Zircon U–Pb geochronology and Sr–Nd isotopes of volcanic rocks from the Dahalajunshan Formation: implications for Late Devonian–Middle Carboniferous tectonic evolution of the Chinese Western Tianshan

Abstract

The widespread Late Devonian–Middle Carboniferous volcanic rocks in the Chinese Western Tianshan provide important constraints on the subduction history of the South Tianshan oceanic lithosphere. Here, we investigate the basalt, basaltic andesite, andesite, trachyandesite, and rhyolite from the Dahalajunshan Formation from Western Tianshan. Laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA–ICP–MS) U–Pb zircon geochronology constrains their age of formation to between 376 and 333 Ma (i.e., Late Devonian–Middle Carboniferous) with distinct variation in space (from west to east) and time (from early to late). Based on geochemical, zircon geochronological, and Sr–Nd isotopic data, we demonstrate that the Dahalajunshan volcanic was generated in a continental arc setting associated with the subduction of the south Tianshan Ocean during Late Devonian to Middle Carboniferous. The volcanic rocks belonging to Dahalajunshan Formation in the northwestern part of the Yili Block suggest that the northward subduction of the south Tianshan Ocean was initiated in the Early Devonian; those in the southern and eastern part of the Yili Block were probably produced by a northward subduction of South Tianshan Ocean during Late Devonian to Middle Carboniferous.