Abstract
Abstract The location of the Tarim craton during the assembly and breakup of the Rodinia supercontinent remains enigmatic, with some models advocating a Tarim-Australia connection and others a location at the heart of the unified Rodinia supercontinent between Australia and Laurentia. In this study, our new zircon U-Pb dating results suggest that middle Neoproterozoic sedimentary rocks in the Altyn Tagh orogen of the southeastern Tarim craton were deposited between ca. 880 and 760 Ma in a rifting-related setting slightly prior to the breakup of Rodinia at ca. 750 Ma. A compilation of existing Neoproterozoic geological records also indicates that the Altyn Tagh orogen of the southeastern Tarim craton underwent collision at ca. 1.0-0.9 Ga and rifting at ca. 850-600 Ma related to the assembly and breakup of Rodinia. Furthermore, in order to establish the paleoposition of the Tarim craton with respect to Rodinia, available detrital zircon U-Pb ages and Hf isotopes from Meso- to Neoproterozoic sedimentary rocks were compiled. Comparable detrital zircon ages (at ca. 0.9, 1.3-1.1, and 1.7 Ga) and Hf isotopes indicate a close linkage among rocks of the southeastern Tarim craton, Cathaysia, and North India but exclude a northern or western Australian affinity. In addition, detrital zircons from the northern Tarim craton exhibit a prominent age peak at ca. 830 Ma with minor spectra at ca. 1.9 and 2.5 Ga but lack Mesoproterozoic ages, comparable to the northern and western Yangtze block. Together with comparable geological responses to the assembly and breakup of the Rodinia supercontinent, we offer a new perspective of the location of the Tarim craton between South China and North India in the periphery of Rodinia.
Highlights
Most paleomagnetic studies, in agreement with plumerelated magmatic rocks and glacial intervals, support the placement of the Tarim craton to the north or west of Australia in Neoproterozoic reconstructions of Rodinia [1,2,3,4]
Such subduction-related magmatism without any Grenville-age unconformity or metamorphism indicates that the Tarim craton was probably located in the periphery of Rodinia with its northern margin facing the circumRodinia subduction zones [8, 9], rather than at the heart of Rodinia [6, 7]
The recognition of ca. 940900 metamorphic rock protolith age (Ma) syncollisional magmatism and metamorphism from the Altyn Tagh orogen of the southeastern Tarim craton supports to interpret that this orogen is the suture between the Tarim craton and another block during the amalgamation of Rodinia (e.g., [12,13,14,15,16])
Summary
In agreement with plumerelated magmatic rocks and glacial intervals, support the placement of the Tarim craton to the north or west of Australia in Neoproterozoic reconstructions of Rodinia [1,2,3,4]. 1.0-0.6 Ga magmatic rocks from the northern Tarim craton have recently been reinterpreted to correlate with a long-lived subduction event [8, 9]. Such subduction-related magmatism without any Grenville-age unconformity or metamorphism indicates that the Tarim craton was probably located in the periphery of Rodinia with its northern margin facing the circumRodinia subduction zones [8, 9], rather than at the heart of Rodinia [6, 7]. We suggest the placement of the Tarim craton between South China and North India with respect to Rodinia, based on a comparison of available detrital zircon age spectra and Hf isotope compositions
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