Geochronology and tectonic significance of Middle Proterozoic granitic orthogneiss, North Qaidam HP/UHP terrane, Western China

Amphibolite-facies para- and orthogneisses near Dulan, in the southeast part of the North Qaidam terrane, enclose minor ultra-high pressure (UHP) eclogite and peridotite. Field relations and coesite inclusions in zircons from paragneiss suggest that felsic, mafic, and ultramafic rocks all experienced UHP metamorphism and a common amphibolite-facies retrogression. Ion microprobe U-Pb and REE analyses of zircons from two granitic orthogneisses indicate magmatic crystallization at 927 +/- Ma and 921 +/- 7Ma. Zircon rims in one of these samples yield younger ages (397-618Ma) compatible with partial zircon recrystallization during in-situ Ordovician-Silurian eclogite-facies metamorphism previously determined from eclogite and paragneiss in this area. The similarity between a 2496 +/- 18Ma xenocrystic core and 2.4-2.5Ga zircon cores in the surrounding paragneiss suggests that the granites intruded the sediments or that the granite is a melt of the older basement which supplied detritus to the sediments. The magmatic ages of the granitic orthogneisses are similar to 920-930Ma ages of (meta)granitoids described further northwest in the North Qaidam terrane and its correlative west of the Altyn Tagh fault, suggesting that these areas formed a coherent block prior to widespread Mid Proterozoic granitic magmatism. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]