Discovery of Paleoproterozoic rapakivi granite on the northern margin of the Yangtze block and its geological significance

The Huashanguan rapakivi pluton in Zhongxiang,Hubei Province,China,is the first discovered Proterozoic rapakivi pluton in the Yangtze block.Based on field and petrographical observations,a typical rapakivi texture was found in the northern portion of the Huashanguan granitic pluton.Almost all the K-feldspar phenocrysts were round to oval in shape and most had plagioclase coatings known as rapakivi phenocrysts.Alkali feldspars and quartz had two or more generations.Petrochemically,the Huashanguan rapakivi granites were characterized as having high values of Si,K,Fe,Th,U,La,Ga,Ce,Sm and LREE,low values of Ca,Mg,Sr,Nb,Y and HREE,and a negative Eu anomaly.These geochemical characteristics of the Huashanguan granites were concordant with typical rapakivi granites,and had an affinity to A-type granites.LA-ICP-MS U-Pb zircon dating also was conducted.The dating yielded a 207Pb/206Pb weighted mean age of 1851±18 Ma (MSWD =1.2),which represents the age of the pluton emplacement.The age of 803±170 Ma at the lower intercept in the concordia diagram corresponds to the age of a later deformation event which affected the pluton,and suggests that the Huashanguan pluton was influenced by Neoproterozoic thermo-tectonic events after its formation.The discovery of Paleoproterozoic Huashanguan rapakivi granites indicates continental rifting or a post-orogenic extensional event that took place in the Paleoproterozoic in the Yangtze block.These events may be related to the breakup of the Paleoproterozoic Columbia supercontinent.

The Huashanguan rapakivi pluton in Zhongxiang, Hubei Province, China, is the first discovered Proterozoic rapakivi pluton in the Yangtze block. Based on field and petrographical observations, a typical rapakivi texture was found in the northern portion of the Huashanguan granitic pluton. Almost all the K-feldspar phenocrysts were round to oval in shape and most had plagioclase coat- ings known as rapakivi phenocrysts. Alkali feldspars and quartz had two or more generations. Petrochemically, the Huashanguan rapakivi granites were characterized as having high values of Si, K, Fe, Th, U, La, Ga, Ce, Sm and LREE, low values of Ca, Mg, Sr, Nb, Y and HREE, and a negative Eu anomaly. These geochemical characteristics of the Huashanguan granites were concor- dant with typical rapakivi granites, and had an affinity to A-type granites. LA-ICP-MS U-Pb zircon dating also was conducted. The dating yielded a2~7pb/2~6pb weighted mean age of 1851_＋18 Ma （MSWD =1.2）, which represents the age of the pluton em- placement. The age of 803_＋170 Ma at the lower intercept in the concordia diagram corresponds to the age of a later deformation event which affected the pluton, and suggests that the Huashanguan pluton was influenced by Neoproterozoic thermo-tectonic events after its formation. The discovery of Paleoproterozoic Huashanguan rapakivi granites indicates continental rifting or a post-orogenic extensional event that took place in the Paleoproterozoic in the Yangtze block. These events may be related to the breakup of the Paleoproterozoic Columbia supercontinent.