0000000000280682
AUTHOR
Fuqin Zhang
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…
Time scale of an early to mid-Paleozoic orogenic cycle of the long-lived Central Asian Orogenic Belt, Inner Mongolia of China: Implications for continental growth
Abstract We present a detailed, new time scale for an orogenic cycle (oceanic accretion–subduction–collision) that provides significant insights into Paleozoic continental growth processes in the southeastern segment of the long-lived Central Asian Orogenic Belt (CAOB). The most prominent tectonic feature in Inner Mongolia is the association of paired orogens. A southern orogen forms a typical arc-trench complex, in which a supra-subduction zone ophiolite records successive phases during its life cycle: birth (ca. 497–477 Ma), when the ocean floor of the ophiolite was formed; (2) youth (ca. 473–470 Ma), characterized by mantle wedge magmatism; (3) shortly after maturity (ca. 461–450 Ma), hi…
Evolution of a Permian intraoceanic arc–trench system in the Solonker suture zone, Central Asian Orogenic Belt, China and Mongolia
Abstract The identification of a fossil arc–trench system from the ophiolite-decorated Solonker suture zone in the southernmost Central Asian Orogenic Belt (CAOB) enables us to constrain the timing of pre-subduction extension (ca. 299–290 Ma), subduction initiation (ca. 294–280 Ma), ridge–trench collision (ca. 281–273 Ma) and slab break-off (ca. 255–248 Ma) in the Permian. A fraction of proto-arc crust (ca. 45 km long, up to 8 km wide) is preserved as a volcanic–plutonic sequence and is juxtaposed against a wide (ca. 30–80 km) forearc melange. This proto-arc crust comprises two distinct magma series, island arc tholeiite (IAT) and mid-ocean ridge basalt (MORB), both of which have strong sup…
Ca. 1318 Ma A-type granite on the northern margin of the North China Craton: Implications for intraplate extension of the Columbia supercontinent
Abstract Identification of the Mesoproterozoic A-type Jining granite and granite porphyry, which with abundant coeval mafic dike sills and volcanic rocks on the northern margin of the Precambrian North China Craton (NCC), may suggest intraplate extension of Columbia supercontinent. Major and trace elements of the Jining granite show an affinity to A-type granites, and may reflect an intraplate rift setting (A 1 ‐type granite). High Rb, Y, Yb, and Ta contents also show features of within-plate granites. SHRIMP zircon dating yielded concordant weighted mean 207 Pb/ 206 Pb ages of 1318 ± 7 Ma and 1321 ± 15 Ma, which define a Mesoproterozoic magmatic event. The zircons have negative e Hf(t) of …
Zircon dating of Neoproterozoic and Cambrian ophiolites in West Mongolia and implications for the timing of orogenic processes in the central part of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt
Abstract We present new isotopic and trace element data to review the geochronological/geochemical/geological evolution of the central part of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt (CAOB), and find a fundamental geological problem in West Mongolia, which has traditionally been subdivided into northwestern early Paleozoic (formerly Caledonian) and southerly late Paleozoic (formerly Hercynian) belts by the Main Mongolian Lineament (MML). We resolve this problem with SHRIMP zircon dating of ophiolites and re-evaluation of much published literature. In Northwest Mongolia the Dariv–Khantaishir ophiolite marks the boundary between the Lake arc in the west and the Dzabkhan–Baydrag microcontinent in the …