Identification of Jurassic mafic arc magmatism in the eastern North China Craton: Geochemical evidence for westward subduction of the Paleo-Pacific slab

Author(s):  
Wei Fang ◽  
Li-Qun Dai ◽  
Yong-Fei Zheng ◽  
Zi-Fu Zhao ◽  
Li-Tao Ma ◽  
...  

Subduction of the Paleo-Pacific slab beneath the North China Craton (NCC) has exerted a strong influence on the Mesozoic destruction of the craton. However, no Andean-type arc magmatism has been reliably identified in the eastern NCC. Here we report the occurrence of Jurassic arc-like lamprophyres in the Liaodong Peninsula, providing a snapshot of the Paleo-Pacific slab subduction beneath the NCC in the early Mesozoic. Zircon U-Pb dating of the lamprophyres yields consistent ages of 158−155 Ma for magma crystallization. These lamprophyres all exhibit typical arc-like trace element distribution patterns, but show a series differences in their radiogenic isotope compositions and the other geochemical variables. Type 1 lamprophyres exhibit weakly enriched Sr-Nd-Hf isotopes with (87Sr/86Sr)i ratios of 0.7075−0.7085, εNd(t) values of −3.9 to −1.3 and εHf(t) values of −5.4 to −0.3, whereas Type 2 lamprophyres exhibit moderately enriched radiogenic isotopes with (87Sr/86Sr)i ratios of 0.7096−0.7117, εNd(t) values of −12.2 to −7.6 and εHf(t) values of −12.8 to −4.7. There are also systematic differences in zircon Hf isotopes and whole-rock Ba/Th, Ba/La, Sr/Nd, Th/Nd, Th/Yb, and La/Sm ratios for the two types of lamprophyre. Taken together, these similarities and differences can be accounted for by metasomatic reaction of the cratonic mantle wedge with two properties of liquid phase derived from subducting Paleo-Pacific slab. One is aqueous solutions from the subducting basaltic oceanic crust, and the other is hydrous melts from the subducting terrigenous. The two properties of subduction zone fluids were incorporated in different proportions into the mantle sources of these lamprophyres. Accordingly, the lamprophyres were derived from the metasomatic mantle sources. This qualitative interpretation is verified by quantitative modeling of the geochemical transfer at the slab-mantle interface in a paleo-oceanic subduction zone. Therefore, the Jurassic lamprophyres in the eastern NCC provide the geochemical evidence for the crust-mantle interaction during the Paleo-Pacific slab subduction beneath eastern Asia in the early Mesozoic, when the chemical metasomatism by the slab-derived fluids would have weakened the cratonic mantle for its thinning and destruction in the Early Cretaceous.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wenbin Ning ◽  
Timothy Kusky ◽  
Junpeng Wang ◽  
Lu Wang ◽  
Hao Deng ◽  
...  

<p>Subduction initiation and arc–polarity reversal have rarely been recognized in the Archean rock record. We document Neoarchean subduction initiation, fore-arc magmatism, and an arc–polarity reversal event from the Zunhua structural belt along the eastern margin of the Central Orogenic Belt (COB) of the North China Craton (NCC). The Zunhua ophiolitic mélange within the Zunhua structural belt is a mappable unit characterized by blocks of metamorphosed harzburgite/lherzolite, podiform chromite –bearing dunite, pyroxenite, amphibolite, metabasites (basalt and diabase) with rare intermediate volcanics, chert, and tectonic lenses of banded iron formation in a strongly sheared metapelitic matrix. New geochronological and geochemical analyses of magmatic blocks within the ophiolitic mélange show that the crustal magmatic rocks were produced in a fore-arc region at 2.55–2.52 Ga from depletion of the harzburgitic–lherzolitic mantle tectonites. Chemical, petrological, and temporal links between the depleted mantle blocks, and the suite of magmatic blocks derived from partial melting and metasomatism of these depleted mantle blocks, unequivocally shows that they represent part of the same original Neoarchean fore-arc ophiolite suite. After formation and accretion in the oceanic realm, the mélange was emplaced on the continental margin of the Eastern Block between 2.52–2.50 Ga, and underwent two stages of metamorphism at ca. 2.48–2.46 Ga and 1.81 Ga. Metamorphosed intermediate–mafic volcanic blocks exhibit systematic successive geochemical variations, from MORB-like to volcanic arc-like, and the N-MORB-like meta-basalts show remarkable similarity with the subduction initiation-related Izu–Bonin–Mariana (IBM) fore-arc basalts. We suggest that the Zunhua fore-arc complex records continuous geodynamic processes from subduction initiation to arc magmatism. The Zunhua ophiolitic mélange is part of a ca. 2.5 Ga suture between an oceanic arc of the COB and Eastern Block of the NCC. After the arc–continent collision, an arc–polarity reversal event has been proposed to initiate a new eastward–dipping subduction zone on the western side of the COB. This arc–polarity reversal can be traced for more than 1,600 km along the length of the orogen, similar in scale, geometry, and duration between collision and polarity flip to the present-day arc–polarity reversal of the Sunda–Banda arc during its ongoing collision with the Australia continent. This indicates that a life cycle of an Archean subduction zone, including birth (subduction initiation), maturity (arc magmatism), death (arc-continent collision) and re-birth (arc–polarity reversal), is recorded in the Zunhua ophiolitic mélange, and the geodynamics of plate tectonics at the end of the Archean was similar to that of today.</p><p> </p>


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wei Fang ◽  
Li-Qun Dai ◽  
et al.

Table S1: Major and trace element compositions of lamprophyres from the eastern North China Craton; Table S2: Whole-rock Sr, Nd, and Hf isotope compositions of lamprophyres from the eastern North China Craton; Table S3: LA-ICPMS Zircon U-Pb isotope compositions of lamprophyres from the eastern North China Craton; Table S4: Zircon LA-MC-ICPMS Lu-Hf isotope compositions of lamprophyres from the eastern North China Craton.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wei Fang ◽  
Li-Qun Dai ◽  
et al.

Table S1: Major and trace element compositions of lamprophyres from the eastern North China Craton; Table S2: Whole-rock Sr, Nd, and Hf isotope compositions of lamprophyres from the eastern North China Craton; Table S3: LA-ICPMS Zircon U-Pb isotope compositions of lamprophyres from the eastern North China Craton; Table S4: Zircon LA-MC-ICPMS Lu-Hf isotope compositions of lamprophyres from the eastern North China Craton.


Solid Earth ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 1375-1397 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yi Ni Wang ◽  
Wen Liang Xu ◽  
Feng Wang ◽  
Xiao Bo Li

Abstract. To investigate the timing of deposition and provenance of early Mesozoic strata in the northeastern North China Craton (NCC) and to understand the early Mesozoic paleotectonic evolution of the region, we combine stratigraphy, U–Pb zircon geochronology, and Hf isotopic analyses. Early Mesozoic strata include the Early Triassic Heisonggou, Late Triassic Changbai and Xiaoyingzi, and Early Jurassic Yihe formations. Detrital zircons in the Heisonggou Formation yield  ∼ 58 % Neoarchean to Paleoproterozoic ages and  ∼ 42 % Phanerozoic ages and were sourced from areas to the south and north of the basins within the NCC, respectively. This indicates that Early Triassic deposition was controlled primarily by the southward subduction of the Paleo-Asian oceanic plate beneath the NCC and collision between the NCC and the Yangtze Craton (YC). Approximately 88 % of the sediments within the Late Triassic Xiaoyingzi Formation were sourced from the NCC to the south, with the remaining  ∼ 12 % from the Xing'an–Mongolia Orogenic Belt (XMOB) to the north. This implies that Late Triassic deposition was related to the final closure of the Paleo-Asian Ocean during the Middle Triassic and the rapid exhumation of the Su–Lu Orogenic Belt between the NCC and YC. In contrast,  ∼ 88 % of sediments within the Early Jurassic Yihe Formation were sourced from the XMOB to the north, with the remaining  ∼ 12 % from the NCC to the south. We therefore infer that rapid uplift of the XMOB and the onset of the subduction of the Paleo-Pacific Plate beneath Eurasia occurred in the Early Jurassic.


2019 ◽  
Vol 67 ◽  
pp. 33-45 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiao-Ming Zhang ◽  
Wen-Liang Xu ◽  
Chen-Yang Sun ◽  
Feng Wang ◽  
De-Bin Yang

2021 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 50-66
Author(s):  
Yang Dong ◽  
Jingdang Liu ◽  
Yanfei Zhang ◽  
Shiyong Dou ◽  
Yanbin Li ◽  
...  

Mesozoic magmatic rocks are widely distributed in the North China Craton (NCC) and are crucial to understanding the timing, location, and geodynamic mechanisms of lithospheric thinning of the NCC. In this study, we report geochronological, petrogeochemical, and Lu–Hf isotopic data for adakitic granitoids from different parts of Xiuyan pluton in the Liaodong Peninsula, aiming to constrain their magma sources, petrogenesis, and tectonic implications. The adakites are metaluminous to weakly peraluminous and are classified as high-K calc-alkaline I-type granite with Early Cretaceous zircon U–Pb ages of 129–126 Ma. They exhibit adakite-like geochemical characteristics, such as high Sr content and low Yb and Y contents, coupled with high Sr/Y and no pronounced Eu anomalies. They are enriched in Rb, U, and light rare-earth elements and are depleted in Ta, Nb, P, and Ti. The adakites from the eastern part of the pluton have low εHf(t) values (–8.5 to –4.0) with old TDM2 ages (1.57–1.31 Ga), indicating they were derived from the lower crust containing juvenile mantle-derived materials. In contrast, adakites from the northern part of the pluton have lower εHf(t) values (–19.7 to –16.6) with older TDM2 ages (2.21–2.03 Ga), indicating that they were derived mainly from an ancient crust. Our results show that both adakitic magmas were derived from partial melting of delaminated lower crust. Their relatively high MgO and Ni contents and Mg# values indicate that the melts interacted with mantle peridotites. The lower crust delamination beneath the Liaodong Peninsula resulted from paleo-Pacific plate subduction during the Early Cretaceous, which resulted in thinning of Mesozoic crust in the Xiuyan area.


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