Early carboniferous rifting of the Harlik arc in the Eastern Tianshan (NW China): Response to rollback in the southern Altaids?

Abstract

Field, geochronological, geochemical and Sr-Nd isotopic analyses are applied to late Paleozoic gabbro-diorites and monzogranites in the Hulugou-Miaoergou regions, Harlik arc, in order to provide constraints on the tectonic evolution of the Eastern Tianshan orogen in the late Paleozoic. LA-ICP-MS zircon U-Pb ages show that the first pulse of gabbroic magmatism occurred at 348 ± 4 Ma, accompanied by simultaneous dioritic (342 ± 3 Ma) and monzogranitic (343 ± 5 Ma) magmatism, and the second pulse of gabbroic magmatism was at 334 ± 3 Ma. Most of the gabbros are medium- to high- K calc-alkaline in composition, and show enrichments in light rare earth elements (LREE) and large ion lithophile elements (LILE), but depletions in high field strength elements (HFSE, especially Nb and Ta). In combination with their juvenile isotopic signature (initial ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr = 0.70345–0.70380, εNd(t) = 4.5–6), the geochemical features suggest that both pulses of gabbroic magmatism were likely derived from partial melting of asthenosphere facilitated by a flux from a subducting slab. The diorites also display the arc-related geochemical characteristics and juvenile isotopic signature (initial ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr = 0.70355–0.70358, εNd(t) = 4.3–4.7), coupled with their intimate relationship with the gabbros indicate that they formed by fractional crystallization of clinopyroxene, plagioclase and amphibole from the first pulse of gabbroic magmatism. The monzogranites have relatively high A/CNK values (1.04–1.1) and are weakly to moderately peraluminous. Considering the presence of zircon xenocrysts dated at 510 to 450 Ma in the monzogranites, and their moderate molar Al₂O₃/(MgO+FeO^T) and molar CaO/(MgO+FeO^T) ratios, partial melting of supracrustal rocks of probable late Ordovician age was most likely the cause of their genesis and heterogeneity. These three different magmas (gabbroic, dioritic and monzogranitic) were probably extracted from a deep crustal hot zone. The primitive basaltic magmas continuously intruded the deep crust where they solidified, fractionated, assimilated, and heated the crust, generating in turn the peraluminous and A-type granitoids, similar to the magmas in the Lachlan orogen that intruded during progressive slab rollback. Based on all available evidence, we propose that southward slab rollback of the subducting Paleo-Asian Ocean in the early Carboniferous was responsible for the progressive emplacement of these different magmas, which eventually resulted in rifting of the Harlik arc.