Cretaceous fractionated I-type granitoids and metaluminous A-type granites in SE China: the Late Yanshanian post-orogenic magmatism

Abstract

The Late Yanshanian Orogeny (130-90 Ma) encompasses an important Mesozoic magmatic event in the crustal evolution of SE China. Products of post-orogenic magmatism, widely distributed in the eastern part of Zhejiang and Fujian provinces known as the Southeast Coast Magmatic Belt (SCMB), are dominated by large amounts of slightly Nb and Ta depleted, high-K calc-alkaline granites (I-type) and small amounts of strongly Ba, Sr, Eu, Ti and P depleted, metaluminous granites (A-type). 40Ar/39Ar dating from amphiboles suggests that emplacement of A-type granites mostly postdates (94-90 Ma) the intrusion of voluminous I-type granitoids (110-99 Ma). Using the Al-in-amphibole geobarometer, I-type suites were estimated to have been emplaced at shallow depths (5-7 km). Along with the fact that A-type granites are phyric or miarolitic in texture, it can be concluded that all these post-orogenic suites in the SCMB belong to shallow intrusives. They have also undergone a rapid cooling (higher than 100°C/Ma at T > 300 °C) as indicated by the thermochronology of hornblende, biotite and K-feldspar; therefore, generation of A-type granites from I-type magmas through fractional crystallisation would be a difficult process. Alternatively, their geochemical characteristics are attributed to partial melting in the residual lower crust under an elevated geothermal environment. On the other hand, I-type magmas are considered to be middle-crust-derived melts largely modified with mantle-derived melts that had been depleted with Nb and Ta by earlier tectonic processes. Such a tectonic environment is explained by the underplating of basaltic magmas, most probably due to lithospheric delamination taking place at c. 110 Ma, which marks the beginning of the postorogenic episode in this area. Numerical modelling for a heat source provided by the underplating of basaltic magma supports such a proposition.