Paleotethyan evolution of the Indochina Block as deduced from granites in northern Laos

Abstract

The Paleotethyan evolution of the Southeast Asia has become better understood in recent years. Questions remain, however, over the role of the Dien Bien Phu Suture Zone in the evolution of the Indochina Block and whether the Song Ma Suture represents the boundary between the Indochina Block and the South China Block. Granitoid geochronological and geochemical data obtained in northern Laos provide new information vis-à-vis these arguments. Zircon U–Pb ages together with whole rock, trace and rare earth element data from 27 granitic rocks from five complexes allow us to conclude that these granites are typical of I-type Indosinian volcanic arc granites. However, the 234–256Ma I-type granites mismatch the initiation age obtained from the ductile shear zone of the Dien Bien Phu Fault, thus repudiating the existence of the Dien Bien Phu Suture Zone. This then implies that the Qamdo–Simao and Indochina blocks were united. The geochemical and geochronological data further suggest that the main crust in the Indochina Block formed in the Late Paleoproterozoic to Early Mesoproterozoic, much later than the Archean crustal formation age identified east of the Song Ma Suture. Moreover, the 440–404Ma and 234–256Ma I-type granites suggest that the boundary between Indochina and South China should be the Jinsha River Suture–Song Ma Suture–Kontum Massif, instead of the Jinsha River Suture–Song Chay Suture. Finally, the Emeishan basalt and granite complexes both form part of the South China tectonic units subducting westward under the Qamdo–Simao and Indochina blocks.