Origin of LateTriassic high-Mg adakitic granitoid rocks from the Dongjiangkou area, Qinling orogen, central China: Implications for subduction of continental crust

• Published in: Lithos Vol. 120; no. 3; pp. 347 - 367
• Main Authors: Qin, Jiang-Feng, Lai, Shao-Cong, Grapes, Rodney, Diwu, Chun-rong, Ju, Yin-Juan, Li, Yong-Fei
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 01.12.2010
• Subjects: Adakitic granite; Continental subduction; Late-Triassic; Mafic enclaves and dykes; Qinling orogenic belt; Zircon Lu-Hf isotopes; China, People's Rep., Shaanxi Prov., Qinling; China, People's Rep., North China Craton; China, People's Rep; Qinling orogenic belt; Continental subduction; Mafic enclaves and dykes; Late-Triassic; Adakitic granite; Zircon Lu-Hf isotopes
• ISSN: 0024-4937; 1872-6143
• DOI: 10.1016/j.lithos.2010.08.022

The origin of high-Mg adakitic granitoids in collisional orogens can provide important information about the nature of the lower crust and upper mantle during the orogenic process. Late-Triassic high-Mg adakitic granite and its mafic enclaves from the Dongjiangkou area, the Qinling orogenic belt, central China, were derived by partial melting of subducted continental crust and underwent interaction with the overlying mantle wedge peridotite. Adakitic affinity of the different facies of the Dongjiangkou granite body are: high Sr, Ba, high La/Yb and Sr/Y, low Y,Yb, Yb/Lu and Dy/Yb, and no significant Eu anomalies, suggesting amphibole + garnet and plagioclase-free restite in their source region. Evolved Sr-Nd-Pb isotopic compositions [( 87Sr/ 86Sr) i = 0.7050 to 0.7055,ε Nd(t) = –6.6 to –3.3; ( 206Pb/ 204Pb) i = 17.599 to 17.799, ( 207Pb/ 204Pb) i = 15.507 to 15.526, ( 208Pb/ 204Pb) i = 37.775 to 37.795] and high K 2O, Rb, together with a large variation in zircon Hf isotopic composition (ε Hf(t) = −9.8 to + 5.0), suggest that the granite was derived from reworking of the ancient lower continental crust. CaO, P 2O 5, K 2O/Na 2O, Cr, Ni, Nb/Ta, Rb/Sr and Y increase, and SiO 2, Sr/Y and Eu/Eu* decrease with increasing MgO, consistent with interaction of primitive adakitic melt and overlying mantle peridotite. Zircons separated from the host granites have U-Pb concordia ages of 214 ± 2 Ma to 222 ± 2 Ma, compatible with exhumation ages of Triassic UHP metamorphic rocks in the Dabie orogenic belt. Mafic microgranular enclaves and mafic dykes associated with the granite have identical zircon U-Pb ages of 220 Ma, and are characterized by lower SiO 2, high TiO 2, Mg# and similar evolved Sr-Nd-Pb isotopic composition. Zircons from mafic microgranular enclaves (MMEs) and mafic dykes also show a large variation in Hf isotopic composition with ε Hf(t) between −11.3 and + 11.3. It is inferred that they were formed by partial melting of enriched mantle lithosphere and contaminated by the host adakitic granite magma. In combination with the regional geology, high-Mg# adakitic granitoid rocks in the Dongjiangkou area are considered to have resulted from interaction between subducted Yangtze continental crust and the overlying mantle wedge. Triassic continental collision caused detachment of the Yangtze continental lithosphere subducted beneath the North China Craton, at ca. 220 Ma causing asthenosphere upwelling and exhumation of the continental crust. Triassic clockwise rotation of the Yangtze Craton caused extension in the Dabie area which led to rapid exhumation of the subducted continental lithosphere, while compression in the Qinling area and high-P partial melting (amphibole ± garnet stability field) of the subducted continental crust produced adakitic granitic magma that reacted with peridotite to form Mg-rich hybrid magma. ►Late-Triassic Postcollisional high-Mg adakitic granitoid were formed by partial melting of subducted continental crust and underwent interaction with the overlying mantle wedge peridotite. ►The mafic enclaves were derived from enriched mantle lithosphere and contaminated by their host adakitic magma. ►An important implication for Triassic continental subduction in the Qinling orogenic belt.