Elsevier

Precambrian Research

Volume 364, 15 September 2021, 106341
Precambrian Research

Neoarchean–early Paleoproterozoic crustal evolution in the Jiapigou terrane in the northeastern part of the North China Craton: Geochemistry, zircon U–Pb dating and Hf isotope constraints from the potassic granitic complex

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.precamres.2021.106341Get rights and content

Highlights

  • The zircons record two-stage magmatism with ∼2.73 Ga and ∼2.52 Ga, and one-stage metamorphism/anatexis with ∼2.48 Ga.

  • The water-fluxed melting in middle crust produces potassic granite with positive Eu anomaly, regardless of the Eu anomalies in the source.

  • The water-fluxed melting results in late Neoarchean granite to be an anatexis source and form migmatite-granite complex at ∼2.48 Ga in Jiapigou terrane.

Abstract

Neoarchean granitic rocks are important components of Precambrian cratons, and their petrogenesis can provide constraints for understanding the evolution of continental crust. The Neoarchean potassic granites are widely distributed in southern Jilin Province, which is located in the northeastern part of the North China Craton. Newly obtained field geology observations and petrological, geochemical and geochronological data reveal that the Jiapigou potassic granitic complex is mainly composed of biotite granitic gneiss and medium- to coarse-grained granite. All the granitic gneisses and granites are high-K calcium–alkaline to shoshonite, metaluminous to peraluminous (A/CNK = 0.95–1.13; molar Al2O3/(CaO + Na2O + K2O)), enriched in LILEs and LREEs with strongly fractionated REE patterns ((La/Yb)N = 21–179), and depleted in Nb, Ta, Ti and P. The biotite granitic gneisses have low Rb/Sr ratios (∼0.06) and weak positive Eu anomalies (δEu = 1.26–1.51), while the granites have low Th, U and REEs and strong positive Eu anomalies (δEu = 7.27–16.92). The zircons of these granitic rocks generally have core–rim structures based on cathodoluminescence images and show inherited ages of 2729 ± 10 Ma, crystallization ages of 2523 ± 11 Ma to 2526 ± 15 Ma, and crystallization/metamorphism ages of 2480 ± 15 Ma to 2485 ± 9 Ma. The zircon Hf isotope results of the medium-grained monzogranite show that the εHf(t2) values vary from –2.2 to +5.3, and the two-stage model ages (TDM2) are 2.9–3.0 Ga. The magmatic zircons of the early Neoarchean (∼2.73 Ga) and the late Neoarchean (∼2.52 Ga) crystallized in high-temperature magmas (738–890 °C), whereas those of the early Paleoproterozoic (∼2.48 Ga) crystallized in relatively low-temperature (646–702 °C) magmas. These results indicate that the Jiapigou granitic rocks were products of intracrustal recycling during the late Neoarchean and the early Paleoproterozoic. The protoliths of the Jiapigou granitic gneisses were derived from the remelting of the early Neoarchean juvenile crustal rocks in the lower crust during the late Neoarchean. Subsequently, these granitic rocks underwent amphibolite-facies metamorphism and water-fluxed melting in the early Paleoproterozoic, resulting in the association of migmatic granitic gneisses and potassic granites at the shallow crust level. The cratonization in the Jiapigou terrane involved early Neoarchean (∼2.73 Ga) juvenile crust growth and late Neoarchean (∼2.53–2.52 Ga) to the early Paleoproterozoic (∼2.48 Ga) intracontinental reworking.

Introduction

Neoarchean K-rich granitoids are important components of Precambrian cratons and mostly formed during the transition of the tectonic–thermal system during late Archean cratonization (e.g., Tchameni et al., 2000, Drüppel et al., 2009). K-rich granitoids can be divided into Archean sanukitoids and potassic granites (Fu et al., 2017). The former are generally low-SiO2 granitoids, mainly diorites, monzodiorites and granodiorites with high Mg# (100*Mg/(Mg + Fetotal)), and are generally believed to be derived from the partial melting of a hydrous mantle peridotite source metasomatized by slab-derived melts or fluids (Smithies and Champion, 2000, Martin et al., 2005, Tatsumi, 2008, Heilimo et al., 2013). The latter are generally high-SiO2 granites and are the major components of the granitic complex, mainly including biotite-bearing syenogranites, monzogranites and granodiorites with low Mg#, which are generally considered to have formed by the remelting of tonalite-trondhjemite-granodiorite (TTG) crust (e.g., Sylvester, 1994, Castro, 2004, López et al., 2005, Frost et al., 2006, Shang et al., 2007, Kumar et al., 2011, Manya, 2016) or mixing between mantle-derived magmas and crustal melts (Jayananda et al., 1995, Moyen et al., 2001).

The North China Craton (NCC) features wide exposures of late Archean granitic complexes, such as the Yinglingshan Granites in western Shangdong Province (WSP, Lin et al., 1992, Wan et al., 2015), Qinhuangdao Granites in eastern Heibei Province (EHP, Lin et al., 1992, Yang et al., 2008, Nutman et al., 2011, Fu et al., 2017), Hongshilazi Granites in northern Liaoning Province (NLP, Wan et al., 2005, Grant et al., 2009, Zhang et al., 2016, Wang et al., 2016), and Jiapigou Granites in southern Jilin Province (SJP, Shen et al., 1994, Cheng et al., 1996). These granites in the NCC were subdivided by Wan et al. (2012) into three types based on their trace element compositions. (1) Type 1 shows large variations in total rare earth element (TREE) contents, low (La/Yb)N ratios, strong negative Eu anomalies and Ba depletion. (2) Type 2 is similar to Type 1 but has higher (La/Yb)N ratios. (3) Type 3 shows large variations in TREE contents and (La/Yb)N ratios and does not show negative Eu anomalies or Ba depletion. The Type 3 granites are always metamorphosed (∼2.49–2.48 Ga) and have a slightly older magmatic age (mainly ∼2.53–2.52 Ga) than Types 1 and 2 (∼2.52–2.50 Ga). Wan et al. (2012) concluded that Types 1 and 2 were derived from partial melting of existing crust, whereas Type 3 could have undergone potassic metasomatism. Fu et al. (2017) suggest that the monzogranitic–syenogranitic gneisses in the EHP of the NCC were emplaced nearly simultaneously (2527–2511 Ma) and subdivided them into a high-REE group and a low-REE group. The high-REE group, which has a composition similar to those of Types 1 and 2 described by Wan et al. (2012), was derived from partial melting of low-SiO2 but K-rich granitoids, while the low-REE group, which has a composition with positive Eu anomalies similar to those of Type 3, evolved from the high-REE group through the fractional crystallization of accessory minerals (∼1 wt%). Zhang et al. (2011) consider leucocratic syenogranites (2493 Ma) with a positive Eu anomaly in northwestern Hebei Province of the NCC to have a composition similar to that of Type 3 and to be derived from the partial melting of overthickened juvenile lower crust with a eclogitic composition or an eclogitic mineral assemblage in the residue. The early potassic granites in the SJP of the NCC can be subdivided into porphyritic monzogranites (2502–2501 Ma) and medium- to coarse-grained granites (2497–2493 Ma) (Guo et al., 2018), which correspond to Types 1 and 2 and Type 3 in chemical composition, respectively. Guo et al. (2018) believe that these granites were mainly derived from the partial melting of juvenile mantle-derived metavolcanic rocks associated with metasedimentary rocks and K-rich tonalitic gneisses under low-pressure conditions and high-pressure conditions, respectively. Potassic granite with positive Eu anomalies is a common type of late Neoarchean-early Paleoproterozoic in the NCC. It is almost always associated with potassic granite or granitic gneiss with negative Eu anomalies or without obvious Eu anomalies. It is mainly distributed on the edge of the granitic gneiss domes or near the ductile shear zone in supracrustal metamorphic belts (amphibolite facies). The genesis and tectonic setting of the positive Eu anomalous granite are very controversial, with proposals including (1) the remelting of granitoids in the back-arc basin environment and crystal fractioning of accessory minerals (Fu et al., 2017); (2) the partial melting of thickened lower crust in collisional orogens (Zhang et al., 2011); and (3) the partial melting of the altered oceanic basalt and subsidiary sediments in the oceanic subduction zone or arc-continental collision zone (Guo et al., 2018). Therefore, research on the genesis of potassic granites is of great value for understanding the regional geodynamic background.

Dumbbell-shaped granite complexes (Qi et al., 2003) and numerous stocks and dikes are classical characteristics of Type 3 granites in the Jiapigou terrane, and these features are adjacent to the Huadian-Jingyu porphyritic monzonitic granites in the northern SJP (Guo et al., 2018). In this study, we emphasize the field geology and report new whole-rock geochemistry and detailed zircon U–Pb and Lu–Hf isotope data for potassic granites in the Jiapigou terrane in southern Jilin Province of the NCC (Fig. 1). The results show that the granites record early Neoarchean juvenile crustal growth, late Neoarchean crustal reworking, and early Paleoproterozoic mid-crustal metamorphism and anatexis.

Section snippets

Geological setting

The NCC is mainly composed of Archean to Paleoproterozoic metamorphic basement partially overlain by Mesoproterozoic to Cenozoic cover sequences (Zhao and Zhai, 2013). The prevailing view is that the NCC was amalgamated by the collision between the Eastern Block (EB) and the Western Block (WB) along the Trans–North China Orogen (TNCO) at ∼ 1.85 Ga (Fig. 1A; Zhao et al., 2001, Zhao et al., 2005, Guo et al., 2002, Wilde et al., 2002, Liu et al., 2004, Liu et al., 2006, Liu et al., 2012, Kröner et

Field geology and petrology

The Jiapigou granitic gneiss–granite complex is located within the range of the Jiapigou terrane and the Baishan terrane, where the Neoarchean DTGM gneisses, TTG gneisses and supracrustal rock sequences are exposed (Fig. 1B). Most outcrops of the granitic gneiss–granite complex are distributed along the Dalazi–Laoniugou–Majiadian (DLM) ductile shear zone with a total area of >100 km2. The field geology shows that the granitic complex can be roughly divided into granitic gneisses and granites.

Analytical methods

Twelve samples were collected from the dumbbell granitic complex and stocks or veins in the Jiapigou terrane (Fig. 1), four of which were used for LA–ICP–MS zircon U–Th–Pb isotope testing, and one was used for zircon Hf isotope testing. The sample locations are shown in Fig. 1B and Table 1, and the petrography characteristics of the samples are shown in Fig. 2, Fig. 3 and Table 1.

Whole-rock chemistry

The geochemical data and calculated feature parameters of the 12 analyzed samples are listed in Table 2 and plotted in Fig. 4, Fig. 5, Fig. 6, Fig. 7.

Magma–thermal events: U-Pb isotopes and Th-U-Ti-t paths

The granitic gneisses and the granites have intrusion contact relationships (Fig. 2–A and G). The minerals of all samples can be divided into two generational assemblages: andesine–oligoclase ± orthoclase ± perthite ± quartz ± biotite (I) and oligoclase–albite + microcline + quartz ± perthite ± muscovite (II). The zircons of all samples show core-rim structures, with residual magmatic cores and young magmatic/metamorphic rims. The zircon isotope data of all samples indicate that the magmatic

Conclusions

Through comprehensive field geology, petrography, elemental geochemistry, and analysis of the chronology and chemistry of zircons from potassic granitic complexes in the Jiapigou terrane, southern Jilin Province, the following main conclusions are drawn:

  • (1)

    The Jiapigou potassic granitic complexes are late Archean-early Paleoproterozoic migmatite-granite complexes composed of biotite monzogranitic gneiss, monzogranitic gneiss and medium- to coarse-grained granites.

  • (2)

    The protoliths of biotite

Author statement

This paper is the product of research conducted by Ridong Yu during his Ph.D. Geological mapping was carried out by Jinggui Sun. Ridong Yu made the petrographic observations and undertook the chemical analyses. All authors participated in the field work and contributed to the interpretation of the data and to the writing of the manuscript.

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.

Acknowledgments

This study was financially supported by projects of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (42072085) and the Development Research Center of China Geological Survey (Grant Numbers: DD20190368 and KD-[2021]-XZ-058). We thank Editor in Chief Prof. G.C. Zhao and all anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments that greatly improved our manuscript. Thanks to Researcher Y.X. Mei, Mr. J.W. Sun, Doctors K.Q. Zhao, L. Li, Y.P. He and X.T. Zhang, Masters M. Yang and Y.Y. Feng, and the

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