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Abstract: Bulk-rock major and trace element, Sr–Nd isotope, zircon U–Pb and Hf-isotope data are reported for Early Cretaceous igneous rocks sampled along an east–west traverse through the central Lhasa subterrane (E80°00′–E89°) in southern Tibet. These results offer new insights into the pre-Cenozoic geology and tectonomagmatic evolution of the Lhasa Terrane, and provide boundary conditions for the origin and evolution of the Tibetan Plateau. Our new data, together with data from the literature indicate that the Early Cretaceous magmatism in the central Lhasa subterrane lasted for a long period (~143–102Ma) with a magmatic flare-up at ~110 Ma. The latter is accompanied by mafic magmatism in this terrane. The silicic rocks are metaluminous to peraluminous, and enriched in Rb, Th, and U, and depleted in Ba, Nb, Ta, Sr, P, and Ti, with varying initial 87Sr/86Sr (0.7073–0.7209), negative ε Nd(t) (−13.7 to −4.6), and negative to positive zircon ε Hf(t). The andesitic and dioritic enclaves are characterized by initial 87Sr/86Sr of 0.7088–0.7148, ε Nd(t) of −9.9 to −7.8, and zircon ε Hf(t) of −9.5 to −0.2, similar to those of the 110±3Ma silicic rocks. The bulk-rock Sr and Nd isotopic data and zircon ε Hf(t) values indicate an increased contribution of a mantle component in the generation of the Early Cretaceous igneous rocks in the central Lhasa subterrane at ~110Ma. Available bulk-rock Nd- and zircon Hf-isotope data indicate that the crust of the central Lhasa subterrane, at least its oldest elements, was emplaced during the Archean. This further indicates that the central Lhasa subterrane with ancient basement must have been a micro-continental block (i.e., the Lhasa micro-continental block) extending in an east–west direction for >700km (E82°–E89°) with a width of ~100km. The contemporaneous presence of S-type (more crustal source) and I-type (significant mantle input) melts of the Early Cretaceous igneous rocks in this subterrane are interpreted as the consequences of varying extents of interactions between the existing continental crust and mantle-derived melts (including crustal anatexis). We suggest that the mantle-derived melts resulted from southward subduction of the Bangong–Nujiang Ocean seafloor in a syncollisional setting related to the Lhasa–Qiangtang collision, and that the magmatic flare-up with strong mantle input at ~110Ma was genetically associated with the slab break-off of this subducting seafloor. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The Lhasa terrane has long been interpreted as a simple tectonic block rifted from Gondwana during the late Paleozoic and then drifted northward before finally amalgamating with the Qiangtang terrane during the Early Cretaceous. In this paper we document Permian peraluminous granites near Pikang in the southern margin of the central Lhasa terrane, close to the recently documented Songdo eclogite of Permian age. Zircon SHRIMP and LA-ICPMS U–Pb dating for a Pikang granite sample gives an identical crystallization age of about 263 Ma and a wide age range of inherited zircons (283–2141 Ma). In situ Hf isotopic analyses for 20 zircons of 263 Ma yielded ε Hf(t) values of −4.5 to +1.9. The Pikang granites have high A/CNK values (≥1.08) and high normative corundum (1.3–2.0%), indicative of peraluminous S-type granite. They are characterized by moderately negative Eu anomalies (Eu/Eu⁎=0.48–0.61), and strongly negative Ba, Nb, Sr, P and Ti anomalies. The granites have high ε Nd(t) values (−6.4 to −6.0) and low initial 87Sr/86Sr ratios (0.7082–0.7096) relative to melts derived from mature continental crust. These rocks are interpreted to have been generated by mixing between mantle melts and their induced melting of mature crustal materials. We interpret the Pikang peraluminous granite magmatism, the regional angular unconformity between the Middle and the Upper Permian and the eclogite of the same metamorphic age (∼262 Ma) from the same geotectonic location to represent different products of a common event in time and space. We tentatively term this common event as syncollisional orogeny, i.e., “the Permian Gangdese Orogeny”. We further hypothesize that the orogeny may be genetically associated with the collision between the Lhasa terrane and the northern margin of Australia, following the closure of the Paleo-Tethyan Ocean south of the Lhasa terrane. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Bulk-rock major and trace element, Sr–Nd–Hf isotope, zircon U–Pb age, and zircon Hf isotopic data of the Late Cretaceous Zhuogapu volcanic rocks in the northern Lhasa subterrane provide a new insight into tectonic processes following the collision of the terrane with the Qiangtang zone. SHRIMP zircon U–Pb dating reveals that the Zhuogapu volcanic rocks crystallized at ca. 91Ma, postdating the development of a regional angular unconformity between the Upper Cretaceous and the underlying strata in the Lhasa–Qiangtang collision zone. Compared to the Andean arc-type andesites and dacites, the Zhuogapu volcanic rocks are characterized by higher MgO of 2.78–5.86wt.% and Mg# of 54–64 for andesites and MgO of 2.30–2.61wt.% and Mg# of 55–58 for dacites. Eight andesite samples have whole-rock (87Sr/86Sr)i of 0.7054–0.7065, εNd(t) of −3.2 to −1.7, and εHf(t) of +3.8–+6.4, similar to those of the three dacite samples with (87Sr/86Sr)i =0.7056–0.7060, εNd(t) of −2.7 to −2.2, and εHf(t) of +5.6–+7.0. Thirteen analyses from a dacite sample give positive zircon εHf(t) of +5.6 to +8.7. These signatures indicate that the Zhuogapu Mg-rich andesites were most likely derived from partial melting of a delaminated mafic lower crust (including the lowermost crust straddling the northern and central Lhasa subterranes) that led to the generation of the Zhuogapu primary melts with adakitic signatures and small negative εNd(t). Such melts subsequently experienced interaction of melt-asthenospheric mantle peridotite followed by the modification of highly fractionated magmas in shallow crustal magma chamber. Hornblende-controlled fractionation results in the change of geochemical composition from Mg-rich andesitic to Mg-rich dacitic magmas. Field observations, together with geochronological and geochemical data, indicate that the Zhuogapu Mg-rich volcanic rocks and coeval magmatism in the northern Lhasa subterrane may be the result of thickened lithospheric delamination following the final Lhasa–Qiangtang amalgamation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The U-Pb age and Hf isotope data on detrital zircons from Paleozoic metasedimentary rocks in the Lhasa terrane (Tibet) define a distinctive age population of ca. 1170 Ma with εHf (t) values identical to the coeval detrital zircons from Western Australia, but those from the western Qiangtang and Tethyan Himalaya terranes define an age population of ca. 950 Ma with a similar εHf (t) range. The ca. 1170 Ma detrital zircons in the Lhasa terrane were most likely derived from the Albany-Fraser belt in southwest Australia, whereas the ca. 950 Ma detrital zircons from both the western Qiangtang and Tethyan Himalaya terranes might have been sourced from the High Himalaya to the south. Such detrital zircon connections enable us to propose that the Lhasa terrane is exotic to the Tibetan Plateau system, and should no longer be considered as part of the Qiangtang-Greater India-Tethyan Himalaya continental margin system in the Paleozoic reconstruction of the Indian plate, as current models show; rather, it should be placed at the northwestern margin of Australia. These results provide new constraints on the paleogeographic reconstruction and tectonic evolution of southern Tibet, and indicate that the Lhasa terrane evolved as part of the late Precambrian-early Paleozoic evolution as part of Australia in a different paleogeographical setting than that of the Qiangtang-Greater India-Tethyan Himalaya system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The Lhasa Terrane in southern Tibet has long been accepted as the last geological block accreted to Eurasia before its collision with the northward drifting Indian continent in the Cenozoic, but its lithospheric architecture, drift and growth histories and the nature of its northern suture with Eurasia via the Qiangtang Terrane remain enigmatic. Using zircon in situ U–Pb and Lu–Hf isotopic and bulk-rock geochemical data of Mesozoic–Early Tertiary magmatic rocks sampled along four north–south traverses across the Lhasa Terrane, we show that the Lhasa Terrane has ancient basement rocks of Proterozoic and Archean ages (up to 2870Ma) in its centre with younger and juvenile crust (Phanerozoic) accreted towards its both northern and southern edges. This finding proves that the central Lhasa subterrane was once a microcontinent. This continent has survived from its long journey across the Paleo-Tethyan Ocean basins and has grown at the edges through magmatism resulting from oceanic lithosphere subduction towards beneath it during its journey and subsequent collisions with the Qiangtang Terrane to the north and with the Indian continent to the south. Zircon Hf isotope data indicate significant mantle source contributions to the generation of these granitoid rocks (e.g., ~50–90%, 0–70%, and 30–100% to the Mesozoic magmatism in the southern, central, and northern Lhasa subterranes, respectively). We suggest that much of the Mesozoic magmatism in the Lhasa Terrane may be associated with the southward Bangong–Nujiang Tethyan seafloor subduction beneath the Lhasa Terrane, which likely began in the Middle Permian (or earlier) and ceased in the late Early Cretaceous, and that the significant changes of zircon εHf(t) at ~113 and ~52Ma record tectonomagmatic activities as a result of slab break-off and related mantle melting events following the Qiangtang–Lhasa amalgamation and India–Lhasa amalgamation, respectively. These results manifest the efficacy of zircons as a chronometer (U–Pb dating) and a geochemical tracer (Hf isotopes) in understanding the origin and histories of lithospheric plates and in revealing the tectonic evolution of old orogenies in the context of plate tectonics. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]