The roots of the Dabieshan ultrahigh-pressure metamorphic terrane: constraints from geochemistry and Nd–Sr isotope systematics

Abstract

The Dabieshan area between the Sino–Korean and Yangtze cratons in east-central China has become the focus of much recent attention because of the discovery of abundant coesite and rare micro-diamond inclusions in both eclogites and their enclosing country rocks. The Dabieshan metamorphic complex, previously regarded as Archean continental basement of the Yangtze craton, is mainly made up of Precambrian felsic orthogneiss, amphibolite, and migmatitic gneiss with minor eclogite, granulite, ultramafic rock and marble. Our geochemical analyses and Nd–Sr isotope data show that most Dabieshan orthogneisses are distinctly different from the nearby Kongling gneisses of the Yangtze basement, which are Archean high-Al TTG rocks with an average Nd model age of 3.3±0.2 Ga with volcanic arc granitic affinity. The protoliths of the Dabieshan orthogneisses are diverse, and three types of rocks are distinguished: (1) the majority of the felsic gneisses in the eclogite units display geochemical signatures of post-Archean granites and may have resulted from Neoproterozoic magmatism in a rift environment; (2) some of the felsic gneisses in the eclogite units have an affinity with Kongling gneiss, and were presumably derived from the Yangtze basement by tectonic extrusion during Mesozoic exhumation of the ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) metamorphic rocks; and (3) the felsic gneisses of the dome region show geochemical signatures of Archean granitoids and Nd model ages between 3.1 and 1.0 Ga, attributed to mixing between Neoproterozoic mantle-derived material and the Archean Kongling gneisses. Numerical modeling shows that mixing between mantle-derived melts and Kongling gneiss can account for the Nd–Sr isotopic variation of Mesozoic mafic monzodiorites in the UHP eclogite unit, implying that the Kongling complex was extended beneath the Dabieshan terrane possibly during early Mesozoic continental collision. We suggest that the dome region was originally part of the Yangtze craton, and was separated from it by Neoproterozoic rifting. The orogen was later significantly modified, especially by Jurassic–Cretaceous migmatization and magmatism.