Petrogenesis of Triassic post-collisional syenite plutons in the Sino-Korean craton: an example from North Korea

Abstract

AbstractMore than ten Triassic syenite plutons are revealed to be distributed in North Korea along the boundary to South Korea. The Tokdal Complex is one of these but is unique in its incorporation of early pyroxenite cumulate in the clinopyroxene/amphibole/biotite/nepheline-bearing syenite main body. A SHRIMP U–Pb zircon age of 224 ± 4 Ma was obtained from a biotite syenite sample. Clinopyroxene in pyroxenite is zoned, with either phlogopite and apatite inclusion or ilmenite and magnetite exsolution, and may have resulted from crystallization at high pressure in an active continental margin arc environment followed by ascent and decompression. The pyroxenite and syenite are enriched in light REE and LILE, but strongly depleted in HFSE, with 87Sr/86Srt values of ~0.7115 and ϵNdt values of −14 to −20 (t = 224 Ma). The Tokdal Complex could have originated from an enriched lithospheric mantle and undergone assimilation of juvenile materials during differentiation. It indicates an extension of post-collisional magmatism in the Sino-Korean craton. This complex along with many other Triassic plutons in the Sino-Korean craton together constitute three syenite belts along the northern, southern and eastern margins of the craton, possibly resulting in its final configuration in eastern Asia.