Mesozoic juvenile crustal formation in the easternmost Tethys: Zircon Hf isotopic evidence from Sumatran granitoids, Indonesia

Prior to the collision of India with Asia, the evolution of island arcs and resultant crustal formation in the now-disrupted easternmost Tethys are poorly constrained. Here, we report for the first time zircon U-Pb and Hf isotopic data from Mesozoic granitoids in Sumatra, Indonesia. Our analyses identified three magmatic episodes at 214–201 Ma, 148–143 Ma, and 102–84 Ma, respectively, with a drastic change in magmatic zircon εHf(t) values from −13.1 to +17.7 in the Late Triassic granitoids, which reveals a fundamental restructuring of the arc system in Sumatra. Subsequently, all Jurassic to Late Cretaceous granitoids have exclusively positive zircon εHf(t) values (+17.7 to +10.2), consistent with juvenile arc development owing to subduction of the easternmost Tethyan lithosphere beneath Sumatra. Such highly positive zircon εHf(t) values of the Sumatran granitoids, in general accordance with those of the Gangdese arc system in South Asia, are markedly higher than those (+13.7 to −14.7) of broadly contemporaneous Cordilleran arcs in Americas and Zealandia. Our findings from the easternmost Tethys provide new insights into not only the tectono-magmatic evolution of eastern Tethys, but also its crucial role in global juvenile crustal growth.