Zircon U-Pb Ages and Hf Isotopes of Neoproterozoic Meta-Igneous Rocks in the Liansandao Area, Northern Sulu Orogen, Eastern China, and the Tectonic Implications

Abstract

The Sulu Orogen preserves the Neoproterozoic tectonic-magmatic events, corresponding to the breaking up of the Rodinia supercontinent. The ages and petrogenesis of meta-igneous rocks in the Liansandao area in the northern Sulu Orogen are not well-constrained. This study reports zircon U-Pb ages and Hf isotopes of these rocks from the Liansandao area. Three meta-igneous rock samples give similar weighted mean 206Pb/238U ages of 744±11, 767±12, and 762±15 Ma, respectively, indicating the Neoproterozoic crystallization ages. These rocks formed coevally with the Wulian and Yangkou intrusions that located along the Yantai-Qingdao-Wulian fault zone. The Neoproterozoic ages indicate that the meta-igneous rocks from the Liansandao area have affinity to the Yangtze Block. The three samples have eHf(t)Hf(t) values of -7.2–-10.5, -6.0–-17.5, and -6.8–-12.0, respectively. These negative eHf(t) values indicate a primarily crustal source. However, the widely various eHf(t) values that are higher than the continental crust, suggesting magma mixing between mantle-derived materials and the continental crust or source heterogeneity. Combined with the Hf model ages and geochemical characteristics, the monzodiorite (sample LSD-2) is most likely to be mantle-derived magma then interacted with ancient continental crust, and the granitic protolith (samples LSD-1 and LSD-3) in the Liansandao area might derive from the re-melting of a Paleoproterozoic continental crust at ~750 Ma, resulting from the upwelling and underplating of mantle-derived magma formed in an extensional setting due to the break- up of the Rodinia supercontinent.