Silurian intermediate–felsic complex in the Xiangtaohu area of central Qiangtang, northern Tibet: Evidence for southward subduction of the Longmuco–Shuanghu Prototethys oceanic plate: Comment

Abstract

We disagree that, as suggested by Liu et al. (2021) (Lithos, v. 404–405, 106,465), the newly discovered Silurian (438–429 Ma) intermediate–acid plutons in the Xiangtaohu area of central Qiangtang, northern Tibet, marked southward subduction of the Shuanghu Tethyan ocean and divergent double subduction occurred in the Shuanghu Tethyan ocean during the Paleozoic. A review indicates that these Silurian magmatic rocks are located to the northern edge of the ~100-km-wide central Qiangtang accretionary complex of the Shuanghu suture zone. They, along with Paleozoic fore-arc sediments and arc magmatic rocks in the southernmost margin of the northern Qiangtang terrane, indicate the northward subduction of the Shuanghu Tethyan ocean during the Paleozoic. Furthermore, no evidence of magmatic association and geochemistry supports divergent double subduction in the Shuanghu Tethyan ocean during the Paleozoic.