Implications of Late Triassic–Middle Jurassic detrital zircons from the southeastern margin of the South China Block for the Paleo-Pacific Plate subduction

Abstract

There existed an early Mesozoic tectonic regime transformation in the South China Block (SCB). Although it was believed that this transformation was closely related to the subduction of Paleo-Pacific Plate, the process and initial time of the subduction of the Paleo-Pacific Plate have been controversial for a long time. Based on the published Upper Triassic and Middle Jurassic succession detrital zircons geochronology from the southeastern margin of the SCB, the newly obtained Late Triassic to Middle Jurassic detrital zircons Hf isotope data, and the available magmatic age data and Hf isotope data, this study discussed the subduction of the Paleo-Pacific Plate. The Hf isotope composition of zircon grains selected from the Early Mesozoic strata of the SCB, spanning from the Late Triassic to the Middle Jurassic, exhibits a consistent temporal trend with that of the Triassic–Middle Jurassic magmatic rocks. Both display a transition from negative to positive ε_Hf(t) values, indicative of a gradually increasing contribution of mantle-derived materials from the Triassic to the Middle Jurassic. Zircon trace elements indicate that a magmatic arc appeared outside the southeastern margin of the SCB at 200–190 Ma and continued to develop into the Middle Jurassic, which may have been generated by the Paleo-Pacific Plate subduction. This study proposed that the Paleo-Pacific Plate subduction was confined to the southeastern coast of the SCB in the Late Triassic, and the subduction of the flat slab was halted by obstruction at the end of the Late Triassic. In the Early Jurassic, the Paleo-Pacific Plate began to subduction again, and arc-related magmatic rocks were formed along the coast of SCB. At the same time, due to the remote effect of the subduction of the Paleo-Pacific Plate, the weak tectonic belt existing in the Nanling area was reactivated, resulting in the Nanling area in the intraplate extensional setting. Subsequently, the continuous subduction of the Paleo-Pacific Plate led to the thickening of the crust along the SCB in the Middle Jurassic, and the Nanling area was still under in the extensional setting.