Nd and Pb Isotopic Composition of Granitoids in the Khangai Batholith as an Indicator of Crust-Forming Processes in the Terranes of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt

Abstract

The Khangai batholith is one of the largest groups of granitoid plutons produced in Central Asia in the Late Permian–Early Triassic, at 270–240 Ma. The batholith occurs in the Khangai collage of Precambrian terranes, which include Early Precambrian crustal blocks (Dzabkhan and Tarbagatai) and Early to Late Neoproterozoic structures of the Songino block in their surroundings. The axial zone of this collage is overprinted by a basin filled with Devonian volcanic–siliceous rocks and Early to Middle Carboniferous terrigenous rocks. The isotopic parameters (Nd and Pb) of granitoids in the Khangai batholith indicate that the melts were derived from compositionally contrasting crustal sources and a single mantle one. The massifs hosted in the Precambrian blocks were produced with the involvement of lower crustal material, with various ages of the origin of the crust and its differentiation into upper and lower ones. The crust of the Tarbagatai and Dzabkhan blocks was produced in the Early Archean and was differentiated at the Archean–Proterozoic boundary. The crust of the Songino block was formed in the Paleoproterozoic and differentiated in the Early Neoproterozoic. According to the Pb and Nd isotopic parameters of granitoids in the Khangai Basin, the regional continental crust was close to the juvenile one, i.e., the continental crust of the Khangai Basin had still not been differentiated by the time when the Khangai batholith was produced. A single mantle source was involved in the origin of the melts of granitoids of the Khangai batholith in various tectonic blocks. The evolution of the Pb isotopic composition of this sources is consistent with the Stacey–Kramers model at µ = 9.5. This source can be identified with the enriched mantle, which has a higher U/Pb ratio than the depleted mantle and lower eNd(T) of 0 to +2.