0000000000988228
AUTHOR
Huadong Ma
Zircon ages and Hf isotopic compositions of plutonic rocks from the Central Tianshan (Xinjiang, northwest China) and their significance for early to mid-Palaeozoic crustal evolution
We present new zircon ages and Hf-in-zircon isotopic data for plutonic rocks and review the crustal evolution of the Chinese Central Tianshan (Xinjiang, northwest China) in the early to mid-Palaeozoic. The Early Ordovician (ca. 475–473 Ma) granitoid rocks have zircon eHf(t) values either positive (+0.3 to +9.5) or negative (−6.0 to −12.9). This suggests significant addition of juvenile material to, and coeval crustal reworking of, the pre-existing continental crust that is fingerprinted by numerous Precambrian zircon xenocrysts. The Late Ordovician–Silurian (ca. 458–425 Ma) rocks can be assigned to two sub-episodes of magmatism: zircon from rocks of an earlier event (ca. 458–442 Ma) has neg…
Zircon ages of metamorphic and magmatic rocks within peridotite-bearing mélanges: Crucial time constraints on early Carboniferous extensional tectonics in the Chinese Tianshan
Abstract We dated and geochemically characterized peridotite-bearing melanges in the Chinese South Tianshan and within the Main Tianshan Shear Zone. The Yushugou-Tonghuashan melange in the Chinese South Tianshan exposes a tectonic juxtaposition of a diapirically emplaced metaperidotite (predominantly lherzolite) massif with a high-grade metamorphic terrane (ca. 10 km long; protolith age ≥ ca. 445–466 Ma). Metamorphic zircons of a mafic granulite (eNd(t) = 5.0) yielded a weighted mean 206Pb/238U age of 341 ± 8 Ma that we interpret as the time of granulite-facies metamorphism. The youngest zircon rims of an intermediate granulite (eNd(t) = − 4.3) have a mean age of 332 ± 13 Ma that records a …
Zircon ages and Hf isotopic compositions of plutonic rocks from the Central Tianshan (Xinjiang, northwest China) and their significance for early to mid-Palaeozoic crustal evolution
We present new zircon ages and Hf-in-zircon isotopic data for plutonic rocks and review the crustal evolution of the Chinese Central Tianshan (Xinjiang, northwest China) in the early to mid-Palaeozoic. The Early Ordovician (ca. 475–473 Ma) granitoid rocks have zircon εHf(t) values either positive (+0.3 to +9.5) or negative (−6.0 to −12.9). This suggests significant addition of juvenile material to, and coeval crustal reworking of, the pre-existing continental crust that is fingerprinted by numerous Precambrian zircon xenocrysts. The Late Ordovician–Silurian (ca. 458–425 Ma) rocks can be assigned to two sub-episodes of magmatism: zircon from rocks of an earlier event (ca. 458–442 Ma) has neg…