Shi Rendeng

SHRIMP dating of the Bangong Lake SSZ-type ophiolite: Constraints on the closure time of ocean in the Bangong Lake-Nujiang River, northwestern Tibet

The Bangong Lake ophiolite is located in the westernmost part of the Bangong Lake-Nujiang River suture zone. It is a tectonic mélange consisting of numerous individual blocks of peridotite, pillowed and massive lavas and mafic dykes with SSZ-type ophiolitic geochemical affinity formed at the end of a Wilson circle. The SHRIMP U-Pb ages of the co-magmatic zircon domains from one gabbroic dyke (Sample 01Y-155) range from 162.5±8.6 Ma to 177.1±1.4 Ma with an average of 167.0±1.4 Ma (n = 12, MSWD = 1.2), suggesting that the subduction of the Bangong Lake Neo-Tethyan Ocean started before the Middle Jurassic. It is inferred that the tectonic transform from spreading to subduction of the Neo-Tethyan Ocean began before the Middle Jurassic in the Bangong Lake area.

Evidence for UHP metamorphism of eclogites from the Altun Mountains

Ultrahigh pressure (UHP) metamorphism refers to metamorphism that has occurred at pressures for the stability of coesite. The polycrystalline quartz inclusions showing the characteristic texture within garnets of eclogites indicates the pre-existence of coesites under the peak metamorphic condition. The unusual exsolution textures in ompacites and apatites, and the pressure estimations of phengite-bearing eclogites have been taken to provide further proof of eclogite formation under the UHP conditions. Combined with the fact that coesites have been observed in country rocks of eclogites in North Qaidam Mountains, another UHP metamorphic belt cut by the large-scale strikeslip fault in the Altun-North Qaidam area of China is confirmed.

Granitic Magmatism in the North Qaidam Early Paleozoic Ultrahigh-Pressure Metamorphic Belt, Northwest China

Three suites of granitic rocks are present in the early Paleozoic North Qaidam ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) metamorphic belt, which has eclogite ages of 466-495 Ma. The first suite consists of quartz monzodiorite + granodiorite + monzogranite, the second of monzogranite + two-mica granite + muscovite granite + syenogranite, and the third of granodiorite + monzogranite + biotite granite. The country rocks into which these bodies were intruded consist chiefly of medium- and high-grade Proterozoic gneisses and schists and Paleozoic sedimentary and volcanic rocks. Monzogranite of the first suite has a zircon SHRIMP age of 473 Ma, whereas syenogranite in the second suite has an age of 446 Ma, and granodiorite in the third suite has an age of 397 Ma. Rocks of the first and third suites have similar mineralogies consisting of plagioclase, hornblende, quartz, alkali feldspar, and biotite, whereas those of the second suite consist of potassium feldspar, quartz, muscovite, biotite, and plagioclase. Rocks of the first and third suites have I-type compositions with SiO2 = 61-69 wt%, Na2O/K2O >1, ANK <1, and Eu/Eu* = 0.7-1.0, whereas the second suite consists of S-type granites, with SiO2 = 70-76 wt%, Na2O/K2O <1, ANK >1, and Eu/Eu* = 0.1-0.3. The first suite is interpreted as island arc or active continental margin magmatism, the second as igneous activity related to collision between the Qaidam and Qilian blocks, and the third as post-collisional plutonic activity.