U‐Pb Zircon Ages of Granitoid Rocks in the North Dabie Complex, Eastern Dabie Shan, China

The North Dabie Complex (NDC) comprises a high‐temperature metamorphic suite dominated by amphibolite‐facies granitoid orthogneiss intruded by voluminous granites. U‐Pb zircon dating on these rocks yields the following new results: (1) Two of the granitoid orthogneiss samples have Early Cretaceous protolith emplacement ages of 133.7 ± 2.3 Ma and 134.0 ± 2.8 Ma. (2) an undeformed granodiorite intrusive into granitoid gneiss yields an emplacement age at 125.6 ± 0.3 Ma. These Early Cretaceous ages entirely post‐date Late Triassic‐Early Jurassic continental subduction and exhumation evident in the neighboring ultrahigh and high‐pressure metamorphic terrains to the south in the Dabie Shan; hence they do not support previous tectonic models that infer Paleozoic or Triassic protolith emplacement ages for these granitoid orthogneisses. (3) A mylonitic granite from the northern boundary of the NDC yields a concordant age of 756.6 ± 0.8 Ma, which is interpreted as magma emplacement age. The concordance of this Late Proterozoic age suggests that the U‐Pb systematics have not been disturbed by any significant thermal overprint since emplacement, implying that the northern extent of the deeply subducted Yangtze Block lies south of this locality.