The Influence of the Closure of the East Paleo-Tethys Ocean on Southern South China: Evidences from Kinematics and 40Ar/39Ar Geochronology of the Rongxian Ductile Shear Zone in Southeastern Guangxi

The Triassic was a crucial period in the tectonic evolution of the South China Block. Research on tectonic deformation during this period provides information on intracontinental orogenic mechanisms in South China. In this study, alongside thermochronological analyses, we examine the macroscopic and microscopic structural features of the Rongxian ductile shear zone, located south of the Darongshan granite in the southeastern part of Guangxi Province, on the southern margin of South China. Sinistral shear is indicated by the characteristics of rotated σ-type feldspar porphyroclasts, stretching lineations defined by elongated quartz grains and the orientations of quartz c-axes. LA-ICP-MS U-Pb dating of zircons from two samples of granitic mylonite and one of granite yielded ages of ca. 256 Ma. Furthermore, two samples of granitic mylonite yield muscovite ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar plateau ages of 249–246 Ma. These results indicate that the Rongxian ductile shear zone resulted from Early Triassic deformation of the late Permian Darongshan granite. This deformation was likely related to the closure of the eastern Paleo-Tethys Ocean and the subsequent collision of the South China and Indochina blocks, during the early stage of the Indosinian orogeny.