0000000000433395
AUTHOR
Liqao Zhang
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…
Carboniferous and Cretaceous mafic–ultramafic massifs in Inner Mongolia (China): A SHRIMP zircon and geochemical study of the previously presumed integral “Hegenshan ophiolite”
Abstract We present SHRIMP zircon ages and whole-rock geochemical data to identify mafic–ultramafic massifs of early Carboniferous and early Cretaceous ages from northern Inner Mongolia, China. The early Carboniferous massifs (Chongenshan–Xiaobaliang–Wusnihei) comprise predominantly lherzolite and minor gabbroic rocks. Zircons from a microgabbro (e Nd (t) = 9.8) and a plagiogranite (e Nd (t) = 9) yielded weighted mean 206 Pb/ 238 U ages of 354 ± 7 Ma and 333 ± 4 Ma, that we interpret as reflecting the time of zircon (and magma) crystallization. A volcanic breccia resting unconformably on the ultramafic rocks (serpentinites) has an eruption age of 300 ± 2 Ma and provides a younger minimum …
Episodic mantle melting-crustal reworking in the late Neoarchean of the northwestern North China Craton: Zircon ages of magmatic and metamorphic rocks from the Yinshan Block
Abstract The Yinshan Block in the northwestern North China Craton comprises late Neoarchean greenstones, high-grade metamorphic rocks (granulite, charnockite, enderbite and amphibole gneiss), diorites (sanukitoid and Mg-adakite) and granitoids (predominantly trondhjemite-tonalite). A greenstone terrane comprises a volcanic sequence of predominant basalt and dacite, with minor andesite. Zircons from a high-Mg andesite and an andesite have weighted mean 207Pb/206Pb ages of 2533 ± 5 Ma and 2510 ± 7 Ma, respectively, which reflect the timing of two distinct volcanic episodes. These two either predated or postdated a major volcanic episode that formed a basalt-dacite bimodal suite during 2515 ± …
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…
Age and provenance constraints on seismically-determined crustal layers beneath the Paleozoic southern Central Asian Orogen, Inner Mongolia, China
Abstract We present 110 ages and 51 in-situ δ18O values for zircon xenocrysts from a post-99 Ma intraplate basaltic rock suite hosted in a subduction–accretion complex of the southern Central Asian Orogenic Belt in order to constrain a seismic profile across the Paleozoic Southern Orogen of Inner Mongolia and the northern margin of the North China Craton. Two zircon populations are recognized, namely a Phanerozoic group of 70 zircons comprising granitoid-derived (ca. 431–99 Ma; n = 31; peak at 256 Ma), meta-granitoid-derived (ca. 449–113 Ma; n = 24; peak at 251 Ma) and gabbro-derived (436–242 Ma; n = 15; peaks at 264 and 244 Ma) grains. Each textural type is characterized by a distinct zirc…