Abstract
Following the amalgamation of the late Mesoproterozoic–Carboniferous Central Asian Orogenic Belt with the Siberian and North China cratons, NE China underwent late Mesozoic lithospheric extension and widespread formation of volcano-sedimentary basins. We report U–Pb zircon ages and geochemical data for mafic and felsic volcanic rocks from the Hailar basin, located about 1000km north of Beijing. Zircon populations of six felsic rock samples analyzed by laser ablation ICP-MS yielded similar U–Pb age spectra ranging from 158 to 125Ma. The youngest zircon ages are interpreted as time of magma eruption and the xenocrystic zircon-age spectra as evidence for a protracted melting of lower crust due to the underplating of mantle-derived magmas during lithospheric extension. The volcanic assemblage has a bimodal composition comprising geochemically evolved trachybasalts and felsic volcanic rocks of I- and subordinate A-type compositions. The mafic volcanic rocks have negative Nb-anomalies, high Th/Nb and Ce/Pb ratios, low initial εNd values of +0.4 to +3.4, and radiogenic Pb and Sr isotopes all interpreted as evidence for the melting of passively upwelling asthenosphere and lithospheric mantle previously modified by plate subduction. The xenocrystic zircon ages and chemical/isotopic data of the felsic rocks support an origin from juvenile crustal protoliths: the data of I-type felsic rocks are consistent with the melting of underplated mafic protoliths and those of the A-type rhyolites support the melting of a crustal source with a composition similar to the I-type felsites with apatite controlling their Nb anomaly. The evidence for the persistent melting of a subduction-modified mantle in NE China is in agreement with a model of an extending coupled upper mantle–crust system due to a retreating Paleo-Pacific trench.
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