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Journal of Petrology Advance Access published online on October 28, 2005
Journal of Petrology, doi:10.1093/petrology/egi080
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© The Author 2006. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org
Received December 10, 2004
Accepted September 30, 2005

Article

Evolution from Oceanic Subduction to Continental Collision: a Case Study from the Northern Tibetan Plateau Based on Geochemical and Geochronological Data

SHUGUANG SONG 1*, LIFEI ZHANG 1, YAOLING NIU 2, LI SU 3, BIAO SONG 4, and DUNYI LIU 4

1 KEY LABORATORY OF OROGENIC BELTS AND CRUSTAL EVOLUTION, SCHOOL OF EARTH AND SPACE SCIENCES, PEKING UNIVERSITY, BEIJING 100871, P.R. CHINA; SHRIMP LABORATORY, INSTITUTE OF GEOLOGY, CAGS, BEIJING 100037, P.R. CHINA
2 DEPARTMENT OF EARTH SCIENCE, DURHAM UNIVERSITY, DURHAM DH1 3LE, UK
3 GEOLOGIC LAB CENTRE, CHINESE UNIVERSITY OF GEOSCIENCES, BEIJING 100083, P.R. CHINA
4 SHRIMP LABORATORY, INSTITUTE OF GEOLOGY, CAGS, BEIJING 100037, P.R. CHINA

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
SHUGUANG SONG, E-mail: sgsong{at}pku.edu.cn


  Abstract

Two apparently distinct, sub-parallel, paleo-subduction zones can be recognized along the northern margin of the Tibetan Plateau: the North Qilian Suture Zone (oceanic-type) with ophiolitic mélanges and high-pressure eclogites and blueschists in the north, and the North Qaidam Belt (continental-type) in the south, an ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) metamorphic terrane comprising pelitic and granitic gneisses, eclogites and garnet peridotites. Eclogites from both belts have protoliths broadly similar to mid-ocean ridge basalts (MORB) or oceanic island basalts (OIB) in composition with overlapping metamorphic ages (480-440 Ma, with weighted mean ages of 464 ± 6 Ma for North Qilian and 457 ± 7 Ma for North Qaidam), determined by zircon U-Pb sensitive high-resolution ion microprobe dating. Coesite-bearing zircon grains in pelitic gneisses from the North Qaidam UHP Belt yield a peak metamorphic age of 423 ± 6 Ma, 40 Myr younger than the age of eclogite formation, and a retrograde age of 403 ± 9 Ma. These data, combined with regional relationships, allow us to infer that these two parallel belts may represent an evolutionary sequence from oceanic subduction to continental collision, and continental underthrusting, to final exhumation. The Qilian-Qaidam Craton was probably a fragment of the Rodinia supercontinent with a passive margin and extended oceanic lithosphere in the north, which was subducted beneath the North China Craton to depths >100 km at c. 423 Ma and exhumed at c. 403 Ma (zircon rim ages in pelitic gneiss).

Keywords: HP and UHP rocks; subduction belts; zircon SHRIMP ages; Northern Tibetan Plateau.
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