Age, origin, and tectonic implications of Palaeozoic rapakivi granites in the North Qaidam orogen, Northwest China

Abstract

Palaeozoic rapakivi granites occur in the western segment of the China Central Orogenic System. Exhibiting typical rapakivi texture, these granites contain magmatic microgranular enclaves of intermediate compositions. SHRIMP zircon U–Pb ages for the granites and enclaves are 433 ± 5 Ma and 433 ± 3 Ma, respectively. The rapakivi granites are magnesian to ferroan, calc-alkalic to alkalic, and are characterized by high FeOt/(FeOt + MgO) (0.74–0.91) and Ga/Al ratios, and SiO2, Na2O + K2O and rare earth element (apart from Eu) contents, but low CaO, Ba, and Sr contents. These are typical A-type granite geochemical features. The granites and enclaves exhibit a uniform decrease in TiO2, CaO, Na2O, K2O, FeO, and MgO with increasing SiO2, and both lithologies have similar trace element patterns. Whole-rock ϵNd(t) values vary from −9.2 to −8.7 for the granites and from −9.0 to −8.4 for the enclaves, but zircon ϵHf(t) values vary more widely from −5.8 to −0.2 and −4.6 to +5.1, respectively. Our data suggest that the granites and enclaves have crystallized from different magmas. The granites appear to have been derived from old continental crust, whereas the enclaves required a source having a juvenile component. The spherical shape and undeformed nature of the granites and their geochemical characteristics, coupled with the (ultra)-high pressure metamorphism and evolution of Palaeozoic granitoid magmatism in the North Qaidam orogen, indicate that the rapakivi granites were generated in a post-collisional setting. These rocks are therefore an example of Palaeozoic rapakivi granites emplaced in a post-collisional, extensional orogenic setting.