Two episodes of Early Palaeozoic high-pressure metamorphism in North Balkhash ophiolite zone (Central Kazakhstan, western Central Asian Orogenic Belt): Evidence for tectonic evolution of Junggar–Balkhash Ocean

Abstract

Listen

Translate article

The structure of serpentinite mélange of the North Balkhash ophiolite zone (Central Kazakhstan; west Central Asian Orogenic Belt) is ascertained to be high-grade formations assigned to epidote-glaucophane eclogites and garnet blueschists, and their varieties. The rocks follow a clockwise ‘subduction-type’ evolution with the estimated near–peak metamorphic conditions of 1.6–1.9 GPa and 500–560 °C. 40Ar39Ar phengite ages of ∼491 Ma and ∼ 465 Ma obtained for the eclogites and garnet blueschists, respectively, are interpreted to reflect the near-peak to shortly retrograde stages of rock evolution and to record the late Cambrian and Middle Ordovician episodes of high-pressure re-equilibration in the North Balkhash zone. Protoliths of the eclogites were N-MORB-like mafic rocks, which comprised structurally different (from the lower gabbroic to the upper dolerite/basalt) parts of pre-late Cambrian oceanic crust and were formed in the spreading centre setting at the expense of depleted mantle source. Protoliths of the garnet blueschists and associated rocks were represented by volcanogenic–sedimentary, predominantly mafic, complexes (tuffaceous sandstones, greywackes), an accumulation of which and subsequent involvement into subduction occurred at ∼478–465 Ma in the intra-oceanic (fore-arc) setting. Zircon core ages indicate formation of the source of the protoliths of the garnet blueschists occurred in the 509–478 Ma range. A comprehensive correlation of the metamorphic and igneous formations of the North Balkhash zone with those assigned to the adjacent complexes of the southern part of the West Junggar area (NW China) suggested their mutual Early Palaeozoic tectonic evolution within the Junggar–Balkhash Ocean.