The tectonic evolution of the Tianshan Orogenic Belt: Evidence from U–Pb dating of detrital zircons from the Chinese southwestern Tianshan accretionary mélange

Abstract

The Tianshan Orogenic Belt, which is located in the southwestern part of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt (CAOB), is an important component in the reconstruction of the tectonic evolution of the CAOB. In order to examine the evolution of the Tianshan Orogenic Belt, we performed detrital zircon U–Pb dating analyses of sediments from the accretionary mélange from Chinese southwestern Tianshan in this study. A total of 542 analyzed spots on 541 zircon grains from five samples yield Paleoarchean to Devonian ages. The major age groups are 2520–2400Ma, 1890–1600Ma, 1168–651Ma, and 490–390Ma. Provenance analysis indicates that, the Precambrian detrital zircons were probably mainly derived from the paleo-Kazakhstan continent formed before the Early Silurian by amalgamation of the Kazakhstan–Yili microplate, the Chinese central Tianshan terrane and the Kyrgyz North and Middle Tianshan blocks, while detrital zircons with Paleozoic ages mainly from igneous rocks of the continental arc generated by the northward subduction of the south Tianshan paleocean. The age data correspond to four tectono-thermal events that took place in these small blocks, i.e., the continental nucleus growth during the Late Neoarchean–early Paleoproterozoic (~2.5Ga), the evolution of the supercontinents Columbia (2.1–1.6Ga) and Rodinia (1.3–0.57Ga), and the arc magmatism related with the Phanerozoic orogeny. The Precambrian zircons show a similar age pattern as the Tarim and the Cathaysia cratons and the Eastern India–Eastern Antarctica block but differ from those of Siberia distinctly. Therefore, the Tianshan region blocks and the Kazakhstan–Yili microplate have a close affinity to the eastern paleo-Gondwana fragments, but were not derived from the Siberia craton as proposed by some previous researchers. These blocks were likely generated by rifting accompanying Rodinia break-up in late Precambrian times.The youngest ages of the detrital zircons from the subduction mélange show a maximum depositional age of ca. 390Ma. It is coeval with the end of an earlier arc magmatic pulse (440–390Ma) but a bit older than a younger one at 360–320Ma and nearly 70–80Ma older than the HP–UHP metamorphism in the subduction zone (320–310Ma).