Timing and mechanism of Bangong-Nujiang ophiolite emplacement in the Gerze area of central Tibet

Abstract

Abstract The Bangong-Nujiang suture zone (BNSZ) separates the Lhasa terrane from the Qiangtang terrane and contains remnants of the Bangong-Nujiang oceanic lithosphere (ophiolites). Despite decades of research, when and how the Bangong-Nujiang ophiolites were emplaced remains enigmatic. In the Gerze area (western segment of the BNSZ), the geochemistry and provenance discrimination of chromian spinels (Cr-spinels) from the pre-collisional subduction complex (Mugagangri Group) and syn-collisional peripheral foreland basin succession (Wuga Formation) can help us solve this fundamental problem in the BNSZ evolution. This study compares the geochemistry of Cr-spinels from the Mugagangri Group and Wuga Formation with those from the Bangong-Nujiang ophiolites. Cr-spinels in the Bangong-Nujiang ophiolites have either low TiO2 (0.01–0.15%) and low Al2O3 (11.74–26.76%), indicating an SSZ peridotite origin, or high Al2O3 (45.28–49.15%), indicating a MORB peridotite origin. Cr-spinels from the ultramafic fragments within the Mugagangri Group have extremely low TiO2 (