Zircon ages of the Bayankhongor ophiolite mélange and associated rocks: Time constraints on Neoproterozoic to Cambrian accretionary and collisional orogenesis in Central Mongolia

Abstract Central Mongolia is geologically characterized by close juxtaposition of an accreted oceanic terrane with an arc-microcontinent collision zone. We present new U–Pb zircon ages and geochemical data for the Bayankhongor ophiolite melange from the oceanic terrane and for a syenite porphyry pluton from the arc-microcontinent zone, providing critical constraints on the regional evolution in late Neoproterozoic to early Cambrian times. An anorthosite (655 ± 4 Ma) associated with layered gabbro, a rodingite (metasomatized layered gabbro) (647 ± 6 Ma), and a high-level isotropic amphibole gabbro (647 ± 7 Ma) yielded the oldest zircon ages for the plutonic part of the ophiolite. A plagiogra…