Evaluating the role of tectonic setting in new continental crust formation by U/Pb ratios

Abstract

The role of tectonic setting in new continental crust formation remains enigmatic. A key to solve this issue is to determine which tectonic setting(s) are involved in the generation of new continental crust through time. Modern mantle-derived magmas that formed in intracontinental extension settings (U/Pb = ∼0.28–0.37) and in subduction settings (U/Pb = ∼0.1–0.16) have distinct mean U/Pb ratios. When shifting from subduction to intracontinental extension settings, the mean U/Pb ratios of new crust should define an increasing trend with time, whereas a decreasing trend will be observed when the converse transition is observed. Here we calculate U/Pb ratios of new crust [(U/Pb)jc] of the Songliao Block from East Asia to determine the tectonic settings of new crust formation. Our results show that (U/Pb)jc ratios have a decreasing trend from ∼1.55 to ∼1.2 Ga, followed by an increasing trend from ∼1.2 to ∼0.8 Ga, and changed to a decreasing trend again between ∼0.8 and ∼ 0.6 Ga. This implies that new crust formation of the microcontinent in a subduction setting during the middle-late Mesoproterozoic and the middle-late Neoproterozoic, however, in an intracontinental extension setting in the late Mesoproterozoic-early Neoproterozoic. Our method may provide a potential avenue to explore the regimes of new continental crust formation.