Zircon U–Pb geochronology and geochemistry of low-grade metamorphosed volcanic rocks from the Dantazi Complex: Implications for the evolution of the North China Craton

Abstract

The late Neoarchean witnessed the cratonization of the North China Craton (NCC) through amalgamation of several micro-blocks to form a coherent basement. The Archean orthogneisses and supracrustal rocks in this craton have experienced various grades of metamorphism ranging up to upper amphibolite and granulite facies at ∼2500Ma. Recently, a suite of low-grade metamorphosed (greenschist to lower amphibolite facies) volcanic rocks was discovered in the late Neoarchean Dantazi Complex in northern Hebei province. These meta-volcanic rocks consist of bimodal basalt–andesite and trachyte–dacite with a SiO2 gap between 54.4wt.% and 60.7wt.%. Here we report SHRIMP zircon U–Pb ages of 2490±19Ma (MSWD=2.0) and 2502±8Ma (MSWD=0.83) from the meta-mafic and meta-felsic volcanics, respectively, representing the timing of igneous activity. All the meta-mafic volcanic rocks display coherent trace element and REE patterns which are characterized by enriched LILE and LREE but depleted HFSE and HREE ((La/Yb)N=6.29–15.10). Combining these trace element features with the positive zircon εHf(t) values (+1.3 to +6.6), we propose that the mafic rocks were likely derived from partial melting of a previously metasomatized lithospheric mantle. In the primitive mantle-normalized diagram, the felsic rocks display uniform patterns enriched in LILE but depleted in Nb and Ta, similar to those of lower crust. Furthermore, their strongly fractionated REE ((La/Yb)N=15.24–61.20), lower HREE concentrations (Yb=0.47–1.65ppm) and positive zircon εHf(t) values (+1.6 to +5.3) suggest that they were derived from partial melting of the lower crust with garnet in the residue. This coeval occurrence of metasomatized mantle-derived mafic magmas and potassic felsic magmas from different source regions reflects an intracontinental extensional setting during the late Neoarchean to earliest Paleoproterozoic following the cratonization of the NCC. Our new data, combined with previous published data, allow us to speculate that the intracontinental extensional regime might have prevailed in the NCC from late Neoarchean onwards.