Early Paleozoic tectonic evolution in the central Vietnam: evidence from geochronological and geochemical constraints.

Magmatic rocks distributed along the western part of the Po Ko fault, which documented tectono-thermal evolution of the Indochina block, when and how they formed are less constrained. Our new geochronological and geochemical data reveal that they were generated at 488–457 Ma and display a variety of SiO2 concentrations (SiO2 = 50.7–72.8 wt%). They also generally show slightly negative Eu anomalies (Eu/Eu* = 0.65–0.98) and enrich in LILEs (e.g. Rb and K) but deplete in HFSEs (e.g. Nb and Ta), consistent with arc-related signatures. Combined with their relatively high Mg# values (Mg# = 56–40) and initial87Sr/86Sr ratios (0.7085–0.7167) but negative εNd(t) values (−2.5 to −3.7), we consider those magmatic rocks originated from an enriched mantle source (e.g. EMII), which was metasomatized in the past. In comparing our data with tectono-thermal events in the southern Truong Son belt, we infer that there existed an ocean (a branch of the proto-Tethys Ocean) between the Truong Son belt and the Kontum massif during Late Cambrian, which subsequently underwent southeast subduction beneath the Kontum mass if initiated at ~488 Ma and terminated at ~457 Ma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]