Subduction erosion and crustal material recycling indicated by adakites in central Tibet

Subduction erosion is important for crustal material recycling and is widespread in modern active convergent margins. However, such a process is rarely identified in fossil convergent systems, which casts doubt on the importance of subduction erosion through the geological record. We report on ca. 155 Ma Kangqiong (pluton) intrusive rocks of a Mesozoic magmatic arc in the southern Qiangtang terrane, central Tibet. These rocks mainly consist of trondhjemites and tonalites and are similar to slab-derived adakites with mantle-like zircon oxygen isotope compositions (δ18O = 5.2‰–5.6‰), they display more evolved Sr-Nd isotopes and higher Th/ La relative to mid-oceanic ridge basalts from the Bangong-Nujiang suture, and they contain abundant amphibole and biotite. These characteristics indicate magma generation via H2O- fluxed melting of eroded forearc crust debris with subducted oceanic crust at 1.5–2.5 GPa and 700–800 °C. In addition, the intrusions are exposed