Zircon U-Pb geochronology, Hf isotopic composition, and geological implications of the Neoproterozoic meta-sedimentary rocks in Suizhou-Zaoyang area, the northern Yangtze Block

Abstract

Suizhou-Zaoyang area is located in the southern Qinling-Tongbai-Dabie Orogen, China. A combined research on U-Pb ages and Lu-Hf isotopes for detrital zircons from three meta-sedimentary rocks in the Wudang Group is reported. The upper Wudang Group has a major age population of ca. 750 Ma and a sub-major of ca. 860 Ma. But the lower part only yields one age peak at ca. 2.03 Ga. In situ Lu-Hf analyses of the young age group of ca. 750 Ma for zircons from the upper Wudang Group yield an average ɛHf(t) value of −8.6 and two-stage Hf model ages (TDM2) from 1837 to 2230 Ma, respectively. However, zircons from the lower Group give an average ɛHf(t) value of 4.5 and TDM1 of 2220±22 Ma, close to the timing of zircon crystallization. Thus, it is suggested that, in the study area, the continental crust grew during the middle Paleoproterozoic and reworked during the middle Neoproterozoic, which shows the affinity to the Dabie Orogen. In addition, in the lower Wudang Group, two metamorphic zircon ages of 1992±91 Ma and 1999±61 Ma are consistent with that of the middle Paleoproterozoic metamorphism event in the northern Yangtze Block, which may represent the assemblage of the Columbia Supercontinent. On the basis of the U-Pb ages and Hf isotopes, it is proposed that Suizhou-Zaoyang area was involved in the subduction-collision event in the middle Paleoproterozoic and the Yangtze Block was one of the components of the Paleo-Mesoproterozoic supercontinent.