Elsevier

Precambrian Research

Volume 350, November 2020, 105925
Precambrian Research

Petrogenesis of the Neoproterozoic Xinlin ophiolite, northern Great Xing’an Range, northeastern China: Implications for the evolution of the northeastern branch of the Paleo-Asian Ocean

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.precamres.2020.105925Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Xinlin ophiolitie indicates an ocean between Erguna and Xing’an blocks.

  • Zircon U–Pb age of 669 Ma for gabbro pegmatite constrains the age of Xinlin ophiolite.

  • Xinlin ophiolite was accreted onto the Erguna Block due to westward subduction.

Abstract

The Xinlin ophiolite in northeastern China marks the Xinlin–Xiguitu branch of the Paleo-Asian Ocean (PAO), and provides an opportunity to reconstruct the evolution of the Xing’an–Mongolian orogenic belt (XMOB). The main ophiolitic body is composed of mantle peridotites, mafic and ultramafic cumulates, isotropic gabbros, diabase dykes, and massive basaltic lava flows, from base to top. The uppermost pelagic sediment cover is missing and was presumably eroded. The cumulate gabbro yields a concordant zircon U–Pb age of 669 ± 8 Ma and has positive zircon εHf(t) values (+10.7 to +15.6). The mafic rocks of the ophiolite have rare earth element (REE) patterns that plot between the compositions of normal (N-) and enriched (E-) mid-ocean ridge basalt (MORB). The monzogranite that intruded into the Xinlin ophiolite yields a narrow age range (574–571 Ma), and is enriched in light REE and depleted in high field strength elements (HFSE). Zircon grains from the monzogranite have negative εHf(t) values (−5.6 to −10.0), suggesting the monzogranite was formed by partial melting of the Erguna continental crust, rather than oceanic crust. The geochemical characteristics of the ophiolite and spatially associated younger arc granites show that the Xinlin ophiolite developed at a mid-ocean ridge setting, and was subsequently accreted onto the Erguna continental margin before amalgamation with the Xing’an Block.

Introduction

The XMOB is sandwiched between the Siberian and North China cratons (SC and NCC), formed as a result of the closure of the PAO (Levashova et al., 2011, Wan et al., 2018). An archipelago of scattered Precambrian microcontinents (the Erguna, Xing’an, Songnen, and Jiamusi blocks; hereinafter respectively referred to as EB, XB, SB, and JB) existed in the PAO during the Neoproterozoic–Paleozoic. These blocks amalgamated to form a composite terrane, prior to their accretion onto the two cratons (Liu et al., 2017). Three PAO branches have been identified using ophiolite and metamorphic complexes within this composite terrane. From north to south, these are the Xinlin–Xiguitu, Hegenshan–Heihe, and Mudanjiang branches. The diachronous closure of the intervening oceanic branches and collisions between the microcontinents were major geological features in the amalgamation of the composite terrane. Understanding the evolution of these oceanic branches has always been the topic of geodynamic reconstructions of the XMOB.

The Hegenshan–Heihe branch is the main oceanic strand between the SB and XB, and can be clearly defined using the well-preserved geological record (e.g., ophiolitic and magmatic rocks). Ophiolites presented in Erenhot (354–345 Ma; Zhang et al., 2015), Hegenshan (359–341 Ma; Huang et al., 2016), and Xiaobaliang (354–333 Ma; Jian et al., 2012) record the early development of the oceanic basin. The transition from late Carboniferous subduction-related calc-alkaline magmatism to early Permian extension-related bimodal and A-type magmatism marks the terminal stage of the ocean basin (Gou et al., 2019).

The Mudanjiang branch separated the SB and JB. The Mashan complex and early Paleozoic igneous rocks along the Mudanjiang suture indicate diachronous ocean basin closure (Wang, 2017). In the north of the suture, the Mashan complex records ca. 500 Ma high-pressure granulite facies metamorphism (Wilde et al., 2003), accompanied by coeval intrusion of monzogranite with adakitic affinities, and then followed by the emplacement of ca. 490 Ma A-type granites generated by decompression melting related to post-collisional extension. In the south, oceanic–continental subduction continued until the Silurian (Wang, 2017). According to studies of the Heilongjiang complex, some authors have recently suggested that the suture reactivated and ruptured during the late Paleozoic (Dong et al., 2017, Dong et al., 2018), and closed again during the Jurassic (Wu et al., 2007, Wu et al., 2011).

The Xinlin–Xiguitu branch separated the EB and XB, and has not been as well defined as the Hegenshan–Heihe and Mudanjiang branches, especially during the ocean basin stages of its evolution. The Derbugan fault has long been treated as the suture between the two blocks; however, this fault has recently been shown to be a ductile shear zone and cannot, therefore, be the suture (Zhang et al., 2013). The Xinlin–Xiguitu fault was then proposed as the suture between the two blocks, due to the occurrence of ophiolites and blueschists (Fig. 1; Ge et al., 2005). The Jifeng and Gaxian ophiolites in the Ewenki Autonomous Banner, the central part of the suture, have already been researched recently. Feng et al. (2016) presented U–Pb geochronological data for gabbroic intrusions in the Jifeng ophiolite, and suggested that a subducted oceanic slab-derived source generated the Jifeng ophiolite during the Neoproterozoic (ca. 647 Ma). In addition, She et al. (2012) obtained a zircon U–Pb age of 628.4 ± 9.7 Ma from the Gaxian pyroxenite. The Xinlin ophiolite was the first ophiolite identified in the north of the suture; however, no accurate geochronological data currently exists for the ophiolite. Previous studies focused mainly on the identification of ophiolite sequences, with limited attention to the geochronology, geochemistry, and petrogenesis. We carried out a detailed geochronological and geochemical study of this ophiolite and nearby younger granites, and integrated the results with previous findings to reconstruct the evolution of the Xinlin–Xiguitu Ocean, a northern branch of the PAO.

Section snippets

Geology and petrology of the Xinlin ophiolite

The Xinlin–Xiguitu suture extends for nearly 700 km (Fig. 1). Several ophiolites are distributed along the suture, and represent relics of Xinlin–Xiguitu oceanic lithosphere. The Xinlin ophiolite lies in the north of the suture. The ultramafic and mafic bodies in Xinlin town were discovered in 1969–1972 by the Fifth Geological Brigade of the Heilongjiang Province, and were classified as an ophiolite based on field mapping carried out in 1985 by the Second Geological Brigade (hereinafter

Zircon U–Pb dating

Zircon U–Pb dating was conducted using laser ablation–inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry (LA–ICP–MS) at the Key Laboratory of Mineral Resources Evaluation in Northeast Asia, Ministry of Natural Resources, Changchun, China, using an Agilent 7900 ICP–MS and a GeoLas 200 M 193 nm ArF excimer laser ablation system. The LA–ICP–MS analyses were performed with a beam diameter of 30 μm. Harvard 91,500 zircon was used for isotopic fractionation correction, and the NIST-610 glass was used to

Zircon U–Pb ages

One ophiolitic gabbro pegmatite (18X11) and three monzogranites (18X06-1, 18X15-1, and 16X09-1) that intruded the ophiolite were dated (Supplementary Table 1). The zircons display oscillatory growth zoning, suggesting a magmatic origin (Fig. 4). Zircons from the gabbro plot in the typical MORB and oceanic crust fields on U versus Yb and U/Yb versus Y diagrams. Most of the zircon grains from the monzogranites are geochemically similar to continental zircon, with high U/Yb ratios (Fig. 5).

Formation and accretion of the Xinlin ophiolite

The timing of the evolution of the Xinlin ophiolite has been the subject of many studies. The Second Brigade (1985) reported the first radiometric age (K–Ar; 386.4 Ma) for gabbro from the Xinlin ophiolite. This ophiolite is surrounded by younger volcanic strata of the Jixianggou Formation of the Wolegen Group. Sun et al. (2014) reported a zircon U–Pb age of 430.7 ± 4.1 Ma for the Jixianggou Formation (Fig. 2a), and concluded that the ophiolites are pre-Silurian in age and the younger whole-rock

Conclusions

  • (1)

    The Xinlin ophiolite lies between the EB and XB, and was formed at 669 Ma. A monzogranite intruded the ophiolite at 574–571 Ma.

  • (2)

    The Xinlin ophiolite was produced in a MOR setting, and was subsequently accreted onto the Erguna continental margin before amalgamation with the XB.

CRediT authorship contribution statement

Jun Gou: Conceptualization, Methodology, Software, Writing - original draft. Deyou Sun: Investigation, Writing - review & editing, Supervision. Changzhou Deng: Investigation. Zhao Feng: Data curation. Zongyuan Tang: Investigation.

Declaration of Competing Interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41502045).

References (82)

  • A.B. Kuzmichev et al.

    Neoproterozoic (~800 Ma) orogeny in the Tuva-Mongolia Massif (Siberia): island arc–continent collision at the northeast Rodinia margin

    Precambr. Res.

    (2001)
  • N.M. Levashova et al.

    The origin of microcontinents in the Central Asian Orogenic Belt: constraints from paleomagnetism and geochronology

    Precambr. Res.

    (2011)
  • X.-H. Li et al.

    Amalgamation between the Yangtze and Cathaysia Blocks in South China: constraints from SHRIMP U-Pb zircon ages, geochemistry and Nd–Hf isotopes of the Shuangxiwu volcanic rocks

    Precambr. Res.

    (2009)
  • Z.X. Li et al.

    Assembly, configuration, and break–up history of Rodinia: a synthesis

    Precambr. Res.

    (2008)
  • I.I. Likhanov et al.

    Neoproterozoic intraplate magmatism along the western margin of the Siberian Craton: implications for breakup of the Rodinia supercontinent

    Precambr. Res.

    (2017)
  • Y. Liu et al.

    A review of the Paleozoic tectonics in the eastern part of Central Asian Orogenic Belt

    Gondwana Res.

    (2017)
  • M. Meschede

    A method of discriminating between different types of mid-ocean ridge basalts and continental tholeiites with the Nb-Zr-Y diagram

    Chem. Geol.

    (1986)
  • L. Miao et al.

    Age, protoliths and tectonic implications of the Toudaoqiao blueschist, Inner Mongolia, China

    J. Asian Earth Sci.

    (2015)
  • D.A. Orsoev et al.

    Gabbro-peridotite sills of the Late Riphean Dovyren plutonic complex (northern Baikal area, Russia)

    Russ. Geol. Geophys.

    (2018)
  • J.A. Pearce

    Geochemical fingerprinting of oceanic basalts with applications to ophiolite classification and the search for Archean oceanic crust

    Lithos

    (2008)
  • S.A. Pisarevsky et al.

    Proterozoic Siberia: a promontory of Rodinia

    Precambr. Res.

    (2008)
  • E. Saccani

    A new method of discriminating different types of post-Archean ophiolitic basalts and their tectonic significance using Th-Nb and Ce-Dy-Yb systematics

    Geosci. Front.

    (2015)
  • J.W. Shervais

    Ti-V plots and the petrogenesis of modern and ophiolitic lavas

    Earth Planet. Sci. Lett.

    (1982)
  • E.V. Sklyarov et al.

    Neoproterozoic mafic dike swarms of the Sharyzhalgai metamorphic massif, southern Siberian craton

    Precambr. Res.

    (2003)
  • D.F. Song et al.

    A Paleozoic Japan-type subduction-accretion system in the Beishan orogenic collage, southern Central Asian Orogenic Belt

    Lithos

    (2015)
  • J. Tang et al.

    Geochronology and geochemistry of Neoproterozoic magmatism in the Erguna Massif, NE China: petrogenesis and implications for the breakup of the Rodinia supercontinent

    Precambr. Res.

    (2013)
  • B. Wan et al.

    Where and when did the Paleo-Asian ocean form?

    Precambr. Res.

    (2018)
  • B.-D. Wang et al.

    Evolution of the Bangong-Nujiang Tethyan ocean: insights from the geochronology and geochemistry of mafic rocks within ophiolites

    Lithos

    (2016)
  • S.A. Wilde et al.

    Late Pan-African magmatism in northeastern China: SHRIMP U-Pb zircon evidence for igneous ages from the Mashan Complex

    Precambr. Res.

    (2003)
  • D.A. Wood

    The application of a Th–Hf–Ta diagram to problems of tectonomagmatic classification and to establishing the nature of crustal contamination of basaltic lavas of the British Tertiary volcanic province

    Earth Planet. Sci. Lett.

    (1980)
  • F.-Y. Wu et al.

    Hf isotopic compositions of the standard zircons and baddeleyites used in U-Pb geochronology

    Chem. Geol.

    (2006)
  • F.Y. Wu et al.

    Geochronology of the Phanerozoic granitoids in northeastern China

    J. Asian Earth Sci.

    (2011)
  • H. Yang et al.

    Geochronology and geochemistry of Neoproterozoic magmatism in the Bureya Block, Russian Far East: petrogenesis and implications for Rodinia reconstruction

    Precambr. Res.

    (2020)
  • S. Yu et al.

    Grenvillian orogeny in the Oulongbuluke Block, NW China: Constraints from an ~1.1 Ga Andean-type arc magmatism and metamorphism

    Precambr. Res.

    (2019)
  • S. Yu et al.

    Multistage anatexis during tectonic evolution from oceanic subduction to continental collision: a review of the North Qaidam UHP Belt, NW China

    Earth Sci. Rev.

    (2019)
  • Z. Zhang et al.

    Geochronology and geochemistry of the Eastern Erenhot ophiolitic complex: implications for the tectonic evolution of the Inner Mongolia-Daxinganling Orogenic Belt

    J. Asian Earth Sci.

    (2015)
  • G. Zhao et al.

    Geological reconstructions of the East Asian blocks: from the breakup of Rodinia to the assembly of Pangea

    Earth Sci. Rev.

    (2018)
  • J.-B. Zhou et al.

    Geochemistry and U-Pb zircon dating of the Toudaoqiao blueschists in the Great Xing’an Range, northeast China, and tectonic implications

    J. Asian Earth Sci.

    (2015)
  • Y.S. Bretshtein et al.

    Paleomagnetic study of late proterozoic and early Cambrian rocks in Terranes of the Amur Plate. Izv

    Phys. Solid Earth

    (2007)
  • B. Cabanis et al.

    Le diagramme La/10-Y/15-Nb/8: un outil pour la discrimination des séries volcaniques et la mise en évidence des processus de mélange et/ou de contamination crustale

    C. R. Acad. Sci. Ser. II

    (1989)
  • Y. Dilek

    Ophiolite concept and its evolution

    Geol. Soc. Am.

    (2003)
  • Cited by (8)

    • The occurrence of Precambrian amphibolites from the Xinghuadukou Complex from NE China: Implications for the evolution of the Xinlin-Xiguitu Ocean, the NE branch of the Paleo-Asian Ocean

      2022, Precambrian Research
      Citation Excerpt :

      As models derived from the studies of Cenozoic subduction systems in the western Pacific (Hawkins, 2003; Metcalf and Shervais, 2008), the occurrence of SSZ type ophiolites show evidence for nearly 100% extension, which result in a possible upper-plate extension followed an intra-oceanic subduction due to hinge retreat in the nascent or reconfigured island arcs (e.g. Bloomer et al., 1995; Metcalf and Shervais, 2008). Thus, an upper-plate extension above the oceanic subduction is envisaged for the Xilin-Xiguitu Ocean, which is also evidenced by the ∼ 660 Ma ophiolites formed at MORB setting (Gou et al., 2020). Also, no pillow structure has been reported in the ophiolite belt, whereas there are large volume of basaltic rocks with arc signature in the ophiolites belts (Feng et al., 2018; Gou et al., 2020), implying that some of these mafic rocks could be formed in an oceanic arc.

    • Biotite geochemistry and its implication on the temporal and spatial difference of Cu and Mo mineralization at the Xiaokele porphyry Cu-Mo deposit, NE China

      2021, Ore Geology Reviews
      Citation Excerpt :

      A series of NE-trending faults, such as the Derbugan and Ergunahe, are distributed within the Erguna Block. The Erguna Block basement is composed mainly of the Precambrian Xinghuadukou, Jiageda, Luomahu, and Ergunahe groups, which consist of Neoproterozoic metamorphic supracrustal rocks and minor Paleoproterozoic and Neoproterozoic intrusions (HBGMR, 1993; Gou et al., 2020; Liu et al., 2020). Regional Phanerozoic sequences contain Paleozoic marine sediments and widespread Mesozoic volcanic rocks (Xu et al., 2013) and terrestrial clastic rocks (HBGMR, 1993).

    View all citing articles on Scopus
    View full text