Late Cretaceous K-rich rhyolitic crystal tuffs from the Chuduoqu area in Eastern Qiangtang subterrane:evidence for crustal thickening of the central Tibetan Plateau prior to India–Asia collision

In order to constrain whether the Lhasa–Qiangtang collision contributed to an early crustal thickening of the central Tibetan Plateau prior to the India–Asia collision,we present zircon LA–ICP–MS U–Pb ages,wholerock geochemistry,and zircon Hf isotopic compositions of the newly discovered rhyolitic crystal tuffs from the Chuduoqu area in the eastern Qiangtang subterrane,central Tibet.Zircon U–Pb dating suggests that the Chuduoqu rhyolitic crystal tuffs were emplaced at ca.68 Ma.The Chuoduoqu rhyolitic crystal tuffs display high SiO_(2) and K2 O,and low MgO,Cr,and Ni.Combined with their zircon Hf isotopic data,we suggest that they were derived from partial melting of the juvenile lower crust,and the magma underwent fractional crystallization and limited upper continental crustal assimilation during its evolution prior to eruption.They should be formed in a post-collisional environment related to lithospheric mantle delamination.The Chuduoqu rhyolitic crystal tuffs could provide important constraints on the Late Cretaceous crustal thickening of the central Tibetan Plateau caused by the Lhasa–Qiangtang collision.

Provenance of the Lower Jurassic pyroclastic sediments in the Zigui Basin:Implication for crustal thickening in the eastern Qinling orogenic belt

The Late Triassic witnessed significant collisional orogenic events in the Qinling orogenic belt,accompanied by magma underplating and tectonic deformation.These processes potentially resulted in substantial crustal thickening and uplift of the Qinling orogen.However,due to the absence of igneous rock records from this period in the eastern section of the Qinling orogen,the changes in crustal thickness during this orogenic process have not been thoroughly investigated.A series of foreland basins emerged during the Early Mesozoic to the south of the East Qinling orogenic belt.These basins have preserved clastic sedimentary rocks derived from the uplift and erosion of the orogenic belt.These sedimentary records serve as crucial records to reconstruct the evolutionary history of the Qinling orogen.To further clarify the collisional orogenic process of the Qinling orogenic belt,this study conducted in situ volcanic lithic fragment geochemistry,detrital zircon U-Pb chronology and trace element composition analysis on the sandstones of the Lower Jurassic Tongzhuyuan Formation in the Zigui Basin.The results suggest that the sandstones,which exhibit a significant abundance of volcanic lithic fragments,has a characteristic detrital zircon age group of 250–200 Ma,indicating a major provenance from the Triassic volcanic rocks.Combined with regional correlation and paleocurrent analysis,the detrital zircon U-Pb age data show that the source area of volcanic rocks should be in the Qinling orogenic belt to the north of the basin.This interpretation is further supported by the Triassic granitic rocks exposed in the western part of the orogenic belt,representing the magmatism during the Triassic collisional orogenesis in the Qinling orogen.Based on the co-varying relationships between present-day crust thickness with the chemical compositions of granite rocks and zircons,the La/Yb ratio of volcanic lithic fragments in the Tongzhuyuan Formation and the Eu/Eu*ratio of detrital zircons with Triassic ages indicate that the Qinling orogen experienced crustal thickening during the Late Triassic,reaching its maximum thickness of 60–70 km at ca.220–210 Ma.This crustal thickening in the eastern Qinling orogen is temporally consistent with that in the western orogen as recorded by the Triassic granitic rocks and may be related to large-scale crustal shortening and magmatism during the collisional orogeny.

Indian plate blocked by the thickened Eurasian crust in the middle of the continental collision zone of southern Tibet

The relationship of the crustal contact between the Indian and Eurasian plates is a key issue in understanding crustal thickening and the subduction of the Indian lithosphere beneath the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. Across the middle of the Yarlung-Zangbo Suture(YZS), we deployed an ~450-km-long SN-trending wide-angle reflection/refraction profile to observe the P-wave velocity(vP) structure beneath the northern Himalaya and the southern plateau. Our results show that, 1. the high vP(~7.1 km/s) indicates that the Indian lower crust extends no more than 50 km north of the YZS. 2. The lower crust beneath the southern part of the plateau features an extremely low vP(<6.7 ± 0.2 km/s). 3. Compared with the velocities of several typical crustal lithologies in different temperature regimes, the low vPin the lower crust can be explained by felsic-intermediate granulite, which has prevented the lower crust from further eclogitization. We propose that the dip angle of the Indian lithospheric slab beneath the YZS is partly controlled by the composition of the lower crust of the plateau. In the northern middle YZS, the crust of the southern plateau is too thick and blocks the northward advancement of the Indian lower crust, resulting in the subduction of the Indian lithospheric slab into the upper mantle. The lower crust in western and eastern Lhasa is dominated by a mafic composition, and it was delaminated after eclogitization before the Miocene. The void zone generated by delamination favors the flattening and underthrusting of the Indian lower crust.

The Himalayan Collisional Orogeny:A Metamorphic Perspective

This paper introduces how crustal thickening controls the growth of the Himalaya by summarizing the P-T-t evolution of the Himalayan metamorphic core.The Himalayan orogeny was divided into three stages.Stage 60–40 Ma:The Himalayan crust thickened to~40 km through Barrovian-type metamorphism(15–25°C/km),and the Himalaya rose from<0 to~1000 m.Stage 40–16 Ma:The crust gradually thickened to 60–70 km,resulting in abundant high-grade metamorphism and anatexis(peak-P,15–25°C/km;peak-T,>30°C/km).The three sub-sheets in the Himalayan metamorphic core extruded southward sequentially through imbricate thrusts of the Eo-Himalayan thrust,High Himalayan thrust,and Main Central thrust,and the Himalaya rose to≥5,000 m.Stage 16–0 Ma:the mountain roots underwent localized delamination,causing asthenospheric upwelling and overprinting of the lower crust by ultra-high-temperature metamorphism(30–50°C/km),and the Himalaya reached the present elevation of~6,000 m.Underplating and imbricate thrusting dominated the Himalaya’growth and topographic rise,conforming to the critical taper wedge model.Localized delamination of mountain roots facilitated further topographic rise.Future Himalayan metamorphic studies should focus on extreme metamorphism and major collisional events,contact metamorphism and rare metal mineralization,metamorphic decarbonation and the carbon cycle in collisional belts.

Geochronology and geochemistry of the W-Mo-ore-related granitic rocks from eastern Ningzhen,lower Yangtze river belt,eastern China

Here we present zircon U–Pb–Hf and wholerock major and trace element studies of eastern Ningzhen W-Mo-ore-related magmatic rocks,Yushan and Longwangshan granitic rocks,to constrain their form timing,magma sources,and tectonic settings.The results showed that the two plutons were formed in the Early Cretaceous with;Pb/;U ages of 107.8±1.2 and 105.2±1.5 Ma(;Pb/;U),respectively.The trapped/residual zircons are mainly distributed in 2.0–2.5 Ga.The two intrusions are characterized by high silicon(68.60–73.99%),high aluminum(13.56–15.02%),high Mg#(47–55),high Sr,Sr/Y,LaN/YN,and low Yb,falling into high Mg#adakitic rock region.The zirconεHf(t)values of the two intrusions range from-24.8 to-13.2,indicating an ancient continental crust in their magma sources.The average Ti-inzircon temperature is 689°C,slightly higher than those of other high-Mg adakitic rocks in the lower Yangtze River belt,but lower than those of high-Mg adakitic rocks in the Southern Tanlu Fault(STLF).Zircon Ce;/Ce;show low oxygen fugacity(LWS-1:3–400,average 92;sample ZYS-4:9–382,average 93).These geochemical features indicate a thickened lower continental crust in the Eastern Ningzhen region in a subduction setting.Comparing the geochemical characteristics of the eastern Ningzhen to the western Ningzhen and other areas in the Lower Yangtze River Metallogenic Belt(LYRMB)and the high-Mg ore-barren adakitic rocks of the STLF,we propose that the magmatic rocks from eastern Ningzhen may be mainly from a thickened lower continental crust that hybridized with a very small part of mantle sources,while the west Ningzhen magmatic rocks may have experienced a higher degree of mantle contaminations in their source.The metallogenic differences between the eastern(W–Mo)and western(Cu–Fe–Pb–Zn)parts of Ningzhen also indicate different proportions of crustal materials in their magma source.

Mantle Input to the Crust in Southern Gangdese, Tibet, during the Cenozoic: Zircon Hf Isotopic Evidence

The Quxu （曲水） complex is a typical intrusive among the Gangdese batholiths. Two sets of samples collected from the Mianjiang （棉将） and Niedang （聂当） villages in Quxu County, including gabbro, mafic micro-enclaves （MME）, and granodiorites in each set, were well dated in a previous SHRIMP zircon U-Pb analysis （47-51 Ma）. In this article, the same zircons of the 6 samples were applied for LA ICP-MS Hf isotopic analysis. The total of 6 samples yields 176Hf/177Hf ratio ranging from 0.282 921 to 0.283 159, corresponding to εHf（t） values of 6.3-14.7. Their Hf depleted-mantle modal ages （TDM） are in the range of 137-555 Ma, and the zircon Hf isotope crustal model ages （TDMC） range from 178 to 718 Ma. The mantle-like high and positive Era（t） values in these samples suggest a mantledominated input of the juvenile source regions from which the batholith originated. The large variations in εHf（t） values, up to 5-ε unit among zircons within a single rock and up to 15-ε unit among zircons from the 6 samples, further suggest the presence of a magma mixing event during the time of magma generation. We suggest that the crustal end-member involved in the magma mixing is likely from the ancient basement within the Lhasa terrane itself. The zircon Hf isotopic compositions further suggest that magma mixing and magma underplating at about 50 Ma may have played an important role in creating the crust of the southern Tibetan plateau.