Garnet amphibolites from the Ganzi–Litang fault zone, eastern Tibetan Plateau: mineralogy, geochemistry, and implications for evolution of the eastern Palaeo-Tethys Realm

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe Ganzi–Litang fault zone, an outstanding tectonic element in the eastern Tibetan Plateau has been intensively debated as an in-situ suture zone marking relict of a subducted Palaeo-Tethyan oceanic crust or a failed intracontinental rift. This paper reports the garnet amphibolites discovered along the Ganzi–Litang fault zone, eastern Tibetan Plateau. These garnet amphibolites are characterized by the garnet–hornblende–rutile–sphene–plagioclase–quartz assemblage. Conventional geothermobarometry figures out the metamorphic temperature and pressure conditions at 582–626°C and 1.61–1.82 GPa, respectively. Geochemical analysis (no Nb–Ta deletions and left-inclined to flat patterns of rare-earth elements) indicates that the garnet amphibolites could represent metamorphic product of the mid-ocean-ridge (MORB)-type mafic rocks that were contaminated by a mantle plume. The protolith of the garnet amphibolites was dated at 236 Ma using in-situ U–Pb zircon method, and the retrograde metamorphism was dated at 218 Ma using in-situ U–Pb sphene method. A comprehensive analysis combined with the development of the Palaeo-Tethys Ocean and the Yidun arc through geologic time indicates a Triassic to Early Jurassic age (236–195 Ma) for the metamorphism of the garnet amphibolites. The low geothermal gradient of 9.8ºC/km and the N-MORB nature of the garnet amphibolites suggest a subduction-zone environment for the high-pressure metamorphism. Therefore, the Ganzi–Litang fault zone is a Palaeo-Tethyan suture separating the Yidun arc and the Songpan–Ganzi terrane, representing the relics of a branch of the Palaeo-Tethys Ocean that was contaminated by a mantle plume.