neoproterozoic adakitic plutons in the northern margin of the yangtze block china partial melting of a thickened lower crust and implications for secular crustal evolution abstract numerous neoproterozoic felsic and mafic ultramafic intrusions occur in the hannan region at the northern margin of the yangtze block among these the wudumen and erliba plutons consist of granodiorites and have shrimp zircon u pb ages of 735 ma the rocks have high k 2 o 0 8 3 6 wt and na 2 o 4 4 6 4 wt and low mgo 0 4 1 7 wt they also have high sr y 32 209 and la yb n ratios 4 4 38 6 their e nd values range from 0 41 to 0 92 and zircon initial 176 hf 177 hf ratios from 0 282353 to 0 282581 these geochemical features are similar to those of adakitic rocks produced by partial melting of a thickened lower crust our new analytical results combined with the occurrence of voluminous arc related mafic ultramafic intrusions emplaced before 740 ma lead us to propose that the crustal evolution in the northern margin of the yangtze block during neoproterozoic involved 1 rapid crustal growth and thickening by underplating of mafic magmas from the mantle which was modified by materials coming from the subducting oceanic slab from 1 0 to 0 74 ga and 2 partial melting of the thickened lower crust due to a thermal anomaly induced by upwelling of asthenosphere through an oceanic slab window producing the 735 ma adakitic wudumen and erliba plutons our model suggests that the crustal thickness was more than 50 km at the northern margin of the yangtze block at 735 ma and rule out the possibility of a mantle plume impact causing the 735 ma magmatism in the region

dehydration melting of amphibolite at 10 kbar the effects of temperature and time we have simulated the dehydration melting of a natural low k calcic amphibolite 67 4 hornblende 32 5 anorthite in piston cylinder experiments at 10 kbar and 750 1000 c for 1 9 days the solidus temperature is lower than 750 c garnet appears at 850 c the overall reaction is hb p l cpx al hb ca hb ga opx three stages of reaction are 1 melting dominated by the growth of clinopyroxene and garnet with little change in composition of liquid or garnet 2 a reversal of this reaction between 875 c and 900 c with decreases in the amounts of liquid and garnet and 3 a large increase in liquid along with the loss of hornblende and decrease of plagioclase while clinopyroxene and garnet increase garnet is enriched in pyrope and zoned from fe cores to mg edges range 3 mol pyrope liquid composition is enriched first in an to 950 c and then in ab the liquids are more calcic and aluminous than natural tonalites which is attributed to the plagioclase composition an90 the formation of peraluminous liquid from the metaluminous amphibolite is caused by anorthite not h2o saturated conditions the results are consistent with an amphibolite phase diagram with relatively high solidus temperatures in the garnet absent field 900 1000 c but with a solidus backbend at 7 9 kbar coincident with the garnet in boundary hornblende breakdown due to garnet formation in a closed system must make h2o available for h2o undersaturated melting right down to the h2o saturated solidus below 700 c which defines a large low temperature pt area where hydrous granitoid melts can be generated with residual garnet and hornblende

uhp metamorphism and exhumation of the dabie orogen china evidence from shrimp dating of zircon and monazite from a uhp granitic gneiss cobble from the hefei basin a shrimp u pb study of zircons separated from an ultrahigh pressure uhp granitic gneiss cobble sample ds12 from the upper jurassic fenghuangtai formation of the hefei basin north of the dabie orogen has identified three different domains 1 cores some of which show straight boundaries and strong oscillatory zoning with th u ratios of 0 12 0 70 and an imprecise upper intercept age of 777 220 ma mswd 2 4 2 mantles variable in shape and cathodoluminescence cl intensity and containing many uhp mineral inclusions including coesite and omphacite and with th u ratios of 0 02 0 26 and a weighted mean 206pb 238u age of 244 5 ma mswd 4 7 and 3 rims which are more homogeneous and luminescent in cl than the mantles and contain fewer uhp mineral inclusions with th u ratios of 0 01 0 05 and a weighted mean 206pb 238u age of 226 2 ma mswd 0 65 monazites from the same sample do not contain coesite and omphacite inclusions but they do show sector zones and are composed of two contrasting domains the light domains in backscattered electron bse images have a th u ratio of 7 3 18 9 and a weighted mean 206pb 238u age of 221 2 ma mswd 0 94 the dark domains in bse have a th u ratio of 2 8 7 2 and have a weighted mean 206pb 238u age of 218 2 ma mswd 0 96 based on these data and a review of the literature it can be concluded that 1 the protolith of gneiss sample ds12 is a granitoid of neoproterozoic age 2 the ages of 244 and 226 ma for the mantle and rim domains of the zircons are time records of two discrete stages in the uhp evolution of dabieshan 3 the ages of 221 and 218 ma for the light and dark gray domains respectively of the monazites record the times of two stages of retrogressive metamorphism during exhumation of the uhp granitic gneiss to a higher crustal level 4 the exhumation rate of the gneiss is estimated to be 6 km ma and 5 the uhp metamorphic blocks of the dabie orogen provided significant detritus to the hefei basin in the jurassic

zircon lu hf isotopic constraints on neoproterozoic subduction related crustal growth along the western margin of the yangtze block south china abstract voluminous neoproterozoic igneous rocks along the western margin of the yangtze block south china provide an ideal opportunity for examining the nature of the mantle source petrogenesis of the felsic plutons and processes and timing of crustal growth the dadukou tongde gaojiacun and shaba mafic plutons and datian and dajianshan adakitic plutons were selected for zircon lu hf isotope analysis zircons from the mafic plutons have hf t values ranging from 1 86 to 11 63 with average hf t values of the different samples ranging from 4 78 0 42 to 7 60 1 1 their single stage model ages range from 0 86 to 1 28 ga the two adakitic plutons have hf t values ranging from 2 26 to 11 68 and single stage model ages from 0 86 to 1 24 ga our data further confirm that the mafic plutons were extracted from depleted mantle sources whereas the datian and dajianshan adakitic plutons were products of melting of a subducted oceanic slab the arc geochemical affinity relatively high 143 nd 144 nd ratios and high zircon hf t values as well as the relatively young hf single stage model ages of these neoproterozoic plutons suggest that the continental crustal growth in the region was related to oceanic subduction rather than upwelling of a mantle plume in a rifting setting the neoproterozoic magmatism along the western margin of the yangtze block lasted more than 200 my not show episodic emplacement and contrasting zircon hf isotopes suggesting that continental crustal growth in south china was continuously resulted from subduction

metasomatic mantle source and crustal contamination for the formation of the neoproterozoic mafic dike swarm in the northern yangtze block south china abstract in the huangling region of the northern yangtze block south china the 820 ma huangling felsic pluton was intruded by 800 ma mafic dikes these dikes are composed of fine to medium grained diabase porphyritic diabase and olivine gabbro quartz xenocrysts occur locally in the olivine gabbro the rocks are alkaline to sub alkaline in composition and have sio2 ranging from 43 3 to 57 2 wt mgo from 3 7 to 9 2 wt and total alkali from 3 0 to 7 3 wt they exhibit lree enrichment la yb n 3 3 28 5 with slightly negative eu anomalies eu eu 0 6 1 0 their primitive mantle normalized trace element patterns are characterized by enrichment of large ion lithophile elements rb ba th and u depletion of high field strength elements nb ta zr and hf and positive pb and negative ti anomalies they have relatively high initial 87sr 86sr ratios ranging from 0 7052 to 0 7080 and variably negative end t values from 4 2 to 10 9 the rocks have a large range of whole rock ehf values 0 35 to 11 34 and a relatively narrow range of pb isotope ratios 206pb 204pb 16 96 to 17 97 207pb 204pb 15 41 to 15 58 and 208pb 204pb 38 08 to 39 66 initial 87sr 86sr ratios correlate negatively with 206pb 204pb ratios whereas 143nd 144nd and 208pb 204pb ratios and ehf values correlate positively with 206pb 204pb ratios these features are indicative of an em2 source region suggesting a lithospheric mantle source modified by subducted components during the neoproterozoic the quartz xenocrysts and linear isotopic variations indicate strong crustal contamination during magma emplacement the energy constrained assimilation and fractional crystallization ec afc modeling calculations reveal that the parental magmas were contaminated by continental crust including archaean amphibolites granitic gneisses metasedimentary rocks and granitic rocks the mafic dikes are 20 myrs younger than the huangling felsic pluton which was produced by partial melting of a thickened continental crust suggesting that the mafic dikes were a consequence of post orogenic extension the huangling region may have originally been located at the centre of the yangtze block the possible heat source for the generation of the huangling felsic pluton and mafic dikes was asthenospheric wedging resulting from oceanic slab subduction beneath the northern margin of the yangtze block this conclusion rules out the possibility that the yangtze block was located in the central part of the rodinia supercontinent the block was more likely situated along the margin of rodinia

migration of fluid phases and genesis of basalt magmas in subduction zones dehydration and hydration reactions in both the downgoing lithosphere and the overlying mantle wedge have been examined in order to understand the role of h2o in the production of magmas at convergent plate boundaries the subduction of oceanic lithosphere occurring with increasing pressures and rising temperatures causes liberation of h2o from the slab amphibole which can be stable to the highest pt conditions among hydrous phases in the slab decomposes at around 90 km depth it follows that the subducted lithosphere is essentially anhydrous beneath volcanic arcs lying more than 110 km above the slab and that the supply of slab derived h2o is not a direct trigger for the production of arc magmas instead the h2o released from downgoing lithosphere reacts with the forearc mantle wedge to crystallize hydrous minerals serpentine talc amphibole chlorite and phlogopite this hydrated peridotite is dragged downward on the slab toward higher pt regions and releases h2o to shallower potential magma source regions in the mantle wedge combining experimental data on the stability of serpentine and talc with the thermal structure in the mantle wedge it is concluded that those minerals decompose beneath the forearc region on the other hand high pt experimental and thermodynamic data suggest that dehydration of amphibole and chlorite in the downdragged hydrated peridotite can take place just beneath a volcanic front phlogopite in the peridotite decomposes to release h2o at a deeper level about 200 km h2o liberated from the hydrated peridotite causes partial melting of overlying mantle wedge peridotites along with the migration of h2o through the above processes subduction components especially large ion lithophile elements can be overprinted on the magma source region which governs the geochemical characteristics of arc magmas

dehydration melting of tonalites part ii composition of melts and solids dehydration melting of tonalitic compositions phlogopite or biotite plagioclase quartz assemblages is investigated within a temperature range of 700 1000 c and pressure range of 2 15 kbar the solid reaction products in the case of the phlogopite plagioclase an45 quartz starting material are enstatite clinopyroxene and potassium feldspar with amphiboles occurring occasionally at 12 kbar zoisite is observed below 800 c and garnet at 900 c the reaction products of dehydration melting of the biotite ann50 plagioclase an45 quartz assemblage are melt orthopyroxene clinopyroxene amphibole and potassium feldspar at pressures 8 kbar and temperatures below 800 c epidote is also formed almandine rich garnet appears above 10 kbar at temperatures 750 c the composition of melts is granitic to granodioritic hence showing the importance of dehydration melting of tonalites for the formation of granitic melts and granulitic restites at pressure temperature conditions within the continental crust the melt compositions plot close to the cotectic line dividing the liquidus surfaces between quartz and potassium feldspar in the haplogranite system at 5 kbar and ah2o 1 the composition of the melts changes with the composition of the starting material temperature and pressure with increasing temperature the melt becomes enriched in al2o3 and feo mgo potash in the melt is highest just when biotite disappears the amount of cao decreases up to 900 c at 5 kbar whereas at higher temperatures it increases as amphibole clinopyroxene and more an component dissolve in the melt the na2o content of the melt increases slightly with increase in temperature the composition of the melt at temperatures 900 c approaches that of the starting assemblage the melt fraction varies with composition and proportion of hydrous phases in the starting composition as well as temperature and pressure with increasing modal biotite from 20 to 30 wt the melt proportion increases from 19 8 to 22 3 vol 850 c and 5 kbar with increasing temperature from 800 to 950 c at 5 kbar the increase in melt fraction is from 11 to 25 8 vol the effect of pressure on the melt fraction is observed to be relatively small and the melt proportion in the same assemblage decreases at 850 c from 19 8 vol at 5 kbar to 15 3 vol at 15 kbar selected experiments were reversed at 2 and 5 kbar to demonstrate that near equilibrium compositions were obtained in runs of longer duration

zircon u pb age trace element and hf isotope composition of kongling terrane in the yangtze craton refining the timing of palaeoproterozoic high grade metamorphism u pb age trace element and hf isotope compositions of zircon were analysed for a metasedimentary rock and two amphibolites from the kongling terrane in the northern part of the yangtze craton the zircon shows distinct morphological and chemical characteristics most zircon in an amphibolite shows oscillatory zoning high th u and 176lu 177hf ratios high formation temperature high trace element contents clear negative eu anomaly as well as hree enriched patterns suggesting that it is igneous the zircon yields a weighted mean 207pb 206pb age of 2857 8 ma representing the age of the magmatic protolith the zircon in the other two samples is metamorphic it has low th u ratios low trace element concentrations variable hree contents 33 8 lun 2213 14 7 lun smn 354 and 176lu 177hf ratios 0 000030 0 001168 the data indicate that the zircon formed in the presence of garnet and under upper amphibolite facies conditions the metamorphic zircon yields a weighted mean 207pb 206pb age of 2010 13 ma these results combined with previously obtained palaeoproterozoic metamorphic ages suggest a c 2 0 ga palaeoproterozoic collisional event in the yangtze craton which may result from the assembly of the supercontinent columbia the zircon in two samples yields weighted mean two stage hf model tdm2 ages of 3217 110 and 2943 50 ma respectively indicating that their protoliths were mainly derived from archean crust

source and tectonic implications of tonalite trondhjemite magmatism in the klamath mountains in the klamath mountains voluminous tonalite trondhjemite magmatism was characteristic of a short period of time from about 144 to 136 ma early cretaceous it occurred about 5 to 10 m y after the 165 to 159 ma josephine ophiolite was thrust beneath older parts of the province during the nevadan orogeny thrusting from 155 to 148 ma the magmatism also corresponds to a period of slow or no subduction most of the plutons crop out in the south central klamath mountains in california but one occurs in oregon at the northern end of the province compositionally extended members of the suite consist of precursor gabbroic to dioritic rocks followed by later more voluminous tonalitic and trondhjemitic intrusions most plutons consist almost entirely of tonalite and trondhjemite poorly defined concentric zoning is common tonalitic rocks are typically of the low al type but trondhjemites are generally of the high al type even those that occur in the same pluton as low al tonalite the suite is characterized by low abundances of k2o rb zr and heavy rare earth elements sr contents are generally moderate 450 ppm by comparison with sr rich arc lavas interpreted to be slab melts up to 2000 ppm initial 87sr 86sr 18o and nd are typical of mantle derived magmas or of crustally derived magmas with a metabasic source compositional variation within plutons can be modeled by variable degrees of partial melting of a heterogeneous metabasaltic source transitional mid ocean ridge to island arc basalt but not by fractional crystallyzation of a basaltic parent melting models require a residual assemblage of clinopyroxene garnet plagioclase amphibole residual plagioclase suggests a deep crustal origin rather than melting of a subducted slab such models are consistent with the metabasic part of the josephine ophiolite as the source because the josephine ophiolite was at low t during nevadan thrusting an external heat source was probably necessary to achieve significant degrees of melting heat was probably extracted from mantle derived basaltic melts which were parental to the mafic precursors of the tonalite trondhjemite suite thus under appropriate tectonic and thermal conditions heterogeneous mafic crustal rocks can melt to form both low and high al tonalitic and trondhjemitic magmas slab melting is not necessary

neoproterozoic high k granites produced by melting of newly formed mafic crust in the huangling region south china abstract the huangling igneous complex in the central yangtze block south china consists of the 850 ma tonalite and trondhjemite which were intruded by the 826 13 ma high k granite the granites are composed of plagioclase 30 60 alkali feldspar 10 30 quartz 20 30 biotite 2 63 1 73 3 wt k 2 o 2 58 4 79 wt and na 2 o 3 90 5 89 wt and low mgo 0 49 1 78 wt and are magnesian alkali calcic in composition their chondrite normalized ree patterns are characterized by enrichment of lree la yb n 14 5 32 8 and mostly negative eu anomalies eu eu 0 5 1 1 they have moderately high sr 202 698 ppm and low y 6 13 18 7 ppm with sr y ratios of 14 64 these large elemental variations probably resulted from fractional crystallization they also have negative whole rock nd 9 75 to 11 73 and zircon hf values 7 1 to 15 8 which are similar to those of the neoproterozoic mafic rocks in the same region suggesting that the granites may have been produced by melting of newly emplaced mafic rocks tonalites and trondhjemites of the huangling complex previously were considered as products by differentiation of water rich basaltic magmas and melting of the thickened archean continental crust in an arc setting respectively therefore the crustal growth and reworking of the yangtze block were probably wholly controlled by the subduction system which resulted in formation of the stable continent during the neoproterozoic

generation of sodium rich magmas from newly underplated basaltic crust sodium rich rocks of trondhjemite tonalite dacite ttd or granodiorite ttg suites form much of precambrian continental crust1 they are thought to have formed by partial melting of subducted oceanic crust2 3 a process that would have been much more widespread early in earth history than at present owing to the higher thermal gradients prevailing at that time4 phanerozoic ttd suites do exist however and seem also to relate to subduction zones5 defant and drummond6 proposed that these suites form where young 25 myr hot oceanic lithosphere is subducted and melts thus locally simulating the conditions that led to widespread crustal growth in the archaean here we describe plutonic and volcanic rocks from the cordillera blanca complex in peru which have characteristics of the high al ttd suite but which were produced above a subduction zone containing a 60 myr old slab we present evidence that the complex formed by partial melting of newly underplated basaltic crust and argue that this mechanism should be considered more generally as an additional way of generating sodium rich arc magmas

geochronology and isotopic character of ultrahigh pressure metamorphism with implications for collision of the sino korean and yangtze cratons central china the collision zone between the sino korean and yangtze cratons in central china is marked by subduction related metamorphic rocks composed of crustal protoliths these range in metamorphic grade from ultrahigh pressure eclogite to low greenschist facies the paragenesis of the ultrahigh pressure rocks coesite and diamond bearing indicates subduction to depths greater than 120 km as a result of continental collision despite extreme metamorphic conditions zircons have not undergone pb loss but rather illustrate two periods of growth crystallization between 700 and 800 ma and ultrahigh pressure metamorphism at 218 2 5 ma previous studies have predicted a time transgressive collision but age data presented in this study indicate that the collision was approximately coeval along the length of the suture u pb zircon ages of these ultrahigh pressure metamorphic rocks are 218 4 2 5 ma and 217 1 8 7 ma for the dabie mountains and shandong peninsula respectively the similar ages imply that the tan lu fault which offsets the ultrahigh pressure metamorphic rocks is a secondary feature not related to collision or subduction whole rock isotopic data show that both rb sr and u pb were open systems during metamorphism but that sm nd probably remained closed nd initial isotopes display crustal signatures indicating that the crust subducted as a coherent slab rather than becoming intercalated with mantle material at depth sm nd data in conjunction with u pb zircon dating indicate that the ultrahigh pressure rocks are not typical yangtze craton basement 2 9 ga but that they originally crystallized in a rift environment between 700 and 800 ma discrepancies between 40ar 39ar plateaus sm nd isochrons and u pb zircon ages render calculation of a p t t path unrealistic

subduction related origin of the 750 ma xuelongbao adakitic complex sichuan province china implications for the tectonic setting of the giant neoproterozoic magmatic event in south china

neoproterozoic tonalite and trondhjemite in the huangling complex south china crustal growth and reworking in a continental arc environment the huangling igneous complex in the central yangtze block of south china is composed of 850 ma tonalite and trondhjemite intruded by 820 ma granite tonalites mainly consist of plagioclase and quartz with abundant hornblende and biotite and contain fine to coarse grained hornblende rich igneous enclaves they have variably low sio2 56 4 67 5 wt and sr 230 517 ppm and high mgo 1 47 4 02 wt and high y 8 87 15 7 ppm with low sr y 17 43 unlike archean tonalites their whole rock end values range from 8 3 to 10 3 and zircon ehf values from 3 9 to 12 6 similar to those of spatially associated neoproterozoic mafic rocks the tonalites are thus proposed to have been produced by three stages involving partial melting of subduction modified lithospheric mantle 5 to 20 percent crustal contamination of hydrous basaltic magmas in the middle to lower crust and fractional crystallization of amphibole plagioclase biotite magnetite trondhjemites are composed of plagioclase quartz and alkali feldspar with minor biotite and hornblende they have high sio2 67 3 75 6 wt and sr 340 840 ppm and low mgo 0 09 0 78 wt and y 4 8 11 2 ppm with high sr y 32 162 similar to archean trondhjemites and high pressure partial melts of mafic rocks these rocks have extremely negative end 18 7 to 19 9 and zircon ehf values 18 9 to 49 2 with two stage hf isotope model ages of 2 46 to 3 90 ga indicating their formation in the lower crust by melting of archean amphibolites and granulites which were probably widely distributed beneath the yangtze block their highly variable chemical compositions also resulted from fractional crystallization of plagioclase hornblende biotite thus the association of the tonalite and trondhjemite is different from the archean ttg series this difference may reflect different geothermal gradients however modeling using tonalitic and trondhjemitic samples of the huangling complex suggests that mixing of the two magmas can generate a typical ttg affinity series suggesting that the origin of some ttg series may have involved both crustally derived and mantle derived melts the generation of the huangling igneous complex was linked to slab subduction beneath the northern margin of the yangtze block during the neoproterozoic similar to the cenozoic arc magmatism in the andes therefore melting of metasomatized hydrous mantle in arc settings can generate mafic magmas that not only under plated and contributed to continental crustal growth but also caused melting of thickened ancient crust and newly formed lower mafic crust

secular changes in tonalite trondhjemite granodiorite composition as markers of the progressive cooling of earth archean tonalite trondhjemite granodiorite associations ttg are classically thought to generate through partial melting of hydrous metabasalts however the chemical composition of the least differentiated ttg parental magmas evolved from 4 0 to 2 5 ga during this interval the mg as well as the ni and cr contents increased which is interpreted as reflecting increased interactions between felsic melts generated by metabasalt melting and mantle peridotite similarly cao na2o and sr also increased over time thus reflecting an increase in the abundance of plagioclase in the melt residue the presence or absence of residual plagioclase is interpreted in terms of melting depth the demonstrated interaction between ttg parental magmas and the mantle rules out their genesis by fusion of previously underplated metabasalt and favors the melting of subducted slab material at 4 0 ga earth s geothermal gradient was sufficiently high to allow slab melting at shallow depths where plagioclase was stable consequently due to the small thickness of the overlying mantle wedge felsic magmas interacted little with the mantle at 2 5 ga however owing to lower geothermal gradients the melting depth was greater and plagioclase became no longer stable in the thick mantle wedge overlying the subducted slab as a result felsic magmas reacted strongly with the mantle peridotite the changes of ttg composition during archean time can be thus interpreted as reflecting the progressive cooling of earth

the origin of a primitive trondhjemite from the trans mexican volcanic belt and its implications for the construction of a modern continental arc a remarkable suite of miocene high silica trondhjemites discovered in the central trans mexican volcanic belt indicates that slab melts can ascend through the mantle and crust while suffering only minor compositional modifications despite carrying an assortment of deep crustal xenoliths the trondhjemites preserve the most depleted isotopic compositions ever measured in the mexican arc with values that are nearly identical to those of the pacific mid oceanic ridge basalts these rocks also have high sr y ratios and extremely fractionated heavy rare earth element patterns at relatively high mg number mg features that are all consistent with melts from the subducted oceanic crust that had only limited interaction with mantle peridotite during ascent nonetheless modeling results indicate that these unusual geochemical features can be modified by more extensive mantle assimilation resulting in compositions that could match those of more typical intermediate rocks from mexico the data thus indicate that the slab melt component uniquely recorded by the miocene trondhjemites represents a likely constituent for most volcanic sequences of the mexican arc and suggest that a modern andesitic continental crust can be constructed directly from mantle modified slab melts without a basaltic precursor

origin and tectonic significance of a mesozoic multi layer over thrust system within the yangtze block south china abstract in the yangtze block south china a well developed mesozoic thrust system extends through the xuefeng and wuling mountains in the southeast to the sichuan basin in the northwest the system comprises both thin and thick skinned thrust units separated by a boundary detachment fault the dayin fault to the northwest the thin skinned belt is characterized by either chevron anticlines and box synclines to the northwest or chevron synclines to the southeast the former structural style displays narrow exposures for the cores of anticlines and wider exposures for the cores of synclines thrust detachments occur along silurian fs and lower cambrian fc strata and are dominantly associated with the anticlines to the southeast this style of deformation passes gradually into one characterized by chevron synclines with associated principal detachment faults along silurian fs cambrian fc and lower sinian fz strata there are however numerous secondary back thrusts therefore the thin skinned belt is like the valley and ridge province of the north american applachian mountains the thick skinned belt structurally overlies the thin skinned belt and is characterized by a number of klippen including the xuefeng and wuling nappes it is thus comparable to the blue ridge province of appalachia the structural pattern of this thrust system in south china can be explained by a model involving detachment faulting along various stratigraphic layers at different stages of its evolution the system was developed through a northwest stepwise progression of deformation with the earliest delamination along lower sinian strata fz analyses of balanced geological cross sections yield about 18 1 21 total 88 km shortening for the thin skinned unit and at least this amount of shortening for the thick skinned unit the compressional deformation from southeast to northwest during late jurassic to cretaceous time occurred after the westward progressive collision of the yangtze block with the north china block and suggests that the orogenic event was intracontinental in nature

ree geochemistry and isotopic data of archean silicic volcanics and granitoids from the pilbara block western australia implications for the early crustal evolution eighteen silicic volcanic rocks of the warrawoona group and ten associated plutonic rocks from the pilbara block western australia have been chosen for geochemical and isotopic studies silicic volcanics of the unsb upper member of north star basalt are dated at 3 56 3 57 by both the rb sr and the sm nd methods the respective 1 initial isotopic composition values are 0 7005 5 sr and 0 50810 39 nd this age is consistent with the stratigraphic interpretation that the talgatalga subgroup in which the north star basalt occupies the lowermost position is overlain by the duffer formation whose age was earlier established at 3 45 by the zircon u pb method the new rb sr data on six silicic lava samples from the duffer formation yield an isochron of 3 23 0 28 2v though imprecise this age agrees with the zircon age within error limits rb sr ages of 2 3 2 4 obtained for the panorama rocks and the wyman formation do not correspond to their initial eruption ages chemical arguments suggest that these ages represent the time of metasomatism associated with the widespread thermal event in this region about 2 3 2 4 ago geochemically most of these analyzed rocks volcanic and plutonic are of tonalite trondhjemitegranodiorite ttg composition a typical feature found in many other archean terrains they generally show fractionated ree patterns except the panorama formation rocks furthermore the wyman formation rhyolites and the post tectonic adamellites show significant negative eu anomalies suggesting a similar mode of magma generation and a probable genetic link theoretical considerations suggest that most of these ttg rocks could have been generated by partial melting of amphibolitic or basaltic sources followed by fractional crystallization although the archean granitic gneisses often possess mantle like isr values the trace element data indicate that they could not have been derived by direct melting of upper mantle materials the immediate tectonic implication is that in any archean terrain the formation of na rich continental crust of ttg suite must be preceded by the presence of basaltic crust the occurrence of this basaltic crust is a matter of controversy such crust might have been totally destroyed by repeated melting processes or its remnants are now represented by some of the mafic ultramafic enclaves within the tonalite trondhjemite batholiths

formation of earth s early archaean continental crust abstract subduction of oceanic crust at an unusually low angle has been proposed as a model for the growth of continental crust older than about 2 5 ga at modern zones of low angle or flat subduction magmatic additions to new crust come from partial melting of both the subducting oceanic crust slab and the thin wedge of mantle above the slab evidence for both a slab and wedge source is preserved in most late archaean 3 0 2 5 ga terrains but we find little evidence that a mantle wedge contributed to crustal growth prior to 3 1 ga this lack of evidence in part reflects a dearth of exposed crust aged between 3 0 and 3 3 ga but also suggests that subduction enriched mantle source regions did not develop before 3 3 ga and possibly not before 3 1 ga in contrast to most modern terrains and some late archaean terrains early archaean 3 3 ga continental crust evolved through direct melting of thick mafic crust we invoke a process of subduction that does not include the development of a mantle wedge and call this process archaean flat subduction to distinguish it from modern low angle subduction

granites of the batholiths of california products of local assimilation and regional scale crustal contamination we address on a regional scale the controversial problem of determining the source materials involved in the formation of the granites of southwestern north america compositional data on plutonic biotites whole rock chemistry and mineral assemblages in rocks collected as part of sampling traverses across die batholiths of central and southern california are assessed for this purpose we conclude that two distinct types of granites occur in california one type largely overlooked in the past and which we term i scr strongly contaminated and reduced i type is confined to narrow northwest striking belts in the western sierra nevada and peninsular ranges batholiths in prebatholithic continental margin terrenes containing reduced pelitic roof pendants we interpret the i scr magmas to have arisen from local scale contamination of i type magmas that intruded reducing pelitic material in sedimentary roof pendant terrenes we conclude that cordierite bearing s types are absent from the california batholiths although sedimentary materials were required to produce the i scr plutons the second type of granite which we refer to as i sc strongly contaminated but not reduced i type occurs on the eastern side of the california batholiths as part of a well known regional west to east progression from quartz diorites to granites these granites are the eastern variant of a sequence that is from west to east i wc weakly contaminated i mc moderately contaminated and i sc this eastward progression is not controlled by pendant occurrence and probably reflects increasing contamination on a regional scale of mantle i type magmas with f rich igneous and metamorphic rocks or their sedimentary derivatives of the precambrian continental craton we demonstrate that the nature of prebatholithic terranes can strongly influence the composition and regional distribution of granitic rocks developed in an active continental margin

reappraisal of the ages of neoproterozoic strata in south china no connection with the grenvillian orogeny the jiangnan fold belt separates the yangtze and cathaysia blocks in south china and has long been considered grenvillian in age in order to place south china in central rodinia it consists of deformed early neoproterozoic strata that are unconformably overlain by undeformed late neoproterozoic strata and intruded by undeformed and unmetamorphosed granitic plutons zircons from the early neoproterozoic strata yield u pb ages as young as 830 ma and one granitic pluton has a zircon u pb age of ca 827 ma the 830 ma mafic rocks along the southeastern margin of the yangtze block have arc affinity geochemical characters whereas mafic rocks younger than 830 ma have typical ocean island basalt oib like compositions thus we suggest that the early neoproterozoic strata were deposited on an active continental margin prior to amalgamation of the yangtze and cathaysia blocks at ca 830 ma the overlying late neoproterozoic strata were deposited in the intracontinental rifted nanhua basin at 820 730 ma and probably reflect backarc spreading above the long lived 950 735 ma oceanic subduction zone along the northern and western margin of the yangtze block this model is consistent with the secular tectonic evolution of south china during the neoproterozoic the jiangnan fold belt is therefore not a grenvillian feature as previously suggested and there is no evidence to place south china in central rodinia instead we believe that south china was located in a marginal position relative to this supercontinent

neoproterozoic adakitic plutons and arc magmatism along the western margin of the yangtze block south china abstract neoproterozoic adakitic plutons that crop out along the western margin of the yangtze block south china from kangding on the north to panxi on the south provide constraints on the origin of the giant jinningian magmatic event of south china representative plutons include the xuelongbao 750 ma datian 760 ma and dajianshan intrusions the latter two bodies consist mainly of granodiorite with relatively high sio2 51 0 73 4 wt and mg s 0 36 0 55 they have fractionated rare earth element patterns with la yb n ratios ranging from 2 6 to 101 8 and are characterized by high sr 344 1018 ppm and low y 4 3 17 9 ppm yielding sr y ratios ranging from 27 to 111 on primitive mantle normalized trace element diagrams these rocks show enrichment of large ion lithophile elements and depletion of high field strength elements nb ta with positive zr hf and negative ti anomalies consistent with an arc related setting they have relatively constant initial whole rock 87sr 86sr ratios 0 70

the c27n c26r geomagnetic polarity reversal recorded in the west greenland flood basalt province how complex is the transitional field 1 we present a paleomagnetic record of the c27n c26r 60 9 ma geomagnetic polarity reversal gpr sampled in two separate lava sequences in the vaigat formation west greenland flood basalt province the two profiles distanced 16 km apart consist of 45 and 35 sampled lava flows of which 31 and 23 respectively record transitional field directions a prominent feature of each profile is the presence of successive flows with similar paleomagnetic directions which based on geological geochemical and paleomagnetic evidences are interpreted to represent flow fields i e lavas erupted in a short period of time rather than periods when the geomagnetic field stood still multimodel photogrammetry shows that the typical flow length of vaigat formation picritic lavas is 2 km which explains why flow to flow correlation of paleomagnetic directions between the two profiles 16 km apart is not possible the two profiles therefore record different and independent time series of the same gpr allowing us to cast light on some of the questions that have arisen from single records particularly noteworthy is the fact that the two high resolution paleomagnetic records share no general trends clearly indicating that the c27n c26r transitional field was more complex and faster changing than can be resolved by either record in addition we obtained stable polarity paleomagnetic data from both pretransitional c27n and posttransitional c26r yielding a paleomagnetic pole latitude 64 8 n longitude 141 5 e n 14 k 19 8 a95 9 2 that passes reversal test

can slab melting be caused by flat subduction slab melting has been suggested as a likely source of adakitic arc magmas i e andesitic and dacitic magmas strongly depleted in y and heavy rare earth elements existing numerical and petrologic models however restrict partial melting to very young 5 ma oceanic crust typically at 60 80 km depth paradoxically most of the known pliocene quaternary adakite occurrences are related to subduction of 10 45 ma lithosphere which should not be able to melt under normal subduction zone thermal gradients we propose an unusual mode of subduction known as flat subduction occurring in 10 of the world s convergent margins that can produce the temperature and pressure conditions necessary for fusion of moderately old oceanic crust of the 10 known flat subduction regions worldwide eight are linked to present or recent 6 ma occurrences of adakitic magmas observations from chile ecuador and costa rica suggest a three stage evolution 1 steep subduction produces a narrow calc alkaline arc typically 300 km from the trench above the asthenospheric wedge 2 once flat subduction begins the lower plate travels several hundred kilometers at nearly the same depth thus remaining in a pressure temperature window allowing slab melting over this broad distance and 3 once flat subduction continues for several million years the asthenospheric wedge disappears and a volcanic gap results as in modern day central chile or peru the proposed hypothesis which reconciles thermal models with geochemical observations has broad implications for the study of arc magmatism and for the thermal evolution of convergent margins

contrasting geochemical and sm nd isotopic compositions of archean metasediments from the kongling high grade terrain of the yangtze craton evidence for cratonic evolution and redistribution of ree during crustal anatexis abstract twenty three clastic metasediments from the kongling high grade terrain of the yangtze craton south china were analyzed for major trace and rare earth elements and sm nd isotopic ratios associated dioritic tonalitic trondhjemitic dtt and granitic gneisses as well as amphibolites were also analyzed in order to constrain provenance the results show that the clastic metasediments can be classified into 3 distinct groups in terms of mineralogical geochemical and sm nd isotopic compositions group a is characterized by having no to slight negative eu anomalies eu eu 0 82 1 07 being high in cr 191 396 ppm and ni 68 137 ppm and low in th 3 3 7 8 ppm and ree ree 99 156 ppm these characteristics are similar to those of metasediments from archean greenstone belts in addition the group a metasediments have the value of the chemical index of alteration ciw close to felsic gneisses their sm nd isotopic ree and trace element compositions can be interpreted by mixtures of the dtt gneisses and amphibolites dating of detrital zircons from 2 group a samples by shrimp reveals a major concordant age group of 2 87 3 0 ga which is identical to the age of the trondhjemitic gneiss these results strongly suggest that group a was principally the first cycle erosion product of the local kongling dtt gneiss and amphibolite moreover the higher than amphibolite cr content and slight eu depletion exhibited by some samples from this group infer that ultramafic rocks like komatiite and granite of probably 3 0 3 3 ga in age also played a role group b is characterized by the presence of graphite and shows a more evolved composition similar to post archean shales with a prominent negative eu anomaly eu eu 0 48 0 77 and high ciw on paired cr th vs la co and co th plots group b samples conform to a two end member mixing line of the kongling granitic gneiss and amphibolite however data on nd model age and ciw suggest that the granite component should be younger than the sampled granitic gneiss and derived from a distal source both groups a and b exhibit a clear positive correlation between ciw and tdm and a negative one between ciw and eu eu these correlations point to the crustal evolution of the yangtze craton towards coupled increasing ciw and eu depletion with decreasing age this in turn reflects the change of granitoid magmatism from local na rich dioritic tonalitic trondhjemitic rocks to widespread k feldspar granite the change led to the intracrustal differentiation stabilization and growth of the craton group c is restite and contains abundant sillimanite and garnet and unusually high ilmenite 7 11vol which can be seen to be dehydration melting products of biotite under the microscope this group shows extremely varied ree distributions from lree enriched to depleted and from negative to strong positive eu eu 1 63 eu anomalies compared to groups a and b group c is severely depleted in na2o k2o lree rb and ba whereas tio2 co v sc and hree and y are considerably enriched this is accompanied by anomalous high sm nd 0 21 0 28 147sm 144nd 0 1361 0 1738 and 143nd 144nd 0 511589 0 511958 ratios tdm correlates clearly with sm nd ratio and 2 out of 3 samples give significantly older to unrealistic tdm 3 9 4 9 ga the results document redistribution of ree and an open behavior of the sm nd isotope system during the biotite dehydration melting of metasediments