LA-ICP-MS zircon U-Pb dating of the Kunlunguan A-type granites in Guangxi Province, South China and its geological significance

Abstract

The Kunlunguan biotite granite pluton, located in the southwestern part of the Nanling Mesozoic granite belt, is controlled by the NW-trending Nandan-Kunlunguan deep fault. LA-ICP-MS zircon U-Pb dating yielded a weighted mean 206Pb/238U age of 93.0±1 Ma (MSDW=1.7) for the main part of the pluton, implying its Late Cretaceous intrusion. The Kunlunguan body is a high-K calc-alkaline rock characterized by high silicon, alkali and aluminum, and low phosphorus and titanium. SiO2 contents of the Kunlunguan body range from 68.13% to 72.61% and K2O/Na2O ratios from 1.28 to 1.87. A/CNK values vary from 0.76 to 1.42, indicating a metaluminous to intensively peraluminous character. The rocks are enriched in Ga, Rb, Th, U and Pb but depleted in Ba, Nb, Sr, P and Ti. The REEs are characterized by remarkable negative Eu anomalies (Eu/Eu*=0.53–0.73) and exhibit right-inclined “V”-shaped patterns with LREE enrichment. Petrology, major and trace elements data all indicate that the pluton is aluminous A-type granite which intruded in a post-collisional extensional tectonic setting. It is related to back-arc extension, reflecting high-angle subduction of the paleo-Pacific plate, caused by northward movement of the Indian plate. The Nandan-Kunlunguan A-type granites belt, together with similar plutons in the coastal areas of Zhejiang and Fujian provinces, represent the two A-type granite belts under a matching tectonic system.