摘要
The Aoyougou ophiolite lies in an early Palaeozoic orogenic belt of the western North Qilian Mountains, near the Aoyougou valley in Gansu Province, northwestern China. It consists of serpentinite, a cumulate sequence of gabbro and diorite, pillow and massive lavas, diabase and chert. Ages of 1840±2 Ma, 1783±2 Ma and 1784±2 Ma on three zircons from diabase, indicate an early Middle Proterozoic age. The diabases and basalts show light rare-earth element enrichment and have relatively high TiO2 contents, characteristic of ocean island basalts. All of the lavas have low MgO, Cr, Ni contents and Mg numbers indicating a more evolved character. They are believed to have been derived from a more mafic parental magma by fractionation of olivine, Cr-spinel and minor plagioclase. Based on the lava geochemistry and regional geology, the Aoyougou ophiolite was probably believed to have formed at a spreading centre in a small marginal basin. Subduction of the newly formed oceanic lithosphere in the Middle Proterozoic produced a trench-arc-basin system, which is preserved in the North Qilian Mountains.
The Aoyougou ophiolite lies in an early Palaeozoic orogenic belt of the western North Qilian Mountains, near the Aoyougou valley in Gansu Province, northwestern China. It consists of serpentinite, a cumulate sequence of gabbro and diorite, pillow and massive lavas, diabase and chert. Ages of 1840±2 Ma, 1783±2 Ma and 1784±2 Ma on three zircons from diabase, indicate an early Middle Proterozoic age. The diabases and basalts show light rare-earth element enrichment and have relatively high TiO2 contents, characteristic of ocean island basalts. All of the lavas have low MgO, Cr, Ni contents and Mg numbers indicating a more evolved character. They are believed to have been derived from a more mafic parental magma by fractionation of olivine, Cr-spinel and minor plagioclase. Based on the lava geochemistry and regional geology, the Aoyougou ophiolite was probably believed to have formed at a spreading centre in a small marginal basin. Subduction of the newly formed oceanic lithosphere in the Middle Proterozoic produced a trench-arc-basin system, which is preserved in the North Qilian Mountains.
基金
part of a larger project involving an investigation of ore deposits in the western part of the North Qilian Mountains funded by the National Planning Economic Commission of China
It is also part result of the National Key Fundamental Research Project(G1999043205)
financially supported by the Ministry of National Science and Technology.
