Widespread ca. 800 Ma granitoids in the southern Dabie Orogen: Petrogenesis and implications for Neoproterozoic accretion-type orogeny in the northern Yangtze Block

Abstract

Large-scale Neoproterozoic granitoids occur widely in the Dabie Orogen of the northern Yangtze Block and provide significant clues to understanding the geological evolution of the Block within the Rodinia supercontinent. We present evidence for a prominent episode of granitoid intrusion at ca. 800 Ma in the southern Dabie Orogen (SDO), verified by new zircon LA-ICP-MS ages from four separate granitoid intrusions ranging from 807 Ma to 795 Ma in age. The granitoids are dominated by monzogranite and granodiorite with bulk-rock A/CNK and zircon δ¹⁸O values of 0.90–1.10 and 5.03–6.45‰, respectively, corresponding to I-type affinity. This is also supported by negative correlations of SiO₂ vs. P₂O₅ and Sr vs. P₂O₅, and positive correlations of SiO₂ vs. A/CNK, Rb vs. Y and Rb vs. Th. Low zircon ε_Hf(t) values (−15.03 to −3.84) and relatively old two-stage Hf model ages (mainly between 1900 and 2200 Ma) for these granitoids are consistent with primary derivation of magma from partial melting of Paleoproterozoic metabasites. Relatively low Ga/Al ratios, Zr contents, and zircon saturation temperatures and consistently negative zircon ε_Hf(t) and bulk-rock ε_Nd(t) values are distinct from those of 780–720 Ma A-type granites in the Dabie Orogen that formed in a rift setting. We propose that the ca. 800 Ma granitoids in the SDO were products of variable degrees of partial melting of ancient mafic crust, promoted by heating of the upwelled asthenosphere due to oceanic slab breakoff in an accretion-type orogeny. Our observations suggest that the formation of the unified Yangtze Block was achieved by diachronous assembly of multiple micro-blocks during the Neoproterozoic, consistent with a peripheral location of the Yangtze Block in the Rodinia supercontinent.