Early Jurassic metamorphism of the eastern segment of the Lhasa terrane in South Tibet and its tectonic significance

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe metamorphic belt in the Dongjiu area is located in the eastern segment of the Lhasa terrane in South Tibet. The Dongjiu metamorphic rocks are primarily composed of schist and gneiss, with minor amounts of marble, and the protoliths are sedimentary rocks with Precambrian and early Palaeozoic zircons probably deposited during the Palaeozoic or late Neoproterozoic. On the basis of petrology and phase equilibria modelling, this study shows that the Dongjiu metamorphic belt has experienced a kyanite-grade metamorphism, which is characterized by a decompressional vector with slight cooling from a peak of 9.6 kbar and 745°C to medium-pressure amphibolite-facies metamorphic overprinting at 5–6 kbar and 600–630°C. This P–T path was well recorded and recovered by garnet zoning profiles. Laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry in situ U–Pb analyses on metamorphic zircons and zircon rims yielded concordant 206Pb/238U ages of c. 194–192 Ma, suggesting that the Dongjiu metamorphic rocks were formed during the Early Jurassic. Therefore, the Dongjiu metamorphic belt, together with the western Nyainqentanglha, Basongco, and Zhala metamorphic belts, constitutes a nearly continuous tectonic unit with an E–W extension of at least 500 km between the northern and southern Lhasa terranes. The metamorphic ages of these belts, ranging from 230 to 192 Ma, show a younger trend from west to east, indicating that the central segment of the Lhasa terrane experienced an eastward asynchronous collisional orogeny during the Late Triassic to Early Jurassic.