Was cratonic Asia deeply subducted beneath the Pamir? Evidence from P–T conditions and tectonic affinities of Cenozoic Pamir crustal xenoliths

One of the most striking geological features of the Pamir is the south-dipping lithospheric slab beneath the orogen characterized by an intracontinental Wadati-Benioff zone. A widely accepted hypothesis over the past 40 years interprets the slab to represent southward subducted cratonic Asian continental lithosphere, which predicts significant cratonic Asia-sourced crustal materials (e.g., Tarim Basin) beneath the Pamir. Alternatively, recent studies have interpreted the slab to be lithosphere delaminated from the base of the Pamir. To test these hypotheses, depth–tectonic affinity relations of crustal xenoliths carried by Miocene volcanic rocks in the eastern Pamir, interpreted to be sourced from the Pamir deep lithosphere, are used to determine whether they represented Asian affinity cratonic crust. Thermodynamic calculations, zircon U–Pb geochronology combined with rare earth element analysis, and whole-rock major-trace element and Sr–Nd isotopic analyses document that (1) eclogite and pyroxenite xenoliths (~31–43 kbar/~960–1170°C) are the deepest sourced portions of the lithosphere from ~100 to 140 km depth, the protoliths of which represent the mid-lower crustal rocks of the Cretaceous Pamir magmatic arc, rather than material from cratonic Asia, and (2) granulite xenoliths (~20 kbar/~900°C) represent the Cenozoic lower crustal rocks of Pamir terranes from ~70 km depth. These results indicate the south-dipping slab represents delaminated Pamir lower crust and mantle lithosphere, rather than intracontinental subduction of Asian lithosphere, and further support the hypothesis of minimal Cenozoic northward translation of the Pamir.