Timing of Magma Mixing in the Gangdisê Magmatic Belt during the India‐Asia Collision: Zircon SHRIMP U‐Pb Dating

Abstract

Abstract Abundant mafic microgranular enclaves (MMEs) extensively distribute in granitoids in the Gangdisê giant magmatic belt, within which the Qüxü batholith is the most typical MME‐bearing pluton. Systematic sampling for granodioritic host rock, mafic microgranular enclaves and gabbro nearby at two locations in the Qüxü batholith, and subsequent zircon SHRIMP II U‐Pb dating have been conducted. Two sets of isotopic ages for granodioritic host rock, mafic microgranular enclaves and gabbro are 50.4±1.3 Ma, 51.2±1.1 Ma, 47.0±1 Ma and 49.3±1.7 Ma, 48.9±1.1 Ma, 49.9±1.7 Ma, respectively. It thus rules out the possibilities of mafic microgranular enclaves being refractory residues after partial melting of magma source region, or being xenoliths of country rocks or later intrusions. Therefore, it is believed that the three types of rocks mentioned above likely formed in the same magmatic event, i.e., they formed by magma mixing in the Eocene (c. 50 Ma). Compositionally, granitoid host rocks incline towards acidic end member involved in magma mixing, gabbros are akin to basic end member and mafic microgranular enclaves are the incompletely mixed basic magma clots trapped in acidic magma. The isotopic dating also suggested that huge‐scale magma mixing in the Gangdisê belt took place 15–20 million years after the initiation of the India‐Asia continental collision, genetically related to the underplating of subduction‐collision‐induced basic magma at the base of the continental crust. Underplating and magma mixing were likely the main process of mass‐energy exchange between the mantle and the crust during the continental collision, and greatly contributed to the accretion of the continental crust, the evolution of the lithosphere and related mineralization beneath the portion of the Tibetan Plateau to the north of the collision zone.