia (including South China and the South China Sea (SCS)) was located in a transitional area between the Tethyan and Pacific geotectonic regimes. However, it is unclear whether geodynamic processes in the SE Asian continental margin were controlled by Tethyan or paleo-Pacific Ocean subduction. Herein, we report ~124 Ma adakitic granodiorites and Nb-enriched basalts from the Xiaozhenzhu Seamount of the SCS. Granodiorites have relatively high Sr/Y (34.7–37.0) and (La/Yb)N (13.8–15.7) ratios, as well as low Y (9.67–9.90 μg/g) and Yb (0.93–0.94 μg/g) concentrations, typical of adakites. Their Sr/Y and (La/Yb)N values coupled with their relatively low initial 87Sr/86Sr ratios (0.70541–0.70551), relatively high K2O contents (3.31–3.38 wt%), high Th/La ratios (0.33–0.40), negative εNd(t) values (−3.62 to −3.52), and their variable zircon εHf(t) values (−3.8 to +5.2) indicate that these rocks were formed by melting of subducted oceanic crust and sediments. The Nb-enriched basalts show enrichment in high field strength elements (HFSE) and have εNd(t) values of +2.90 to +2.93, as well as relatively low initial 87Sr/86Sr ratios of 0.70341–0.70343, demonstrating that they were derived from a depleted-mantle (DM) source metasomatized by silicate magmas originating from melting of a subducted oceanic lithospheric slab. By combining our findings with data from other Late Mesozoic arc-related magmatic rocks and adakites from the broader study area, we propose a geotectonic model involving subduction of young oceanic lithosphere during the Late Jurassic and northward subduction of the proto-South China Sea (PSCS) along the SE Asian continental margin during the Early Cretaceous. This conceptual model better explains the two-period Mesozoic magmatism, commonly reported for the SE Asian continental margin.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document