Early Cretaceous magmatism in the northern Gyeonggi Massif and the northcentral Yeongnam Massif, Korean Peninsula: Its implications for the Cretaceous tectonic evolution of the Northeast Asia

Abstract

Most Cretaceous igneous rocks in the northeastern North China Cratons (NCC) and southeastern South China Cratons (SCC) in Northeast Asia are interpreted to have formed in the extensional tectonic environment caused by subducted slab roll-back. On the other hand, the Cretaceous magmatism in the proto-Southwest Japan was confirmed to have occurred in the compressional state produced by the paleo-Pacific plate subduction. The granitoids and enclaves in the northern Gyeonggi Massif intruded at ca. 110–109 Ma and 112 Ma respectively, and the granite and pyroclastic rock in the northcentral Yeongnam Massif were formed at 106 Ma and 103 Ma respectively. The enclaves in the Ganghwa area which located in northern Gyeonggi Massif have high whole-rock Sr isotope composition (0.70748–0.71181) and low whole-rock εNd(t) (−14 to −15) value and low zircon εHf(t) (−19.2 to −14.7) values with enrichment of LILE, suggesting their origin from enriched lithospheric mantle metasomatized by subducted slab sediment. The Early Cretaceous granitoids on the northern Gyeonggi and northcentral Yeongnam massifs have adakite like geochemical composition which are derived from the lower crust instead of subducted oceanic crust derived melt. The geochemical features of the Early Cretaceous igneous rocks in the Korean Peninsula including the study area imply that the Early Cretaceous magmatism on the Korean Peninsula mainly occurred in the extension regime caused by slab roll-back of the paleo-Pacific plate as in the NCC. On the other hand, the igneous rocks formed at 80–66 Ma in the Korean Peninsula have geochemical characteristics similar to that in the Cretaceous igneous rocks in proto-Southwest Japan, indicating that the 80–66 Ma magmatism in the Korean Peninsula were produced by the subduction of the paleo-Pacific plate. The Cretaceous igneous rocks in the northeastern NCC and on the Korean Peninsula show a southeastward-younging trend from 145 Ma to 80 Ma, indicating that southeastward slab roll-back had started at 145 Ma and continued until 80 Ma. Arc-related igneous activity occurred from 116 Ma in southwestern Japan and propagated northward, resulting arc related magmatism in the northern margin of proto-southwestern Japan and the southeastern margin of the Korean Peninsula at 80–66 Ma.