LA-ICP-MS zircon U-Pb age and Hf isotope data from the granitic rocks in the Iwakuni area, Southwest Japan: re-evaluation of emplacement order and the source magma

Abstract

U-Pb-Hf isotopes of zircons from the granitic intrusive rocks in the Iwakuni area of Southwest Japan are determined by LA-ICP-MS analysis. The Gamano Granodiorite belonging to the Older Ryoke Granites of the Ryoke Belt yielded U-Pb mean age of 92.3 ± 2.6 Ma (MSWD = 1.8). The Namera Granite belonging to the Younger Ryoke Granites of the Ryoke Belt yielded U-Pb mean age of 106.3 ± 1.6 Ma (MSWD = 2.3). The Shimokuhara Granite belonging to the Hiroshima Granites of the San-yo Belt yielded U-Pb mean age of 103.8 ± 1.5 Ma (MSWD = 0.32). A granite porphyry sample taken from about 15 m thick dike discordantly intruded into pelitic schist of the Ryoke metamorphic rocks yielded U-Pb mean age of 92.5 ± 1.6 Ma (MSWD = 0.63). Hf isotope data, obtained from the same dated zircon grains, show initial 176Hf/177Hf isotopic ratios referred to as “eHf(t)” generally ranging between–4.8 and +1.1 except an anomalously low value (–15.0) from an inherited core. The eHf(t) values, calculated with average crustal 176Lu/177Hf ratio of 0.015, correspond to Hf isotope crustal model ages between 1474 to 1087 Ma (Mesoproterozoic). The Gamano Graodiorite has long been regarded to be a syn-tectonic intrusion, but the zircon ages and eHf(t) values are similar to those of the post-tectonic granite porphyry dike. The results of this study together with available U-Pb zircon ages of granitic rocks in the Iwakuni area reported elsewhere reveal that the order of emplacement indicated by the U-Pb zircon ages are much discrepant with the traditional classification, the Older Ryoke, the Younger Ryoke. It is better to refrain from the use of “Older” and “Younger” for the collective names of the granitic intrusive bodies.