Xuanxue Mo

Origin of adakitic intrusives generated during mid-Miocene east–west extension in southern Tibet

Adakite is an intermediate to felsic rock with low K, high Al, Na and Sr, and depleted in Y and HREE, usually occurring in arc settings related to subduction of an oceanic slab. Here we report the occurrence of potassic adakites from south Tibet in an orogenic belt produced by the Indo–Asian continent collision. These adakitic intrusives, as a product of Neogene east–west extension, occur in a Miocene Cu-bearing porphyry belt, which developed along the Gangdese arc paralleling the Yarlung–Zangbo suture, but is locally controlled by NS-striking normal faulting systems. Available age data define a duration of magmatism of 10–18 Ma for the adakitic intrusives and related extrusive analogues in south Tibet, which occur in a post-collisional extensional setting. Geochemical data indicate that these adakitic intrusives are shoshonitic and exhibit calc-alkaline composition with high K, and high Sr/Y and La/Y coupled with low Y and HREE, similar to adakites derived from slab melting. However, a wide range for ϵNd(t) (−6.18 to +5.52), initial 87Sr/86Sr (0.7049–0.7079), 207Pb/204Pb (15.502–15.626), and 208Pb/204Pb (38.389–38.960), as well as high K2O contents (2.6–8.6 wt%) and relatively high Mg# values (0.32–0.74) indicate that these adakitic magmas were formed by a complex mechanism involving partial melting of mafic materials in a thickened lower crust with input of enriched mantle and/or upper crust components. Absence of a negative Eu anomaly, extreme depletion in Y, Nb and Ti, and variable high Sr/Y and La/Yb ratios suggest that the lower crustal source is probably a hydrous amphibole eclogite or garnet amphibolite, as exhumed in the western and eastern Himalayan syntaxes on the Tibetan plateau. Partial melting of the lower crust was most likely triggered by mantle-derived ultra-potassic magmatism (17–25 Ma) formed by slab breakoff or mantle thinning. During the formation and migration of pristine adakitic melts, additional input of ultra-potassic magmas and upper crustal materials could account for the observed ϵNd–ϵSr signatures and high Rb/Sr, K and Mg# characteristics for most of the adakitic intrusives in south Tibet.

Lhasa terrane in southern Tibet came from Australia

The U-Pb age and Hf isotope data on detrital zircons from Paleozoic metasedimentary rocks in the Lhasa terrane (Tibet) defi ne a distinctive age population of ca. 1170 Ma with e Hf (t) values identical to the coeval detrital zircons from Western Australia, but those from the western Qiangtang and Tethyan Himalaya terranes defi ne an age population of ca. 950 Ma with a similar e Hf (t) range. The ca. 1170 Ma detrital zircons in the Lhasa terrane were most likely derived from the Albany-Fraser belt in southwest Australia, whereas the ca. 950 Ma detrital zircons from both the western Qiangtang and Tethyan Himalaya terranes might have been sourced from the High Himalaya to the south. Such detrital zircon connections enable us to propose that the Lhasa terrane is exotic to the Tibetan Plateau system, and should no longer be considered as part of the Qiangtang‐Greater India‐Tethyan Himalaya continental margin system in the Paleozoic reconstruction of the Indian plate, as current models show; rather, it should be placed at the northwestern margin of Australia. These results provide new constraints on the paleogeographic reconstruction and tectonic evolution of southern Tibet, and indicate that the Lhasa terrane evolved as part of the late Precambrian‐early Paleozoic evolution as part of Australia in a different paleogeographical setting than that of the Qiangtang−Greater India−Tethyan Himalaya system.

Magmatic record of India-Asia collision

New geochronological and geochemical data on magmatic activity from the India-Asia collision zone enables recognition of a distinct magmatic flare-up event that we ascribe to slab breakoff. This tie-point in the collisional record can be used to back-date to the time of initial impingement of the Indian continent with the Asian margin. Continental arc magmatism in southern Tibet during 80–40 Ma migrated from south to north and then back to south with significant mantle input at 70–43 Ma. A pronounced flare up in magmatic intensity (including ignimbrite and mafic rock) at ca. 52–51 Ma corresponds to a sudden decrease in the India-Asia convergence rate. Geological and geochemical data are consistent with mantle input controlled by slab rollback from ca. 70 Ma and slab breakoff at ca. 53 Ma. We propose that the slowdown of the Indian plate at ca. 51 Ma is largely the consequence of slab breakoff of the subducting Neo-Tethyan oceanic lithosphere, rather than the onset of the India-Asia collision as traditionally interpreted, implying that the initial India-Asia collision commenced earlier, likely at ca. 55 Ma.

The 132 Ma Comei-Bunbury large igneous province: Remnants identified in present-day southeastern Tibet and southwestern Australia

We report 11 new U-Pb zircon ages obtained by sensitive high-resolution ion microprobe (SHRIMP) and laser ablation–inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry (LA-ICP–MS) for a large province of Early Cretaceous Comei igneous rocks consisting of basaltic lavas, mafi c sills and dikes, and gabbroic intrusions together with subordinate layered ultramafi c intrusions and silicic volcanic rocks exposed in the Tethyan Himalaya, southeastern Tibet. Available zircon U-Pb ages obtained from various rocks in this province, which has an areal extent of ~40,000 km 2 (~270 km × 150 km), indicate that the magmatism occurred ca. 132 Ma ago, coeval with the Bunbury Basalt in southwestern Australia. Such a striking similarity in emplacement age, in combination with the tectonic reconstruction of eastern Gondwana ca. 132 Ma ago, allows us to propose that the extensive Comei igneous rocks in southeastern Tibet and the Bunbury Basalts in southwestern Australia may represent the erosional and/or deformational remnants of a large igneous province, which we call the Comei-Bunbury LIP. We argue that this newly identifi ed LIP was likely caused by the Kerguelen mantle plume, which started in the Early Cretaceous and may have played a role in the breakup of eastern Gondwana and the development of the 132 Ma old Weissert oceanic anoxic event.

Presence of Permian extension- and arc-type magmatism in southern Tibet: Paleogeographic implications

The geographical location of the Lhasa terrane in the Permian remains a subject of debate. The recognition of the Permian basalts in the Tethyan Himalaya and the Permian volcanic rocks in the Lhasa terrane in southern Tibet together with the geochemistry of these rocks offer some new insights. The Permian basalts in the Tethyan Himalaya show a geochemical affi nity with tholeiitic continental fl ood basalts, and are interpreted to have formed in an extensional setting. The new geochemical data and the geographical distribution of these basalts indicate that they probably represent the easternmost extent of the Panjal continental fl ood basalt province. All of the Permian basalts in the Lhasa terrane show a calcalkaline , high-alumina basalt affi nity, with signifi cant negative Nb-Ta-Ti anomalies. These geochemical features, combined with the recent documentation of the Permian Songdo eclogite and sedimentological observations, indicate the existence of a subduction system beneath the central Lhasa subterrane in the Permian. The presence of both extension- and arc-type magmatism of Permian age in present-day southern Tibet is inconsistent with the general view that the Lhasa terrane did not rift away from the northern margin of the Greater India until the Late Permian or Triassic. Instead, we suggest that the central Lhasa subterrane may have been a microcontinent isolated in the Paleo-Tethyan Ocean basin, at least during the Carboniferous‐Middle Permian time.

40Ar-39Ar geochronology of Cenozoic Linzizong volcanic rocks from Linzhou Basin, Tibet, China, and their geological implications

Whole-rock and mineral separate Ar-Ar dating was carried out for the Linzizong volcanic rocks at Linzhou Basin in Tibet to constrain the time span of volcanism and the corresponding stratigraphic sequence. Sampling was based on detailed geologic mapping and stratigraphic sequence of Dianzhong, Nianbo, Pana Formations, systematically from the bottom to near the top. The results indicate that the Linzizong volcanic rocks erupted from Paleocene to middle of Eocene (64.43· 43.93 Ma). Among them, the Pana Formation formed from ca. 48.73 to 43.9 Ma, the Nianbo Formation around 54 Ma and the Dianzhong Formation from 64.4 to 60.6 Ma. In combination with evidence from the geochemical characteristics of the volcanic rocks, and from stratigraphy in southern Tibet, it is postulated that the age of the lowest member in the Dianzhong Formation of the Linzizong volcanic rock, which overlies unconformably the Late Cretaceous Shexing Formation, likely corresponds to the inception of the collision between Indian and Asian continents in southern Tibet.

Miocene volcanism in the Lhasa block, Tibet: spatial trends and geodynamic implications §

Miocene ultrapotassic (UP), shoshonitic (P) and calc-alkaline (CA) volcanism is recognized widely over the Tibetan plateau.This volcanism occurred after the end of India’s oceanic lithosphere subduction beneath the plateau. Ambiguities about the distribution and significance of this volcanism arise in part from a paucity of geochronologic and geochemical data.We have sampled two volcanic fields in the Lhasa block: (1) the eastern edge of the Zabuye Salt Lake (central part of the block), (2) the southwestern edge of the Yangbajin Graben.Major and trace elements display high K2O (6.06^6.54%) over a wide range of SiO2 (75.03^55.30%), Na2O (1.32^3.30%) and LREE/HREE enrichment with a significant rare earth element fractionation (266 (La/Yb)n 6 42) as well as negative Nb, Ta, and Ti anomalies.These features indicate that our samples are chemically identical to the post-collision Miocene UP to P volcanic rocks already identified all over the Tibetan plateau and the southern plateau specifically but distinct from the CA rocks found in the Lhasa block.The Miocene volcanics found in the Lhasa block present greater chemical variation than the rest of the Tibetan plateau. 40 Ar/ 39 Ar ages on both sanidine and biotite gave ages ranging from 16.16 G 0.12 Ma to 16.01 G 0.12 Ma and 10.60 G 0.14 Ma to 10.88 G 0.17 Ma (2 c, excluding systematic errors, relative to Fish Canyon sanidine at 28.02 Ma) for Zabuye Salt Lake and Yangying geothermal field volcanics respectively. These results are consistent with the range of previously published ages from this part of the Tibetan plateau.The presence of N^S-trending dikes and the location of the volcanic fields suggest that local E^W extension in the Lhasa block was coeval.We propose that the synchronous UP, P and CA volcanism in the Lhasa block between 23 and 8 Ma is the result of progressively deepening northward subduction of Indian continental lithosphere producing asthenospheric upwelling.Convective thinning (delamination) of lithospheric mantle fueled by the hot asthenosphere induced partial melting of an enriched sub-continental mantle lithosphere as well as eclogitic lower crust.This mechanism could also explain the local E^W extension observed in the same period (18^10 Ma).We also propose that lateral migration of the deepening Indian continental lithosphere mantle slab could explain the observed younger volcanism in the eastern part of the Lhasa terrane.

Mixing events between the crust- and mantle-derived magmas in eastern kunlun: Evidence from zircon SHRIMP II chronology

Various shaped mafic microgranular enclaves (MMEs) together with several mafic massifs are developed within the Yuegelu granitoid pluton in the eastern part of the Eastern Kunlun. On the basis of detailed field geological surveying and of the results of the petrological and geochemical studies it is suggested that there must be some genetic relationship among the granodiorite host, the MMEs and the hornblende (Hb)-gabbro massifs. Magmatic zircon grains are extracted from samples of granodiorite host rock, Hb-gabbro and the MMEs for U-Pb dating. The U-Pb ages are determined by using SHRIMP II technique, which yields the ages of 242 ± 6 Ma, 239 ± 6 Ma and 241 ± 5 Ma, respectively. The overall correspondence in the U-Pb dating results of them excludes the possibility that the MMEs in the granitoids are solid refractory relics from the source region or that they are xenoliths from the wall rocks. It can also rule out the possibility of a later emplacement of basic magma after the solidification of the granitoids. This dating result indicates that they are the products of magma mixing in early-mid Triassic epoch. Among them the granitoid host is chemically akin to the acidic end member during the magma mixing process, the Hb-gabbro is akin to the basic ones while the MMEs are the incompletely mixed basic magma clots trapped in the acidic magma. Combined with the results from other researches on this pluton it is reasonable to consider that in the mid-Triassic the Eastern Kunlun granitoid belt had undergone a process of magma mixing between the mantle-derived basic magma and the crustal acidic magma which indicates that the injection of mantle materials and energy into the crust and the reactions between them played an important role in the formation of the granitoid rocks.

SHRIMP U-Pb zircon dating for the dacite of the Sangxiu Formation in the central segment of Tethyan Himalaya and its implications

Petrology and SHRIMP U-Pb zircon chronology are reported for the dacite of the Sangxiu Formation in the central segment of Tethyan Himalaya to the southeast of Yangzuoyong Co. Twenty-one measured zircon grains from a dacite sample of the Sangxiu Formation can be divided into two groups, which include long columnar magmatic zircons of 133±3.0 Ma, representing the age of volcanism in the Sangxiu Formation, and inherited zircons consisting of core and overgrowth rim, in which ages of the three cores are 2244±16, 1153±33 and 492±25 Ma respectively; and the age of one overgrowth rim is 132.7±5.2 Ma. These ages are considered to represent the remelting of accretionary crust at different periods resulting from the volcanism of Sangxiu Formation. These volcanic rocks in the Sangxiu Formation, for which age is close to that of Bunbury basalt in southwestern margin of Australia, and older than that of Rajmahal basalt in northeastern India, maybe considered as the products of early activity of the hotspot represented by the Rajmahal basalt.

Erratum: Corrigendum: Magmatic record of India-Asia collision

Scientific Reports 5 Article number: 14289; 10.1038/srep14289 published online: September232015; updated: December182015. In Supplementary Figure 1a, the Linzizong volcanic rock samples ‘12LZ14-1’ and ‘12LZ13-1’ should read ‘13LZ14-1’ and ‘13LZ13-1’ respectively. The correct Supplementary Figure 1a appears below as Fig. 1. Figure 1 In Table S1, samples ‘12LZ13-1@02’ and ‘12LZ14-1@02’ should read ‘13LZ13-1@02’ and ‘13LZ14-1@02’ respectively.