Petrogenesis of the Seleteguole granitoids from Jinhe county in Xinjiang (West China): Implications for the tectonic transformation of Northwest Tianshan

Abstract

The Seleteguole Cu–Mo deposit in Jinghe County, Xinjiang is tectonically located on the northern margin of the Northwestern Tianshan. Three major intrusions including biotite granite, diorite porphyry and quartz diorite porphyry have been identified. The biotite granite, with a zircon U–Pb age of 307±3Ma, intruded carbonates and clastic rocks of the Middle Carboniferous Dongtujin Formation. The younger diorite porphyry and quartz diorite porphyry, with an identical zircon U–Pb age of 302±3Ma, locally intruded the biotite granite; where the granite in contact with the two porphyries were characterized by phyllic alteration. The mineralogical and geochemical characteristics indicate that all granitoids in Seleteguole belong to calc-alkaline I-type. These granitoids are enriched in LILE relative to HFSE with negative anomalies of Nb, P and Ti, typical of arc-related rocks. All three granitoids have positive zircon εHf(t) values, low Mg# ratios (34–39), and low Cr (<60ppm) and Ni (<15ppm) contents, suggesting that their parental magmas could be derived from juvenile lower crust that has probably originated from cooling of mantle-derived magmas as a result of the subduction of Paleo-Junggar Ocean beneath the Yili Block. Subducted sediments were involved in the source of the granitoids in Seleteguole. Compared to biotite granite, diorite porphyry and quartz diorite porphyry have higher Th/La ratios but lower zircon εHf(t) values, indicating that more subducted sediments contributed in the latter two. The regional geological and geochemical characteristics of the Late Carboniferous igneous rocks in the Northwestern Tianshan show that Late Carboniferous I-type granitoids, with juvenile Sr–Nd–(Hf) isotopic signatures, formed in a continent-marginal arc setting as a result of the subduction of Paleo-Junggar Ocean beneath the Yili Block. In combination with the compositions of the Early Permian granitoids in the region, we suggest that the tectonic setting of the Northwestern Tianshan transformed from a continental arc to an intracontinental extension setting at the Carboniferous–Permian boundary (ca. 300Ma).