Implications from zircon-saturation temperatures and lithological assemblages for Early Permian thermal anomaly in northwest China

Despite considerable efforts, the Paleozoic tectonic setting (subduction vs. post-collision vs. mantle plume) in the Central Asian Orogenic Belt (CAOB) remains controversial. With aims of solving this issue, we examined zircon saturation temperatures of granitoids emplaced in different settings, and demonstrated that zircon saturation thermometry of felsic igneous rocks, especially when integrated with their lithology and geochemistry, can be a simple and powerful tool for tectonic discrimination. This method is then applied in northern Xinjiang where the Early Permian granitoids have higher saturation temperatures (>800°C) than the Silurian–Carboniferous granitoids (mainly